Something I’ve noticed about Norway is that no matter where we’ve been, from a glacier in the mountains to sailing down a fjord on a tower block sized ship my phone signal has been a constant 5G. At home I can barely get a phone signal in my house and when I do its probably 3G.
There were supposed to be some drive-bye’s of some ‘special’ fjords on our way to Flam but they were late at night and so a bit pointless. We weren’t sure what we were going to do in Flam. Lyn had read some not very complimentary reviews about the scenic railway but in the end that’s what we decided to do.
We got off the ship, walked past all the people who were queuing who had booked the railway tour with P&O, went straight to the tourist office/train station, bought our return ticket for £102 (for both of us) and got straight on the train. This was half the price P&O wanted.
It looked like they’d put on a different train just for the cruise ship so the train we were on was half empty and we had plenty of room allowing us to look out both sides of the train. I like trains, more accurately I like train rides. I find the whole thing very relaxing and enjoy watching the world go by without worrying about crashing the car. Every now and then the thought of getting a train set pops into my head but I’ve given Lyn instructions that if I do she is to smother me in sleep with a pillow as this would be the kindest thing.
As the train pulled out of the station I knew it was money well spent. How anyone could give this a bad review was beyond me. It had train ride and it was scenic so exactly what was advertised. I spent the first part of the journey jumping from each side of the train and taking lots of pictures and videos.
There were a couple of women, (Japanese or Chinese??) on the train. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but as far as I can work out Asian ladies stop aging at 20 and then don’t start again until they are 60. I have no idea how old they were but Lyn said she thought one of them had a wedding ring on. About halfway up the train stopped at a photo opportunity and I noticed one of them had got changed into a school girl uniform! It took me a few seconds to realise that it was a Harry Potter Hogwarts uniform and she had a wand. Her friend was then taking pictures while she struck various poses. I did take a surreptitious picture of them as it was so odd them immediately decided that was very wrong and deleted it.
When we got to the top I got off the train for some fresh air and noticed that both ladies had now changed into full Hogwarts regalia. I offered to take some pictures of both of them (with their phone) and they were very excited. They then bizarrely wanted to take a selfie with me so I obliged and took one myself just as proof that this actually happened.
On the ride down the commentary that accompanied the ride talked about the local legend of the Huldra, a beautiful woodland spirit who lures men into the woods. When we stopped at the photo op again music started up and in the distance what looked like a woman in a red dress and blond hair was dancing and singing. I think there were several people up there making look like the same ‘spirit’ was disappearing and appearing in different sports. I videoed some of it and it might of been a man in a wig so anyone who got lured into the woods will be in for a shock.
Despite Flam being very small there was a Pandora outlet in the main tat shop so Lyn got an actual destination charm. We then got a cake, video called our eldest child and had a gentle walk around. We thought we’d get back on the boat as the drizzle that had been going all morning was starting to get a bit heavier. Lyn had put my little drone in the backpack when we left that morning and as we shoved the bag through the scanner security wanted to have a word. Apparently drones are prohibited. Why this wasn’t picked up in Southampton is beyond me. My drone has now been confiscated and like naughty children we can pick it up from reception before the end of the cruise.
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