(no subject)
So today was the "travel day" aka the biggest part of the Norway in a Nutshell. we started off really early, probably the earliest I've gotten up in a quite long time; 6:00 am. We had breakfast at the hotel Best Western Anker. Oh boy was that a breakfast. There were the things you would see at any American hotel breakfast: cereal, toast and jam etc, but also sausage (the kind you wouldn't find for breakfast aka sheep), boiled eggs, fish, other foriegn sauces, and getost. So, quite a breakfast no? After the great breakfast, we made it to the train station (Central Station) to station #3. We were able to board right away, in the 1st car, which ended up being the last car because we went backwards....eek) The whole trip on the train to Myrdal took around 5 hours. The first 3 hours or so had beautiful yet repetitive scenery. I ended up reading a bit. (I forgot to mention I bought a book Die Trying in Oslo yesterday) and sleeping as well. Both Dad and I felt a wee bit queezy after awhile because of the whole riding backwards. So, I bought chocolate with dad's money...tried to at least, the euro he gave me in place of a 20 kroner didn't work that well :) we both had a few pieces and felt a ton better (Lupin from Harry Potter was right, chocolate helps)
The train by that point climbed above the tree lever where there was a significant amount of snow and mountains. The train we were on was technically a train to Bergen, but we (as well as like, half the train, if not more) got off at Myrdal in between these amazing cliffs/mountains with a few waterfalls
.
We only had to wait maybe 10 minutes, which I spent taking pictures and people watching. In Myrdal, we got on another train which would take us to Flam. The train ride itself was significantly shorter, but a little more uncomfortable. The cars were packed, and dad and I were not able to sit together. However, the scenery was insurmountably better (not that the latter was bad, this was just amazing) with an increasing number of waterfalls and higher cliffs. The Flam railway is the highest railway is the highest railway in Europe. Quite impressive.
We arrived shortly in Flam on time and had about a half hour/45 minutes to have for lunch and some browsing in the shops. Dad had a hot dog and I had an open faced shrimp sandwich. We got 2 coke lights and split the one for lunch and kept the other for the boat ride. We were able to board and got the second level outside seats (whe whole trip has been sunny and decent thus far) and took 2 seats and waited to shove off. It was a very smooth ride, much more so than the Oslo-Myrdal train thankfully. The trip itself wasn't overly eventful but the view was well worth it! The towering cliffs and numerous waterfalls along with the drone from the ship and the surrounding sounds made it very relaxing to the point I started to drift off, not because of boredom, but reasons previously stated. We arrived at Gudvangen, where where it started raining. We took a bus which started to take us to Voss, but took a little detour up the steepest road in Norway up to a hotel/vantage point called Stalheim. The view alone was worth the nail-biting sttep and narrow climb from which the bus never left 1st gear. We had 20 minutes to see the view and to take pictures. Chicken little (me) of course not getting too close to the edge. We loaded back onto the bus and made the trip down a different way of course and off to Voss. I don't remember the busride much actually. Dad and I weren't able to sit together, so I sat by a gentleman, 30s or so, who didn't speak a word to anyone, obviously traveling alone, so I wasn't able to catch where he was from. I couldn't help but fall slightly asleep, but only half way though, because I would have ended up falling out of my seat onto the bus floor! I woke up to the Peter Paul and Mary's "Blowing in the Wind" on the raido rather softly. We arrived in Voss and boarded the train right away, but wasn't going to leave for another 20 minutes or so, so Dad got us some chips and chocolate as well as a few pops to snack on as we had not had dinner (nor would we later)
The ride was a little over an hour with the weather continuing the rainy-ickiness that started on the bus ride. Because the view wasn't worth viewing, I mostly read and dad caught up on his journal.
We arrivevd in Bergen around 8:30 and made the trip to the Bergen Travel Hotel. .We did have to ask where it was, because the map we had was crap. We found it eventually. It is rather small, but cute enough. The hallways are small and white and the rooms very similar. The beds even smaller than those in Oslo, and the bathroom was typical size of those I've encountered thus far in Norway. I took a shower and we crashed respectively after our long but worth-it travel day.
The train by that point climbed above the tree lever where there was a significant amount of snow and mountains. The train we were on was technically a train to Bergen, but we (as well as like, half the train, if not more) got off at Myrdal in between these amazing cliffs/mountains with a few waterfalls
.
We only had to wait maybe 10 minutes, which I spent taking pictures and people watching. In Myrdal, we got on another train which would take us to Flam. The train ride itself was significantly shorter, but a little more uncomfortable. The cars were packed, and dad and I were not able to sit together. However, the scenery was insurmountably better (not that the latter was bad, this was just amazing) with an increasing number of waterfalls and higher cliffs. The Flam railway is the highest railway is the highest railway in Europe. Quite impressive.
We arrived shortly in Flam on time and had about a half hour/45 minutes to have for lunch and some browsing in the shops. Dad had a hot dog and I had an open faced shrimp sandwich. We got 2 coke lights and split the one for lunch and kept the other for the boat ride. We were able to board and got the second level outside seats (whe whole trip has been sunny and decent thus far) and took 2 seats and waited to shove off. It was a very smooth ride, much more so than the Oslo-Myrdal train thankfully. The trip itself wasn't overly eventful but the view was well worth it! The towering cliffs and numerous waterfalls along with the drone from the ship and the surrounding sounds made it very relaxing to the point I started to drift off, not because of boredom, but reasons previously stated. We arrived at Gudvangen, where where it started raining. We took a bus which started to take us to Voss, but took a little detour up the steepest road in Norway up to a hotel/vantage point called Stalheim. The view alone was worth the nail-biting sttep and narrow climb from which the bus never left 1st gear. We had 20 minutes to see the view and to take pictures. Chicken little (me) of course not getting too close to the edge. We loaded back onto the bus and made the trip down a different way of course and off to Voss. I don't remember the busride much actually. Dad and I weren't able to sit together, so I sat by a gentleman, 30s or so, who didn't speak a word to anyone, obviously traveling alone, so I wasn't able to catch where he was from. I couldn't help but fall slightly asleep, but only half way though, because I would have ended up falling out of my seat onto the bus floor! I woke up to the Peter Paul and Mary's "Blowing in the Wind" on the raido rather softly. We arrived in Voss and boarded the train right away, but wasn't going to leave for another 20 minutes or so, so Dad got us some chips and chocolate as well as a few pops to snack on as we had not had dinner (nor would we later)
The ride was a little over an hour with the weather continuing the rainy-ickiness that started on the bus ride. Because the view wasn't worth viewing, I mostly read and dad caught up on his journal.
We arrivevd in Bergen around 8:30 and made the trip to the Bergen Travel Hotel. .We did have to ask where it was, because the map we had was crap. We found it eventually. It is rather small, but cute enough. The hallways are small and white and the rooms very similar. The beds even smaller than those in Oslo, and the bathroom was typical size of those I've encountered thus far in Norway. I took a shower and we crashed respectively after our long but worth-it travel day.