vacation Sunday (June 14) part 4: return train

The return train was actually two different trains.  The first one was getting from Flam to another train station and was more of a tourist train.  It also had some nice screens with good information.

And more waterfalls!

The train was really warm.  There were a few windows that could go down, but then when we were in tunnels it was really noisy.  (Also there were signs that asked for the windows to stay up.)  We found seats with one other person who was just traveling by herself and she became an honorary member of our family for the trip.

Rjoandefossen:

Partway through there was a stop!  We could get out of the train for the Kjosfossen waterfall.  There is a legend that says Huldra, a seductive and elusive forest spirit, lures away travelers from the falls.  Surprisingly (ish), a woman in a red dress started dancing about half way up the falls and I think some music started playing in the background too.  I think most of our pictures were before she came out.  It was a nice way to wake up and cool off a bit.

Isaac decided to use this picture to recreate in different media once we got home.  (Spoiler: he started a LEGO remake and quit, so I picked that one up.  I think it would be interesting if he make one in LEGO too and we could see how different they are.  He has also done a painting.  I'm planning on a quilt.)

After this we were starting to get slightly worried...we only had about five minutes for our transfer and we seemed to be running a few minutes behind.  

We needn't have worried.  The transfer was all of a five second walk across a platform.  We laughed at ourselves a bit, but it was just something we didn't know!

The return part of a scenic tour is always the most boring.  I gave Isaac and Joshua devices, and was surprised to see that Isaac continued to look out a window!  Well, apparently he was rather bored but didn't realize I that I had given him his phone to play games on and not take pictures with.  I still think he must not have been that bored or he would have said something.

This was the same lake that we passed in the morning, with all the fog burned off.

We walked back to our hotel.  We stopped at a chicken place to get some food to bring back to the hotel room.  The lack of sauces in Denmark and Norway was sad.  They had some, but they were always expensive and extra.  They also didn't have our normal sauces...new sauces can be fun to try, but I like ours better.

The lovies enjoyed watching Norway from the window.

Bed time!  (Although I had to look at the date stamp of the picture to see if it was bed time or wake up time!  The room was so bright.)

Tuesday: how the phone dies

Phone: "Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what you say.  Amen."
Phone dies.

The timing was perfect.  The moment "Amen" was finished it died.

Monday: chores

I finished a lot of my chores today!  I had a whole bunch of shorter chores that had been waiting for other people but were finally ready.  I also had a few other things that just went faster than I expected.

Also, have I mentioned?  Getting up 20-30 minutes earlier than last year gives me a ton of extra time in the morning.  I like seeing Isaac for a little bit and have never had a more consistently clean kitchen.

I wasn't able to get all the seaweed into the yard waste.  Some neighborhood kids and raked up another huge pile yesterday.  So the lake is mostly clean but there is still one large pile left.  The bin is also really, really heavy right now. I'm hoping the water evaporates over the next day and it's easier tomorrow.  Otherwise I'll ask a kid to help me get it to the road for pickup.

vacation Sunday (June 14) part 3: boat

We got on the boat next!  It was going from Gudvangen to Flam.  So many waterfalls!!  There are a ton of waterfall pictures and I had to stop myself from adding more.

Since we were near the end getting on, it was pretty crowded inside and we decided to go outside for a bit.  It was cool.  I probably should have brought a sweatshirt instead of a cardigan, but didn't think about it.  It was fine (ish) while we were outside and then it was nice inside when we finally went in.

Someone was feeding a seagull behind us and our family all grumbled about it.  Don't feed the wildlife.  Tons of people were taking a video though, so it encouraged the guy even more.

While not shown in this picture, there were a few roads and cars, a small village or two, some sheep, etc.  They were always near the bottom of the fjord because it got steep rather quickly.

Joshua was a bit cold too, so we snuggled a bit.  Oh!  Look!  A village with a waterfall.

We made a stop at Lægdafossen.  It was obviously a popular tourist destination, as there was a short line of boats waiting for their turn to back up and get close to the falls.

At this stop I managed to get good photos of the waterfall and good photos of people, but not together.

Soon after this we hit our highest point in the trip with 60.99 deg north latitude, at Beitelen where three fjords meet.  Isaac and I went inside after this.  The rest of the family had found a place to sit, and there was mostly enough room for us too.  I think Isaac found a place a few rows away, but he was reading his book.

While it was nice and refreshing to be outside, it was nice and warm inside.  Also, they had great tour information on the monitors!

Flam was our destination.  We had originally thought about driving and or doing the tour from Bergen to Oslo, but Ben did some reading and said Flam was mostly a tourist trap.  From the little bit that we saw, and it was just a little bit, it seemed accurate.  While I'm sure different plans would have been great, I'm glad we made a home base in Bergen.

I have no doubt Joshua stood behind the pole on purpose. :(

Next up, train back home!

Sunday: marble olympics

 A month or two ago we stumbled on a Youtube channel that had marble Olympics.  It was amazing.  Each marble had a name, there were stats, and there were captains.  It was not the first time this has happened, so there were stats from previous years.  There was a sports announcer and they said things like, "Oh, Snowflake should have practiced more."  and "Blueberry really improved!  Last time she only got .35m down the track."

Anyway, with that backstory, Joshua made his own marble Olympics.  It included a marble race, sumo wrestling, bowling, a distance roll, and a long jump.  Isaac's Sunflowers came in first place, my Sea Bubbles came in fourth place, and Joshua came in last.  He made a nice award stand with a sunflower that rotated up when the winner was announced.

Friday: what a day

I had a beautiful walk with Natalie and Meredith this morning.  We went to Mt. Pisgah, which involves a lot of stairs.  It was a lovely day to be outside and there was a lot to talk about.

I continue to work on getting the seaweed out of the lake.  Great news: the seaweed in the yard waste bin shrank considerably and so I had plenty of room for today's seaweed and there will be room for the next batch too.  There are still two patches of seaweed near the shore, so we'll see what happens with the wind over the next little bit.

We got Crumbl Cookie tonight.  It was buy six for the price of four, so we got way too many cookies.  We were all careful with how much we ate though.

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!