Åndalsnes, Norway
June 4, 2025
We boarded the ship on June 3 and sailed over night. The first stop on the cruise was in Åndalsnes. (The letter 'a' with a ring over it is pronounced something like our long 'o'.) Our excursion from the port was on the Golden Train.
In April, 1940, Germany invaded Norway. Soldiers and volunteers managed to move 50 tons of Norway’s gold reserves from Oslo, first by truck, and then by train to this port. Eventually the gold got to England and then to Canada and the USA. Hence the scenic train ride on this route is called the Golden Train.
We rode the train first, and then returned on a bus. So most of these pictures were made through windows as we rode by, as were most of the ones on other excursions. Mary Jane insisted that I take the window seat most of the time so I could shoot pictures. Given the difficulties of dealing with reflections, vehicle motions, and sometimes just being on the wrong side, I'm pleased that so many of the pictures turned out as well as they did. The pictures pale in comparison to how things looked in person.
The next two are my favorites of the waterfall shots I took. We saw lots and lots of waterfalls.
The train stopped at Bjorli, and we boarded the Turbuss for our ride back, seeing different views of the scenery.
I have refinanced a mortgage and have even refinanced a car loan, but I did not know you could refinance a train.
The Golden Train is shown on the left of this photo.
The regular R65 train service that follows our route connects to major trains to Oslo and Trondheim.
The bus passengers swapped with us and boarded the train, and we rode the Turbuss back.
The Troll Wall (Trollveggen), a favorite with climbers; we had a rest stop there. I had a Coke Zero.
The Troll Wall Troll (as the sign says in Norwegian)
One of my favorite pictures from the trip: I may try to make a good print from it.
Back in Åndalsnes is the Norwegian Mountaineering Centre with a museum and the highest indoor climbing wall in the country. You can see the lines for the cable car that can take you up the mountain.
Flowers bloom beside the tracks.
You can see some of the town above the level of the tracks.
We would not cross the Arctic Circle until the next day, so the sun would eventually set (sort of) that night. This was the level of the sun about 11:00 pm, as seen from the ship.
