Today I walked from our hotel down and and then up these 23 flights of stairs along the waterfall to walk around the little town and along the waterfront, a great way to start the morning knowing I could have dessert tonight due to all the walking and using a natural stair master.
Before lunch we boarded the bus to drive up the mountain on a road that was just finished in 1948 along 11 hairpin turns to go to a goat farm that is on the UNESCO list, learned how to make two kinds of goat cheese ( one using curds and the other whey ). We then learned about the operation of this mountain goat farm that survives without electricity or cell phones on their mountain farm where the 400 goats are. (We were at the lower, modern section, of the farm where they come for the winter in October and will be leaving for the higher elevation next week.) It sells its cheese to Whole Foods among other stores in the US, Scandinavian countries, England and Germany. Goat herd maids (about eight to ten) tend the goats and milk them by hand. We had lunch on the farm (soup with goat and deer sausage, along with caviar, Aquavit, five different cheeses, lefse with salmon, and a ringed almond pastry that is tree shaped. ) A very gracious couple run this operation and they love John Deere machinery.
Tonight we were treated to a private showing with champagne by the owner of the hotel to see his vintage car collection and learn about how open air cars were vital to the tourist trade here in the valley since the late 1800's. The farmers first used horses and carriages and to keep up with modern times, They formed the Geiranger Collective, buying a fleet of cars and all the farmers sharing in the profits as they chauffeured the wealthy tourists and heads of state from the ships around the mountain. They managed to endure through both World Wars and finally in the 60's disbanded.
There is a Renault convention here beginning today, so I'm currently being serenaded by a very talented female vocalist as they are having dinner in a tent outside my window, we have been warned that there will be fireworks at midnight (when the sun finally goes down) and a dance will follow, not so lucky me as I have to be up early so we can board one of the two ferries we ride tomorrow as we cruise the fjords and enjoy the spectacular scenery on our way to Bergen.