unseemlygamer

We drove along Geirangerfjord, where we had been just yesterday!

Day 5 - Path of the Trolls from Ålesund

Today we are in Ålesund, rebuilt in Art Nouveau architecture after a 1904 fire. Some sources say that much like Chicago, the fire was started by a cow kicking over a torch. You think that's true?

Rather than explore the town, I went on a Path of the Trolls excursion, so I had to get up early and head down to the theater. For some reason, it took quite a while before we docked and could get off. As a result, getting back on the ship by all aboard time seemed a little worrisome.

The majority of passengers seemed to just explore the town on their own. I couldn't decide between this and an excursion that visits the Aksla viewpoint, but little did I know that's where we would stop first.

Venice of the North, could this be? Our tour guide was from Italy and has been living in Norway for the past decade, but he claimed he doesn't miss it, not even the food. He better have been joking...

Driving along the Norwegian countryside.

OK, so before I wrap up for the night, let's do a little review.

...

You know what? No amount of words could describe how astonishing Geiranger was, especially on a warm day.

Hellesylt - I saw what appeared to be this village in the distance as we were sailing in. Anyone been there before?

Waterfalls - There were many of them, and everyone may have something to say about Seven Sisters and the Suitor, but I think Storfossen was the highlight.

Geiranger Sjokolade - Hands down the best chocolate experience ever.

Would I go up Dalsnibba again? It was very much worth doing once, but it's just too high! In fact, I don't think I needed to do any excursions today at all.

Would I visit Geiranger again? Why wouldn't I?

Tomorrow we're in Ålesund. Rather than explore the Art Nouveau town, I chose to take a day trip to Trollstigen (Path of the Trolls). That means we better get up early in the morning. As always, thanks everyone for following along so far!

They used popular music for all the fairytales. I remember "Hungry Like the Wolf" being used for Little Red Riding Hood.

Here we are at the summit. It's over 4800 feet (1463 m) high - that's more than half as high as Machu Picchu. My sister was in Peru last year, and interestingly enough, I learned either during this excursion or the next one that alpacas can live here in Norway.

To be honest, I was getting nauseous as we were going up the mountain. Along with the rain, it was cold and windy enough for me to get a little taste of what winter feels like back where I live. Nonetheless, it was still breathtaking (maybe not literally).

I didn't take any more pictures on the way back down because it was raining too hard. Back on the ship, I went to tonight's show - Once Upon a Time - so stay tuned for that.

On the other side of the road, there were crates of black soil for melting the snow faster, so the road can open during the summer. Further away from this place is the Stryn ski center that's usually open all year, but it was only open for 48 days this year because of the lack of snow. We can't have everything, but as the tour guide pointed out, at least we have good weather.

As we're getting closer to the top, we pass by the appropriately named Djupvatnet.

At this point, we were around 800 meters up high (more than 2600 feet).

No more trees. Just moss, moss and more moss. This was some of the little snow left on the mountain, especially because it's been a hot summer all over Europe.

We stopped at Flydalsjuvet. If you've seen photos of Geiranger before, chances are they could've been taken here.

Back on the bus.

A lot of houses in Norway are painted white or red. White was for the wealthy, red was cheaper.

Oh, and apparently in Norway, animals are legally required to have six weeks of vacation, enjoying the beautiful weather.

The road we were on took about 8-9 years to build, because it would only be worked on during the summer months, and it's closed during the winter.

OK, now that Photobucket is working, let's get on with the excursion.

It left at 4:15pm. I eventually realized that it would interfere with my usual 5:30 dinner time, so at one point, I tried to change it to 11:45, but the system wouldn't let me. After the excursion, I ended up in the Windjammer instead. Either way, it would've been raining at some point.

The roads in Norway are quite narrow. You'll especially notice that if you're taking a motorcoach.

This was Vinje Camping.

We drove by Storfossen, the waterfall I was going up earlier. I wonder what the path really was to get up top.

Didn't post yesterday - I've been caught up on homework, and Photobucket doesn't seem to be working today. Let's try again tomorrow. Sorry for any inconvenience.

This isn't the top of the waterfall though.

Around 1pm it started raining, so I walked all the way back down.

During the rain, I sat down at a restaurant, but my server didn't even speak Norwegian. That's how touristy this place is, I suppose.

When the rain stopped, it was time for Geiranger Sjokolade, which is actually relatively new (June 2010). It's open every day from April through September.

The chocolate is all made in the basement, and served up here. They have unique flavors like olive oil, malt whiskey and blue cheese.

It smelled like something was baking in here, so I just had to get a baked good. Best of all, you can make the greatest cup of hot chocolate by mixing all these chocolate chips - white, milk, dark or mix - into a cup of hot milk. You'll never go back to Swiss Miss or Cadbury.

I really regret not taking any of this chocolate home. However, if you visit the shop's website, you'll see that they're opening an online store this fall. All it takes to be the first to hear about it is entering your email, and patiently waiting.

Stay tuned for an excursion I took later in the afternoon - Dalsnibba.

Little did I know it would lead to this viewpoint.

The famous Hotel Union is around here. I swear I had a picture of that.

The further up the stream, some people dipped their feet in the water. It was very chilly, but on a 75 degree day, that's not a problem.

Ooh!

Around here, there were rocks to sit on. I came back to sit down here quite a few times throughout the day.

Steps.

Urge is worth mentioning. It actually came out a year before Surge did, and both are owned by the Coca-Cola company. The only difference I can think of is that Urge doesn't have all the crap we put in our bodies.

I'm gonna call this a day of discovery. Yesterday on the walking tour, I met two New Yorkers, obvious from their accents - Marcia and Rhonda. These two friends look alike, so I can't remember who was who, but they were both very fun to be around. I ran into them again today and we were walking up the waterfall that empties into the fjord.

Around here, some people might have been drinking the water. Anybody here who did?

Everywhere I tried to, it was hard to cup my hands. Supposedly, the closer to the fjord, the more drinkable the water is.

Off the ship. It was getting warmer at this point.

Don't be intimidated by these trolls.

This souvenir shop is where I found the perfect T-shirt for my dad's friend. And quite a bit more Scandinavian snacks, such as:

- Cheez Doodles (I think those are Swedish, actually)

- Toppris (chocolate with caramel and puffed rice)

- Stratos (kind of like an Aero or Mirage bar)

- Non Stops (dark chocolate M&Ms/Smarties - I love dark chocolate)

- Smash! (chocolate covered Bugles - also in bar form)

The ship anchored around 8:30am, but we weren't allowed off until about 10am. At some point, I did a little mini golfing, and the poolside ice cream opened quite early. Yes, I ate one.

Eagle Bend. It winds a bit like Trollstigen.

Herdalssetra - Norway's oldest operating mountain farm.

Would you believe how blue this water was?

Seven Sisters. Only a few sisters were still dancing at this time of summer. All seven were probably dancing on the cruise back in May. Water that falls into the fjords comes from snow melt.

It's so beautiful here that the captain extended all aboard time to 8pm. After sailing away, the ship turned around so everybody could see these streams.

Right across is The Suitor.

Day 4 - Geiranger

I got up and had breakfast in the Windjammer soon after it opened, sitting right at a table where I could see the fjord.

Down on the promenade deck was where I took this. Cool, fresh air, plus sky like this, and calm, majestic Norwegian fjords, and you've got what's now my ideal morning.

Up on deck 12.

Is that Hellesylt all the way over there? Also popular with cruise ships, but from pictures and videos, it seems great.

Tonight I ordered Steak Diane. It was supposed to come with a baked potato but what I, and a few others who ordered it, got was fries/chips.

Headliner show.

This Irish comedian was the highlight.

Thanks everyone for following along so far - things really start picking up tomorrow when we get into Geiranger.

We were sailing away while I was at dinner. Afterwards, I took these pictures.

Now, I still gotta write about dinner and the rest of the night.

We then walked all the way down to take a shuttle back to the ship, passing by places like the fish market, where I was earlier today. I really had to shower up before dinner.

Now let's do a review.

I got the best first impression of Norway when we were sailing in. However, it rained on and off throughout the day, and Bergen is certainly known for that. This is because it's surrounded by mountains. It rained even at times when the sun was out. Nobody can control the weather, but the clouds didn't take away the beauty from, particularly, the panoramic views of Mt. Fløyen, or from what I saw riding the funicular.

Bryggen - My shots were very rushed, but at least I got a taste of this iconic sight and its surroundings.

Fish market - Everyone will say not to miss this place. It's very touristy, and you don't actually have to buy anything here if you don't want to, but if you do, I'd say it's worth the price.

Funicular - A must.

Would I do this walking tour again? No. It was worth seeing what I got to see, but I felt this tour rushed and skipped over quite a bit.

Would I visit Bergen again? Absolutely!

There's so much to see here that before I started booking excursions, I couldn't decide exactly what to do for a day. I was curious about visiting a museum that was once composer Edvard Grieg's home.

Next time, I personally would actually stay here in Bergen for at least two full days. Almost every attraction and sight is within walking distance of each other, but I think it requires time to take it all in. As for the funicular, like I said, you could buy a ticket online in advance, for a time or day when there are little to no ships in port.

By now, the tour was overtime. According to the excursion details, we were supposed to go along Bryggen, so I was really confused. Our tour guide figured that we had all done it this morning on our own. That's a downright baffling scenario, now that I think about it.

While almost everybody made their own way back to the ship, the guide took the time to walk me and a couple of other people along Bryggen. I felt embarrassed and said, "Sorry to inconvenience you."

Smaller ships dock closer to Bryggen, which is a world heritage site. As such, for instance, they had to preserve the building for this McDonald's.