vacation Sunday (June 14) part 2: fjord tour - bus

 We got off the train in Voss and had a little bit of time to look around before catching our bus.  We found the bus stop, then took some pictures.  The boys and I took a very short walk and found Voss Church, which has been standing for 750years.  We also found a playground!  

There were so many kids in soccer gear walking around, and that's because the weekend was Vosskirk: a soccer tournament.  Ok, it was time to go to the bus stop and it was chaos.  All the tour groups were already lined up.  (Side note: I was glad I wasn't in a tour group because it seemed like they were herded from one thing directly to another and would stand in line waiting for the next mode of transportation.)  There was no way we would all fit on a single bus.  Turns out there were three buses for everyone, and I assume that everyone fit on.  We got probably the last five seats together in the second bus, at the very back.  In some ways being in the back was really nice because you could turn around and see out the back window too!  This is where we started to see waterfalls.  It turns out I love waterfalls.  Big ones, small ones, it really doesn't matter.  I love them all.

The first waterfalls!

It was rather fortuitus that the bus stopped where it did, because we heard there was an accident in a tunnel in front of us and the traffic was just backing up.  We were able to bypass all the traffic and were let out in Gudvangen.  I'm going to assume that there is a little more than what we saw to this city, because all that was there was a restaurant, a store, some bathrooms, and a dock.  It seemed like it should have a little more based on its location, but perhaps I just couldn't see what was on the other side of the mountain.  Or maybe it really was that small and remote.

There was a waterfall that we explored a little bit.  It naturally came off the mountain, but a bunch of infrastructure was added at the bottom.  That's actually how most waterfalls near the road looked.  It was a good place to grab a rock, so I said the kids they could each grab one but to try and not be conspicuous about it.  So they climbed up a little bit, got some pictures, and then I look up a minute later and there is Isaac, on his stomach, leaning out to get "the perfect" rock.  So much for being inconspicuous.  

Ben had done his homework and told us that it would be best to bring our own lunch, so we did.  We had a very nice picnic lunch before getting on the boat. It was 100% the right choice.  The little restaurant had a line out the door, and then the boat wouldn't let outside food on the boat.  We were some of the last people on, but looking at the waterfall and eating lunch was much better than just waiting in line that whole time, as we would have done if we were with a tour.

I got a few pictures of us eating lunch in a beautiful location, but none were flattering, so instead you can see Isaac at our picnic table with rocks.

Our boat!

 

Thursday: book

 I finished my book today.  Luckily, it is only the first in a rather long series!  The work day was back to a normal busy - I had time to read a for a few minutes during lunch.  There was also a lot of running around this evening, so I had a bunch of short spurts to read.

Wednesday: groceries, seaweed

Ah, Wednesday.  Boring chore day...although there were a few other chores that found their way in today too.

It started with groceries.  The store was all out of butternut squash.  Can you believe it?  Who wants that much butternut squash?  My meal plan is derailed.  (Also, I didn't realize we were out of frozen sausages, which also derails my meal plan but not quite as much.)

This afternoon I continued to deal with the seaweed that is washing up on our shore.  I think this is the worst year so far.  I remember one other bad year, but so far our yard waste bin is 3/4 full of seaweed, the last quarter is drying on the grass, and there is a whole bunch more still coming in.  Luckily the year hasn't been too bad until now.

I fixed one of our soffits!  It was significantly easier than I was expecting.  One of the boards had come loose and I took the tiny nails out and used a screw to attach it back up.  There was even a pilot hole because of the nails.  Once I got the end attached the rest of the board popped back into place...I wasn't sure that was going to happen and it was just going to be good enough.  But now it's better than good enough.

After a few "fine" books I'm finally reading one that has grabbed my attention well, so that has been nice.  It's nice to want to pick up the book instead of phone games when I have a few minutes.

Tuesday: trolled

 Ben, text: 🪿❤️🦒🦒
Amanda, in the car: oh, the car doesn't say emojis.
Ben: it has done so in the past
Joshua: Hahaha.  Isaac just wrote the words out when we were testing it: "giraffe emoji, heart emoji"
Ben: oh, that's right

I was cracking up.

vacation Sunday (June 14): fjord tour - train

Today was the fjord tour!  It included a train, a bus, and a boat.  There will be a lot of pretty pictures, as that is mostly what happened today.

We got to the train station, and finding the right train was pretty straightforward.  I was a bit surprised by the train, because the train seemed more like a normal train rather than a tour train.  In reality, I suppose it can be both!  We saw some cool parts of the country side.  At some of the stops we saw dandelions - but they were knee-high!  I don't think I've ever seen such tall dandelions before!  The train also went through a ton of tunnels.  Some tunnels had fancy lights in them, and some were just tunnels.  I do enjoy a good tunnel for some reason though, and they made the out-of-tunnel times even better.

There were large buttons to push on the trains and trolleys to open the doors.  Probably so that in the winter cold air wasn't blowing through for no reason.

The day started out with low clouds.  Not really foggy, but it did obscure some of the view.

At a small train station

Monday: school pictures

 

Saturday: cats and LEGO

Tornado really likes sitting in Joshua and my chairs and is reluctant to give it up when we want to sit there.

After Norway, Isaac chose one of the pictures and the goal is to remake the picture in different media.  He started making it in LEGO but decided not to do so, so I took it over.