The Geiranger Fjord near Olden, Norway

Today we took an eight-hour tour of the Geiranger Fjord, one of the most well known and beautiful of the Norwegian Fjords.  We left the ship and boarded a bus and drove through several villages and more spectacular countrysides until we got to the base of the mountain and started to ascend.  More hairpin curves and the snow got heavier and heavier, not falling snow but what is still left on the ground of the winter snowfall.  When we got to the top, above the tree line, some of the snowdrifts were twenty or thirty feet--and this is after treatment had been applied to hurry up the thaw.  The road cannot be opened at all until it is possible to actually remove the snow from the road.  As we drove up the road, the packed snow on the side of the road had to be thirty feet high.

Sadly for us, it was foggy on the top and we couldn't see the fjord below, but the stark mountains seen through the fog was an eerie and beautiful sight itself.

Beautiful farms and villages on the way from the ship to the Geiranger Fjord

This was a swiftly flowing river where we stopped.  There was a bridge from which we could take pictures of the lovely scenery both up and downstream.  The guide emphasized that it was important to stay on the bridge and not wander down to the river because of the danger of the bank giving way and thus being washed down the river.

There is always someone who ignores the rules.  This the guide in the red jacket chewing out (we think) this couple who decided to go down anyway to take pictures.  They were the same couple that were always a few minutes late getting back on the bus when we had a timed stop.  Don't think people don't notice.

Starting to ascend the mountain.  The snow is fairly minimal at this lower altitude.

Yes, there is civilization up there but not much.  How would you like to live here?

At the top of the mountain there was a small gift shop/cafe with its resident troll.  From this vantage point, on clear days which we understand are few and far between, you can see the spectacular Geiranger Fjord below.

So we left there and descended to a lower altitude with this view of the Geiranger Fjord.  This is the wide part of the Fjord.  There are several cruise ships in this picture, not ours though.

This is a close-up of the people in the previous picture who were attempting to walk to the very edge of the mountain--not sure why since the view would be the same.  Had any of our group gone there, it would have given our guide a heart attack

A huge waterfall that we were able to  get very close to.

And two troll couples at the edge of the deepest lake in Europe (1,700 feet) on the grounds of the hotel where we had lunch.