Bob and Ann in Scandinavia 2007

Please visit today's slide show.

Ann in Front of the Elvesæter Inn

Glorious sun rose over Elvesæter Inn, this quaint “luxury” retreat in the Norwegian mountains. We ate a bountiful breakfast including hot oatmeal for the first time in Scandinavia. I haven’t mentioned it before, but the Norwegian bread is outstanding. We have a choice of several kinds at breakfast.

Our Tour Group - Lisa in Front

We boarded the bus for a six-hour drive broken by numerous photo stops featuring craggy mountains, glacial ice fields and rushing rivers on the Sognefjord road through the mountains. At a stop in Luster, we felt the water. It was very cold coming from the glaciers and mountain lakes.

Scenic Fjord View

We caught our ferry at Kaupanger. We had our picnic lunches with us, so Lisa gave us instructions on how to grab the best tables on deck. We positioned ourselves first in line and when the ferryman gave us the OK to board, we rushed to the tables and beat out all of the other tourists. This paid off for the first ½ hour of the trip while we ate our lunch. Then it began to sprinkle and shower, so most people took shelter and the deck was almost vacant. For the next two hours, I roamed the deck to find the best spots to take pictures. The views were spectacular - towering cliffs, blue water and tumbling waterfalls.

Sognefjord Road

The ferry landed at Gudvangen where we piled back onto the bus to have Mathieu thrill us with his skilled driving up a narrow, steep hill with numerous switchbacks up to another spectacular view of the valley and mountains that we had just passed by bus and ferry.

We arrived in Bergen to pouring rain and checked into the Hotel Rosenkrantz. Because of the rain, our short walking tour of our neighborhood was postponed until the next day. Instead, most of us went to Pepe’s for pizza and beer. Darlene and Caroline hosted an “after party” where we enjoyed retelling past travel stories and revealing future plans.

The map of our route is below. To see it in Google Earth, follow this link.