This is the view of Pulpit Rock from sea level. we went on the Ferry that goes up the Fjord to Lysebotn. you can see here how the rock juts out from the wall.
This is the road from Lysebotn up out of the bottom of the Fjord. the roads here are wild here. imagine a road that is just wide enough for 2 cars to pass (very close) that has 2-way traffic and blind hairpin turns. sometimes the road is so narrow that you have to pull over in the little pull-over area to let the on-coming traffic go by. there were several times when we actually had to backup to allow the traffic to pass. there is no center stripe - since it is really not 2 lanes wide. Carsten has done a great job driving ~ nerves of steel....


this is the view down from the top of that road, this is the ferry that we rode on down the fjord. it was 2 1/2 hours on the ferry.

This is a little lake that was along the road that we took from Suleskar to Flateland. The terrain along this road was weird, it was all rocky with lots of lakes. the closer we got to Flateland the scene turned more to forest - as we got closer to sea level. the roads up here were the same windy, narrow, blind turns, one and a 1/2 lanes - two way traffic. nerve racking!

this is the trail to Prekestolen (Pulpit Rock). it begins at 207 meters above sea level (about 600 ft) and goes pretty straight up at times. the path is mostly rocks that you are climbing on - going down was really a treat. the whole thing was 3.8Km long (about 2 miles) 2 hours up and 2 hours down.





this is a view along the way on the trail. there are little lakes like this everywhere in Norway - there is so much water here, between the fjords, lakes, glaciers it is amazing. just when you see something that you think is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen you turn around and there is something more beautiful at the next corner.

this is the view straight down off Pulpit Rock. it is 807 meters (2400ft) over sea level (the Fjord is sea level) - straight down. no railing.

this is just as we are approaching Pulpit Rock. you can see the man in front of us on the right and then a little to the left you can barely see the people on Pulpit Rock. the rock juts out 30 meters (90ft) from the side of the fjord. this was formed by the glaciers thousands of years ago. there is a crack in it but the experts assure that it will not fall (i did not hear this until after i hiked up there :) )

this is Pulpit Rock. it is a spectacular landform over Lysebotn Fjord.

Stavanger - this is a little street that is just off the harbor - from this street you can see the cruise ships that come here. the cruises go north from Stavanger (on the West coast of Norway) and up into the Fjords. this is a beautiful way to see norway.

Stavanger at the harbour.

a ferry ride on the journey from bergen to stavanger.

a lighthouse on one of the islands that we crossed on the way to Stavanger. the journey was by car but included 2 ferry rides and lots of bridges between little islands.

These pictures are from a waterfall that we walked behind. this was on the road as we were going to Stavanger.

~Sheri

This is Bergen, Norway ~ this is the harbor area. when you see pictures of Norway this is one of the famous places.

This is just a house on the road. many of the houses are red - it is a Norweigan tradition.

fun!

The bottom 2 pictures are from the place that we stayed on Hardanger Fjord. Marieke, Carsten, Andreas, Sylvi and Sheri went swimming in the Fjord - the water was below 70 degrees F. it was soooooo cold.

the top 3 pictures are from the glacier that we went to. it is huge

the groups heading off on to the glacier are not us. we went on the glacier a bit but did not have time for the special shoes and clothes, etc. the weather has been spectacular here - i think Norway is probably very wonderful all the time - those rumors about the hard winters are just to keep us all from moving here and clogging up their traffic circles. i swear we have only seen 2 or 3 red lights - i love traffic circles. Yield instead of Stop.

~Sheri

This is the farmhouse where Olav was born. It's been in his family for generations. This is where most of us stayed the night.

This is the cabin where Sheri, Carsten, Austin, and Andreas slept the night. There's no electricity, but note the solar panels in the top left corner. ;)

The last two pictures show the view of the valley from fairly high up, and also a nice waterfall that has a trail from the side of the road. While on the way to the cabin, we stopped and checked it out. Obviously, we're in no hurry.

~Marieke :)

yesterday we left Kristiansand and traveled to Flateland the town, and campground of Andreas' family. the following pictures are from Flateland... the good looking guy in the middle is the "inn-keeper" - Magnus says Hi to the friends in houston!.

the grass on top of the roofs is for insulation both in summer and winter. there are lots of Germans camping at Flateland.

approx 6 Kr to the $

3.8 L(iters) to the Gallon.

do the math ....

This afternoon we took a boat ride from Kristiansand to Lillisand. there are many little houses along the coast. it was a beautiful day in Norway, hot by their standards - it was about 73F and a little sunny. very nice. the first picutre is actually Lillisand where we ended our journey (i don't quite have this blog thing figured out). There were many boats out on the sea (the body of water is a sound). - many people in bathing suits but not too many in the water that i saw. we watched a couple of teenagers - the boy was trying to put the girl in the water and the girl was trying not to go in - typical play - she went in ... boy i bet the water was coooooold.

we had a nice dinner at Andreas' house. tomorrow we leave for Flateland (their campground).

one more thing and then i close. it is 10:30 (but still light out).

These are pictures of Andreas' family home. Their house is up above the little marina. you walk down the steps where marieke is sitting to get to the boat area. their boat is here in this marina. we will go tubing when we return here next week - of course those who go will need wetsuits because the water is very cold. under 70F. chilly!

On the road again...

The second picture is of the school my dad went to before he moved to the good ole' USA :)

Not many people see the humor in the sign like I do, but if you look at the car, it looks like this smiley - :D

Horses on the side of a house...

The last picture is of a very old strumple-peter puppet. My great-grandfather made it. There's a string attached to all of the limbs, and when you pull on the strings the arms and legs move. It's pretty cool.

~Marieke