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May 14, 2008
Norway in a Nutshell
I can't tell you how many people on the travel message boards I visited raved about Norway in a Nutshell so despite the slightly high expense, Adam and I decided to do it. The first leg of the journey is an approximately five hour train ride from Oslo to Myrdal. For the first hour or two, you are charmed by the pastoral countryside of Norway but by the third or fourth hour it gets to be a bit repetitive. The last hour is actually nice--the train passes through snow covered mountains and the snowy landscapes, especially considering the fact that it's May, is impressive.
The hour-long train ride between Myrdal and Flam is nice--it's basically a sight-seeing train--but we've definitely seen nicer scenery during our travels. We had an hour to walk around Flam and grab something to eat--Flam is nice but small. I was really looking forward to the next leg of our journey--a boat ride through Songefjord. This was the most visually striking part of the journey that I had seen in travel shows and to say it was disappointing might be an understatement. I guess Adam and I really didn't know what fjords were until we came to Norway--we were expecting narrow water channels rimmed by dramatic snow-capped cliffs or glaciers and to ride a very slow-moving ferry past not particularly dramatic cliffs in the warmth of the cafe area (most people moved from the top of the boat to the enclosed interior within the first hour) was actually a bit boring.
The last segment of the trip was also not particularly memorable, though perhaps this was because I slept through the bus ride part of it. I think Norway in a Nutshell is best suited for the middle-aged and older crowd that likes to see the scenery of Norway in comfort. But if it's a little more stimulation that you seek, then I would opt for a different experience, like the hike up Preikestolen, which I'll discuss later.
Some photos from NiN:
Posted by Jennifer at May 14, 2008 08:23 AM