June 15 - The Fashion Village

Olden is a small town at the end of a 65-mile long fjord. The 4-hour sail-in was awesome. The terrain here looks like what you see around Seward. Olden looks to be a little smaller than Seward. There are small farms dotting the landscape, and we can see cows grazing from our balcony. I saw a light pole with a banner that said "Welcome to Olden - The Farm Village." Then I noticed another pole with a banner that said "Welcome to Olden - The Fashion Village."

Huh? This place is beautiful and charming and all that, but it seems like Sticksville, so I don't know what makes it The Fashion Village.

I read the port guide later and learned that Olden has at least two "fashion factory outlets." Mystery solved.

Our excursion today was DIY. We took the public bus to Jostedalsbreen National Park to hike to the Briksdahl Glacier. It was about a 45-mnute trip through valleys dotted with farms and cute houses. Everything here is neat and tidy and pleasant to look at. Every so often there would be a waterfall or a lake or a tunnel, so the time passed quickly.

Upon our arrival at the park, we embarked upon the path leading to the glacier. It was uphill all the way. My Fitbit registered 40 flights of stairs. On the way up we passed a nice waterfall, but the waterfall on the other side of the valley was more spectacular, with the water in freefall for quite a distance. 

At the top of the climb we found an abandoned cabin with a sod roof and a picnic shelter.

We could have kept going  and gotten closer to the glacier, but it didn't look like there was much more to see so we turned around at that point and headed back down. Forty-five minutes up and fifteen minutes down.

The part that we saw was only an arm of what is apparently a huge glacier.

Heading down

At the bottom we looked around the giftshop and then went to the cafeteria for a snack. Two coffees (out of a machine) and two pieces of cake: $22 US. I had heard Norway was expensive but I was still a little shocked.

After about three hours in the park we got back on the public bus and rode back to Olden.The  bus had waited at the park. It only makes one trip a day. It was crowded and some people had to stand in the aisle.

We came back to the ship and when it was time for sailaway we went out on the balcony to see the action. The longshoremen had set up some (very loud) speakers on the dock and they were playing music to the ship. The playlist included Sultans of Swing, The Great Pretender, Springsteen, and, next to last, It's Time to Say Goodbye, the operatic contribution to our entertainment. The final song was in Norwegian (I think). During this time they rowed out to the buoys in a little boat and untied the ship.

As the ship began to move away from the dock the longshoremen bade us farewell, waving Norwegian flags. They were joined by a couple of families and some people in a house way up on the hillside. Apparently Norwegians love to wave their flag as much as the Danes do. Did I mention that every house has a flagpole?