DAY 309

Tuesday 15 May 2012

We slept in the town of Eidfjord and were awakened by a fork lift bringing a shrub right next to our van in front of a hotel on the waterfront. Were they hinting? With the eery sight of clouds down to the bottom of the mighty mountains rising from the fjord, we left at 8:30 and nearly got into a sauna but it was closed (Dian was ready to jump into the fjord after a sauna but alas it was not meant to be). We started laughing (the only antidote to cabin fever) about a kid who introduces his dad to the "bring your dad to class day" as a mugger. "Ooh" say all the kids and his street cred goes way up but when the dad appears he has his potters wheel and sits down to demonstrate how to throw mugs. Okay, it's not funny NOW but for the third day of driving in the far reaches of Norway we were ready to laugh at anything. 

There were LOTS of dramatic huge rocks and breathtaking snowscapes. Pristine snow and blue skies with sunshine...finally. Almost too much beauty to absorb. By late in the afternoon it was decided that we were overloading and a decision was made to take a long tunnel rather than another scenic route.

This is a color photograph

By the time we got to Kongsberg it was 4:30 PM and we decided to stop at an ATM for kroners. We had gotten this far into Scandanavia without having to use any local cash but finally decided some Norwegian gelt would be a necessity. We called Laara just outside of Oslo to let her know we were near and she generously invited us to show up at her home anytime the next day and she would leave the door unlocked.

Charles and a puppy

Unusual architecture in the middle of nowhere

For Uncle Rick! Photo by Dian

We found parking near a marina in the tony area of Asker and chose to ignore the tractor/jack hammer behind us (which was done with the work day and drove off an hour later). Nicole made a delicious pesto pasta and by 9PM we had met the Sandman.

Sadly, our bowl broke