Vøringfossen II

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Fossli Hotel ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway

Dinner is served from 7-9 p.m. at the Fossli Hotel and we were treated like royalty – my goodness everything was so fancy! I had reindeer for the first time in my life and it was delicious. And the distinctive cool water in that pitcher was straight from a nearby glacier.

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Dan, Fran and Barbara at Fossli Hotel ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway

The company was great, the view amazing, and the food delectable! The other family and we had the place to ourselves!

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dining room mural ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway
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5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway
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no need to warn me to stay behind the fence at Vøringfossen

After dinner we went back outside, amazed that it was still light out. It was still quite cold up there in the mountains in May.

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Vøringfossen ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway
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twilight, sort of, at Vøringfossen
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Dan, Fran and Barbara looking down at Vøringfossen
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Vøringfossen ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway
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food storage house (stabbur) near the Fossli Hotel
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view from our balcony at Fossli Hotel ~ 5.25.15 ~ Eidfjord, Hordaland, Norway

It was time for bed. It was still light out when we went to bed and already light out when we woke up the next morning. We could hear the waterfall lulling us to sleep. Sweet dreams…

Flåm

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Morning light in Flåm, Norway, looking off the balcony of our hotel room. (above) Morning is my favorite time of day and this particular morning we did not have to rush off to catch a train or a ferry or a bus so we could enjoy a a few leisurely hours in the village before our next adventure.

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good morning! ~ friendly little curious female house sparrow
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later on we would cross this bridge on a bus
to get to a long tunnel to Gudvangen
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it didn’t take me long to find a few gulls
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entrance to Ægir Brewery & Pub,
where we had dinner the night before
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wood carvings in a dead tree near our hotel
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so many lovely birch trees
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Ægir Brewery & Pub ~ it’s only open for dinner
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Flåmsbrygga Hotel, the warmth of knotty pine floors and doors
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Ægir Brewery, sign above entrance
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Tim on a little stone seat sticking out of the wall
of the Flåmstova Restaurant
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wall in the Flåmstova Restaurant, where we had breakfast
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ceiling in the Flåmstova Restaurant
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While we were eating breakfast by a picture window, enjoying the view of garden, fjord and mountain, a cruise ship very slowly pulled into port! Then we could barely see the mountain over the top of it! Cruise ships are amazingly large – Flåm was such a tiny port I am sure it couldn’t possibly accommodate more than one of them at a time.

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I still can’t get over how it was spring on the fjord
and winter in the mountains
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there was a hiking path up through the farms
hugging the side of the mountain
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wish we had time to hike up there,
but the zoom lens came in handy to capture this scene
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We boarded a small bus to take us through the mountains to Gudvangen. This is the entrance to Flenja Tunnel (above) which is 5,053m long. (16,578′). We came out of it for only 500m (1,640′) before entering Gudvanga Tunnel, which is 11,428m (7.1 mi) long, Norway’s second longest road tunnel.

Next stop: Ferry ride on Nærøyfjord from Gudvangen back to Flåm.