Norwegian Wood 2006

There was some question as to how I would get from Urnes to Flam in time to catch my train back to Oslo. Flam was on the other side of the fjord from Urnes, and the ferry did not start running quite early enough to make all of the right bus connections. Ian´s idea was that I would help Dave, his partner, get the 2 tandem kayaks back across the fjord by piling all of my luggage into a kayak and paddling across very early the next morning. This plan was exciting, of course, but made me a bit nervous. Paddling 2 or 3 kilometers in the rain with all my luggage sounded like a potential catastrophe, but also like a great story to tell afterwards.
It turned out that Dave was not able to make this journey on this particular day, so I was just going to have to miss my train and take the next one later in the day. Probably for the best.
I took the famous Flam railroad on a steep ascent from the fjord to the high plateau at Myrdal, where the train from Bergen to Oslo would pass. This Flam railroad is a tourist attraction because of its very steep ascent and spectacular scenery.
Back in Oslo, I was meeting up with my friend Terri McFarland, a landscape architect and landscape painter from San Francisco. We were to travel up to the arctic circle together for a week of painting and drawing, but first we had a few days in Oslo. I was able to return to my favorite spots, the Viking Ship Museum, the Folk Museum, and Vigland Park, and to recapture some of those lost photos from the first few days of my trip. It was great to see the Viking ships again after spending time with several boatbuilders.