Glacier Story 19th Sept, Sunday



Boyabreen Glacier Lake



Boyabreen Glacier-Fjaerland, Norway

 The story about the Glacier and how it got it's name.  Three German boys were crossing over the glacier and 1 boy fell off and was never found.  So they named it Boyabreen.  Breen means glacier.  So boy on Glacier.  there was also a plane crash in 1967 and they say it wont be found for a hundred years but they think pieces will show up sometime.  To get to the Glacier we took the ferry off Balestrand to Fjaerland village (which didn't have road connections until 1986) population 300 about the same as in Viking times.  This population is the best read people in Norway because this village is sometimes referred as "the book town of Norway".
Anyway we took a big greyhound like bus on these teeny tiny roads.  We asked what you do if a car comes the other way.  She said someone has to back up to a wider spot in the road.  She said that she doesn't have to do it because she is bigger than them.  We went to this museum that has the frozen man "Otiz" in it.  Very beautiful panaramic IMAX show of the glaciers and the land.  It was so amazing. Mom was oh..hh and Aw..ing I finally had to say Sh..hhss. It was hard to tell if she was sick by the movement or in Aw of the beauty.  It was both come to find out.  The farm land are picture perfect.  Sheep in the green fields.  You don't see junk around in the fields.  Just white plactic bales of grass everywhere. 

More on Balestrand

St Olaf Church in Balestrand

There is a story about this church.  Women from Boston falls in love with a man from Balestrand in the Fjord.  Her father was a priest so she loved her faith.  There was no church here in Balestrand so he told her he would build her one.  He didn't get it finished until 2 years after she died but he went ahead and then sent for a priest to live here.  The still hold services especially in the summer in this little church.  It was open and we looked inside. 

We walked around this little village Saturday night.  Most everything was closed.  But we talked to several people who live here year around.  The population is 1500 and it has this beautiful hotel that we stayed in that is family owed for hundreds of years.  Infact the story I told was owed by that man named Kvikne.  The hotel is so large like a spralling castle.  They have built 8 stories to the side of it.  It looks out over the Fjord.  You can't even discribe the beauty.  It is hard to belief that people live here. 



Kviknes Hotel in Balestrand

 As you can see it is beautiful.  We were on the 7th floor room 752.  This is the picture that I got from the ferry as we were leaving for the glacier part of our cruise.  

m-So far, this has been my favorite little town. It is just so pretty.  Everything is lush green. The mountains are covered with trees.  The flowers are still blooming.  We had the most beautiful view from our room window looking out over the town and the fjord. There were several little apple orchards we saw as we took a walk through their little town.  I couldn't resist picking up an apple that was on the ground and outside the fence, mind you, and eating it. We came to this little green knoll that had a statue on top.  It was called the Viking Age burial mound. The statue was the legandary king Bele. 

Pictures on the fjord

On Sognefjord just leaving Flam Pier.  This is when we were on the wrong boat.

Monday 20th Sep 2010 to Bergen

This is Bergen, Norway. /This was our first view of Bergen from the Ferry.  This is part of the fisherman's Market.  We got off on this side and our hostel was all the way around on the opposite side.  We choose to walk instead of taking a taxi.  We did it with some moaning and groaning and limping.  Did I tell you that one block was uphill.