Norway Journal - Flåm

At 6 am I woke up in my bed on deck 7 of the ship, opened my glass door, and had this view (the first few photos). The ship had just come into Flåm, Norway and we rotated a full 180 degrees to back-in to the port. The towering mountains felt so close, like I could reach out and touch them. These were misty mountains. Low clouds and mist was hovering around all of them. It was so atmospheric. As the sun slowly started to cast some light into the sky, it took a lot longer to dip into the fjord. 

Getting ready for the day was hard after that, as I wanted to just be there on my balcony looking at this incredible fjord view.

I did eventually get ready, and we made our way to the back deck, taking our breakfast out there for a view of the tiny village of Flåm. 

To say Flåm is a village is generous. There isn't much there, except the rail station, some tourist shops, restaurants, train museum, playground, and a lodge. the white tree sculpture reminded me very much of the White Tree of Gondor. The whole trip I felt like I had entered into Middle-earth.

I knew there wasn't really a village in Flåm, so my goal was to get a train ticket on the Flåm Railway to the top of the mountain, which is supposed to have some of the most stunning views along that journey in Europe (and one of the steepest inclines). You can imagine my severe disappointment when we were told all the tickets were sold out for that day (thanks a lot, shipmates). I was really bummed, as I was looking forward to that train ride up the mountain and back. But there was nothing we could do except explore and enjoy the beauty of the fjord. And there was so much beauty to take in, I really was not sad for very long. As soon as I stepped outside the ticket office I felt better. The fjord air affected me in the best of ways - a calm sense of slowing down to simply be in nature, and to breathe in deeply.

So we took a hike. Literally. After sitting and journaling on a bench near the water for a little while, we wandered around and came across a few trails that led up a hill. Why not follow the path? The day was lovely, the trail was nice, and nature was the whole reason I was there. It was a steady incline hike up the hill, but we walked so slowly, enjoying all the scenery. We saw leaves starting to change colour for autumn, mushrooms, pretty ferns and plants, horses grazing in the most scenic spot, and scenic views of the mountains. 

We spent quite a while just sitting at the top, admiring the views, but eventually made our way down. We visited the train museum and soon got hungry for lunch. Since there weren't many options in Flåm, we just went back to the ship for lunch, sitting outside on the back deck as usual, to enjoy the view. We spent most of the afternoon finding the perfect reading spots with views and a relaxed atmosphere. Our ship pulled out of the port that afternoon and I watched eagerly from outside, soaking in all the views as our ships glided over the deep blue sea.