Olden was totally awesome!!
And given that 100% of our Olden activities took place in low
temperatures with mild-to-driving rain, you know that I mean it :)
We had an afternoon excursion, so when we woke up (well in
advance of 11:15, I might add), we had time for a leisurely breakfast,
independent Olden activities, and some literary progress. The rain didn’t look awful from our
sheltered, inside breakfast spot, so we got dressed and planned to explore the
little village, all of which could be seen from the ship.
Fake news, people.
Fake news. It was basically
pouring, so we explored the two souvenir shops directly across the pier, didn’t
purchase anything, and scurried back to the ship, where we read and ate until
it was time for our actual excursion at 2:15 (eating and reading are both par
for the course on this trip, and it’s glorious).
According to the ‘Princess Patter,’ Olden is a land where
the reindeer outnumber the people (year-round human population is between 498
and 1,500, depending on whether you ask the ‘Princess Patter’ or our tour
guide). The village is on the Nordfjord,
which is the 6th longest fjord in Norway.
Our excursion was a hike to see the Briksdal Glacier. It started with a 45-minute drive to the base
of the peak (sidenote: Mom, don’t book bus trips in Norway). As I believe Troy’s summary post read, “Like
in much of Europe, Norway is seeing a general decline in the Christian
religion. Despite this, 100% of
Norwegian tour bus drivers believe in divine intervention.” Very narrow, very wind-y roads, with a lot of
stopping to see which vehicle is larger upon encountering oncoming traffic.
All that said, we survived the bus trip. Our guide told us that if we wanted to skip
most of the hike, there were vehicles that would take us to within 10 minutes
of the best glacier viewing for an additional charge. Troy and I felt like that would be cheating,
and no way in heck would we be skipping the majority of the excursion.
And boy, am I glad we didn’t. Despite the rain and the wind and the cold,
the hike was absolutely gorgeous. The
scenery is a weird mix of Alaska and Yellowstone, only taller, with more
waterfalls, and sheerer cliff drops. And
SO green. Most of the hike was along a
river that ran down from a pool that formed at the base of the glacier, and it
was just lovely. The hike was moderately
challenging, and had a lot of variation in the scenery that we were able to get
close to. I really can’t wait to add
photos to this post, because it was just amazing.
It took us about 45 minutes to hike to the pool beneath the
glacier, with a fairly solid gain in elevation, and then about 30 minutes back
to the beginning of the trail. We were
SOAKED. Both fortunately and
unfortunately, we were some of the more fit and hale folks in our tour, so we had
a bit of time to kill before we headed back.
Luckily, there were pastries and warm beverages. When we got back to the ship, we made a
beeline for the hot tubs, which felt almost painfully hot after as cold as we
had been.
The evening was also great, because after dinner we went up
to the lounge on the 15th floor and watched the scenery go by
(sunset was at 11:24 PM) for a few hours.
The fjords are really, really neat to sail through.
Tomorrow, we’re in Geiranger, Norway!
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