Long Day 1

June 5

We got up at 5:30 AM to start packing up. After packing a breakfast and all our things, we loaded the busat 6:45 AM and headed to the first ferry for the day. The ferry ride was very pleasant – Wayne and I sat out at a picnic table on deck (all by ourselves, no one else was out there) and had breakfast. Then back on the bus for a long drive through beautiful views. There are a large number of long tunnels in Norway, and we passed through quite a few of these as well. As a plus, we drove along the length of Sorfjorden fjord.


After passing several stunning waterfalls that threw water on our bus as we passed, we stopped briefly in Odda to view a fantastic waterfall, and found the area was referred to as the valley of waterfalls.


We missed the next ferry because of a tree removal process that blocked the road, and then further down the road had several long waits (one about ½ hour) for rock clearing of the roads. We took two additional ferries, the first only about 10 minutes long, and the last making two crossings before reaching our destination. It seemed the scenery just got more breathtaking at every turn, so we were never bored.


We arrived at our fancy hotel, where we have rooms in return for our concert. Balestrand is a resort town, very beautiful and overlooking the water. Wayne and I walked around town. We found St. Olaf’s Church, “The English Church” a short distance from our hotel. It is under renovation on the outside, but is simply stunning inside, with elaborate woodwork and stained glass. We continued exploring from there and found a Viking burial ground that originally had 5 burial mounds. Two of these remain, with monuments atop. It was a beautiful sight, with the mounds in the foreground and the mountains and fjord in the background.


We returned to prepare for dinner and our concert. The dinner was an all-you-can-eat buffet, featuring a wide variety of seafood and other delicacies. We especially liked the Elk (moose) stew. We found that the hotel had not really advertised our concert or set it up like one, so we ended up playing for the coffee time after dinner. We had a small but appreciative crowd for what ended up being a very casual and informal concert. I think we all had a good time.


After the concert we explored some of the beautiful woodwork and artwork in the hotel, and then headed up to bed. We found we just weren’t ready to retire and went back out for another walk, returning to our room well after midnight, although it was only just reaching dusk. It is almost 1 am and it is not dark.