Norway: The Full Picture

I finished sorting through my Norway photos this week.  Made me realize again what a beautiful country it is.  A few samples below, as well as the link to the full set.

Tom's Norway set on Flickr


For those wanting the full details, read on:

We spent about ten days in the country.  We started out in Jotunheimen National Park at Sognefjellshytta, a very comfortable mountain lodge. Although we were only at about 5,000 feet of altitude, we were so far north that the scenery was alpine - above the treeline and hiking across tundra reminiscent of Alaska.  Stark and beautiful. From the lodge, we hiked up to the nearby Boverbreen glacier, strapped on our crampons, and spent the day climbing around on the ice.

We then drove over the pass to the town of Flam (with one of those little circles over the a, and means "little place between steep mountains").  From Flam, we spent two days kayaking through Aurlandsfjord and Naeroyfjord, the latter stunning enough to have been named a UN World Heritage site.  We also took a train up the mountain and biked 30 km back down to Flam, and toured some of Norway's signature stave churches. 

We ended the trip in Oslo, a beautiful, modern harbor city.  Before we went to Norway, we held a family viewing of Kon-Tiki, the account of Thor Hyerdahl's journey across the Pacific in a papyrus raft (both the original documentary and the Hollywood version), so visiting the Kon-Tiki Museum was a kick.  Other highlights were the Opera House, built to resemble a floating iceberg; Vigelandsparken, full of the crazy sculptures of Gustav Vigeland; and catching up with our Haas friends Steiner and Thomas and their girls in their fantastic home in Oslo.

Lunch break in Naerofjord

Hiking the glacier