May 25 - From Gålå to Geiranger

We were treated to another beautiful view of the area when we woke up this morning.

Grabbed a view more shots before as we walked out to board the bus.

It is hard not to take pictures out the window at the beautiful scenery.  We drove along the rivers with farms and mountains.

Our first stop was in Lom.  There we had a guided tour of a stave church, Lomskyrkia.  It is one of the biggest and most beautiful stave churches in our country. The impressive church dates back to 1158-59.  It is one of the oldest stave churches remaining in Norway.  It is still an active church today.

The dragon carvings on the roof were characteristic of these churches from the beginning.   These buildings show an interesting mix of pagan and Christian iconography.   Going back to the Vikings, the dragon heads were thought to keep away evil spirits.

After a break and a stop at a local bakery, we continued northward.  The weather began to change as we climbed higher.  Eventually we got above the tree-line with more snow and a still partially frozen lake.

A short photo op off the bus.

We headed up a nice winding road to go to up Dalnisbba (5000 ft) to the Geiranger Skywalk.  

Imagine standing on a mountain top, breathing good mountain air and enjoying the views over snow-covered mountains and the Geirangerfjord, part of the West Norwegian Fjords UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can experience all this – and more – at Dalsnibba.

Not today ------  I included a photo of what we had hoped for (from the internet)  Oh well -----

The road had just recently opened.  Lots of snow.  

Nice road - driven with skill by our bus driver.

So we drove back down and headed to the town of Geiranger.  We did a little better at a second stop before dropping down to our hotel.

Another fun road ---

We checked into our hotel which is located up from the fjord.  We are in the room with the two windows open.  

This is pretty much the view from our room.

We went outside for a walk despite the light rain.  The skies kept changing.

Water falls from the mountains above us, goes by us and continues to the fjord.  

Dinner is over and we are sitting back in our room watching the clouds move up and down on the peaks.  I guess we are seeing it the way it usually is in Norway.  Impressive no matter what!