Alesund, Norway - August 2, 2018

Unlike the fjord villages we have visited so far, Alesund is an actual city with about 400,000 hard-working inhabitants. It's a bustling place. It has hospitals, a university and all the infrastructure commercial, legal, technology and service businesses to support the fishing industry and more. Alesund's fishing port and its fleet is said to be one of Europe's most modern.

The city sits on three separate islands on the coast of the Norwegian Sea at the foot of the Sunmore Alps. It's said to be one of the most beautiful fjord areas in Norway. The city's name comes from the fact that the water between the islands is called sunds and at the time the city was settled the sunds happened to be rich with eels (ale, thus Alesund). The word looks like "Ally-sund" but it is pronounced in a way more like Uhly-sund. We learned that the letter A with a small O on top is a uniquely Norwegian letter. Its sound is "uh." Likewise, our next port, Flam (with a little O over the A) is pronounced Fluhm. We spent a couple of days there last year and I never knew that. We called it "Flahm." I'm always curious about words of other languages and their correct pronunciation.

The center of Alesund is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture. A 1904 fire destroyed the city. Ten thousand inhabitants lost their homes and left. The King at that time had a great affection for the area and had spent many holidays in Alesund before the fire. It was he who decided to rebuild the city. He hired famous architects who designed the streets and the buildings in the creative art nouveau style. The pastel buildings with rounded windows and decorative border trim look very much like those you see on South Beach.

Our activity for the day was an 8-hour trip via fancy bus/coach inland to the experience an area called Land of the Trolls. We wound our way out of Alesund along the Borgund Fjord past lively towns and villages that are famous for their furniture making. Seems they brand their furniture products with the name of the city where the furniture is made. Thus you can have a Stordal bed or chest. As we reached a town called Valldel, whose name means "valley" in English, we began the assent to the Norwegian Scenic Route, Road 63, fondly called the Troll Road. The winding narrow highway, officially called Trollstigen, passes by national parks with amazing ultra-modern viewing areas and visitor centers. Made strictly of concrete, steel and glass, the buildings fit perfectly into the barren mountain landscapes and provide unobliterated views of the green fjords and racing waterfalls. The walkways meander through the area and lead visitors to viewing platforms that project far out over the drop-off and the mighty landscape some about 1000 feet below.

Several times people randomly mentioned that Norway is famous for its strawberries. How could they possibly top our lucious berries from Florida or especially those from Bald Knob, Arkansas? Vendors of Norwegian strawberries and raspberries were set-up at the national park. Of course, we tried some. Holy cow! They might have a little something on us, or maybe they tasted so good because they had been allowed to ripen ono the vine and were just picked this morning!

Remarkably, construction for Troll Road, this incredibly winding mountain pass, began in 1928 and was completed in 1936. But get this; the land is rocky and almost pure granite. There were frequent rockslides and the weather was often vicious. Workers could work only May to September because of the heavy snows. Wow! The road has 11 hairpin turns; I hope you can see our photos taken from atop the mountain looking down into the valley below.

Today the road is well-maintained yet it is unmistakably narrow. Since this is one of Norway's most visited areas, there are many drivers and tour buses. Vehicles must take turns in passing each other and give each other leeway in making the hairpin turns, sometimes waiting while a coach maneuvers a 3-point turn to make the bend.

But there's so much more. While the ride was exciting, the views were unbelievable. This beautiful scenic road took us past the UNESCO World Heritage sites, Geiranger Fjord and the Naeroy Fjord which between the two are the longest, most narrow, deepest and most scenic fjords in the world. Wow! Again, just wow!

We stopped at a concession near Andalsnes for a buffet lunch. I told Stan today's buffet lunch gave us a glimpse into the future when we get too feeble to travel like we do today. We better get used to this bus travel stuff and eating buffets with a bunch of old people with canes, walkers and electric hum-a-rounds. Branson and Biloxi, here we come!

Lunch was scrumptious! Salmon cooked tenderly and perfectly was served with boiled potatoes and fresh steamed veggies. They also served smoked Norwegian salmon but I'm not a huge fan yet.

Next on our agenda was a visit to Trollveggan and the Troll Wall, the highest perpendicular rock face in all of Europe. The mountain with its rugged, jagged top crown is called Trolltingen, or Troll's teeth. Although we saw none today, climbers come from all over the world to climb its 1700 meter face. I simply cannot imagine the motivation to do such a thing! Mountain face climbing, like cave exploring, is something I just don't understand. Both adventures scare the hell out of me.

The day was long and sitting on a bus is hard, even with frequent stops and mini-hikes but I'm so glad we took this trip. I have several mantras: (1) Use it or lose it! (2) If you don't ask, you won't get. (3) If you don't go, you won't know it! Maybe a bit of explanation is due . . . sometimes the trip is hard, but if you don't go, you will never know it, never feel it, never see it, smell it, taste it or hear it.

Have I mentioned that we have made a bunch of friends? Las night we had drinks with the couple from Santa Cruz, Jim and Irena, watched the show with our friends from Cape Town, Peter and Sumarah and had dinner with our Russian friends, Aleksandr and Tatiana. At the end of the evening, Alexi wanted to visit the casino. It was time for us to tuck our tired bodies into bed but we heard good music and decided to have a night cap. Well . . . . the music was more than good. It invited me. I could not sit still, and I just could not help myself. Once again I danced my tootsies off and Stan simply accommodated me. This time it was with all my new young Muslim lady friends. With their menfolk somewhere else, these girls let it go! Stan just patiently sipped his drink and watched me being my crazy self once more! He knows me pretty well by now and understands that sometimes I have no choice, I simply must dance