Fjords

**MOST INTENSE POST EVER!!** Tons of photos (I didn't even edit them because I was too lazy!) and writing.

I headed off to the metro with my day backpack and all the supplies I needed for my tour. There was an old man on the metro who started chatting with me and ended up telling me all about his family history (he even had a file folder with stuff in it!) because I had told him I was from Canada. Apparently he had some great grandpa or something that was rich enough that he would rent a train whenever he wanted to travel to Germany. It was pretty funny.

I took a train that left Oslo at 11:09, and tried to sleep on it as well as I could (it helped a lot that they give you a package with a blanket, blow up pillow, eye mask, and earplugs! The bag even says that the stuff is yours to keep afterwards!).

I got into Bergen at about 7:00 am and had some time to look for food before my tour started. I didn’t explore too far from the train station, but the parts of town I saw seemed really nice. And it seemed like there were lots of people hustling and bustling about even though it was still pretty early.

I got on my train pretty early to make sure I got a good seat. The first train ride was about an hour long and had some really nice views. Everything in this area is so beautiful! The mountains, the water and the adorable little houses that remind me of La Grande Seduction are perfection.

My train from Bergen to Voss.

This picture would have been better but I was trying to take it and give the conductor my ticket at the same time, which didn't work very well.

The train stopped at Voss, and I had to get straight on a bus for the next part of the tour. The bus was great, the windows were much bigger and cleaner than the train, so the view was even better. We went up a huge hill, and then down Norway’s steepest road! It was insane! I couldn’t believe the driver could even navigate the bus around those hairpin turns! It honestly looked like we were about to fly off the side of the cliff every time we turned! The views were absolutely breathtaking though. Totally worth the near death experience on the tiny, twisty, steep road.

The view from the top of th cliff. About to head down Norway's steepest road.

I'm really not sure how the bus driver made it around those turns without us going over the edge.

When we got to Gudvangen, we got on a ferry. This was my favourite part of the tour. We were finally getting to see the fjords! I’ve wanted to see fjords so badly for such a long time that the whole experience was a touch surreal. It was so amazingly beautiful! I got completely snap-happy with my camera, and ended up taking a few hundred photos just on the 2 hour ferry. We saw some stunning waterfalls, and adorable little teeny-tiny towns that looked like they would be impossible to get to. We saw Norway’s longest waterfall (total length), and the smallest church in Scandinavia (seats about 40), a town that was rumoured to have residents with long lives because of their quality drinking water, and a town that supplies a lot of hydroelectricity to Oslo. It was a little chilly out on the deck, but I really didn’t want to miss anything, so I was running from one side to the other taking photos the whole way. We got really lucky because just as we were getting ready to land, it started getting rainy.

I loved the way the light was bouncing off this mountain.

I loved how well this turned out.

We got off the ferry in Flam and had about an hour before the next train was coming. I’m pretty sure they plan it like that just too make sure the tourists spend money because there are about 6 souvenirs shops and a few cafes in and around the train station. There was some really neat stuff too. I bought myself a little paperback book with a bunch of photos from around the area (it’s essentially a collection of postcards), and a little railway pin (the button kind). Then I found some spun wool from sheep in the area, so I decided I had to get that too. At least it was about 1/10 the price of the fantastic sweaters I was looking at. I’m totally in love with traditional Norwegian sweaters now! I also made a cat friend in Flam.

This kitty was absolutely not interested in looking at my camera.

Next we got onto Norway’s steepest railway! We went from Flam to Myrdal and had some great views along the way, especially when we had a 5 minute photo break at the Kjosfossen waterfall. 

I think this path was originally built for carrying goods by horse and wagon, but now it's mostly just used by hikers and whatnot.

Kjosfossen waterfall.

At Myrdal, I got on a train heading back to Bergen and started typing out some of my adventures so that they would be ready to post later (like right now!).

It's been a crazy busy couple of days, but I wouldn’t have it any other way because it’s been wonderful so far. I was basically going, going, going all of this day (luckily, most of that going just involved sitting looking out a window because I haven’t had much sleep).

When we got into Bergen, I was so far beyond exhausted that I absolutely could not muster up the energy to explore Bergen a little better. There were still 5 hours before my train was going to leave, and all I could think about was sleep. It was also cold and rainy in Bergen which helped dissuade me from exploring. I wandered around in the mall that was right by the train station for a while, but I felt so pathetic that I went back to the ticket station and upgraded my ticket to a sleeping coach. I felt kind of bad after I did it (because I should be a backpacker! Sleeping in a chair on the train!), but I was so exhausted that I really couldn't think of anything better than having a bed to sleep in.

The cabin was nice! The bed felt so good to lie down in, I got a much better sleep than I would have otherwise. I was still pretty tired when I arrived back in Oslo, but I hopped on the metro and got hoe a little after 7 am.

Next - my first weekend overseas!