Norway in a nutshell

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Whoever said its about the journey, not the destination must have been the marketing guy for Tourism Norway. They have this tour called Norway in a nutshell and its certainly all about the journey. A round trip from Bergen that comprised:. Train to Voss, bus to Gudvangen, boat to Flam, train to Myrdal. Saw some pretty amazing scenery along the way. Boat took us through the Naeroyfjorden and Aurlandsfjorden. Couldn't believe the streams of water cascading down the mountains, some from the top which could be as high as 1800 metres. Would make for some pretty cool water sliding!
Boat dropped us in Flam, a sleepy little town where winter sees the bare minmum trade happening. (read 1 cafeteria open, but which did a mean fish and chips)

Time to then hop on the very famous Flam railway, which was built to join Flam at sea level, with Myrdal at 867m above sea level. The journey takes 50 mins and has one wicked waterfall photo stop on the way. Climbing high and fast into the mountains is a pretty cool experience, but I couldn't help but think about those poor sods who spent 20years building the track! What with the harsh winters (today the high was 5 degrees, just as a guide) and your only aide being a horse and cart, to make the work a little easier, I'd say it wouldn't have been too much fun. But now, they are reaping the benefits of being able to say they have the highest railway in Northern Europe and get to cream it from the tourists. The funny part was if they had hidden cameras in the carriages. Because as we went up the mountain, the views were only ever on one side of train, but alternating as we climbed. This meant we were all scrambling from one side of the carriage to the other, hanging out the windows, trying to get the photos of the incredibly awesome view. Every now and then, the conductor would pipe in with a comment like, "and when we come out of this tunnel, you will see the blah-blah waterfall, on your left hand side", so we would all rush over to the left and get cameras at the ready. He must have been enjoying the sight! Stupid tourists! (I know, I know, I wholly admit I am one of them myself, but I am really trying to upgrade myself to "traveller" status)

I read in the airline mag on the way up, that Norway is famous for its waffles. They freely admit that being famous for something readily available the world over, not to mention even a little bit competitive with countries like Belgium, is not going to win them any prizes for originality. But hey, I'm not complaining, they had me at "waffles". I have also noticed the abundance of places selling hot dogs (of what we in the takeaway business term, the "American" kind, the frankfurter sausage wrapped up in a roll) and after passing the third place in a row selling these rather inexpensive snacks, thought I had better sample one of these specialties. All I can say is yum, those dodgy London hotdog vendors out with their stands on a Sat night on Tottenham Court Rd could learn a thing or two from these guys! Man, I am all over a place that touts waffles and hot dogs as their specialties! And look, it only took me 3 blog entries to start talking about food.

Apart from the day of rain, its been fine ever since. Average temp has been about 6 degrees which is good,it means we can acclimatise for Russia and Siberia gradually! We're now heading to Helsinki where its going to be hovering around 1 or 2 degrees...plus or minus, take your pick!

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