Norways Fjords

Our most expensive day in the most expensive country so far. Checked out and headed down to the station where we boarded a train west across Norway to Bergen and the fjords. We sat in our air-conditioned train sipping our coffee, eating our warm cinnamon rolls, and watched the sun sparkle on the water and the snow glisten on the mountain peaks. If that all sounds a bit too much like an advertisement I'm sorry, but that's how it was. The whole day Mandy kept saying that the view got better each time we turned a bend.

We got off the train at Myradal after about 5 hours, and got onto a smaller train known as the Flam Railway. The Myradal station was at 688 metres above sea level, and the Flam Railway takes you through 20 tunnels cut inside the mountains down to sea level and the fjords in only 20km. The engineering feat is famous. The steepest grade is 1 in 18, and one of the tunnels even does a 180 degree turn within the mountain. Its a big tease all the way down, as you only pop out into the sunshine occasionally, and everybody dashes to the window to try to get a photo before entering the next tunnel.

We finally arrived in Flam, had some lunch (inc $5 for a can of Coke) and then boarded a boat for our two hour trip down the fjords to Gudvangen. More sunshine and lovely scenery. At Gudvangen we were met by a bus, which was a shame since we needed 2 buses to fit everybody in, but the lucky ones were taken on an hour long trip further down the fjord by road to Voss where, after a break to ensure the tourists spent their last Kroners on tea, we hopped on our final train of the day to Bergen, arriving at 8:30pm.

A long and tiring day, but a great one.

We've also discovered that we've been labouring under a misapprehension all these years, fueled no doubt by the rather attractive female members of ABBA. We pictured Swedish women as tall, leggy blonds, and were quite surprised that we hardly saw any. However, we've worked out why. They are all in Norway! It's blond central, and most of it natural. So if you're trying to find one, this is where you start.