Not another waterfall?

We'd moored early in Bergen and although it seemed a reasonably busy port, we were the only cruise ship there. A relatively early start as we had a longish bus ride followed by two train journeys. The trip we'd chosen for today was called 'Norway in a Nutshell' and was supposed to feature all the best bits of Norway. After breakfast (spoilt for choice as always), we checked out of the ship by having our identity cards scanned as normal (so that they always knew who was aboard) then a short walk in dull but dry weather to the buses that were waiting for us. Time to admire the driver's collection of trolls before we set off:

Then off through the streets of Bergen which had a nice mix of old and new buildings. It's only my personal view, but most of the modern buildings (with a few rare exceptions) were desperately lacking in any style - just boring rectangular boxes with windows!

A first stop in a small town was a welcome break for everyone to stretch their legs and use a hotel's loos if they needed - we just went for a walk and admired the turf-roofed café by the lake. This one needed mowing; the normal method apparently is to borrow a goat and allow it to graze the roof until the grass is the right length or it falls off!!

After a while with the scenery getting ever more spectacular, we stopped for another comfort break, leg stretch and retail opportunity:

 The first of many spectacular waterfalls the Tvindefossen (or Tvinde Waterfalls):

And we just had to get one of these for Jessica:

Moving on, the weather got wetter and the views, where we could see through the clouds, even better ...

Until we eventually got right up into the clouds where we stopped at a hotel for lunch. Quoting from the blurb for our trip: 'At the Stalheim Hotel, spectacularly perched upon a cliff 550 metres (1,800 feet) high, overlooking waterfalls and the valley below, we shall have a buffet lunch. We should also have a little free time here to enjoy the view from the garden behind the hotel, or purchase souvenirs in the small shop.' 

It wasn't immediately obvious as we walked into the hotel from the bus, just how spectacular the hotel's situation was, due to the clouds swirling around: 

But the garden looked nice: 

And inside the lounge was very comfortable ...

And to Barbara's delight, in a display case alongside what looked like the Crown Jewels, they had an eight-string Hardanger fiddle, just like hers: 

The dining room was pleasant and would have had good views had it not been cloudy and our buses in the way, but the food was good and plentiful ...

Then there was plenty of time to stroll around the gardens and admire the views. Looking across a small valley to the left were some other houses in Stalheim: 

Then the clouds cleared a little and we got a bit of a view down into the valley: 

And, to our surprise, other clouds cleared and we realised that we weren't anything like as high as we could be:

Then it was back to the buses and off down a rather narrow road which was just wide enough for our sizeable vehicles. Past a memorial of some sort: 

On Google's streetview, it's even possible to read what's written on the stone, though you do need to understand Norwegian. 

Dropping down into the valley, a series of hairpin bends caused more than a few 'ooh's and 'aah's and 'oh-oh's as the driver skilfully manoeuvred the bus around the tight curves, just centimetres from the narrow wall that was our only protection from a long drop: 

We were probably told the name of the waterfall we kept passing each loop of the bends, but if so we don't remember. It seemed to have quite a good drop: 

This short bit of video gives a better idea of the excitement of this part of the trip: 

Given the narrowness of the road, it was good that it was one-way going down so we shouldn't meet anyone coming up. On some previous roads, we'd met quite a few motorists who seemed to think there was room for them as well as our very long buses on tight bends such as these - they always had to reverse out of the way as our bus most certainly wasn't going to! 

Down in the valley we pulled into the railway station at Flåm with yet another spectacular waterfall visible through the windows: 

And boarded our train:

After various stops at tiny stations, another stop with the train half into a tunnel provided another chance for a walk around - for everyone on the train, probably about 500 people at least. The fine spray has cleared a few in this shot: 

And this is what we're all looking at (and getting wet from), the Kjosfossen Waterfall: 

We became aware of something resembling singing, and then noticed a young lady (presumably with a radio-mic) doing a strange dance with exaggerated movements, whilst singing near the ruined house visible in the previous photo: 

 Hopefully she wasn't getting as wet as we were! Back on the train we moved on through tunnels and past more waterfalls to Myrdal where we changed trains for Bergen. Our tour guides were kept very much on their toes at these points in the trip, making sure that they hadn't lost any of their flock (62 of us): 

Passing through some small and curiously named stations: 

We eventually got back to Bergen where our buses were waiting to take us back to the ship from the railway station. A long day but very rewarding. It would have been even better had it been sunny, but we'd been generally lucky with excellent weather for most of the trips we'd been on. 

Back aboard the Black Watch, our arrival only just before the ship's departure left little time for changing into our finery for a formal dress night. Sadly, we weren't in time for 'cocktails with the captain', as it would have been nice to actually meet him and say thank-you for taking us right through the area where Ken's plane crashed in 1941. Anyway, we had a nice dinner and then a bit later, were invited back to the Glentanar Restaurant for an exhibition from the chefs: 

It might not be obvious, but this eagle is made of bread.

Once everyone had filed past and been thoroughly amazed at what can be done with food, we were told it would be available for eating, though at about 11pm and having had a good dinner, we certainly didn't need or want any more food, no matter how appealing. 

And that was it for Saturday 18th.