Big Ben is not in Norway you say? You’re correct, but that’s where our journey started. We (Alex and I, my parents, my brothers, and their significant others) flew into London and spent a few days exploring before hopping on a cruise ship for Norway.

At all five ports (Bergen, Flam, Geiranger, Alesund, and Stavanger) there were fun and interesting sights to see.

Such as these cool log homes with grass roofs to show how people used to live there.

We saw a lot of trolls…in the gift shop and sleeping on the side of the road. Don’t believe me? Well apparently trolls look like rocks when they’re asleep.

I’m very familiar with fjords…in Alaska. Norwegian fjords are equally as beautiful however they look different and never got old.

How could one not want to hop in in a kayak?

There were three kayaking opportunities while we were in Norway. The first was sold out so we weren’t able to go.

The second was in in the Geiranger Fjord and despite the rain we were ready to go!

 

It was cold but we weren’t able to put on dry suits like our guides because they didn’t have any extras.

The fjords were magnificent, even from shore. Alex and I were the first onto the water. I was glad it was us, since there were a couple rolling waves as soon as we got into the kayak. We knew we were stable, despite it rocking us and the dock, but we heard a couple gasps on the dock from those who hadn’t been paddling (which, by the way, good for them for choosing to adventure in another country outside their comfort zone, even if a couple of them had difficulties throughout the trip and at least one was wearing jeans).

On this trip of a lifetime I had two camera malfunctions. One was that my iPhone case, which was supposed to be waterproof, broke at the headphone jack cover, and water got in, so my pictures came out blurry. My GoPro… I’m not sure what happened but my footage became corrupted, so I wasn’t able to capture most of the trip despite bringing all three of my batteries so I could run continuous footage.

We went into the fjords towards the Seven Sisters waterfall.

This isn’t the “seven sisters” but instead one of the couple waterfalls we could get closer too.

A few times on the trip we got in trouble with the guides for going ahead. In the double we were efficient and fit (despite being four months pregnant) and most importantly excited to explore!

One of the guides paddled with us (probably to keep an eye on us) but it was really fun because he had good stories of growing up in Spain.

He also told us something he appreciated about Norway is that anyone can camp anywhere! Even private land. Obviously as a camper you should be respectful of someone’s property, but the  idea behind it is that no one should be separated from the beautiful nature. That would be amazing in the surrounding Seattle area, especially if you could launch from anywhere. There are way too many rules!

When we went to Alesund we had planned on going kayaking there through the cruise line but they cancelled due to high winds. We talked to some people and found the kayak rental shop, “Alelsund’s Sea Kayak Centre” but they weren’t open in the morning then as the afternoon winds picked up we didn’t want to risk going out on our own in the unfamiliar area, especially with limited safety gear.

There was one kayaker out there in an Oru! But he didn’t stay out long due to the winds either.

In Alesund we went to Sunnmoere museum, which included an area with viking ships. That would have been awesome to take out!

In Stavanger I went to the Maritime museum. It was a fun museum with lots of information on this boating town.

We saw a lot of other great sights and had fun adventures but I’m trying to keep this boating related or I’ll end up sharing all the many pictures we took 🙂