After a long day of time in the air, long walks in airports and airfare dining, we arrived home tonight at s little after 10 PM.

Just one photo from our last day in Norway and, yes, he has a tail!

Maybe more later….

Gary & Joyce

Here we are at the airport just before boarding. Yesterday we took the train to Centrum and walked our feet off!

We saw the famous statue of the little mermaid, colored houses among the canal and a few other sights.

Enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Clarion Hotel bistro. Repacked our luggage this morning and found our way to the airport, through security and passport control.

Leaving for Boston in 30 minutes, then on to Philly. Home around 10 PM tonight!

Gary & Joyce

Today was preparation for our departure tomorrow from Bergen to Copenhagen. We repacked all our suitcases for the trip this morning.

We had arranged to meet one of Gary’s photographer friends. He invited us to his home for lunch. Into the Volvo rental for the 20 km drive to his home. We stopped to pick up some flowers as a gift. Found his home with the help of Google maps and enjoyed a nice, simle lunch. We discussed photography, politics and things Norwegian and American.

On the way back to the hotel, we topped off the Volvo before returning it to Enterprise Rental Cars. So, after parting with the car you’ll never guess what came next….

Ok, so maybe you would know that Joyce had been holding in reserve a geocache at the airport! It was a nice walk to the other side of the road on a bike/walking path. There WAS a cache there and we found it beneath the B in the Bergen sign. Then on the way back to our hotel just imagine there would actually be another one to find! And so we did that one too.

We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the hotel bistro. Gary had fish and chips, Joyce a pizza along with rose wine. We split a cheese plate for dessert followed by coffee and espresso. We had a table by the windows and enjoyed the sunset – quite unexpected on a mostly gray day typical of Bergen.

Back in our room Gary got a message that we had left a few things in the rental. Since we were a 10 minute walk back to the airport we made our way back to collect them.

Now to call it a day for an early start tomorrow.

Today headed back to Bergen to get ready for our flight to Copenhagen on Tuesday.

After breakfast at the Thon hotel, we loaded up the car and made our way over to the Steindalsfossen waterfall near the hotel to see it in the morning sun. More beautiful! There was a troll or gnome on the patio of the nearby gift shop.

Continuing on we stopped for a couple of geocaches on the way to Troldhaugen, summer home of composer Edvard Grieg. We had a guided tour of the house and walked the grounds on our own. Joyce had saved a mystery cache to do while there. We found all the answers, got the correct coordinates and Joyce found the cache in an evergreen tree!

Inside we saw Grieg’s Steinway piano and many objects. Outside we also saw his studio building near the water. In the museum there was a special Norwegian violin.

We arrived at the Clarion Hotel near the Bergen airport oir home for the next two days. After checking in, we walked to the airport to catch the tram to Bergen Centrum for photography and caching. We found a few caches and photographer the iconic painted buildings in sunshine instead of rain! Lucky this time!

Enjoyed dinner in an Irish pub before catching the tram back to the hotel. One more day here in Norway!

This morning we had a nice European breakfast in the hotel dining area. We loaded the car and were in our way from Rysstad around 9:30 AM. Our first stop was for a geocache at the Hylestad Kyrkja. We successfully found the correct information that led us to the cache.

It was then on our way through the mountains again with weather and tunnels. We stopped on Røldal again so Gary could photograph the Stave Church under better lighting conditions. Stopped in the same town to buy gas for the trip through the mountains.

Then we were off on a 60 km round trip diversion to find a cache at the Flessenflossen waterfall. We were somewhat surprised to see most was in ice. Found both the waterfall and the nearby cache! Then continued on our way north through rain and snow. Heading for a ferry to cross the Hardangerfjord. Made the ferry 4 minutes before departure! Saved us an hour waiting for the next one.

Before checking into our hotel for the night in Northeimsund we first paid a visit to photograph the Steinsdalsfossen in town.

The hotel restaurant was fully booked until 8:30 so we decided to eat elsewhere. Stopped in the local pub, but they had stopped serving food because they were having a concert. We found Italian just a couple of blocks away. Enjoyed salad, lasagna and a beer.

Last cache of the day we found on the walk back to the Thon hotel for the evening after another long day of driving.

Following breakfast from the hotel, we were on our way around 8:30 AM. First stop wasba geocache "travel bug hotel". Thie type of cache is a place to trade traceable items that have a mission. We took one to move along to another cache.

Then we were really on our way to the southern most point of land in Norway. Here we saw the light (justnot the northern lights)! The Lindesnes lighthouse is a beautiful red and white one. After finding a few caches here? We were on ourway to visit Lista Lighthouse. Once again a few photos and some caches.

Another lovely drive through the mountains brought us to the town of Rysstad and the Silver Garden Hotel. We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant. Joyce had moose patties (not necessary to repeat) and Gary enjoyed arctic cod.

To bed! More kilometers to drive tomorrow!

After breakfast at the Tyssedal Hotel (room view of church, fjord & ship) we were on our way about 8:45 AM. Today was waterfalls day plus a long drive through the mountains and mountains again plus geocaching for navigation. We drove 265 km today.

We also happened upon the oldest Stave Church in its nearly original construction from between 1100 and 1350. We arrived just as a woman with the keys was just coming out. She invited us on to see the interior and talk about the history of this particular church. It escaped being burned during the reformation because it was hidden away in the mountains!

1. Biggest Rock in Norway (Odda Norway)
2. Låtefoss falls
3. Longfoss falls + geocache
4. Stave Church (Røldel Norway)
5. Mountains snow skiers
6. Nice rest stop with huge boulder
7. Reiårsfossen (falls)
8. Arrived Evje Norway about 6 pm

Stopped at the local SPAR grocery to resupply, checked in at the Dølen Hotel and enjoyed dinner from supplies….!

The alternative process is not very intuitive using a mobile phone to write and send! Accidentally sent without photos, so here they are!

Now that we are in road trip mode, we got ourselves together and were able to get away from the hotel about 9:30 AM. Breakfast from hotel supplies.

It was a caching day that covered 168 km. Remember, we use the roads less traveled even here in Norway!

We discovered several waterfalls and found a few caches on a beautiful sunny day. Drove down a long fjord with scenic views – except some places the roads were narrow and extra attention was required.

At our hotel, we opted for their restaurant’s local trout. With it, Joyce had hard cider and Gary a Reisling.

Tomorrow remains a mystery!

We disembarked from the Viking Vela at 8:45 AM this morning after packing out suitcases to be handled to the bus and into the Bergen airport. We rented a car for the balance if our stay and were on our way about 10 AM.

First stop was to a replica of a Stave Church from the Viking time (1150 and 1350). We met a local and had a nice chat about the church, Norway and the area.

Stopped for a cache near a train station along a fjord. Along our drive, there were many, many tunnels ranging from 100 meters to 2 km. Interesting driving.

Then we were on our way to find a geocache at a waterfall. The waterfall was a bust as access was closed due to dangerous winter conditions. The cache was still there and we found it!

Arrived at our hotel around 4:30 pm. Today we had lunch and dinner from supplies! Dinner supplies were obtained by walking to a nearby grocery store. Gary climbed up on a wall to retrieve the cache on the way for groceries.

More driving tomorrow!