Sognefjord and Bergen

Does Zach ever tire of trains---NO! Even while riding a train, his favorite thing to do is play trains.


We rode the train from Oslo to Myrdal (which is 800+ meters above sea level, extremely cold and very snowy!), then made a very frigid switch over to a scenic train to Flåm.

The train made a brief stop for a photo op at the Kjosfossen Waterfall. It is massive (300+ meter freefall of water), loud, and gorgeous!

The scenery was amazing. Everywhere we looked there were snowcapped mountains with streams running down, sheep grazing in pastures, frozen lakes... so beautiful.

In Flåm we boarded a boat that took us cruising down the Sognefjord, the world's longest fjord with mountains as high as 1800 meters. The views were truly breathtaking, and even though we took about a million pictures, none of them come close to capturing the awesome landscape:

On the Boat

A Rainbow!

One of the Streams Running Down the Mountains

The boat docked in Gudvangen; from there we took a short bus ride through the mountains to yet another train that took us from Voss to Bergen. It was quite a journey!

Our first day in Bergen was cold and wet (which we hear is pretty much the norm for Bergen in October---too bad no one told us BEFORE we went, lol)!

We hid out at the Aquarium for the majority of the day. In addition to fish, fish, and more fish, they had crocodiles, penguins, a submarine, monkeys, and this enormous (fake) sea turtle:

Not perfect funicular-riding weather, but that certainly didn't stop us (notice how damp our pants are!):


The weather had improved by the next morning, so we rode up again. This time the sun was out and the view was beautiful:

We also did some shopping near the harbor area:

We toured Bergenhus Fortress, Haakon's Hall, and Rosenkrantz Tower (built in the 1500s and super cool):

Zach showing off his muscles near an arrow slit in the fortress

Walking down the tower's spiral staircase

On our last night in Bergen, we treated ourselves to an over-the-top chocolate dessert extravaganza---I think this might have been the highlight of the trip for Zach!

And then it was back on the train in the morning for the ride back to Oslo. On our way we stopped at Europe's highest station and played in the snow:

We had a fantastic time!