The Flåmsbanna

Off to Flåm and the scenic Mydra to Flåm railway aboard the Flåmsbanna, one of the steepest railways in the world (apparently). This is clearly a tourist attraction as, there were hundreds for grey hairs and Japanese tourist lined up to catch the train. Well, there wasn't much to see as it was raining and completely fogged in. We did have a great view of a colourful Spaniard who loudly "oooooh'd" and "ahhhh'd" at every chance he could. I believe he has mocking the the rest of the people (a Spanish tour group) who still decided to take picture even though you couldn't see anything on account of the fog. Since it was such lovely weather (raining), we decided to hike to a waterfall (more water). When you're wet might as well keep it that way.

The second day in Flåm was awesome, the clouds broke and it was completely cloudless. We headed of for a monster hike, 6hrs, i have no idea how many kms. It was from Østerbø to Vassbygdi. The view were breathtaking, the pictures just don't do justice.

The third day, Robin and I kayaked on the Aurlandsfjord, with our German tour guide. It was just the three of us, so we were able to do more kayaking than the group normally would, and we had an opportunity to talk about pre and post german unification. She grewup in the eastern part of german. You might thing I'm nuts but I drank water from a river, or runoff steam, and I didn't get sick. To top it off the water was tasty!

Of course you can see more pictures here.

The ice planet of Hoth

We arrived in Voss by train from Stockholm via Oslo. Voss is situated on the main road and railway line from Oslo to Bergen, about 100 kilometers east of Bergen. This is where we met up with friends Julie and Joel, and made our home base for the next two nights. Not much going on in the sleepy town of Voss, except for some guys ripping up the street on dirtbikes and four wheelers. Reminded me of rural any where in Canada. We also stumbled upon some teenagers filming each other grinding a rail on skis in front of the church. Ahh only in Norway.

The next day we set off for a hike in Finse, which is at the highest point along the Olso to Bergen railway at 1222m. Finse was the location for the ice planet Hoth in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Can you imagine, I was at the site of the legendary battle of Hoth, and walked the very same earth as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and those crazy Imperial walkers things.

It was cold, 5C cold, and on the verge of raining when we arrived. I didn't bring bring gloves, so i was forced to purchase some at the local and only bike shop. Infact I think this was the only shop, as there are no roads that lead here, acess is by train. I payed a kings ransom for these gloves, seems thy have a captive audience there. We hiked out to the glacier, two hours out, two hours back. The scenery was beautiful, but desolate. The hike was cold and wet, i think it rained the entire time. The entire time we were out there, I had to remind myself, this is August, yes, this is August. We returned to Voss, had a sauna, dinner, and called it a day.