GEIRANGER, NORWAY

It was raining cats and dogs. We ate breakfast. I had omelet with onion, sausage, and cheese. I was good but, after I finished it, there was a puddle of oil. Same with the pork nuggets, I was not going to eat that again. I will stick to hard boiled eggs and wheat bread. After breakfast, I only had 3hrs sleep. I took a nap for 4hrs. We had an excursion at 1:30pm at Geiranger. 

 

The Geiranger fjord was beautiful. Again it was not a clear day. While we were going there, the melted snow was coming down the mountains in form of waterfalls. When we got to Geiranger, there was a tender waiting for us. It was raining like buckets. When we got there our tour bus was waiting for us. It was an 8hr tour. The view is breath taking. The tour guide was funny is a native from Alesund.

As we were leaving our ferry was next to us for a bit then parted when we drove inland.

The ferry went back to Alesund then we were going to meet the ferry at Molde. As we started our bus tour, the guide announced that “eagle road” as been closed because there was 2ft of snow. We had to take the long way around to get to Trollstigen. I was looking forward to go there. There was an awesome picture on the brochure of a man just sitting on the cliff overlooking the fjord. Then we drove to a town called Eidsdal to catch a car ferry to go across to Linge. That was cool. I remember doing that in port of Los Angeles in Washington, go figure, to Vancouver Island. We continued driving to Trollstigen.

 

Trollstigen, in the heart of Romsdal, is one of the best visited attractions in Norway.

The mountains which encircle the Trollstigen road are enormous. Names like Kongen (the King), Dronningen (the Queen) and Bispen (the Bishop) confirm their majesty in this mountain world.

 

Stigfossen waterfall gushes down the mountainside towards the luscious Isterdalen valley. In the middle of all this, Trollstigen road winds it's way up the mountainside...

 

There we saw huge waterfalls. I stopped raining. Then we stopped at “Trollstigen campground” to have a snack. The gift shop was a haven for tourist. While everybody was shopping, I went outside to explore. Across the street, There was 3 goats  They were so cute. They all came to me. They were licking my fingers. I grabbed a cabbage and they were eating it. It started to raining again.

I ran back to the bus. I keep passing out in the bus. I was trying to fight it. I was so tired. I was able to take pics. We went to Trollveggen

 

Trollveggen (TrollWall) is the highest vertical mountain wall in Europe . It is 5950 feet from the valley to the top of the wall. Out of this, 3300 feet are vertical together with a 150 feet overhang.

 

One gets an idea of the great dimensions when a rockslide in autumn 1998 measured 2.2 on the Richters scale for earthquakes in Finland . Still, it is impossible to see with the naked eye where this happened, one has to be acquainted with the locality.

 

The climbing route Trollryggen was climbed for the first time in 1958 by Arne Randers Heen from Åndalsnes, and Ralph Høibakk.

This was the first climbing route in Norway where the climbers had to spend the night on the mountain. Trollryggen is still Europe 's longest climbing route (approx. 11.500 feet).

 

Before 1965 no one believed it was possible to climb the vertical face of the Troll Wall. But in 1965 a Norwegian and an English climbing team proved otherwise. In 14 days they reached the top, climbing different routes (the Norwegians one day before the Englishmen). Since then various routes have been climbed in the Troll Wall. The routes are often named after the first ascenders. Most of the routes have been climbed during the winter.

 

In 1980 a new sport appeared when the Finnish Jorma Öster made the first jump with parachute off the Troll Wall.

Between 1980-86 300-400 parachuters jumped off the Troll Wall. As a result of several accidents and dangerous rescue missions parachuting in the Troll Wall was prohibited by law in 1986.

 

I was getting dark. It was about 8pm. We drove to Afarnes to get another car ferry to Solsnes to Molde to meet the ferry. The driver was able to see the ferry before we got there. It was neat to see the ferry parallel park. This was a small boat compared to Royal Caribbean’s voyager of the seas. That was a long day. Everybody in the boat was hungry to get inside. We were hoping there was food for us since we got back late. Geeez everybody was shoving. Old people are mean. HAHAHAHA. Anyway, dinner was great. We had cream of bacon soup, pork loin with rice and green beans and brownie for dessert. Instead of “open sitting” and a buffet dinner, we had “set sitting” and having a 3 course dinner.  Our lunch and breakfast is always a buffet. We had. I was tired and excited in the same time. I am going to be in Trondhiem to meet my first travbuddy, Marit. I can’t wait to hang out with her. She is meeting us at the harbor at 8am. Off to Trondhiem……