Stave Churches & snow

After leaving Sogndal and our goodbyes to Knut and Vivian, we saw another 3 impressive stave churches, of which there are only 31 left in all of Norway. We caught another ferry, drove through more tunnels and up over the high country to see snow and ski resorts including the Filefjell. We went from spring to late winter. We are further north than Edmonton and is shows...it is still light out at midnight! Today we went from Fagernes to Lillehammer, the site of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Tomorrow we will take in the Olympic Museum at Hakon's Halle, where the hockey arena is located. Weather has deteriorated, rain yesterday and most of today. We will now head to Gloria's cousin in Gjovik, then on to Oslo on Sunday. From there we plan to take a FAST ferry to Hirtshalls in Denmark and over 2 days drive to Amsterdam where we will meet our friends Zsolt and Karin. We fly home May 31 :(

I can't stop thinking about all the opportunities to climb, ski, cycle and paddle over here. I really would like to return and spend much more time!!

Well, this may be the last post before returning home so here are some more photos.

Neil and Gloria

Land of tunnels and ferries

We made an epic trip from south Norway to Songdal by 5 ferries, and innumerable tunnels made with Norwegian timetables and engineering. The country is very beautiful, still with lots of snow on the mountains, spring is just arriving. We hiked to the Preikestolen, the huge block of rock 600m above the Lysefjord. Later in the day we arrived in Songdal on the fjord and met our friends Knut and Vivian who were wonderful hosts. I had met them in Nepal a year and a half ago trekking in the Khumbu. Yesterday we drove and took a small ferry to Urnes to see the oldest stave church in Norway. Built in 1150 AD, it was a beautiful representation of old church design made of wood coated with pine tar to waterproof and preserve. Then on to the glacier called Nigardsbreen, rather similar to the Athabasca glacier in the rockies. We hiked and touched the toe of the glacier and realized with many conversations with Knut, I need to return to telemark ski, do some mountaineering and alpine climbs. This area is amazing! Today we are 3 days away from Oslo and will visit Lillehammer on the way.  More later, hi to everyone at home, N & G

Vikings and history in Denmark

We arrived in Copenhagen airport Sunday night, rented our small car, a nice black Peugot diesel 4 door. Drove to Rita and Jorgens and crashed. Jet lag really hit and most evenings we were headed for bed by 9 pm. The past few days have been spent shopping in Copenhagen, visiting the Viking ship museum in Roskilde, the famous Roskilde church - of Angels and Demons fame and checking out the chalk cliffs in southern Sjaelland at Moens Klint. The weather has been great, mostly sunny and in the 18-20 C range. We arrived in Tarm around 5pm and met our friends Peder and Ulla. Now need to check out the ferry schedules to Norway which we will take on Sunday. Hope all is well at home.

Neil and Gloria