Monday from Geilo to Gudvangen, Norway

Monday morning after grocery shopping for the day we joined other tourists waiting for the train from Geilo to Myrdal. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Once we finally got onboard, we realized from the overhead announcements why: other tourists were leaving the train at every stop to take photographs and taking too long to get back on. While the landscape from Oslo to Geilo was beautiful,  it became stunning as we made our way up into the mountains. At Finse it looked so inhospitable in June that we doubt anyone can live there year-round.

At Myrdal we disembarked with almost everyone else (old train in background). Because R.E. didn't want to ride Scandinavia's longest zipline, we had planned to hike 1.5 hours down into the valley and then rent bicycles for the 45-minute ride along the flat valley floor, but it was 40s F and rain-sleeting, and we had large backpacks with all our food, so we decided to eat the cost of the bike reservation and hop on the Flåmsbana for the 1-hour trip to our next destination, Flåm.

Built in 1920s and 1930s as a cargo and postal spur, it is now a tourist train. Over the 1-hour trip you descend 866 meters (2, 841 feet or 1/2 a mile), with a maximum gradient of 5.5% (steepest standard-grade railway in Europe). The 20 tunnels were almost entirely hand dug into the mountain by Norwegian workmen, since the Italians they brought in to start the job couldn't stand the weather!

We found seats across from two pharmacists from Chicago on the right-hand side of the train. Everything is gorgeous, but the better views of the valley are on the left-hand side when descending. Below you can see the old switch-back road as well the first of many gorgeous waterfalls through the window on the other side of the train.

Everyone got off at Kjosfossen to take pictures of this waterfall. On the train a video had been explaining to us about the hulda, a female spirit who lives in the woods. In Norwegian legends she sounds mischievous and even dangerous, but she's being re-habilitated to be family-friendly for tourist purposes. As we were preparing to re-embark, music began booming from speakers, and someone in a long blond wig and old-fashioned red dress stood up on an old building foundation and waved their arms around. I felt sorry for that person, who must have been very wet and cold.

After that it was one beautiful vista after another. Here's one of a high mountain waterfall, a farm, and the stream along which the rail line runs.

Once in Flåm, we ate a hearty snack while watching the activity in the port, including this enormous cruise ship.

Alas, we were unable to store our stuff at the visitor center, so we had to haul it with us as we hiked past farms and up to a nearby waterfall. It was much warmer down in the valley, so this process involved continuously shedding layers as we exerted ourselves.

Above: destination. Below: goal!

There was enough time when we got back to port to take advantage of the free local history museum.

Above: disneyfied hulda. Below: Naeroyfjord ferry.

Our day's journey was not over yet, because as late as we had planned the trip, there was nowhere to stay Flåm that was in our budget. Next stop: Gudvangen, reached either by 1-hour bus (boring!) or 2-hour ferry ride (stunning!). This was probably the highlight of the trip, and the photos don't do it justice. Remarkably, people have been living on the edges of the fjords for thousands of years.

Tuesday: Vikings!