Fjord Explorer: A Beamier Bergen, Fascinating Fjords, and an Unforseen Philosopher

Hello again, Blogonauts!

A lot of water has passed out of the sky, under the bridge, and over the damn, err, dam, since my last Norway post. As a result, there's backlog of verbiage and visuals to unleash, so grab a handhold and let's get started!

After our Saturday soaking, Sunday lived up to its name: The city of Bergen handed us some well-deserved sunlight. Like in Oslo, the late summer flowers were colorful and well-tended.

We wandered again into the primary port area, this time to see the medieval Bergenhus Fortress. A nearby explosion during World War 2 of an ammunition ship literally blew the roof off of the fortress, but the ancient Håkon Hall and Rosenkrantz Tower have been lovingly restored. The ceiling of Håkon Hall now resembles an upturned ship resting on the gothic stone walls.

The Rosenkrantz Tower

Håkon's Hall

While Shawn & Bob joined a full ferry for a 3-hour fjord tour (no, the first mate was not named Gilligan), Toby & I opted for a briefer slow boat encounter with other parts of Bergen's waterfront.

Port of Bergen from our harbor cruise

Flats along the waterfront

Nazi submarine bunker, built by Soviet POWs. It's now used by the Norwegian military.

Monday morning, we picked up our rental car and headed out for the Norwegian interior, unsure of what to expect. And so the views we got were truly unexpected.

The Ferry from Vangsnes

Outside our hotel in Leikanger

First off, the fjords are unimaginably long. Even though they are linked to the sea, they stretch inland for sometimes 100 miles. And thanks to the glaciers from the Ice Age (the epoch, not the movie), the fjords are lined with mountains that plunge from sometimes thousands of meters in near dead drops to the water below. Even though we're miles from the sea, we were told that it isn't unusual to spot whales that have wandered into the fjord.

Norway's frequent rains (along with slow-melting snow and now-retreating glaciers) have lined these canyons with hundreds of cascading waterfalls, ranging in size from rivulets to rampaging torrents.

And because fjords are not only long but also broad, getting from one side to another often requires a high bridge, a regularly scheduled ferry, or a long and winding drive. We tried all three!

Instead of nattering on about Norway's natural treasure, here are a few more photos from our first few days wandering among the fjords.

A photo from Mundal

Another photo from Mundal

A lake in Skjolden

Along the way we also crossed Norway's highest highway pass, climbing to over 4000 feet. The temperature outside dropped close to freezing, and we saw snow on the nearby peaks and (aargh!) on our windshield. But soon we dropped again below tree line

Serendipity sometimes shows up in the oddest places and ways. We had pulled off the road just to take a photo (and pee in the woods) when we saw a roadside plaque where we had stopped. It described how the early 20th-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein had built a cottage across the lake from where we stood, and there had written his most famous work, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.

Admittedly, most folks are unfamiliar with Wittgenstein, and much less his Tractatus. But I have a passing interest in him and his work, and suddenly seeing his home across the water was jaw dropping.

Wittgenstein's cottage in Skjolden

On Tuesday we landed in Lom, a town filled with wooden buildings and another stave church. (This one is still in use, with posted Sunday services and a churchyard filled with contemporary graves.)

The Lom Stave Church

Wooden buildings on the grounds of our Lom hotel

Fall colors along the river in Lom.

We have landed for now in Stryn, and for the next couple of days, this will be our home base as we ricochet around the area.

That's all for now! Blog to you later!

(Note: I have repaired some rather extravagant claims I made due to the challenges of quickly translating from metric to imperial units. Everything now should be at least closer accurate.)