{"id":365,"date":"2010-07-29T12:09:29","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T18:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/?p=365"},"modified":"2012-01-04T22:24:24","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T04:24:24","slug":"help-help-im-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/?p=365","title":{"rendered":"Help, help, I’m in a nutshell!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was the day we were waiting for: Sognefjord in a Nutshell. A day-long trip that involves trains, planes and automobiles. Wait\u2026 no, just the trains. And after we finish with the trains, we get to hop onto a boat and head out onto a Norwegian fjord for a couple hours. Time to admire Slartibartfast\u2019s handiwork first-hand!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we looked at the weather report the night before and things were looking gloomy. A few days ago, it was supposed to clear up and we\u2019d have a spectacular, sunny day. Such was not the case when we woke up. Once again, gray and drizzly. We hoped that it would clear up so we\u2019d be able to see more from the boat, but apparently, there are no guarantees when it comes to Norway\u2019s weather.<\/p>\n

We had to get up early to take a cab to get to the train station. Walking wasn\u2019t really an option, given that the continental breakfast opened at 7:00 and the train was scheduled to leave at 8:40… having a cab pick us up at 7:45 was definitely the way to go. (Compound that with the gray drizzle outside and we were much better off inside the cab.)<\/p>\n

The first stage of the trip was the train from Bergen to Myrdal. Since we\u2019d arrived early, there wasn\u2019t much competition for seats, so we found a group of six\u2014three across facing each other\u2014and took the two next to the window. As more and more people got onto the train, the four seats next to us stayed vacant and I said to Mom that we must be really scary if no one was willing to sit next to us. Naturally, less than a minute later, four people came in and took up a big chunk of our leg room. Drat.<\/p>\n

The train started out going through a lot of tunnels and surrounded by rock, but as things opened up, the best views were on the other side of the train. Double drat. But we eventually got to see some lakes, rolling hills and waterfalls on our side as well, so I didn\u2019t feel so bad.<\/p>\n

It took us about two hours to get to Myrdal and wasn\u2019t very notable aside from the fact that there were several stops along the way, making more space on the train, so the two people sitting next to us eventually moved to other seats.<\/p>\n

We spent, oh, ten minutes or so in Myrdal, walking aaaaaaall the way across a single platform to get to our train to Fl\u00e5m, which looked a little more rustic. The first one didn\u2019t have a front or a back\u2014it didn\u2019t have to turn around that was. It just went back and forth from Bergen to Myrdal, whereas the second one had more of an engine\/caboose look to it. I liked it.<\/p>\n

I liked it more because there was a lot more room, so when people wanted to take pictures, they could scurry back and forth across the train to look out the windows. And there was definitely more scenery that was worthy of pictures. It had much better views and got a lot closer to the lakes, rolling hills and waterfalls.<\/p>\n

The train even stopped for a couple minutes at the Rjoandefossen waterfall, which passed right underneath the tracks. I got out to take some pictures, which is when I really noticed that the sun had popped out from the clouds. It happened at some point earlier, but with the mist spraying off the rocks and sparkling in the sunlight, that\u2019s when I appreciated it the most.<\/p>\n

But there wasn\u2019t just water at the falls. There were girls dancing. I\u2019m not kidding. There was one who popped up from one of the distant rocks in the middle of the falls and started moving around slowly (Cue the Loreena McKinnett<\/a> music!), then she sank down and disappeared, at which point another girl popped up above the wall of some tower ruins or something along the side of the falls. When she finished her own dancing and sank down below the wall, the girl in the falls reappeared until the conductor said it was time to get back on the train. Very odd experience, but it made for some very good pictures.<\/p>\n

Remember how I said earlier that Bergen is a tourist trap? Well, that\u2019s pretty much Fl\u00e5m\u2019s entire industry, which is probably why there\u2019s more than a three-hour stretch of time between getting off the train and leaving on the boat. Thankfully, we maintained enough inner strength to limit ourselves to a lunch buffet and some bottles of pop at a nearby co-op.<\/p>\n

The boat had been docked for a while, it was getting close to departure time and a line was forming towards the back of the boat, so we decided to stand in line and get better seats. We even met some other people from Minnesota when they got in line behind us. It looked like four sisters were taking their father\u2014he was in a wheelchair\u2014on a tour of Norway. Talking to them was pretty cool and standing in line seemed like a great plan until the boat turned itself around, moving the gangplank about twenty yards up the dock and causing a mad dash toward the new entryway.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when we decided the tour organizers didn\u2019t care much about making friends. The line was gone\u2014getting onto the boat turned into a giant mass of human flesh trying to push its way onto the gangplank. It went from something relatively organized to what\u2019s known in the business as \u201ca giant clusterfuck.\u201d Thankfully, that\u2019s where I came in.<\/p>\n

The father in the wheelchair with one of his daughters ended up just in front of us and when a crew member saw them, he came over to check their tickets, then turned the chair around and pulled it backwards up the gangplank. As the wheelchair began to move backward, I moved forward to take its space in front of the group. When the crew member got back, I immediately stretched our tickets, indicating they were for me and Mom (who was holding onto the back of my shirt, hoping she wouldn\u2019t get squeezed off by said mass of human flesh).<\/p>\n

As a result, the boat was almost empty when we got inside. Mom and I picked two seats in the front of the boat to have the best view (which would have been more spectacular if the sky hadn\u2019t grayed over again), then gave our jackets to the father\/daughter duo so they could save seats for the rest of their group. Finally, it was time to experience a Norwegian fjord.<\/p>\n

Finally\u2026 finally\u2026 finally\u2026 why aren\u2019t we moving? The boat stayed next to the dock for an extra 30 minutes because of a \u201chydraulics problem\u201d, which was a subtle way of saying they couldn\u2019t get the gangplank back into the boat. (Personally, I blame the giant clusterfuck.) But we did eventually get moving. And when I say \u201cmoving\u201d, I mean moving.<\/i><\/p>\n

It was a catamaran-style boat, meaning it can pick up some wicked speed. During the first hour, there was a wide variety of people (myself included) who moved out onto the deck and felt the wind blowing in our faces. Blowing hard enough that you could lean forward into the wind without falling over. I\u2019ll admit it: while floating at an angle with the wind in my face, I gave in to the temptation of sticking my arms out and yelling, \u201cI\u2019m king of the world!\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, the trip was a little anticlimactic. We were expecting a tour of the fjord, whereas most of what the captain said was which port we were approaching so people could get off the boat. There was one moment when he made an announcement: \u201cTo the right, you can see a glacier.\u201d Aaaaand it\u2019s gone. No advance notice. If you didn\u2019t have your camera ready, you missed it.<\/p>\n

The fact that most of the 5 \u00bd hours we spent on the boat was gray and drizzly didn\u2019t help (Noticing a trend?). We might have been able to see water like glass, small groups of archipelagos, the descending sun lighting up lush, green hillsides\u2026 but no. Most good views were faded, if not completely invisible from our point of view. We got a few pictures here and there, but there\u2019s still a lot of space left on the camera\u2019s memory chip to use later in the trip.<\/p>\n

Now, for those of you who don\u2019t know, I like to recycle when it\u2019s an option\u2014I want to save the planet one plastic bottle at a time. But after the Fanta we bought at the train station in Bergen, the Fanta we bought in Fl\u00e5m and the water we bought on the boat, I planned to help save the planet one bottle at a time six times over. (They were selling food on the boat, so along with the water, Mom and I bought a sandwich and our first pieces of lefse here in Norway! Woot!)<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t see any places to recycle on Fl\u00e5m or on the boat, so I crushed the bottles and stuffed them all in my jacket pockets. As we were getting off the boat, I saw a recycling bin and gave someone a couple laughs as he watched my pockets become a virtual clown car, bottle after bottle coming out to be placed in the bin. I\u2019m sure the planet enjoyed it, too.<\/p>\n

When we left Fl\u00e5m, the boat was 30 minutes behind schedule. We got back to Bergen 40 minutes late. It was 9:10, but thankfully, there was a restaurant open where we ordered a couple burgers and fries. After the meal, we learned something very interesting. Upon talking to the waiter, we found out that European Visa cards have a chip inside, so you use a certain slot and a PIN when buying things. With a card from the U.S., they still have to swipe it and get your signature. We\u2019re pretty sure that\u2019s why the lady at the gas station almost chopped up Mom\u2019s credit card\u2014it didn\u2019t have a working chip. Funny how cards without a chip can have that problem, right?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be hitting the road again tomorrow, but instead of a halfway-cross-the-country jaunt, this drive will take just a couple hours. We\u2019ll be able to check out some Norwegian cultural sites and what not, but more importantly, we\u2019re not in a hurry to get there. Sleeping in rules\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was the day we were waiting for: Sognefjord in a Nutshell. A day-long trip that involves trains, planes and automobiles. Wait\u2026 no, just the trains. And after we finish with the trains, we get to hop onto a boat and head out onto a Norwegian fjord for a couple hours. Time to admire Slartibartfast\u2019s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Help, help, I’m in a nutshell!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[184,509],"class_list":["post-365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-norway","tag-sognefjord-in-a-nutshell"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1muBs-5T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365\/revisions\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shawnbakken.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}