Norway Day 10: Alnes, Ålesund

 After a big, yummy breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Alnes to see the lighthouse.

U, Me, Matthew and Megan at the top of the lighthouse.

View of Alnes from the lighthouse.

Lots of birds!

Matthew, Me, Megan with Alnes Fyr (lighthouse) behind us.

We walked down by the water.

This shows the color profile of the lighthouse. It was interesting to see and learn about. There are 8 lighthouses in the area each with their own color profile.

There was an art show in the museum by the lighthouse. We all really liked this piece.

Close up of the poem:
It is not my job to fix or save people, but to love them
It is not my job to be liked, but to be authentic
It is not my job to do it all, but to take the next step
It is not my job to please everyone, but speak my truth
It is not my job to hold it together, but to breathe
It is your job to live & enjoy you loved ones, yourself & life
And that is mine too

An end is always a new beginning/In the unknown awaits magic.

Taking the plunge!

Megan really liked this painting.

Me thought this represented motherhood quite well.

There is a tunnel that is one car width wide going to/from Alnes with frequent pullouts. It was a bit strange to see cars coming straight at us. (The close car seen in the photo is in a pullout.)

Megan, Matthew and Me on the "culture hike."

Me, Matthew and U at the entrance to a cave that used to be at sea level. They have found lots of animal bones in there.

The cave entrance

Pretty flowers.

On the way down from the cave, Matthew asked U why he was going so slow. U said it was because he was old and not as flexible as Matthew. Matthew said that his knees hurt, to which Megan replied, "Matthew! You're too young to die! The knees are the first thing to go. First the knees, then the back, then the eyes, then the ears."

We went to a Duke Ellington jazz concert at our hotel. We got free admission since we were staying at the hotel which was awesome!

The group: pianist, bass player, trumpet, alto sax. Favorite songs included The African Flower and Caravan. After the concert, they had a jam session with members of the audience.

Matthew enjoying chips and a movie.

We hiked/climbed up Mount Aksla. Lots of stairs!

Megan and Me with the theatre. They even rolled out the red carpet for us!

Interesting tree

Megan and Me with the classic view of Ålesund.

U, Megan, Matthew, Me

We found this abandoned green gummy person at the top of Aksla. I hope he is ok.

Cool tree person.

Matthew, Me, Megan, U

Grumpy faces: U, Megan, Me, Matthew

U and Me

U, Matthew, Megan, Me on our way back down.

U with the Genes sculpture.

Megan and U playing shut the box. We also played table shuffleboard and pinball. For pinball, Megan wanted to get all the balls in the 100 and she eventually did!

Dinner. We also got some sweet potato fries.

U Step Count: 15.9k

Norway Day 3: Via Ferrata, Litlefjellet Take 2

 Sunday morning, it was clear and sunny with nice views of Trollveggen and Romsdalshorn from our cabin. After breakfast, we headed into Åndalsnes to do the intro wall via ferrata. 

Map of the via ferrata paths. The green route is the intro wall.

Walking with our backpacks and gear to the start of the trail. Close: Me and Matthew. Megan is slightly ahead. The tall guy on the right is our guide, Elias.

We clipped in and began our journey. Me, Matthew, Megan

Megan, Matthew, Me and U

View of Åndalsnes

Matthew and Me climbing up. A via ferrata is somewhat like rock climbing but less forgiving (according to our guide). It was definitely a challenge physically.

Matthew and Me

Megan, Matthew, Me and U resting on a bench partway through.

Me

Me

Matthew

Megan

U

Me walking on some boards. Those parts of the trail were a nice reprieve from some of the more challenging sections.

U hanging over the edge.

Me

Megan

Matthew preparing to hang out over the edge. Even with the safety gear, it is a bit intimidating.

Matthew

Me

Nice view of Åndalsnes

Me

Megan

Matthew

About the via ferrata:

Matthew: It was fun. Some parts were tiring, some were really easy.

Megan: It was tiring and enjoyable.

U: I enjoyed it. I liked the climb better than walking down after.

Once we finished the trail, we took off our gear and hiked to join the main trail up the mountain. 

Me with the gear on her back. It was quite the hike!

We had thought we would hike to the top of the mountain and then take the gondola down. However, the gondola was down for refurb while we were there and our legs were not sure they could make it up and down the mountain. Me did want to see the Rampestreken viewing platform so Me and U hiked up  to get to it. It was a tough hike since the legs were already exhausted!

Almost there--Me with Rampestreken above her.

See it up there?

View of Åndalsnes from Rampestreken

Me and U

U and Me

Me on Rampestreken

The hike down was hard. There were lots of roots and rocks and so you had to think about where to put your foot with every step. Thankfully no one got hurt. The kids did seem to have an easier time.

On the hike down:

Matthew: Mom and dad were really slow.

Megan: It felt like a game. It went something like this: don't trip, don't fall, have an enjoyable time down.

U: Going down was tough. Having to pick our way down was hard.

We went back to Litlefjellet to try to find the bracelet Megan lost the day before. Unfortunately we were not successful although we did enjoy the amazing views!

Me on the hike up.

Romsdalhorn made an appearance. It is amazing that we were so close to it and yet could not see it at all the day before.

Where Megan had been digging with a stick the day before. We thought the bracelet may be there but it was not.

Me and U with Romsdalhorn behind us.

Megan and Me with Romsdalhorn.

On the hike:
Matthew: It was exhausting. The views were nice.
Megan: It was disappointing (due to not finding the bracelet). It was interesting to see how the clouds changed between the two days.
U: It was nice to do again. Harder because we were tired. Sad we didn't find Megan's bracelet.

We headed back to our cabin where we ate, showered and played Love Letter. We talked about how we would be moving farther south for our next stay which meant the sun would be down a bit longer at night.

Megan's reaction: Then I don't have to be a nocturnal wide-awake daylight bat.

We let her know that the sun would be setting 6 minutes earlier and rising 11 minutes later so it was not a huge change. Then we showed her Rovaniemi which had no sunrise and no sunset times because it is currently the midnight sun. Megan got super excited about this.

U's step count: 19,500 including 458 flights of stairs (or lots of mountain climbing....)