Go to the left, go to the right, your mind is going to keep you up all night

It is indecision time. The problem with winging a long trip is that at some point you have to make a decision. That time is now. Because of this idiotic English test I have to take (yes, I have a degree in English from an American university taught in English and I have to take an English test to get a visa for Australia), and since it wasn't actually available in Gothenborg like I was told, I have to go to Stockholm instead to take it. That puts me on the wrong side of the country when I wanted to be going to Denmark and especially Falsterbo (to see lots of birds), and it is completely mad to take the train back and forth Sweden again just go to there. Will probably have to skip all that and just spend more time in eastern Sweden and Finland before we head on to Russia. Bitterly disappointing though and the cause of much angst and consideration for the last few days.

So where was I? Thursday, we went on this really amazing hike through the Aurlandsdalen valley. We took the bus up into the mountains to Osterbo, with a whole huge pack of school kids going on a camping trip for their first week of school. The trail was a bit crowded at times. We started then at about 1000 meters and 20 km on we ended up at 100 meters. It was quite amazing, parts of it were so steep you had to crawl down it, hanging on to a bit of wire railing. It is nice to see the lack of safely consciousness. There was one bridge that was really funny, sort of a proper yet rickity bridge across a waterfall and then a further part with just a log and a cable to hang onto over the rest of it. I did fall on a bit of slippery rock later on and got kind of muddy and was a bit grumpy for a while. The reindeer hunters we met were quite a pair, almost gothic looking faces, black lips and all, carrying rifles and told us they were each carrying half a reindeer in their packs. Wow, Norway. And the raspberries, must had had hundreds of them, even a few wild strawberries too.

Friday, a leisurely start and into Flam to take the famous Flamsbama train. Admittedly I was a little disappointed. But I guess when they build things up that much, well, it has to happen. Not that it wasn't an amazing train and engineering feat, but so much of it was in tunnels, it was frustrating. There would be a glimpse of great cliffs and mountains and then you would be in a tunnel again. And they had to ruin the great waterfall too. The train stops right at the mid point of a huge waterfall and they played cheezy music and had some woman doing a siren dance. Oh my. It was the best when we got off a stop before Myrdal, lugging our heavy packs, and actually got a view of the valley and how the tracks wind up and around this valley. That was where it came through. Then scouting for a place to camp, down by the lake was soggy and lots of houses, so we just walked up towards Myrdal and found this amazing spot on top of a hill looking over the valley on one side and the train station on the other side. It poured a lot of the night but it was the best camping of the trip.

Saturday, up early to catch the train from the station (about 500 meters away) to Oslo. The first 1/3 of the trip was lovely, the map of the area is just totally dotted with blue lakes and mountains, although lots of tunnels to frustrate you. We chatted with an Australian family who had just traveled a lot of the Trans Siberian. The last 2/3 of the trip was pretty but mostly just kind of rural farmland. Into Oslo an onto the camping ground which overlooks the city.

Sunday was a whirlwind of museums, the folk museum, the open air one with hundreds of old houses and buildings from different parts and periods of Norway. Totally cool, one of the best places I've seen. The Kon-Tiki museum was pretty interesting, but probably hard to translate into a museum, lots of pictures and writing. The FRAM one was actually really interesting, a old wooden ship which was used for both north and south pole expeditions.

Today we finished our museum whirlwind with the Viking ship one, nice old Viking ships with loads of really pretty carved wooden things. A last look around Oslo and onto Stockholm tomorrow.