Spectacular Overwhelming Scenery

We slept 10 hours with the window cracked to let in the cool mountain air and the shades drawn blocking out the light as we are again in daylight for 24 hours a day. We must have needed it, but we jumped up not believing the time, showered and hurried to breakfast. We are finding people in Norway not nearly as friendly as Sweden. Maybe it's because we are in a city.

Then, when we checked out and got our bill, Holy Smokes! We were so blurry, sleepy last night, we were just thankful to get a room. That is surely a lesson. Our dinner was $50 each, beer $30 each and our room $300 - for a little tiny basic room. All of our frugality was ruined in one night. Oh well, live and learn.

Today was a mountain drive and a pass back over the Arctic Circle. We were most happy to leave the city and it's traffic behind.

We went through a long tunnel that was just starting to freak me when we came out the other side by a wide, swiftly flowing river that we followed through the mountain valleys.

As I glanced over the sides of parts of the road with a shear drop and no guard rail, I suggested to Bob that he might want to go a slower speed. He suggested that I might drive. I suggested....oh, that's enough. You get the idea.

This was fabulously beautiful country and our brains were on overload. I didn't even take pictures for a while. It's hard to soak it all in. I think that if I saw a moose, I would max out and have to quit and go home.

Notice the sign for an upcoming picnic area and a WC (water closet/toilet). They are so good at having regular stops.

Luckily it rained a while or as the scenery grew more awesome, I might have burned up my camera in a clicking flurry. There were quaint farms, smoke coming out of chimneys on little sod covered cabins, sheep, horses, wild flowers in mountain valleys, snow covered peaks, and on and on and on...

This was the scenic route in back country and we were loving it! Would anyone like to come over and see our 9000 pictures?

We drove up above the tree line into the snow and over the Arctic Circle.

This area is a National Park for Norway. There was a very nice visitor center and café. There were monuments here, and at one of our earlier stops, for the Russian Prisoners of War from World War II that were kept by the Germans in camps in Northern Norway and made to work on the roads and tunnels.

It was a rough life with brutal weather and inadequate clothing and food and many died. It was very sad. War is very sad.

After hiking around a little, we went in to look at the center and gift shop.
They had many beautiful Norwegian sweaters. Too itchy for me, but these were lovely.

We went into the café and had a coffee and shared a soft waffle with Lingdonberry Jam and Sour Cream.

It was marvelous! The guys at the table near us were speaking English and joking with American slang - music to our ears. We asked where they were from and they said Minnesota. The guy who talked to us the most, said they were biking and camping and it was his sixth trip through Norway. He had ancestors from Norway and has visited the family farm. He is a retired fourth grade teacher traveling with two friends, a retired elementary principal and a retired minister. He was also with his son, an FBI worker and his son in law, an Optometrist. He said they take turns biking and driving the van with their gear.

He was impressive and went on to give me his card and tell me about a book he wrote about coaching middle school basketball. (The author is the second on the left.) What a treat. It was a real lift to our spirits to talk and laugh with such nice people. He is writing a new book about their biking experiences and anything funny that happens. This trip, for fun, they are keeping count of trampolines. They have seen them everywhere and are taking bets on their grand total. Bob and I had noticed them too and had commented about seeing them in so many yards. Too funny!

Back on the road, as we traveled across the top of the mountains, we spotted a swinging foot bridge across a fast moving river and we stopped to explore. There was a warning to have only one person at a time on the bridge. I was glad the warning was in English too. I was afraid to go out too far, but as usual, Bob pushed me to do it and then when I was about half way across he started bouncing the bridge. I won't tell you what I said to him, but, I was saying Hail Marys and I'm not Catholic.

Back down the mountains we wound into the pines with rivers gushing white and turquoise water. It is said you can drink the pure cold mountain water right out of the river.

We came down along a beautiful fjord and we were back to scenery we'd seen from our cruise with little settlements and boat houses with the mountains rising up behind them. It is fun to see the land from this perspective. We went through several tunnels, each seeming longer than the last. Just when I'm sure I can't breathe we come out. 

If you had a fear of tunnels or bridges, this would not be the drive for you. The scenery was spectacular, but we would come out of one tunnel and soon go back in another. One in particular seemed to go on forever like a rounded, rocky, lighted cave.

Daylight never looked so good just to pop right back into another cave. I lost count and kept busy writing in my journal.

We stopped to get out to see the beautiful view of the fjord and Bob as usual, can't resist going right to the edge of the rock. He took my breath, but wouldn't stop.

We finally came out in the little town of Kobbelv where I had seen an advertisement for a hotel. We were lucky to get a fairly reasonable room (for Norway) with a nice dinner buffet and free breakfast. The view of the fjord out our window was wonderful and there was a beautiful waterfall right at our door, with a stature of a troll looking over the top. Perfect!

This was the view from our room tonight on the fjord.