Geiranger- First Stop Norway, or a Free Trip to the Mediterranean

Day Seven, Tuesday, June 5. When we wake up, the Serenade of the Seas is docked in a fjord at Weimereiner, somewhere on the Norwegian coast. We know this because there is a sheer rock wall outside our cabin window. Amazingly, a few shrubs and small trees have found toeholds in the rock. A small village is there as well, population 200, each of whom operates a tchotchke store next to the dock. It’s all pricey, but no one has to buy anything so not too awful. Norway got rich on oil drilling and, like good Socialists, the government now provides lots of freebies. Any woman who has a second child receives a wage equal to the one she had when she worked. Men get 80% for one or two years. I couldn’t tell which because our day tour guide was an Italian who had more good spirit than good English.

Another freebie involves those who become depressed in winter, when the sun may not actually rise. The state provides people affected by seasonal affect disorder with free liquor. There are also classes in street fist fighting  for those who do not respond to this therapy. For those who do not respond to this approach,  the state actually sends people to the Mediterranean. Turns out, it's cheaper to send citizens South than to load them up with medication or psychotherapy, or to teach them how to hit each other. ***

The day tour itself was a bus ride to Mount Dalsnibba, a series of hairpin turns past lakes only now being fed by snow melt, which isn’t much of a mountain, but does provide a gorgeous view back to the fjord with our ship a big white dot in the bay. The timberline here is at 800 meters; above that it’s lichens and a few scrubby low bushes, both of which are the exclusive diet of the local reindeer (none visible). Up on Mount D, it’s mostly bare rock with plenty of snow nearby. We’re glad to have brought coats, and are glad, too, that it isn’t raining, the main feature of summer in fjord country due to the Gulf Current bringing moist air up to meet cold dry air from Sweden. Back down the hairpins towards Weimereiner, we see a few farms, the grass a vibrant green thanks to the rain, no doubt. People raise cattle and goats and make “famous” cheese. Sure they do.

All told, a perfect day, bright and sunny blue with not much to see but plenty of time to see it. A good day to mosey.

*** Sending to Meditterean is actually true. A country that thinks outside of the box.

About our stop today according to Wikipedia :

About Geiranger Fjord-World Heritage Site

A few photos:

Seven Sisters Waterfalls

Some people here grow grass on their roof.  Hard to mow; hard to smoke.

Top of the World

Collage of our day

Ok, a Google photo album was going to go here, but upload time on ship doesn't permit that now. If and when they get uploaded, we will share. Seriously,  there were some gorgeous views, terrain , etc.

Until tomorrow...