Monday, June 14, 2010

Day 4 - Over the Mountains to Fjord Country

Today was grrrrrreat.......well, mostly.  After a good and free brekkie (& we took extra supplies from the brekkie buffet for lunch), we headed out of Oslo in Monday morning work traffic.  Needless to say, my driver heads directly off into this maze of trams, cars, buses, motorbikes, cyclists and pedestrians......and commences to set up the camera (well actually, I had already done this, but adjustment was deemed necessary), switch on & program Tom Tom and set the GPS ... all while negotiating streets that he has never seen before.  Of course, this all adds to the adventure.....

Anyhoooo, once out of Oslo it was onto single lane road with very little traffic - according to Tom Tom this would take about 7.5 hrs of driving.  Well, the scenery was fantastic - all the way.  Lakes, mountains, snowy rocky plateau's with partially frozen lakes, and of course fjords.  We crossed our first one today - Peter was so excited I had to calm him down!!

The high plateau between Oslo and Bergen ...
... I had to crop this picture to exclude all of the CamperVans!!

... does she look cold? ... never mind, she enjoyed the sandwich ... even more so because it was from the breakfast buffet in Oslo Hotel (ironically called the Munch Hotel ... Mr Munch was a famous Norwegian artist) ...

... the bright sunlight does not give much warmth this far north ... not to mention at 1,500 metres.
... very excited ... and windswept on the first Fjord crossing

There was one final leg after the Fjord Crossing.  It was a fjord edge narrow road, just like those you see in Italian or Corsican car rally footage.   Except that it was used by huge trucks hammering their way to wherever.   The long streaks of black rubber approaching every narrow turn put the wind up the hardiest wannabe rally ace.  Once I get the little video clip loaded, you will see what i mean.  but i need a better wifi link than the one here in Bergen.



Instead I leave you with a variation on a road sign along the way.  We couldn't snap the real one because it was within a tough roadworks section, but it was very similar to this one.


Arriving in Bergen was a little tougher.   We were tired and the traffic jams were an unwelcome delay.   Then the inside of the apartment was a like a student hovel or a mountain hut ... not quite what you expect for 800 NOKs a night.   That's about 145 SFr per night.    But then everything in Norway is excruciatingly expensive.  To cap it off, the only place to buy wine is in the Government Liquor Store ... just like the set up in Canada.  Except it shuts at 6pm.

The car is now safely parked in a covered car-park where it will stay for 2 complete days.   And we're cooking up pesto pasta to be washed down with some Aussie Chenin Blanc.   Tomorrow, we will be exploring far and wide ... and on foot.

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