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Published: July 21st 2013
The owner at the Beste Bakken waited up for us as we drove up at 23:00 with a warm welcome, he showed us our room and quickly disappeared. I woke to the 4:30 sunrise and somehow crashed till 6. We werent aware that just an hour from Best Bakken was a very impressive glacier, we only found that out after we returned from our 5 hour car ride around the world and back.
Off to see the BLUE ICE and as we drove we kept passing a sign with a blue bus. Jeff couldnt understand how they had so many stops for tour busses to take pictures in the middle of these narrow roads. they dont they are called bus stops.. it was a great laugh
As you recall on my trips we get a haircut, go shopping and walk the streets. well a haircut in norway would cost about 500 dollars, food is even more and with only 4 million people we'll have to wait till we get to oslo.
The trip to the Briksdal glacier caught me off guard in the emotions that it evoked. I am not sure that i can do justice describing the
journey in words but Ill try. It was a very rainy kind of day, the roads which we were travelling on were considered highways but they were wide enough for one and half cars. The driving is slow and cautious. on each side of the road there are mountains that are towering above, dark clouds are in the valley hanging over, water falls gushing (cant think of a better word to describe the force at which these falls coming crashing). rivers on the side of the road are rushing changing colors from blue to smokey white emerald. The longer we drove the more water seemed to be breaking through the mountains. The intensity of the internal energy the world was releasing combined with the unfathamoble beauty and at the same time trying to drive on a one lane road with cars going in both direction brought me to a very extreme place. I think for 6 hours I was in a philosophical funk..
About an hour into the drive we had actually seen a small glacier . I called it our private glacier since it was off the road and no one was there to enjoy it except for
small glacier
i called it our private one since no one was thereus.
As we drove into the parking lot at the Briksdal Glacier the sun came out and we started our walk to see some blue ice while finally getting some vitamin d. To see the glacier you either have to take an hour walk (they said 45 minutes) or go up the mountain in a golf cart that looks like it is steroids. obviously we we walked it. a long the way there are signs "this is where the glacier was in 1775" so as you get closer you aren't getting excited about seeing this magnificent piece of ice rather depressed on how much has melted. I looked at jeff and said - i am only focusing on the rivers and falls because all these signs are making me crazy.
For a second looking at it made me sad, it looked lame and defeated but i decided I am going to enjoy this and not go crazy feeling like the global warming is going to do us all in.. i have to admit i saw this documentary movie called "chasing ice" in order to prepare for this trip. The movie is about a man who wants to prove
that global warming is happening and actually put cameras on every mountain in Greenland and then shows how the glaciers are melting. you can probably see him on the TED site.
if you looked close enough you could see that wondrous blue beckoning for someone to come closer. I was just enjoying sitting at the end of the water looking at the glacier, waterfalls and little lake it all formed when all of the sudden this young man in his mid twenties started taking off all of his clothing - literally everything -s and jumped into the ice water - i had a good laugh as his friend looked at me and said "crazy man!"
Jeff and I were really enjoying the walk back to the car and within a second the skies opened up with torrential rains and drenched us - it was great fun walking in the mud. boy did those heated seats feel great!
i put up some movies on vimeo this is the link
https://vimeo.com/user19651831/videos
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Michal
non-member comment
What a big beautiful world, there is out there! Thanks for sharing it with me,you two, adventurers.