Wednesday, July 24. 2013BillundWe flew from Bergen in Norway to Billund in Denmark (via Copenhagen – can’t go direct) on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) which made me appreciate Virgin’s lovely new planes.. this was a McDonnell Douglas MD-81.  Not sure if it was this particular pilot or not but he was very chatty. We got no less than 6 updates from the flight deck during the 80 minute flight in both Danish and English. Half were weather updates for Copenhagen as well as what we were flying over, had just flown over or were about to fly over. And we arrived 20 minutes early, so early there was another plane still parked in our spot and we had to wait. Then we were personally thanked by the captain, almost to the point of shaking everyone’s hand, when leaving the plane.  Anyway, the reason we came to Billund was to go to Legoland!  Legoland has ten different worlds. There’s normal theme park areas with rides and rollercoasters and then there’s Miniland. Miniland is where feature landscapes, sights and buildings from all over Denmark as well as famous landmarks from other parts of the world are recreated in 1:20 scale Lego brick models. The level of detail was amazing. Even the plants they chose fitted the theme in size and foliage type. In Miniland, ships sail along the small canals, cranes operate, cars drive and airplanes taxi on the runways of the airport. We were told by a few people to go and find the Lego museum and robotics lab. Unfortunately it seems they have closed the robotics lab and restricted museum access to the 3 day VIP tour that costs $2500 per person. On the bus on the way home we overheard some Lego employees having a passionate debate abut the merits of their favourite Lego block that had been unfairly discontinued. I’m not sure which part it was but it was first used in making trapdoors in the Pirate series and last used in the Harry Potter series. It actually took a little while to work out what they were talking about not being familiar with Lego jargon. As we drove through Billund we passed a number of Lego buildings that had car sized Lego bricks stacked up on the foot path. 
There was some pretty cool automation as well. This is a good example of a car being ferried across the canal.
Friday, July 19. 2013BergenWe left Balestrand on an express ferry to arrive in Bergen where it was raining. It apparently rains in Bergen almost every day – they only have an average 60 days each year where it doesn’t rain. The locals are proud of it. Luckily the sun came out the night we arrived (about 9pm) and it didn’t rain again till we left!
So while the sun was out we went up the Fløibanen (a funicular) to the Fløyen mountain above Bergen. Fortunately we managed to sneak in just before the cruise ship passengers did and created a line 50m long.
 Food everywhere (including supermarket) in Bergen was the most expensive we have seen yet. Using the McDonald’s Big Mac index as a comparison, a Big Mac was 87NOK which is about $15AUD. The meal deal was 89NOK. We went for a train ride to Voss, but didn’t manage to locate the Voss water company of the same name… there was lots of water flowing about though.
 Tuesday, July 16. 2013BalestrandBalestrand is a scenic and peaceful fjord side town away from all the tour buses and crazy tourists in Flam – photo frenzies, pushing in front to be served first, frantic photo shoots.. I was reminded of why I don’t mind the extra effort, slower pace and occasional problems of travelling without a tour group. The police station is closed on weekends. Above: the harbor, Viking burial mound, the church and our ‘rustic cabin’. It was a bit more budget than our budget cabin in Gotland. 
We hiked to the top of a mountain to look down into the fjords. The 2.5km upwards hike 500m above sea level took about 1.5 hours to walk the short distance. the view was just brilliant - it was worth the steep climb. Craig proposed at the top of the mountain looking down into the fjords!
The Nigardsbreen glacier, which is a scenic two hour drive from Balestrand was great to walk on. This was an unexpected car hire because information on visiting some glacier off shoots were not clear about if you were viewing from a distance or actually able to walk on it. This resulted in a scramble to find a car to hire in the monopoly Balestrand rental car market which ended up costing about $200 for 8 hours! but was worth it – plus we got a spare tire this time.
Unfortunately not enough time to go on one of the organised hydro-electric power station tours on the route to the glacier – they are proud of all the hydro power stations in the country. The rivers are a unique milky aqua colour because of the fine powder suspended in the water from the glacier grinding on the stone.
Row boat hire was included in our visit to the aquarium (no public liability issues here…) to see the creatures that are in the deep fjords. The aquarium was attached to a a marine studies centre where school students come to catch and study the fish. Some parts of the fjords are more than 1300m deep! Not much oxygen down deep for them. Some were crazy looking and had big teeth.
Friday, July 12. 2013Flamsbana to FlamWe had a scenic 6 hour train ride travelling from Oslo to Flåm. 
The Flåm Line (Norwegian: Flåmsbana) is a 20.2-kilometer long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland, Norway. It runs through the valley of Flåmsdalen and connects the mainline with Sognefjord. The line's elevation difference is 863 meters, it has ten stations, twenty tunnels and one bridge. The maximum gradient is 5.5 percent (1:18), making it the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe. Because of the steep gradient the engines used are modified and have five braking systems. Construction of the line started in 1924, with the line opening in 1940. Of the twenty tunnels, machines were only used for two — the rest were built by hand. Hand-construction was done by drilling up to 4.2 meters through the rock, filling the holes with dynamite and blasting. Kjosfossen is a waterfall where there is a station to stop and look at it. Its total fall is around 225 metres. Below the waterfall is a hydro power station that provides all power for the train line. Shortly after stopping music started and dancers appeared at the base of the waterfall. It was a bit tacky, but some people were really excited. They were supposed to be Huldra - a seductive forest creature - luring us into the water and the underworld.
Even though this is supposed to be one of the most scenic railway lines in the world, it was slightly diminished by the deafening brakes screeching, extreme tourism and people constantly jumping around the train trying to take pictures out the window. Jumping is not an exaggeration. At least it was amusing blocking their view and watching them fall over when the brakes were applied.
FlåmWe were here for a day before travelling to our destination of Balestrand. We have never seen so many sweater shops… Before our boat ride to Balestrand we went on a boat ride up the Nærøyfjord (narrow fjord). There was old farms half way up the steep sides, porpoise and beautiful scenery.
Tuesday, July 9. 2013OsloOslo was a bit underwhelming, however there were a few highlights. HolmenkollenThere is an Olympic ski jump above Oslo called Holmenkollbakken which was pretty cool. There was also a ski field further up the mountain but there was no snow, so on some of the ski runs there was a track where you could do land skiing. It was like oversized rollerblades, or undersized skis with big wheels. You catch a Metro train to the top. You’re allowed to carry skis onboard the metro and trams for free, but a bike needs a child’s ticket. We went to the top station and walked down the mountain to the ski jump.
You could go to the top of the jump for the view. There was also a museum on skiing history. The hill has been rebuilt 19 times. Between 2008 and 2010, the entire structure was demolished and rebuilt. As of 8 February 2011, the hill record is 142.5 meters. The hill is part of Holmenkollen National Arena, which also has cross-country and biathlon venues as well as other ski smaller jumps. 
There are a few web cams on the mountain - http://www.skiforeningen.no/kamera
Frogner ParkFrogner Park contains the famous Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement designed by Gustav Vigeland and the infamous angry baby.. It was funny to watch people try to copy the poses for a photo. |
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