Norway in a Nutshell Journey

Hi all!!

Well today started off pretty badly to be honest. Left the apartment after having some brekky and packing up. It was pouring with rain and I got soaked! Lucky for me I remembered my backpack has a raincoat thing in the bottom of it, so I was able to keep all my stuff dry!!

Got to the station only to read that dreaded word next to my train - "cancelled". Lightning had struck a tunnel. I thought I handled this fairly well. Over the course of the trips I've done previously I have experienced this a lot, especially coming to Europe in the winter twice. 18 year old Claire on Europe trip 1 probably would have cried and lost it. 19 year old Claire on Europe trip 2 probably would've gotten all sweaty and flustered and stressed out. But today, 21 year old Claire decided stressing wouldn't help anything. So off I went to ask the NSB lady a bunch of questions, and she directed me to a train that would take me one stop and then connect to a bus. The plan today with my 'Norway in a Nutshell' ticket was to go Bergen-Voss-Gudvangen-Flåm-Myrdal-Oslo. This train took me to Arna. Me and lots of other tourists got off here and met the bus we had been promised would be waiting for us. This bus turned out to be great! I sat next to a really lovely lady from the Ukraine who has lived in Norway since 2007. She was kind enough to look up whether the rest of my journey would be affected, which she promised it wasn't! We chatted the whole way to Voss. The weather was terrible at this point so I was keeping everything crossed that it would improve. Also should mention that Adam's woollen apparel company (Dale of Norway) comes from the town Dale which we passed through on this journey. Had another giggle!

Got to Voss and easily found the bus to Gudvangen. I had been sticking with an American couple from Mississippi called Mari and Louis (who wrote down my blog address so could possibly be reading this - hello and sorry if I spelled your names wrong!) and sat near them. The weather improved marginally. We went on our way to Gudvangen and on our way descended by bus into the Naerøy Valley, which has the steepest road in Norway and is also a unesco site. It was amazing! My photos suck though because I was on a bus. Ah well!

We arrived in Gudvangen. Still raining!!! Boarded the ferry for our 2 hour fjord cruise through the Sognefjord, Norway's largest fjord. Beautiful!!! Even though it was a bit bleak to start off with, the sun eventually decided to make an appearance and I got some great shots! Saw cute little hilltop villages, waterfalls and just sat there stunned by how amazingly beautiful this country is. Switzerland, your place in my heart as my favourite country may be in jeopardy...! Chatted some more to Mari and Louis and also met a few single travellers. We all took some photos for each other haha. 

Then we arrived in Flåm! Said my goodbyes to Mari and Louis who were staying here a night and left my case in left luggage. Paid a visit to the Flåmsbana Museum (Flåm Railway Museum) which shed light on some history and facts about the famous railway. It was built from 1924-1944 and is 20km long. Eighteen of the tunnels were created by hand, and for every metre dug out, it took 150 man hours. The track had a gradient of 1/18 (so next time a kid asks me why they'll ever need linear graphs in real life I'm gonna spurt out that fact) for 80% of the track and ascends a total 863.5m from Flåm to Myrdal. I left dad a message in the guest book for when he's there next week!!

Spent the rest of my time walking around. It was cold and rainy but the sun kept popping out at random intervals. Flåm is very small. I looked at all of the shops, walked past some houses and saw some mountain goats. Bought myself some chocolate at the supermarket!

Then I was on my way again. Got to the front of the queue for the train and bagged myself a forward facing seat on the right hand side, which the lovely lady at left luggage told me was the better side. And she was right!! God it was beautiful. Reminded me a lot of the glacier express train from St Moritz to Zermatt in Switzerland, but less snow! (Funny that seeing as it's "summer"!!!). Saw beautiful valleys, waterfalls and villages. Hope you like the photos. We stopped at the Kjosfossen (a waterfall). The water sprayed everywhere as it was a huge waterfall! There was eerie music playing and someone doing a creepy dance on the hill pretending to be a troll!

Got to Myrdal. Another dreaded message on the departures board - "delayed". Sigh. It just wasn't my day! But no stress again. Passed the time by chatting to a guy from Brisbane until he left for Bergen. Then chatted to a couple from Oxford who were super friendly and have travelled lots as well! We shared lots of stories. Everyone I've met today knows I'm meeting dad tmro - am a bit excited!!!

Now I'm (finally) on my way to Oslo after a 1 hour delay. Should arrive at 11.30pm, lucky it's a short walk to my hotel so I won't feel in danger at all. 

Can't wait to explore tmro and meet dad in the afternoon - yay!!

.....the wifi on the train carked it half way through uploading so it's now nearly midnight. I'm in Oslo! I'm in a shoebox again but oh well :) nice modern hotel. It's still so light I could walk around and feel safe. They're playing the world cup match downstairs! Night!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox