Fjord

"Fjord" means "Fjord" in Norwegian.  Fjord is quite possibly the only word in the English language that comes from Norway.  So...what's a fjord, you ask?

 

Webster's tell us:

fjord

noun \fē-ˈȯrd, ˈfē-ˌ; ˈfyȯrd\: a narrow part of the ocean between cliffs or steep hills or mountains.

 

This is NOT a fjord. 

 

This is Rozenkrantz Tower, a fortress in the Norwegian city of Bergen, which happens to be situated on a fjord.

 

 

This is NOT a fjord.  It is a funicular train in Bergen that takes you part-way up a mountain.

 

 

When you reach the top of the funicular train, here is the view of the city of Bergen.

 

 

From the top of the funicular train, you could go even further up the mountain and we decided to take a hike.

 

Hiking...doot-da-doo....

 

This is NOT a fjord.  This is a pile of rocks, sometimes called a cairn.

 

cairn

noun \ˈkern\:  a man-made pile (or stack) of stones.

 

Sitting by a foggy pond.  Doot-da-doo.

 

This is NOT a fjord.  These are old wooden houses called the Bryggen in the old town of Bergen. 

 

 

They used to be part of the old wharf trading district in Norway.

 

Goodbye, Bergen...sailing on to the next fjord.

 

Sailing....doot-da-doo.

 

You can see the cliffs starting to get a little higher.

 

The further north you go, the more dramatic it gets.

 

Our next stop was Andalsnes (say that ten times fast...)  We started from sea level here, and hiked all the way up a crazy big mountain.

 

Ta-da!  At the top!

 

Standing on a cliff.  Doot-da-doo.

 

My mom sleeping on a cliff...Doot-da-doo.

 

Yup.  It was a pretty good view.

So good that it required lots of pictures.

 

From different orientations.

 

Or in black and white.

 

THIS is a fjord.  See cliffs?  See ocean?

 

Then, yes.  This IS a fjord.

 

This is NOT a fjord.  This is a life preserver, in case you fall into the fjord.

 

Goodbye, Andalsnes.

 

Sailing further north to Gieranger.

 

This is NOT a fjord.  This is a goat.

 

And, this, my friend, is an Epic Goat.

ep·ic goat

\noun \ˈe-pik ˈgōt\: 

a: a small animal that is related to the sheep, extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope. 

b :  a heroic small animal that is related to the sheep.

 

 

We saw these goats on our Geiranger hike. 

 

THIS is a fjord.  I am sitting by the fjord.

 

You can see our cruise ship down there in the fjord.  "Wait for us! Don't leave us!"

 

Check out the zig-zag road leading up from the fjord on the right.

 

Good.  They didn't leave yet.  That wasn't our cruise ship.  Phew!  You might be surprised to see these huge cruise ships right up there in the inlet, but the fjords are so deep that it's not a problem.  In fact, even though it's super cold in Norway in the winter, the fjords never freeze because they are so deep.  They were cut from the slow movement of ancient glaciers, and are now filled with water.

 

Flowers on a hill.  Doot-da-doo.

 

Norwegian flags.  Doot-da-doo.

 

This is a pretty scary-looking waterfall.

 

If you don't believe me, just check out this sign warning you about it...

 

 

It's just like a total cruise ship party in the fjords in summertime, since it's pretty much the coolest way to see the fjords.

 

Moods of Norway...Doot-da-doo.

 

THIS is a fjord.  (See the cool waterfall?)

 

Now you do.

 

This means lots of pictures!

 

The view from our balcony was pretty amazing!

 

See?  We had a balcony!  Fjords moving past our window!

 

See ya next time.  Doot-da-doo!

Norge

Congratulations to Mrs. David, my sweet elementary school music teacher, for winning the 2nd Anniversary Gruenhunstrasse Challenge!

 

 

Your victory package is prepared and will be shipping out this week!  Enjoy!  Thanks for playing!

 

And welcome to today's blog post, which is in Norway!

 

"Norge" means Norway in Norwegian!

 

The second half of our cruise this summer was all ports of call in Norway.

 

Our first stop was Oslo, the capitol city.  Here is the town hall.

 

 

Tada!  There you have it.

 

And here is the National Theater.

 

We did our own walking tour of Oslo...

 

Past the Norwegian National Palace (nothing too fancy here...just the usual man on a horse statue, pillars...etc.)

 

 

 There is a surprising lack of water features here....Although we did see guards in special guard boxes.  (Notice this guard is rocking that pony-tail.) 

 

Back side of palace.  No comment.

 

 

Our final destination for our walk in Oslo was the Vigeland Park.  This is a park where there are 212 sculptures all by the same Norwegian artist, Gustav Vigeland.  It took him over 20 years to make them them all.

 

 

It was a lot of people.  Real ones and sculpture ones.  First you walk down a big aisle with statues on either side (and real people walking down the middle).  They are all people at different stages of life. (Both real and sculptures.)

 

They are all the kind of poses that you see in every day life...except that no one is ever wearing any clothes....the statues, that is.

 

At the end of the "boulevard" you come to a big fountain surrounded by weird fairies falling through the trees.

 

No, I'm serious.  Look.  What the heck is that?

 

Right, so moving on...

 

Past the fountain you come to a huge circle of statues with one big pillar made out of people...I guess...(you'll see...)

 

As you work your way around the circle, the people progressively get older.

 

It starts with sculptures of babies and kids...

 

moving to adults...

 

and finally the elderly...

And at the very end, I saw this life-like airborne sculpture.  I wonder how he did that?

 

Here's the full view with the "people pillar" in the middle.

 

Even the wrought iron gates were designed by Vigeland.

 

Yay!

 

After the park, we walked back through Oslo.  Here's a random fruit stand.

 

And a random church.

 

And, finally, before heading back to our cruise ship, we explored the old fortress of Akershus.

 

 

 

It is pretty much right on the coast.  Like, we could blow their cannons straight into our room on the cruise ship.  BOOM!  Here is the view of our cruise ship from the top of the wall at Akershus.

 

Here is the view of Akershus from our cruise ship. 

 

Another stop on our cruise was the second largest city in Norway (after Oslo) called Stavanger.  While we were there we went to an Oil Museum.  Oil Museum, you say?  That must be pretty freaking boring....But actually....

 

We controlled everying.  (Not really...but we got to pretend we did.)

 

And here is the awesome video to prove it.

 

 

 

All along the coast they have these real life oil rigs that you can't control...unless, you know, you are an oil rig operator.  But I mean, how many people are oil rig operators?  Right?