It was fairly clear in the morning, and it was nice being able to see our surroundings. Geilo has a number of hiking trails and is also a ski resort. It would have been nice to check-out some of the hikes, but we were moving on.
We had a mostly rain free morning and just admired the beautiful scenery. And going through tunnel after tunnel. The Norwegians are crazy tunnel builders. They have the longest tunnel in the world at 24.5km or a little over 15 miles. They have tunnels that are on top of each other so you can wind your way down the mountain. They have tunnels with roundabouts inside. Well, you get the idea.
Our first stop was Vøringfossen. This is probably Norway’s most visited waterfall. They have been doing a number of improvements to this popular tourist attraction. They had just opened a new parking area about 2km before you get to the Måbø Tunnel. The parking area was still under construction and they hadn’t yet opened the toilets or got the Wi-Fi going. There is also a large parking area at the Fossli Hotel which brings you to the top of the waterfalls viewing area. There are a number of overlooks and a bridge that you can walk over the falls. Kendall and I had a great time walking the trails and checking out the various overlooks.
A few miles down the road was the Nordic Nature Center. The description, I read said we would meet some animals. So, naturally, I thought they had a rehab facility or something with live animals. Well, no, they had some goats grazing on the roof, but they only had stuffed animals as part of the museum. Still, we had lunch at the cafe there which was really good. And the panorama movie made the Nature center worth the stop.
Got over to Bergen and it had been raining on us for the past couple hours of our drive. We had rented an apartment in the city center, so no parking was available at the apartment. We were able to unload. But had difficulty getting to a parking garage because of blocked streets and a music festival going on in town. I think women’s fashion wear for festivals in Bergen must always consist of a short skirt, rain jacket/cape and rubber rain boots. Bergen is known to have a lot of rainy days. One Norwegian site says on average Bergen enjoys about 239 days of rain. By comparison, Seattle gets on average around 150 days of rain.
The next morning, we had a fjord cruise. It was again off and on rain the entire time, but it was really an awesome cruise up the fjord, nonetheless.
This is one of two pontoon bridges in Norway, Nordhordland Bridge. It’s the second longest bridge in Norway and is suspended over a 500m (1,640ft) deep fjord. It is also a curved design to help decrease the winds for vehicles on the bridge.
Our fjord cruise went from Bergen to Mostraumen and back. It was well worth it and in spite of rain we enjoyed it immensely. We were totally awestruck a number of times.
Kendall and I decided to also do the Fløibanen (the funicular railway). It goes from the city center to the top viewpoint in about 6 minutes. It was pouring down rain as we were walking to the funicular but got to the top and it started to clear up a little. We ended up with some decent views at the top.
We got the front car on our downward trip on the funicular.
