An entry in The TFS Travel Journal
The Nevele of Norway
Too quiet a morning now that all the ships had departed. We packed up, and went to our local fish/fruit market to stock up for today’s drive. We got our photo of our favorite fish-monger, and heard a beefy Scottish woman ask “for some herring, please” in a thick brogue that was perfectly apt for the setting. We set off through the Land of Many Tunnels (we laugh at miles-long tunnels now) on the usual nice twisty roads. After a caviar snack and a brief and rainy, but scenic, ferry ride, we found ourselves on Waterfall Way: a green narrow canyon of very big, steep mountains with seemingly hundreds of waterfalls — some wide and raging, some narrow ribbons — from all heights and sides (all runoff from the large glaciers and their outcroppings). Some dropped hundreds of meters, some just appeared right above road level. They all emptied into a rushing stream that coursed noisily over a very rocky bed alongside the road. We then ascended and descended for a while, constantly jumping out to snap pictures, like good Marders.
Turned off the main (ha!) road (after another $63 tank of gas) and onto another 1 1/2 lane road. This time with periodic stops for one caravan to squeeze by another. Arrived at the Alexandra - a 100+ year old hotel and tourist operation. Nice size room, again with twin beds pushed together (we’ve never had topsheets at any hotel on this trip, only medium-weight comforters in a cotton duvet cover) but with a nice balcony and semi-nice view of the fjord. Went to the hotel buffet - hundreds of people, though in a large enough room that we weren’t crowded, and indulged in their offerings of herds of meat, schools of fish, etc.,etc.,etc. Not nearly as good as it looked, though the chicken (a real rarity for us on this trip) and the reindeer stew were the winners. The dessert spread again deserves special mention! Though that’s enough buffets for us for a while. . .
Returned to the room to enjoy the 11:00 sunset from our balcony and to then fume at Microsoft for an hour or so. . .