Glaciers and Fjords with Peter (Scandanavia Part 3)

The next day we took the car ferry over to Bergen, the second largest city in Norway to pick up our friend Peter who flew in from Germany. Peter and I met 19 years ago at an EarthFirst! camp in Northern California. Somehow, across the years and the ocean, we've managed to maintain our friendship. However, we hadn't seen each other since my wedding nine years ago so we were very excited to catch up.

After picking Peter up without any snafus, we headed to Flam (pronounced Flawm), a small village along the Sognefjord (Norway's largest fjord) for the evening. Here is our campsite.

Then we headed straight for this building. It might look like a church...

but in reality it is brew pub! Poor Peter bought our first round and was a little shell shocked that he had just spend $35 on three pints of beer. Welcome to Norway!

The next morning, we took the world famous Flamsbana train up to Myrdal station and back down to Flam. This journey is widely known as the most beautiful train ride in the world.

There were many beautiful waterfalls along the way, and the conductor told a story of how beautiful nymphs are known to try to lure men into the forest to spend eternity with them.

Sure enough, when the train stopped at a particularly beautiful waterfall, some very hokey music began to play and out came the beautiful nymph! We couldn't believe this cheesiness! Luckily, neither Peter not Pat were tempted...

Later that same day, we crossed the Sognefjord, and traveled to Mundal, the gateway to Jostedalsbreen National Park and its many glaciers. Here is another campsite shot.

For dinner, Peter made a traditional German dish: dumplings. This happened to be a "pre-fab" version where we just boiled pre-made ones. Regardless, they were yummy.

Then we headed for our hike up to the glacier. Once again, we were reminded that everything in Norway costs lots of money. Parking at the trail head cost $4.

The trail was very steep, and, in some places, there were guide ropes.

After a few hours of climbing, we can to the unstaffed DNT (Norwegian Trekking Association) hytter. We stopped and chatted with some locals and bought a bit of chocolate (leaving money in the box, of course).

In order to get right up to the Glacier, we had to cross the stream flowing from it. The crossing can be summed up in one word: excrutiating! It was icy cold (go figure). My feet were in agony both during and after the crossing.

Drum roll, please. The Glacier!

Another view.


Peter felt compelled to get a picture of himself beside this little iceberg.