We left the hotel at 7:15 am to walk to the train station. We had enough time to get ourselves a cup of coffee and a pastry before hopping on the train (an easy process). There were no empty seats on the train (literally – it was sold out). Fortunately, the hotel had packed a "to go" breakfast for us, and the breakfast became our lunch. The train ride was as good as the advertising indicated; it is billed as one of the most beautiful train rides in Europe. The beauty was especially relevant for the last third of the trip when we travelled through snow-covered mountains with waterfalls everywhere one looked. In one location, we counted a view with more than 30 waterfalls. And these were not waterfalls that were a few feet tall; they literally poured down from the tops of the mountains ½ mile or more. Spectacular is an understatement. The only irritating thing is that there were as many tunnels as there were waterfalls, so one had to be quick with the camera to get a couple of pictures before we were in the dark again. We all took several pictures of the dark walls of the tunnels, having missed the PERFECT picture by a few inches. Damn. Some of the tunnels were through the mountains, but some appeared to be wooden structures meant to keep the snow away from the train tracks.
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| a beautiful farm setting visible from the train window |
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| our arrival at the train station in Bergen: a bustling location |
Olive was persistent in connecting with the Avis Car Rental Agency in Bergen to try to get them to stay open a few extra minutes after their 3:00 closing time, and she eventually succeeded, and yes, they said they would stay open until she arrived. So when the train trip ended at 3:00, Olive and Joe RAN to the car rental agency and made it (Joe won, but Olive was not far behind). Hooray! The rest of us stood in the rain waiting for them to come back to pick us up with the car. Fortunately, it didn’t take long, and we were able to put all of our luggage (JUST BARELY) and all of us (JUST BARELY) into the car, and off we went to the Maristuen Hotel.
We wanted to try to find a grocery store and a restaurant on the way to Maristuen. We failed to find a grocery store that was open, but we were able to pick up 6 bananas, 12 eggs, and a loaf of bread for breakfast at a convenience store. While we were successful finding a restaurant in a small town, the food was less than spectacular and quite pricey. Those of us who bought hamburgers paid $25 for a not-very-good hamburger. But to be fair, it did have 3 onion rings and a pile of fries with it :-(. The good news is that we all were fed and we hit the road again.
We again were amazed by the beauty surrounding us, and at 8:30 pm, we pulled into Maristuen. Gorgeous. We were given the large four-bedroom cabin (we had paid for the three-bedroom one), so we were given a bit of a gift from Sara, who was as pleased to see us as we were her.
Our cabin is wonderful -- the setting, and all of the amenities including a dish washer, a clothes washer and dryer, wi-fi, TV, heated floors, a sauna, and absolutely everything one needs for a beautiful stay in a beautiful location.
We wrapped ourselves up in our duvets and sat outside on the front porch and enjoyed the splendour. We went to bed at midnight, and it was still light out. We are going to like this place!
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| It was a bit chilly, in case you hadn't guessed, but the view was so spectacular, we couldn't resist sitting outside until about midnight around the time this picture was taken! |
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| Randall and Juleen standing on the porch of our cabin, with Randall sporting his new Dale of Norway pea coat |
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| the exterior of our Maristuen cottage |
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| the living room of our cottage, the beautiful kitchen and dining room are on the far end. The cottage included 4 bedrooms. |
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