On our second day we were up bright and early to take the train from Oslo to Bergen. Said to be one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world, this route leaves Oslo, traverses Norwegian farm country, climbs across glacially smoothed mountains, and then descends back down to sea level to arrive in Bergen. The trip takes about seven hours, and trains leave Oslo at approximately 6:30am, 8:30am, and 12:30pm. We traveled with three other LCMS couples (two from our home congregation and our daughter and son-in-law from a different congregation), and while one couple took the train at the rather civilized hour of 8:30am, the rest of us were on the 6:30 train. The same beautiful trip, but the early hour was a bit of a challenge and had us looking for coffee.
My immediate and enduring challenge was how to shoot photos through the glare and haze of train windows and while we were moving at speed across the countryside. The partial solution was a polarizing filter that eliminated most of the glare and reflections, but could not compensate for movement. For illustration, here is a shot of countryside after we left Oslo. The unfiltered shot was not worth keeping. Anyway, looking at the view, these forests are mostly conifers on the hills with some birch (looked kind of like aspen) along the rivers. Lots of pastures, sometimes with rows of hay bales. A few of the older barns and sheds had sod roofs, but many of the newer structures were roofed with slate.Tumbling stream along our route. We did not see many fishermen, but did see hikers or campers from time to time. The bedrock here is granite, or perhaps granitic gneiss (a gneiss granite, but we don’t do puns (very often)), which is tough and resistant to erosion. Not much soil, and we are almost above timberline, but there were still enough areas of grass to graze a few sheep.Higher into the mountains we started seeing snow fences along the route. We have seen these in Colorado and Wyoming. They are positioned upwind from the track, and the science (or engineering, if you prefer) of the design aims to create eddies and temporarily slow the wind. Slower wind carries less snow, so the slower wind drops snow into drifts at the fence rather than downwind on the track. Notice that we see snow fields in the mountains, even in August. And if you think you see a glacier peeking over the far ridge, you are correct!A fairly large glacier is spilling down to the left and right from behind the mountain in the top center of the photo. Notice the sheep grazing in the distant flat area in this very broad view.A similar view of the glacier(s) with a cluster of summer cabins in the foreground. Even closer is the gravel trail used by bikers and campers to travel through the area. The mountains in the distance do not have the jagged shapes found in, say, the Colorado Rockies. Instead, they have a more rounded appearance because they were completely covered, shaped, and ground down by glaciers during the last Ice Age.Ribbon waterfalls descending from snow fields higher up in the mountains. The river water looks clear rather than milky, showing that it is not carrying rock flour from the glaciers. And even though there is not much soil, we still see areas of grass between the rocks. Earlier in the summer we might have seen lots of wildflowers.Another view, after we passed the summit of the Oslo-Bergen route. The curved track in the valley below is the scenic route from Flam. Trains from Flam meet the Oslo-Bergen trains at a small mountain railway station a few miles past this point.
So was this one of the most scenic train rides in the world? We have ridden the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad through the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, which also touts itself as on of the most scenic train rides anywhere. But they are different, and it is like comparing apples and oranges. A few years ago we rode the Flam railway, which is similar to this one, so maybe we need to consider that, too. All of them are wonderful, though, and we would jump at the chance to ride any or all of them again.
Nice pictures. I agree about the train. We did one