Even with the long road ahead of us, we made frequent sight-seeing stops because it was such a beautiful day and the scenery was amazing. Our first stop was Stalheim. We took a different route to Bergen than the one I originally thought so we didn't stop there like I said we might in a previous post. With some gentle coercion, I convinced my two very strong-willed travel companions to go that route on the way out of Bergen rather than the one that was recommended to us. We missed the turn on the first pass so we ended up driving just about all the way through the valley we wanted to see before turning around. The lost time was completely worth it!
It was one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen. It was as if I'd stepped into a painting. In a way, I had: Johan Christian Dahl's "View from Stalheim" is a romantic interpretation of the valley we looked out upon. I wouldn't want to stay at the hotel where the overlook point is located -- it's probably very expensive and I think spending too much time there with nothing to do but look at the valley, while not necessarily ruining the view, would make it less special. Each blink should bring a new wonder to behold.
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| "View from Stalheim" -- Johan Christian Dahl 1842 |
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| "Another View from Stalheim" -- Neal Digre 2014 |
The perspective is a little off and there's no double rainbow but I tried to get it as close as I could.
The switchbacks coming down from the hotel made me glad I wasn't driving and even more glad I'm not a bus driver. The hairpins could have been useful in holding Patti's finger-clenched hair in place had they only been the right type of hairpins. I don't blame her, though. After a short but gorgeous ferry ride across Sognefjord (the largest fjord in Norway) and once we got past the town of Sogndal, the road became worthy of a few hair tugs. It was down to one lane with traffic still flowing both ways. Going around a blind curve, all we could do was go slow and hope there wasn't a car or, even worse, a semi coming from the other direction. All that separated our car from a quick trip to the brilliant blue-green fjord below was a flimsy barrier. 
Before long we were above the treeline again. Nothing but shrubs, rocks, mountains, glaciers, and the single solitary hytte populated the landscape. As we continued to gain altitude the gas gauge continued to fall, rapidly. No gas station within 100km. Desolate landscape. No hope of a tow-truck maneuvering up the narrow mountain roads. Only the goal of reaching the top before we ran out of gas. It really wasn't all that close of a call, especially once we started to descend. Still, the first gas station in sight brought an audible sigh of relief from the front seat.
After that, it was relatively fast going the rest of the way to Trondheim. It was a beautiful, awe-inspiring 12-hour drive from Bergen to Trondheim but once is enough for me; I think I'll fly next time. I was happy to be taken right to the doorstep of our destination by the assertive tone of the German navigation voice. After a delicious meal of salmon and potatoes, we fought our desire to sleep and exchanged pleasantries with our hosts and some other Norwegian cousins that came to visit. The long journey left us all feeling tired, especially me. Driving narrow mountain roads is hardly any work at all compared to trying to find a comfortable sleeping position in the back of a small vehicle. Just kidding. I'm extremely thankful for the ten hours of driving my dad did and the two hours of driving Patti did, leaving me free to doze-off, look at the scenery, or write a poem about being called by my sibling's name three times in a single car trip. (Maybe you can look forward to seeing it on my poetry blog in the coming weeks.) It was a long day but the extra effort it took to make it to Trondheim in one day gave us more time to see the city.
I'd like to get to my activities in Trondheim but now that you at least know how I got here, I don't feel so bad about saving that for the next post. Maybe I'll crank it out this evening so you shouldn't have to wait long. Stay tuned. -NLD
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