Norway Part 1

Oops.. been neglecting this blog for some time. I need to post the photos from Norway soon. else I'm only going to get busier with work :(

Norway was great fun. But it was cold and it is a very expensive place indeed! Just the hotel for 4 nights, rail travel + 2 hr cruise set us back by about £400. I've just booked a ski trip to Andorra for 8 days 7 nights, and including hotel (half board), air tix, ski school (including equipment, ski pass etc), airport transfers only £482. But cannot compare I guess. One is Scandinavian, and the other is a small western european state?

We flown in to Oslo from London. It was quite a shame actually because by the time we got to Oslo, it was 4pm and very dark alread. So we didn't really get to tour Oslo because we were there only for the day (night?).

But we still decided to go to this Sculpture Park in Oslo. The park contains 192 sculptures with more than 600 figures.




And as it was full moon that night, I tried to take a picture of the very very bright moon. Unfortunately, my Canon Ixus is not good enough for the night shot.

The 2nd day we took the train at 815am to get to Flam. The railway which we took is supposed to be one of the most scenic rail rides in the world. And i must admit it is very beatiful instead. The train can take us directly to Bergen, our final destination. We took the Oslo-Myrdal-Flam-Gudvangen-Voss-Bergen route. This leg of the journey is Oslo-Myrdal-Flam.




Its quite amazing actually. These photos are in sequence. So you'll realise, some places are clear and dry, but some places are snowy and white (like above)!




That's a ski slope in the faraway background.


At one of the stops, we got down the train to try and play with some snow.


And take pictures too. But there were some hard core chinese smokers at the back! Argh.. spoilt our photo.


And this part is especially snowy. The lakes were partially frozen by the way.


If you look at this photo carefully, you can see a hint of the blue sky. So you realise that the grey and dull colour is for real. It's not because the train windows were dirty, or my camera is lousy.


Finse is the highest station in the entire Norwegian rail system at 1,222m. Check out the icicles hanging down from the roof of the house!




Arrival at Myrdal where we change trains to board the Flamsbana railway.


On the left is the train to Bergen and the right is the Flamsbana.


Colourful houses


The girls are posing!


Our train is actually quite retro style.


The Kjosfossen waterfall at a height of 93m.


Frozen waterfall just above the tunnel.
















Thats the small town of Flam. We're reaching soon!


Arrival at Flam. Flam is a small town with a population of around 400. Thats the Fretheim Hotel which we stayed for the night.


That's the cruise that we are taking to Gudvangen for coach transfer to Voss for train transfer to Bergen. The cruise is supposed to be the highlight of the tour as it goes through a part of the magnificent Norway Sognefjord.


Norway in a nutshell - the tour which we booked ourselves on.


The fjord water is so clear that we can see the starfish in the water!







Time for bed. Its 1230am now. I'll post the rest of Flam and Bergen photos soon!