Fjord and Field, or Day 14 in Balestrand, Flam, Myrdal, and Oslo, Norway

This morning dawned grey (and also probably dawned at 4am, but these Scandinavian countries have great curtains). We spent a bit of time at the hotel, then out taking pictures, then hopped on our ferry to Flam.

The ferry was a stunning ride through impossibly tall cliffs by the longest fjord in the world (I think, but you might not want to quote me). We got whipped by the wind, then stayed inside where it was dry for the rest of it.

We had a few hours at Flam before our ticket up on the railway. We had some food, bought some souvenirs (including a coat for Alisa... only about thirteen days too late), and readied ourselves to head up the mountain valley.

The Flam railway is world-famous. It climbs 864 meters in about twenty kilometers, with it's steepest incline being 1 meter up for every 18 meters. Not to mention its gorgeous views of the Flam Valley.

We made it up to the top, and as we were walking to the building in Myrdal that housed travelers between train transfers (as we were doing), Alisa spotted our Italian friend from the sunset in Bergen!

She was overjoyed, and I was happy for a bit of giddy fun and socializing. We cracked jokes about nettles (since apparently Italians eat something like them too) until our train to Olso arrived.

It was another picturesque ride, and we finally rode out of the clouds enough to see the sun! This threw my body way out of whack (lunch? dinner? naptime? all of the above?).

We passed through more green countryside, and more farmland as we descended from the mountains. I also finished my book.

And then, we got to Oslo. We met up a final time with Italian Friend and his colleague before checking in to our hotel. The next few days will be our adventures in Oslo before I head to Scotland early early on Sunday!