We've also lucked out the past few nights here in fjord country. Our hotel in Balestrand and our apartment in Flåm both had a balcony with fjord views.
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| Balestrand balcony view |
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| Our Flåm apartment overlooked the water |
Flåm is a tourist mecca -- not only do you have all the "Nutshellers" passing through, but also several cruise ships can be in port at a time. It was a pretty place but very busy, and we didn't mind leaving it after spending just one night. This morning we took the scenic (and pretty much tourist-only) Flåmsbana railway up to Myrdal. The rail line goes up 2800 feet through a mountain pass as it winds its way through twenty tunnels to get to Myrdal. It is Europe's steepest standard gauge railway.
It takes about an hour to get from Flåm to Myrdal, and you pass idyllic farms, waterfalls, and gorgeous mountain views along the way. We did have to laugh at a young couple sitting across the aisle from us ignoring scenery like this in favor of watching the latest Game of Thrones episode on their tablet.
At Myrdal we changed trains to get on the normal passenger train to Oslo. Despite traveling all day, when we arrived in Oslo we hit the ground running with a guided walking tour of the city.
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| The palace. Our new friends, the king and queen, live here. |
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| City Hall mosaic -- are they arm wrestling? High-fiving? We have no clue. |
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| View of the Oslo waterfront and medieval Akershus Fortress |
We are looking forward to exploring more of the city tomorrow!
I think that dude is getting kicked in the balls.
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