Day 8, July 22

Today was a day at leisure. Nothing was planned and we were not really thinking about doing anything as a group. Interesting enough we all ended up together for breakfast. Some of the ladies shared their thoughts on what they would like to do today. Since Linda C. had not heard from the front desk about the boat ride, that was out of the picture.

After breakfast Mom and I took a leisurely stroll along one of the main streets of Balestrand, Kong Beles veg. Balestrand sits on the northern shore of the Sognefjord in the district of Sogn. It was established in 1850 and iis littered with quaint houses and cute little parks. The view along the street was breathtaking. You could see the fjords and mountains anywhere you looked. A short way up the street, was St. Olaf's Church. It was very small and quaint. “This church built in a stave church style was completed in 1897. It belongs to the Church of England and is under the spiritual administration of the Bishop of Gibraltar who is in charge of all Anglican churches on the European mainland. The church was erected in memory of Margaret Sophie Green Kvikne - a vicar's daughter from Yorkshire, England - who came to Norway as a mountaineering pioneer. She married Knut Kvikne. It was said that she never felt at ease with the Lutheran rituals in Norwegian churches. She died in 1894, but at her death bed, Knut promised her to build an Anglican church. The church building was completed in three years.” (https://en.sognefjord.no/things-to-do/st-olafs-church-the-english-church-p832833)

A little further along, we came across a beach area. It was a little cold for swimming but I took my shoes off and stuck them in the water. The water was very cold but I would not say freezing. Now I can say I have been in the fjords of Norway. A little further along the way we came upon two burial mounds, one of which had a statue on top. “The statue of King Bele was given by the German emperor Wilhelm II as a token of gratitude for his many visits to Balestrand. The statue represents a figure from the saga of (Fridtjof of Balestrand) the warrior.” Right across from the statue was a little park that had a bench and a picture frame on a stand with nothing inside of it . I had seen one of these frames the night before when I was walking around the grounds of the hotel and wondered about it. “The frames were installed by the “Balestrand Art Village” in memory of the early artcolony (1837 - 1937). The frames capture well know motives in the inspiring landscape.” I will have to see who was inspired by the view I saw. We walked as far as the edge of the camp ground and turned around to come back.

Mom decided she needed a rest when we got back to the bench. I looked and saw Evie, Lee, Victoria and Linda C. walking along the same road. They stopped to chat. Since we were heading back to the hotel, Victoria decide to join us. The rest continued their walk. On the way back I stopped to take pictures of the inside of St. O’lafs Church while Victoria and Mom walked on. There were a few red berries hanging on a vine just up a small embankment that I just knew were raspberries, I was right and they were ripe. I picked them and shared.

Back at the hotel, Mom and I decided to check into that boat tour Linda C. had been looking into since we were interested and didn’t have anything else to do. There were only three seats left on the tour. I booked two of them for Mom and me. I was keeping my eye open for Linda to let her know. Mom and I were grabbing a to go lunch when Linda walked into the door of the hotel. I let her know about the remaining seat and she made her reservation. We were set for an afternoon easy boat tour, or so we thought.

After a fast lunch, Mom and I rushed down to the pier. I kept looking over my shoulder for Linda. I still wasn’t sure where to go to I asked this very official good looking man with a captains patch. He said right here is where you get suited up. Mom and i looked at each other with a surprised face. I caught sight of Linda as we went into the building. She was just as surprised as we were. Now you maybe wondering why we needed to be “suited up” to go for a boat ride. This was no ordinary boat and wasn’t what we were expecting. This was a tour on a rib boat. What is a rib boat? It is a large rubber raft with six rows of two seats that looked like saddles. The suits were these huge yellow and black waterproof coveralls. We also had to put on these very unusual life vests that would instantly inflate if you fell in the water. Goggles were optional but very few were wearing them. We climbed onto the raft. Mom got a little extra help from the captain straddling the seat.

The ride was exciting and exhilarating. We bumped along at high rates of speed, thumping over the water. The captain even had the boat go in a circle a couple of times causing us to go over the boat’s own wake. This was to experience what it was like in rougher water since there had only been a light wind today. We passed by a small island of Kvamsøy with the Kvamsøy Church that as built in 12th century and rebuilt many times. The church was used as a waystation for travelers as well as a church for the area. Today it is still used for weddings and midsummer mass. There was one stop where you could see the tectonic plates. Norway is on the same plate as Iceland. He pulled up near the magnificent Kvinnefossen waterfall which is almost 200 meters high or 660 feet straight up. The raft also cruised by the village of Vangsnes where the statue of Fridtjof soars about the fjord. Here are some facts we learned about the Sogenfjord and the raft:

The fjord responds to the tides.
The depth of the fjord is almost one mile.
The waterfalls are usually heavy in the spring but with the dry weather this year, not so much.
The glacier that you can see from the water is growing, not shrinking.
The fjord is packed with salmon. About 140 a day are caught each weighting over 26 lbs.
The top speed of the raft is 60 knots but we were traveling at about 30 for the comfort of the passengers.

At the end of the ride we had an enjoyable few minutes talking with the captain as we returned our “suits.”

Feeling very hungry by now, we headed over to a little shop for ice cream and pastry. Then it was back to the hotel, to rest and get ready for dinner. Tomorrow is another transition day and we have to be ready to go very early.