Ahhhhhhhhh... (said with a sigh of relief)

After a couple days of stressful travel, we have found our happy place. We have made it to Solvorn, Norway.


And they even welcomed us with a parade!


When we left off in Madrid, we were headed to the airport with standby seats on a flight to Copenhagen, and no plans for onward travel. We made it to Copenhagen, and on the way decided we would take the night bus to Oslo, then a bus all day the next day (Saturday) to connect with a quick local ride to bring us to Solvorn, Norway, home of Eplet Bed & Apple. Well, in our case, tent and apple, as we've set up camp with the view seen in the picture.

So we had a few hours in Copenhagen, enough to take a quick look around and get some dinner and a couple Tuborg beers. The bus to Oslo started off crossing the Øresund Bridge, the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe connecting Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden. We rode through the night, sleeping occasionally. It got dark after 11, and by 3, things were starting to brighten up again.

We arrived in Oslo with just over 3 hours until our next bus to Sogndal, in the middle of fjord country. We spent the time waiting for a breakfast place to open up, and watching the antics of the survivors of a Friday night in Oslo. The bus took us through idyllic and increasing dramatic scenery, gradually up into the mountains above tree line before plunging down to the fjords. When we arrived in Sogndal we quickly got on the local bus to bring us to Solvorn, where we really were greeted with a parade. As the bus rounded the last corner into the center of town, we were confronted with a mass of marchers dressed in traditional Norwegian dress. They were celebrating Norway's National Day, May 17th. Except it was all in show for a German tv show they've been filming here for the last few weeks. We were actually lucky to see what we did, as today's filming was the climax of the film.

Katie here...just wanted to also include a picture of the cutest little girl ever in the parade.


So, we plan to stick around here a few days. We'll do some hikes and bike rides in the area nearby, then hopefully head out for a few days on a hut to hut hiking trip.