Norway II: The countryside

[Highlander]

Here are a few pictures from mostly southern and mid Norway.  All are south of the city of Trondheim.  
And I'll even provide some music to watch it by....the video for this song by the Norsk band Aha encapsulates Norway...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dnIhg5Osdc

Starting in Telemark where many of the Norwegian immigrants to the US come from.

The next two pictures are also from Telemark.  The first is the Norsk Hydro fertilizer plant (now a museum) in Rjukan where the Germans manufactured heavy water during WWII for their atomic bomb effort and the second is Lake Tinsja in Telemark where a ferry carrying heavy water to the railway was sunk by the Norwegian resistance with heavy loss of Norwegian life.



Next is Laerdal in Mid Norway.  Has certain Rivendell like qualities.

Getting there use to require traversing the snow road (now there is a 26 km tunnel).  A few pics from the snow road.



North of Laerdal in the heart of glacier and fjord country.  Jostedalensbreen National Park.




(These are some of the few glaciers in the world that are actually growing)
Jotunheim National Park.  The highest mountains in the country are here.  Pictures taken in June.


Trollsteigvegen.  Near Alesund Norway.




Area north of Lillehammar in central Norway





Further south in the Stavanger area
Norway has some great beaches which takes a lot of people by surprise

Lysefjord is the southernmost large fjord on the west coast.  Next few pictures are from climbs along the fjord.
Preikistolen is about 1500' above the fjord near the mouth of the fjord.





Farther up the fjord.  The Kjerrag.  The world's foremost basejumping spot. 3000' sheer drop.





Geiranger.  Probably the prettiest place in the country.

Rainbow over Nordfjord near Geiranger

Last picture.  Stave church NE of Bergen.


Happy 4th

[Zorobabel]

Looks like an amazingly beautiful place. I'll have to visit there some day myself.

[heatherkay]

Now THAT'S some glacial topography.  I have to say that the idea of lying on my stomach peering over the edge of that 3000' drop nauseates me a little.

[Highlander]

Now THAT'S some glacial topography.  I have to say that the idea of lying on my stomach peering over the edge of that 3000' drop nauseates me a little.

The really spooky thing is to stand on the rock wedged between two cliffs (see the picture a little further down).  As an experienced climber, it made me a little sick too as the drop is nearly 3000' straight down although the exposure is difficult to see from the picture.  It is customary to stand on the rock once you make the relatively challenging hike to the Kjerag.  If you are into glaciers, Norway is a great place both in terms of topography and actual active glaciers (that are bucking the worldwide trend and growing). 

[IraGlacialis]

Beautiful pictures. For some reason, I am a big fan of fjords.

[Roanoker]

Gorgeous pics. My son guesses that this is glacial pavement.

[DanCa]

That just makes me dizzy and sick to see some of those (especially the last) pictures!  I find it interesting how the architecture of their houses seems more comparable to American houses than the rest of Europe though.

[Highlander]

That just makes me dizzy and sick to see some of those (especially the last) pictures!  I find it interesting how the architecture of their houses seems more comparable to American houses than the rest of Europe though.

The houses are generally wood which is more like the US.  They are built really well though and an angry fist into the wall would result in a trip to the emergency room instead of a trip to Home Depot.  Not that I have done that. 

[DanCa]

The houses are generally wood which is more like the US.  They are built really well though and an angry fist into the wall would result in a trip to the emergency room instead of a trip to Home Depot.  Not that I have done that. 

I lived in Germany for 3 years and the walls were solid cinder block!  Wouldn't want to punch one of those either.  I have often wondered where the U.S. got its crappy way of building houses primarily of wood.  I think you could run an F-5 tornado over the average German house and it would still be standing. 

[Highlander]

I lived in Germany for 3 years and the walls were solid cinder block!  Wouldn't want to punch one of those either.  I have often wondered where the U.S. got its crappy way of building houses primarily of wood.  I think you could run an F-5 tornado over the average German house and it would still be standing. 

An F5 would have blown out the windows of my house in Scotland and maybe taken the roof off.

I returned to the US last year and bought a brand new home.  The wallboard is not sufficient to hold up a picture on a nail.  You have to use some kind of fastener or the nail will not stay in place.  This is in a pretty expensive and well regarded part of Houston.  My 20 year old home, when I left the US, was really a much better built house and I suspect that is all part of a definite decline in housing quality which wasn't that great in the first place.  On the other hand, housing across Europe is ridiculously expensive by American standards.