Norway! - Part 2: Fjord Tour

On Monday, June 22, we boarded the train in Oslo for our "Norway in a Nutshell" tour departing at 8:25AM. The day's itinerary included taking this train on the Bergen Railway to Myrdal, changing there to the Flåm Railway taking us to the town of Flåm, boarding a boat for a fjord cruise to Gudvangen, taking a bus to Voss, and taking the Bergen Railway from there to Bergen, arriving after 9:00PM. It was a long day.

On the train, we found our assigned seats occupied by a party of Americans (parents and young adult children with significant others) unaware that their tickets told them where to sit. After a short discussion they vacated and had a very long and repetitive conversation as to their seating arrangements. Later we noticed a young couple of their party sleeping with eye shades on as we passed through the beautiful Norwegian countryside. They also pulled down their window shade to the dismay of the non-English speaking couple in front of us who shared the same window. Through sign language, however, they made it clear that the window shade would remain up. Some people are not only unappreciative but rude too.

Another American passenger was across the aisle from us, a somewhat elderly guy who loudly interrogated an Austrian couple sitting near him as to where they were from etc. In his spare time he was reading (at an incredibly slow rate) a book called Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010. As you might imagine, a book about the plight of us poor benighted white people in the United States must have been written (and read by) a right-wing tool. You would imagine correctly. The author is at the American Enterprise Institute and is the guy who wrote the notorious The Bell Curve back in the 1990s. No American should be reading this kind of crap in public in a foreign country. What an embarrassment.

We passed through forests and fields, along lakes and ocean inlets, and through many small towns. The countryside is pastoral and pleasing and, in many places, is reminiscent of Western Washington. Eventually, we started to gain elevation and somewhat before noon, we were above the tree line. One of our stops was the town of Finse, which at 1222 meters (4009 feet) above sea level, is a little lower than our Stevens Pass. Finse is the highest railway station in Norway.

I find the variation of tree line with latitude quite fascinating. I know that at Sunrise in Mt Rainier National Park (about 47 degrees latitude), the tree line is around 6500 feet whereas the latitude here is around 60 degrees and the tree line is at around 1000 meters or about 3300 feet. A huge difference and, as you go further north it comes all the way down to sea level which gives you... tundra.

Near Finse at this time of year, conditions look positively arctic as you can see in the pictures below. Actually, the temperatures were in the mid 40s and there is melting going on everywhere. Interesting factoid: this is the area where the ice planet scenes in The Empire Strikes Back were filmed so you know it gets cold.

In all honesty, I did not take this picture

Eventually, we arrived in Myrdal, where we changed trains to ride the Flåm Railway which descends 2844 vertical feet to the town of Flåm at sea level. The distance is 12.6 miles so this is a very steep railroad, up to a 5.5% grade at its steepest. Gentle reader, it may not seem like it but that is steep. Myrdal is in approximately the same climate zone as Finse, so imagine the difference in landscape as we reached sea level.

This is Flåm

Here are some pictures from the ride down the mountain:

Kjosfossen waterfall. They stopped the train here to allow us to get off and take pictures.

Looking back at Myrdal Station

Endless beautiful vistas were the order of the day. My camera clicking finger almost got tired. Eventually, we reached Flåm, where our vessel awaited.

When the cruise started, the scenery really got going!

Flåm is at the southern terminus of Aurlandsfjord which is a branch of the much larger Sognefjord. Aurlandsfjord is, in places, up to 3100 feet deep and is generally a mile or less in width. Of course, these waters are so protected that the only wave action was from the wakes of other boats. Suffice it to say, no one got seasick.

Aurlandsfjord, looking north from near Flåm

One of our many escorts

Approaching the intersection with Nærøyfjord which opens to the left

The village of Aurlandsvangen

The village of Undredal

Undredal Stave Church is at upper left. The church dates to the mid 12th century.

About to enter Nærøyfjord, a UNESCO world heritage site. The following fjord pictures are all in Nærøyfjord.

A suburb of Bakka? Countless waterfalls.

The village of Bakka,

The tiny village of Styvi with a large boat

Hordes of tourists, at least half were Americans

I feel privileged, even blessed, to have had an opportunity to see and photograph the well-known but very shy Norwegian Blue parrot. I just happened to have my zoom lens handy at the right time. I'm sure in the future, I myself will be pining for the fjords!

Norwegian Blue (not kipping on his back)

After the cruise, we boarded busses for the trip to Voss. We took a scenic detour along the way, including a very steep and switchbacky road. The hairpin curves were especially fun on a great big bus. I noticed the mountain below and realized the Norway had just pwned Yosemite! If you think Halfdome is great, just take a look at Whole Dome! Ha! Take that, California!

Whole Dome

The town of Voss near the railway station

We arrived at Voss and waited to board the train for Bergen. In World War II the Nazis invaded Norway and they encountered some of the stiffest resistance of the Norway conquest in and around Voss. Apparently, the town was mostly destroyed by the luftwaffe.

From Voss, we headed to Bergen and another luxury hotel. Stay tuned.