Flam and getting to and from Flam are getting it's own section because I have so many pictures! We were only in Flam for 1 night, on Friday June 23rd, but it left an impact. The journey to Flam from Bergen we decided to do by boat. We took a 5 1/2 hour ferry from Bergen through the fjords to get to Flam. One of the main fjords we traveled was the Sognefjord, which is the largest and deepest fjord. Some depths are almost a mile deep! A fjord is characterized by a deep narrow body of water with mountains/steep land on three sides, created by the glaciers over many ice ages. So just from the description of what a fjord is, you can already tell that they are beautiful! The ferry stopped at a few different small villages along the way, and even one or two stops that looked like there was nothing there. Most people rode out the ferry until Flam, but a few (hikers/backpackers) got on or off at these other stops along the way.

Flam itself is a tiny town with a couple dozen buildings, situated in a valley surrounded by steep mountains and the fjord. It was very quaint. Flam has about 350 full time residents and about 450,000 tourists a year! They have a couple restaurants, Viking pub, one or two hotels and a handful of houses. The other thing that resided here is the Mall of Norway. Let's not get that confused with the Mall of America! This mall is about as big as a one-level General Store in the US. We stayed in an Airbnb which someone had converted part of their house into separate little apartments. The place was tiny, but had two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen, so all we needed for the night. We took a strenuous (for me) hike up to a big waterfall, where we could look down and see the village of Flam. We saw goats at the top and some Highland Cows on the way over. The food prices in Flam were extremely high, so we bought some food at the market and cooked in. Although Paul and I did enjoy a beer at the Viking Pub!

The next morning Saturday June 24th, we took the Flamsbana, self proclaimed most scenic railway in the world to an even tinier town called Myrdal. The train even stopped along the way so everyone could get out to look at and feel a huge waterfall, where some women started singing from the hills (a little show for the tourists!) Myrdal consisted of a train station with a tiny cafe inside, and 4-5 houses that are rented out as Airbnb's. You can only access Myrdal via train or foot from Flam. From there we caught a train to Oslo. There's not much I can say about these train rides, they were just stunning. Waterfalls galore, desolate mountain areas, fjords and snow-melt lakes, mountains, etc. We even reached an altitude where there was still snow on the ground and frozen lakes outside. The train stopped at many stops along the way, where it would have been cool to hike around a bit and explore. The trip from Flam to Oslo was about 7 1/2 hours total-but it flew by!!

My pictures don't do it justice. The view was amazing.