Fjords

Our trip to Norway started off with a pleasant surprise, finding out our friend from Ireland was actually on our flight out of London.  This would be just the beginning of an awesome weekend with awesome friends.

Although we were arriving via London, Frankfurt and Oslo we all landed within 30 or so minutes of each other and headed off to our respective apartment/hotels before meeting up for dinner Friday night. 

We had booked the Norway in a Nutshell tour which is really just a package of train and boat tickets that show off the best the country has to offer.

We spent the first couple of hours on the train from Bergen and it provided us some truly gorgeous scenery filled with rivers, waterfalls, fjords, mountains, and cute little Norwegian houses…

as we made our way to the snowy town of Mydral to take the Flamsbana train…

We rode through even more amazing scenery on this train for around an hour on our way to Flam…

with a short stop off at the Kjosfossen waterfall…

We had time to grab lunch in Flam before boarding the boat that would take us through the Songnefjorden.

Even with all the lovely landscapes we had seen on the trains, we were all blown away by the immense beauty of this fjord…

It was FREEZING on the boat, but worth every minute of it!  Definitely one of those times when you cannot help but be in complete awe of our spectacular planet.  There were more than a few discussions of just how we could make a living in we if we moved to one of the little towns at the base of the fjord.  I mean can you imagine this being your front yard?

After two hours we took our frozen bones onto a bus for a ride into Voss.  We had an hour or so before our last train back to Bergen so we headed to a cozy café for some drinks. 

Our plans for a frozen pizza and card night at our little apartment were foiled by the insane fact that you can’t buy beer after 6pm on Saturday nights so we headed to a restaurant to have one last dinner together.

Sunday we met up and walked down to the wharf houses…

You almost feel like you’re walking in a fun house they are so slanted and warped. 

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a traditional place down by the water before bidding our goodbyes to the New Cohort and our Irish lass.  Wow, I really hate goodbyes, especially when it is to people you hold so dear. It was such a great group this weekend and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate time spent with good friends…

Our friends from Atlanta are with us in London for a few more days and we plan to soak up as much “friend time” as possible before heading off to China. 

We’ve got a quick stop in Finland before getting there though.  Cross your fingers for us- we’re going to be in search of the Northern Lights!

 

 

Album from this weekend…

Photo credits to jac and her mrs. for some of the photos from the train and fjords! Thanks guys!!