2012.09.28 - Day 8 (Bergen and surrounding area)

It was now Friday and my "Norway in a Nutshell" tour was here. While I was disappointed that there wasn't going to be an official guide, I was still excited about seeing fjords. The day started at around 10:30am when I had to catch a 2 hour train that went from Bergen to a city called Myrdal. From Myrdal, you took another train on the Flam Railway. While the Bergen to Mydral train was just a regular commuter train, the Flam Railway was cool because it's basically setup as a tourist train that stops to let you take in the sights while providing information along the way.

The Flam Railway

Me with the Flam Railway in the background

Inside one of the rail cars

Scenery along the Flam Railway 

Scenery along the Flam Railway

The train stopped and let everyone on board get off to take a picture of a waterfall

Me with the waterfall in the background

More scenery along the way

...and some more

It was here on the Flam Railway train where I met three other Americans from Denver. We ended up cliquing (or at least that's what I'd like to think :-) and I ended up hanging with them for the rest of the tour (and beyond...but that's another story I'll get to later).

Once we arrived in Flam, as we had about an hour and 20 minutes before our fjord cruise started, I was able to get some food as well as purchase and write some postcards for a couple people who had been bugging me for them ;-).

Arriving in Flam

Views in Flam

More views of Flam

We finally boarded the ship that would now take us throw the famous fjords of Norway on a two hour trip to a small city called Gudvangen. The trip, needless to say was breathtaking with beautiful water, high green mountains, plentiful waterfalls and picturesque towns. What I thought might be a disappointment proved to be wrong. It amazed me how many small villages we saw along the way and thinking how people commuted to these remote places still using boats as many roads still do not connect.

Me with Flam in the background

...and the fjords begin.

Me with fjords in the background; Notice it was getting colder...I put my earmuffs on.

Little town on the fjord

Sheep

Fjord town

Waterfall

Another fjord town

Not quite sure how they got that house up there

Pretty waterfall

End of the fjord boat tour :-(

It drizzled now and then and it was a bit brisk at times, but no doubt, anything bad I had to say about Norway was erased by being on that boat for two hours. When we arrived in the town of Gudvangen, we then took a bus to yet another town called Voss. Here we waited for the regular commuter train line to take us back to Bergen. While waiting in Voss, I met a 21 year old Australian from Melbourne who had also been on the fjord tour with us. He was just completing four months of traveling. I liked him because when I told him about my four month sabbatical and working 11 years, he was shocked since he thought I was only 23 :-)...ahh, 21 year olds...

When we finally got back to Bergen, I made arrangements with the three Denver guys to meet out for a drink later. I then proceeded to go back to the b&b to make myself some dinner. As I started to grill some chicken breast, because of a lack of ventilation (my room was basically in a basement), the fire alarm went off. Not only did my fire alarm in my room go off though, but because of the connection, all the fire alarms in the bed and breakfast went off. I soon heard the rest of the guests at the b&b run down from their rooms to outside. Embarrassed, I had to emerge from my room to tell everyone that it was ok. What was not ok was the fact that the fire alarm was not stopping despite my attempts to fan the smoke. The owners of the b&b were not home and eventually a neighbor had to come over to turn off the central alarm. All returned to normal and everyone went back to their rooms. As my chicken breast was only half cooked, I opened up all the windows and proceeded to try to finish. Just as I was about done cooking, the damn fire alarm went off yet again. The guests from upstairs, now looking annoyed, came back downstairs once again. This time another neighbor came to save the day. At this point, I was beyond embarrassed although I was partially upset that I couldn't cook chicken in my room! Fortunately, the chicken was done and I was still able to eat non-raw food.

After I ate, I met up the Denver guys at a local bar. When the Denverites didn't want to continue on, I ended up trying one more bar by myself. When I went to that final bar of the night, I was initially denied the vodka based drink that I had ordered. When I inquired as to why I was being denied, it was explained to me that it was 18 year old night. In Norway, 18 year olds can drink, but they can only drink beer and wine. The bar didn't want me to have the potential to give these 18 year olds hard liquor...ugh. Another bartender corrected the first person who denied me and told me that I could order the vodka drink but would have to drink it at the bar. I should have left then, but decided to have the last drink. 18 year olds and not being able to carry a hard liquor drink around with me was not my idea of a good time :-).

I walked back to the b&b to head to sleep but not before getting drenched with the never ending Bergen rain. While the fjords were spectacular, I had had enough of Bergen and its rain!!