June 14.
Norway in a Nutshell Part 1. Oslo to Vatnahalsen by train. This is a combination of train, boat and bus travel between Oslo and Bergen to see some of Norways most scenic sites with a taste of the fjords. Many tourists do the trip in one day, 14 hours with 3 train rides, a bus ride and a boat trip. We are taking two days and a slower pace.
Started out by train from Oslo at 8:30am with pastoral views of farms, forests and rolling hills.
A few hours later as we climbed to 1200 meters above sea level. And back to winter. In June?
And there we were at the Myrdal train station to board another train to take us 5 minutes down the tracks…no roads, to our stop and hotel. The wind was blowing and it was cold. Its winter again. Bought Bill a pair of warm gloves at the shop.
Our stop was at Vatnalhasen.
And our hotel – Vatnahalsen Joyfjellshotell – is amazing. The train literally stops at the bottom of hotel entrance. There are no roads in this town. You come by train, on foot or by bike. After getting settled in to our rooms, we took a hike down a path that goes to Flam, 21km if you walk or bike. Steep switchbacks with waterfall views. We went just a few km as it was uphill coming back.
Love the Vatnalhasen Hotel. Great rooms and lots of sitting and dining areas. Buffet dinner with salmon, reindeer meat balls, veggies and three kinds of mousse for dessert. This is view from our room.
During dinner it clouded up and started snowing hard…it hasn’t snowed here since April. Summer is five weeks late up here this year.
After dinner, we spent a relaxing evening in a sunroom with windows overlooking snow covered mountains, watching it snow, playing cards, reading and talking. We needed a quieter day to rest up for rest of this busy trip. And a train ride and Vatnalhasen is the perfect way to recharge.
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