Oslo To Flam

We ate breakfast, then went out to explore a little more before hitting the road. It was Sunday, the weather wasn't as warm and sunny, so with that the park was practically vacant! There was a cool tree that had flower pedals falling gracefully down as the breeze shook them loose from their stems. We took turns standing underneath and shook the trunk and enjoyed the "snow" as it fell over us. After our time in the park, we headed back to the B&B. Along the way, we looked for a place to buy ice for the cooler (we borrowed Brad and Natalia's’ cooler on wheels). Yeah, good luck with that! With all of these 7-11's, you would think they sell bags of ice, but no. Yes, there are more 7-11's here then in your typical, small southern town!! The last 7-11 we tried sold small bags of cubed ice... US equivilent? ~ about $6!!! Sucked it up and bought a bag to hold us over until we reached our cabin which had a fridge. We walked the 5 or so minutes to our B&B, checked out, and drove to the 7-11 to get the ice and then we were on our way!

We drove from Oslo, leaving around 2pm heading to a small town named Flam where we arrived about 7:20pm. We stopped several times of course to take pictures of the scenery. On place had snow accumulated in the grass. So I grabbed some of that and filled up the cooler with it. I should've known there would be "free" ice along the way in a country like Norway!!! The drive wasn’t as slow as I expected, and the roads were in better condition, and the speeds could be relatively high at times. The place we stayed in had a hostel, place for tents, section for caravans, and cabins. Our cabin was #7. Directly behind us was a vertical rise reaching into the sky that supported no fewer then a dozen waterfalls from ice melt. Gorgeous!!! There was a common building where there were showers, toilets, and sinks all in new and clean condition. Not like in Belize when we stayed in the rain forest where they were a little more “rustic” and there was a bat colony hanging upside down 20 feet above your head as you showered. I know… cool, right!!! At least I thought so. Anyway, we immediately cooked our dinner, as I packed hamburgers, chicken, pepperoni slices, frozen potatoes and vegetables, etc. There's no water in the cabin, so I went to the common area to wash them. New experiences...cool. It didn't get dark up there until around 11:30pm, so we walked around a little and then crashed. The next morning we got up, but R didn’t sleep too well because we were on the bottom bunk of bunk beds, and she didn’t have enough room. I slept quite well, squeezed up against the wall. It was May 12th, and we we went on a small hike around the lake and then took a ferry ride to Gudvangen. The 4 hour ride took us down the middle of the narrowest fjord in Norway with countless waterfalls from the spring melt. It was a great day with plenty of sun and the ride was relaxing and enjoyable. One particularly robust waterfall was a close encounter of the best kind. The captain put the nose of the ship literally inches away from it while a member of the crew eased a long pipe with a funnel at the end into it. The other end dispensed the coldest, cleanest tasting water!!! Everyone came to the front of the ship where we were already stationed to get a glass. How COOL this was!! On the way back to Flam, we stopped in a small town to drop off 2 passengers, and there were 2 little girls playing at waters edge in only shirts with their little white butts popping out. They were waving the ship off as they were concerned the boat was going to come where they were playing and spoil their fun. It was quite cute! When we got back, we took the car out for a drive around the area. There is a lookout high up on a mountain that was recently completed. The signage to find it is not the best, but after asking a boy on a bicycle, we found it after riding past farmhouses and around many, tight switchbacks. The view was great, but the late-in-the-day weather conditions were pretty bad. We decided to come back tomorrow now that we knew how to get there!