Norway - Part II or Fjord Fiasco

The "Norway In A Nutshell" tour consists of a five hour train ride from Oslo which drops you off at a little station in the tiny town of Myrdal. From there you take an ancient, fun little train to the town of Flam which is at the start of the Fjords. Then you jump on a boat and enjoy the spectacular scenic wonders of the Norwegian Fjords. Sounds wonderful and relaxing, right? What could possibly go wrong? Funny you should ask: Changing trains in Myrdal,I had to ask 50 people which was the correct train track, just to be sure (keep in mind, there are only 2 tracks). I paced around a little, then decided to use my Norwegian Krone coins in the vending machine for coffee and hot chocolate. Carrying the drinks back to Kyle, I tried not to notice how my fingertips sizzled on the scorchingly hot paper cups. Starbucks this was not. The quaint little train is fun to ride, kind of like a Disneyland attraction. It is very old and hugs the sides of steep ravines, chugging through snow covered mountains. The train makes a touristy stop at an unbelievably gorgeous waterfall and an announcer tells you to look at the lady on the cliff. Music is playing and she is dancing, luring you to join her and plunge to your death in the churning water. (?) Back in the train, we stared in wonder at the snowy terrain. If this is summer, what does winter look like?? As we descended into the valley, the snow disappeared and was replaced with picturesque little villages along a rushing river. OK, here is what is supposed to happen. All the happy tourists get off the train, walk around the corner and get on the ferry boat which takes you on a peaceful ride through the Fjords. Here's what really happened (and this could only happen to me.) I suggested to Kyle that we cleverly avoid the stupid tourist crowd and walk the other way through the gift shops before we caught our boat. We looked at souvenirs for a while until we heard an announcer say to get on Boat #1. I looked out the window and saw a boat with a big "1" in the window and we headed there. Waiting in line, we rolled our eyes at some of the people who were obviously silly tourists, not travel pros like us. The captain looked at our tickets and to my utter astonishment and profound horror, said, "No this is the wrong boat. That's your boat over there, floating away, you just missed it." Now here's the part that I really don't want you to know about but it's just so typical of Diane The Traumatic Traveler. I spent the next hour running frantically back and forth between the train office and the boat office (neither knows the other's schedule although they are right across from each other). If we waited for the next boat to tour the Fjords, we would miss our train back to Oslo. I tried every which way I knew to find another option but it all boiled down to this: we either got back on the train right away and missed the whole Fjord experience, or we spent the night in Flam. This meant I would pay for two hotels in one night, pay to change my train ticket, and would have to rearrange our whole trip when we got back to Oslo. At the last minute, and with much eye rolling from the boat and train people, I booked a hotel for the night in Flam and we jumped on the boat for our scenic Fjord ride. I bought a bottle of wine for me and a beer for Kyle and we stood looking out the window at the waterfalls cascading dramatically down the sides of cliffs. I was dumbfounded, a stupid, nervous mess, and still couldn't believe that this had happened. A Norwegian man who worked on the boat approached us and asked if Kyle was 18. Kyle said "yeah" before I could open my mouth and the man said good because the drinking age here is 18, not 14 like uneducated Denmark. I am a terrible mother. Seeing the Fjords was definitely worth the hassle of rearranging our trip. Our boat floated lazily along, and we ran from one side to the other, snapping pictures of water rushing down the steep cliffs into tiny, isolated villages. What do these people do here? Our hotel in Flam was cozy and we had a waterfall view from our window. We ate dinner in a fun restaurant next door with carved wood tables and an inviting fireplace, then hunted for souvenirs in the little shop that had lured us in that morning, causing us to miss our boat. They say everything happens for a reason. Did the first boat sink? No, but we had the great pleasure of spending the evening in this memorable little town. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures and nail biting mishaps in our next stop, Sweden.