Norway in a nutshell

First and foremost I NEED to say that every time I heard the name of my tour said today I sang to myself "Norway in a nutshell....(turtle power!)"

Secondly, this is a memo to ANYONE considering being a tourist in any capacity: sometimes the photo isn't worth taking. Sometimes you just need to take in the moment. I guarantee there are few people who want to see the seventeen photos of a waterfall you just climbed over people to take - all with someone's head cropping into the bottom of each picture you took. And please be aware of your surroundings - stopping in the middle if the walkway without warning is NOT ok. Please stop doing that.

Ok now that's out of the way, I can attempt to tell you about our phenomenal day. I know people say pictures are worth a thousand words, but our views today didn't really have tangible words to describe what we were seeing. Majestic and other-worldly are about as close as I can get. Hopefully some of these give you an idea of pur day. 

We started our day at 6:00 picking up our breakfast to go and dropping our bags at the hotel. This was my second train experience - mom likes them because they rock you to sleep and you have WAY more freedom than planes do. Yes to the second part, but the first part no. Speaking as someone who was trying to sleep on the train, I was certainly rocked...but not to sleep. Mountain trains are different than flat-ground travel. BUT we got some amazing photos and saw the variety that Norway's landscape has to offer! Rich forests, frozen glaciers, and a mix of the two. And so many waterfalls......

OH!! I TOTALLY had a Harry Potter moment on the train. A sweet older woman came through with a snack cart and I heard the HP woman saying "Aaannnything from the trolley? AAANNNYYYTHING from the trolley!?" :)

First stop: we got off one train and onto another. This train was specifically for sightseeing and taking photos. I happened to like seeing all the sheep! All the ewes had two lambs - always two! And sometimes there were black lambs born to white moms (I understand little lambs....)

Landing at our final destination, we boarded a Fjord Cruise ship. This is where the magic happened. I will just include a lot of photos. Words arent really needed.

One terrifying bus trip (hairpin turns at a sharp grade in a fully-loaded tour bus is NOT ideal) and a fully packed train ride later, we landed in Bergen. I CANNOT wait to get into this city tomorrow!!! It has art and culture everywhere.......

Pictures in my next post!!!