One week after arriving Copenhagen, we set out for the most
anticipated portion of the Scandinavia trip for me: Traveling through national
parks and fjords. I was not disappointed. The scenery of pine forests,
glaciers, mountains, and waterfalls was so beautiful. I’m so glad I took
pictures, for I’d forgotten how beautiful it was until I looked at the pictures
again. We had several photo stops. We stopped at a bridge that could hold a
load of only ten people at a time; we had to take turn getting on the bridge
and taking pictures. When we were at the village of Lom, we visited one of a
few stave churches left from the medieval time.
We had lunch of pastries and sandwiches in the village before continuing the bus trip
on the narrow and curvy Sognefjellet, the highest mountain pass in Northern
Europe. I was glad to be able to take pictures through the bus’ large front
glass. The road through the mountain pass is so narrow. I still don’t know how two
big buses can go side by side, but they did. I took a picture of a lone
bicyclist on the road. Bicyclists always remind me of Tom who has done his fair
share of bicycling on steep mountains. Kopi had a surprise for us at one of the
stops. I believe it was at Galdhopiggen, Norway’s highest mountain in the
Jotunheimen National Park, Kopi passed out shots of Aquavit to toast our trip. I
later bought a bottle from the airport to take home. Kopi offered to take
pictures of me. That was the second time he did. The first time was at the
Vigeland Sculpture Park. I have to say we have an outstanding tour guide and a
wonderful bus driver.
We stayed at Quality Hotel in Sogndal. We walked to the
water and passed by gardens of flowers and pear and apple trees fruit-bearing
branches. Dinner was at the hotel. I was exhausted and did not join Kathy and
Ngoan who went out to a grocery store after dinner to stock up on food for the
next day’s cruise and train rides.
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