A Long Drive to Deal With Goobers

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Geo: 60.9036, 7.20172

We take our time getting up and dressed this morning. Breakfast is served until 11am and we arrive there at 10. It's good but honestly, none of these breakfast buffets can compare with the ones we had in Germany two years ago. Three different kinds of eggs, many cereals, breads and oatmeal, fish, yogurt, lunch meats, and much more were the norm there. Here, it's much more basic. That's OK. After last night's $50 meal, this free breakfast is great. We finish our food and return to our room where I lie in bed, contemplating today's drive into the unknown.

At noon, we grab our things and make our way, in the rain, to the parking garage. This time I have a ticket. There's a sign on the ticket machine but it still appears operable. I put my ticket in. Gone! Pondering what do to next, a young couple comes by and they speak English. I ask about the sign but he speaks no Norwegian. He takes out his phone, takes a picture of the hand written sign with his phone, then somehow roughly translates it. Basically, "Receipt Printer Not Working". Another Boomer genius, Mom said. It still doesn't explain my lost ticket so I push the call button. The attendant says, "Your fine". He hangs up and my ticket is returned. Finally.

We load the car, drive to street level and insert my ticket. Nothing. I back out before any other cars pull behind me and go back to machine. I find out, on my own, that the guy just returned my ticket unpaid. I reinsert my MC, pay the $30, get my ticket back, return to the car, drive to the exit, the arm goes up and off we go. Setting the GPS for Flam seems easy enough. There's only a couple of different highways but lots of tunnels, trailers, construction and lost signals.

In Norway, it's practically impossible to drive from one place to another without making a mountain crossing or riding on a ferry across a fjord. It's a beautiful country but its intricate geography created by a maze of fjords, glaciers, and mountains meant that, in the past, many Norwegian communities remained isolated from one another other during the long winter months. Neighbors may live less than a mile from one another, but on opposite sides of the fjord or mountain, and that's a world apart. That was before Norway started building an extensive network of tunnels. If a mountain stands on the way, they will drill through it. A fjord is too long to build a bridge? Go under. Tunnels make driving through the country much more easier than taking long routes along mountains or ferry hopping.There are over 900 road tunnels in Norway with total length exceeding 750 km, and at least 33 undersea tunnels. For a country the size of Norway, that's an awful lot of tunnels.

Our trip to Flam and eventually Aurland is relatively uneventful. Driving past Flam and thinking of our planned activity for tomorrow, I decide to stop and get our tickets. It looks to be a full day, starting around 9am with a old fashioned train ride up the steep canyon, a transfer to the regular rail line for an hour journey to Voss, a couple hours of sightseeing there, then a bus ride for an hour from Voss down to Gudvangen via the treacherous Stalheimskleiva. Then we relax aboard a ferry for a two hour ride through the Naeroyfjord and into the Aurlandsfjord, returning to Flam by 6pm. Since this "Norway in a Nutshell" package can sell out, especially if cruise ships are in port, I purchased our tickets May 2 and they asked me to bring my paperwork and present it a day early, if possible, to exchange for the actual boarding tickets. I see two cruise ships in port.

In the ticket office, I present my paperwork. First, the girl tells me the battery powered boat we picked won't be in service until July. They really touted this as the newest thing for a peaceful ride through the fjords and we paid a bit more for a nice quiet ride. I also felt that the higher price might create an economic barrier, shielding us from the crowds. No luck but they will refund the difference. She hands me the tickets, then tells me we may not be able to get on the different transportation modes unless there's space. "But I reserved a space last May", I said. That's why I made the reservation early. If it's sells out, I would already have my spot".

She explains, "No, you have a place. You just need to let everyone else get on and, if there's still space, you can board. If not, just wait for the next train or boat and ride that one. You'll get back". So I ask, "You're telling me that every one of these bus loads and cruise ship loads of people purchasing tickets today get on before I can board?" We go on and on. They bring out the "supervisor" who's just as uninformed about their own product. That's OK. I will use their stupidly to my advantage. As Arnold would say, "I'll be back".

Karen checks out the gift shop in Flam. It's huge and has tons of stuff, perfect for wandering around in. She finds all sorts of things she's seen elsewhere but hesitated to purchase. There's no hesitation now and why not. The best prices are always where all the tourists and cruise ships hang out. After loading her loot in the Kadjar, we roll the 7km to the guest house, Vangsgaarden Gjestgiveri, in Aurland, just down the road from Flam. It's a quick check in. We're located on the second floor and Mom is forced to negotiate another spiral staircase. I just want to sleep. My fevers almost gone. I'm just tired and not very hungry. Mom is hungry so we go to the little restaurant next door. I have a small salad. Karen has the fish. Both are tasty. Did I mention pricey?

My plan was to drive the Aurland road, which is one of Norway's national tourist roads this evening. Along that road lies the Stegastein viewpoint, jutting 33' out from the side of the mountain, over 2100' above the Aurland fjord. The view of the fjord is supposed to be unsurpassed. Today I have done all the driving I can do so instead, I return to the room for a nice hot shower and sleep while Karen checks her email on the WiFi. She notices what appears to be two bites on my thigh. They look terrible but cause no pain or itch. She gives me some antibiotic that she always carries on our trips. I do manage to get some blogging done but tomorrow's a long day, although there's no driving involved. Thank God.

Takk, everyone.

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