Day 21 - Friday 12th May 2023

Today we'd be travelling from Bergen to Oslo. We had to have bags out for collection by 7am and we'd be departing at 8am. We went down for breakfast at the hotel restaurant at about 6:45.

It had been warmer yesterday afternoon and this morning it was 9C - a lot warmer than most places we'd been. They were forecasting a maximum of 15C for Bergen.

Luckily, we managed to get the front seats on the bus so I could take photos out the front window. Initially it was cloudy and misty but later it improved with lots of blue sky.

Today was a very special day because it was Chris and Janet's 50th wedding anniversary. Suzy had organised a small gift and a fancy card for them. After setting off from the hotel, Gennady announced the special occasion and everyone clapped and congratulated them.

The bus was travelling on the E16 motorway and passing through one tunnel after another. Before each tunnel, there is sign giving the name of the tunnel and its length. The tunnels varied from about 200m to more than 2km in length.

Gennady used the phrase "tranquil beauty of the fjords". That was a good summary. On this part of the journey, we saw green grass and green trees beside the fjord. There was some snow on the mountain tops.

From time to time, there were glimpses of the railway line that also runs along the edge of the fjord.

We started gradually climbing over the mountain range and stopped at Voss at about 9:30 for our morning break. The weather was quite different from when we'd been here a couple of days ago. Then, we had to walk through drizzle under grey skies to get from the train to the bus.

Instead of dodging puddles, today we were enjoying sunshine. The bus stopped near the lake which is a freshwater lake rather than the fjords which are salt water. It was a beautiful setting. We admired the reflection of the mountains on the tranquil lake. (There's that word again - tranquil - it's very appropriate).

After the bus set off again at about 10am, we continued climbing over the mountain range and passed through many more tunnels including one that was 8km long. I was amazed to see that two of the tunnels contained a roundabout. Yes, an underground roundabout.

We eventually emerged next to another spectacular fjord and followed the road next to the fjord, passing a big cruise ship that was moored at the tiny town of Eidford. The town was crowded. It was a cruise ship invasion.

The bus continued climbing and passed through more tunnels before emerging into a snow-covered area near the top of the mountain range. Here the trees were sparse and the road was lined with tall snow poles.

Obviously this was a skiing area because we saw chalets and ski resorts. As a sign of the times, one of the resorts had rows for chargers for electric vehicles.

As we climbed further, the trees because more sparse until there was no vegetation - just deep snow. The snow on either side of the road was typically almost 1m deep and was about 3m deep in parts.

For lunch, we stopped at a cafeteria in the middle of nowhere at about 11:30. It was an oasis in a snowy desert. Before leaving at about 12:30, we got a group photo in front of the wall of snow behind the car park.

We passed more chalets and ski resorts. Some chalets were buried in snow up to their eaves.

The cafeteria had been a high point in the mountain range and we were now gradually descending on the other side heading towards Oslo. At one stage, there was a sign warning of a 7% steep descent. I've seen other signs like this during our tour - some as high as 10%.

As we descended, the snow cover decreased and we started to see pine forests and logging again. By about 2pm, we were travelling on the central plains which are quite level by comparison.

Now we were passing camping grounds with caravans next to the river and farming country.

For our afternoon break, we stopped at a town called Fla at 2:35pm. The turnoff to the shopping centre is easy to spot because it is marked by the statue of a huge brown bear.

After the bus departed at 3:05pm, we noticed that the traffic heading in the other direction was getting heavier and heavier. Being a Friday afternoon, it seemed as though people were heading towards the ski fields for the weekend.

We were travelling next to a river and a lake and passed through two long tunnels (3.7km and 2.6km). It was route 7 then E16 then E18.

As we got closer to Oslo, the quality of the tunnels increased. One tunnel, which was 1.3km long, had lining, ventilation fans, SOS phones and fire extinguishers.

Close to Oslo, there was extensive roadworks. It looked like they were building a bigger motorway with high-level bridges. Even closer, the tunnels were now twin tunnels with lining and ventilation.

It was peak hour with heavy traffic on the motorway. At one stage, Laszlo had to break suddenly which made things fly down the bus. Luckily everyone was wearing their seat belts and nobody was injured. In fact, most people were joking and laughing about the incident.

Our bus was able to avoid some of the heavy traffic by using the lane reserved for taxis and buses.

We reached our destination, Raddison Blu Scandinavia Hotel, just before 5pm. It had been a long day of driving. We were greeted by blue skies with a few clouds and warm weather (20C).

Yet again, our room had two single beds instead of king bed. They weren't even pushed together. There was a work desk, a safe that worked, a fridge, lounge chair, cupboard, kettle, tea and coffee making and a view of the park from the ninth floor. There were two small benches to hold both our suitcases.

It had air conditioning (hooray) and there was some control over the temperature setting.

There were plenty of USB points and power points. The Wi-Fi speed was about 20Mb/s in both directions.

There were no wine glasses, no carpet and the shower was in the bath. Nevertheless it was a welcome improvement over recent hotels.

For some reason they only gave each couple one room key and so Suzy went down to reception to get a second one. However, we had problems with getting the second one to work at times.

We'd planned to go to Chris and Janet's room for predinner drinks but our card wouldn't allow us to go to their room. When we enquired with reception, we were told that they would need to come down to reception to fetch us.

Once again, their room was bigger than our. They even had a door out to a large courtyard.

Before leaving Sydney, Chris and Janet had booked a restaurant to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. It was called Den Glade Gris which translates as The Happy Pig. They specialise in pork dishes.

The booking was for 7:15pm. It was close to the hotel - in fact it was in the same block just around the corner. Outside the restaurant, there was a bench with the statue of a fat pig sitting at one end. Naturally everyone wanted to get a photo sitting next to the pig.

The menu had limited choices for food but a huge selection of beers from all over the world.

Our waitress was helpful and enthusiastic. The girls each had a gin and tonic whereas Chris and I each had a glass of red wine that the waitress had recommended. I ordered pork schnitzel while the other three each had the pork knuckle. They were very generous serves and delicious.

After returning to the hotel, we went briefly to the bar (for young people) on level 21. We were back in our room at about 9:15pm.