Hurra for deg! We celebrate birthdays at Family Home Evening. This always includes the singing of the Norwegian birthday song. The song includes shouts, hopping, marching, dancing, bowing and so forth. As we approach summer, many of our students will leave us to go back home for the summer. Other YSA will take off for extended vacations either to mountain or seaside cabins or out of the country. We are entering the last week or so of final exams.
This institute dinner was held before the last official class of the year. We had 22 for dinner by the time everyone got there. The next day, to celebrate the continuing good weather, Shanna and I took a drive to the county just north of Hordeland County where we live. We went to "Sogn og Fjordane." Translated it means Sogn (sone) and the fjords. The biggest of all the Norwegian fjords is Sognefjord with all its arms. This whole county is laced with fjords.
We drove NE out of Bergen toward the ski resort town of Voss. This is the lower end of the lake that dominates the Voss landscape. From Voss we turned north on E 16, the main highway to Oslo. The road follows steep-sided valleys that are repleat with waterfalls such as this beauty.
As you wind down the Nærøy valley the road takes you to Gudvangen, a ferry stop at the end of Nærøyfjord. As you look up from the ferry docks you see still more waterfalls. OK, I promise, no more waterfalls but you have to admit....
Looking up river where the fjord and river meet.
Now down the Nærøyfjord that leads back to the massive Sognefjord.
Bus tours drop their passengers here for a spectacular two hour cruise to Flåm. You can also catch a car ferry to a couple of destinations on Sognefjord.
If you want something a little quicker and more exciting take the Fjord Safari on one of its routes.
One of the stops for this power boat is the little town of Undredal where you can sample the local goatcheese and apple cider. The town has a Stave church from the 1100's. We took the tunnel (11 km long) through the mountain and the 6 km narrow road to Undredal.
Undredal sits on the Aurlandsfjord, which leads to what was our final stop of the day just around the point or through the mountain tunnel.
Do you suppose that some old Norwegian farmer, way back when, said to his wife, "Hey hon, let's build a little place where we can farm and maybe milk a dairy herd. I know of a ridiculously steep hillside in the middle of nowhere. Whaddaya think?
Here is the goat herd just outside of Undredal. The goats are all up by the milking barn.
Last stop of the tour is Flåm, which is the northern terminus of the Flåm railway. This is a transportation hub and tourist town. There is plenty of camping-- both RV and little cabins-- plus hotels. The railway comes straight out of that mountain. The terrain is so steep that the tunnel builders dug a tunnel with switchbacks inside the mountain. The line is only 20 km long but over 6km is in the tunnels. Norwegians are by necessity, amazing engineers.
The train arrived while we were checking out the town. There is a good little museum about the rail line with an emphasis on building and maintaining the line. All the electricity to run the train is provided by one waterfall that was harnessed for its hydroelectric capacity.
Bad idea for track maintenance.
Better idea for track maintenance.
I like looking inside the old train engines.
The cab looks kind of cramped to me.
The Flåm railway is part of the famous and very popular "Norway in a Nutshell" tours. By high summer the trains will be jam-packed with tourists from all over the world. Today the crowds were heavily Italian and German with an Englishman here and there.
Once you leave the train you can take the "fast ferry" or any of the other craft to continue on your way.
Cruise ships also make it up these fjords. These folks will no doubt take a round-trip tour with train, bus and ferry back to their ship. We had a great day, and got some good ideas and information for a future trip we need to take even further north.
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