Day Seven - Loen to Alesund

We leave at 8AM to drive to Aleund.  Our departure time seems to get earlier every day.  We joke that at some point we will just sleep on the bus.  We stayed in the Alexandra Hotel in Loen.  It was gorgeous.  The food was great.  Again.  We drive through the mountains of Velledalen to cruise the Geiranger Fjord (another world heritage site).  Yesterday, we saw snow as we drove through the mountains which sort of surprised us since it is the end of June.  However, our drive today was even more surprising.  There was ALOT of snow and mountain lakes which were still nearly completely frozen.  Frank relayed that is was 8 degrees C. outside which is 50 degrees F.  There was a weird fog still hanging around so it was quite eerie outside.  There were some houses high in the mountains.  Michael said they were summer farms or houses.  We seemed out in the middle of nowhere so I am not sure where the people would come from to stay in them.  It was kind of scary traversing these narrow roads, passing other buses in the fog.  There were little rocks in the side of the road which didn't look like they would stop the bus should it go over the side.  We often cheered Frank along as he maneuvered particularly scary parts of the drive.  A couple of times the bottom of the bus drug along the road, but he assured us it was that the buses are too long for the roads and not us "fluffy" (not fat) people sitting in the rear of the bus.  We were to stop at a photo site along the way to take a picture of the Geiranger fjord, but the fog precluded it so we kept going.  We arrived a bit early for the crossing so we caught an earlier one.  I could not believe how many cars and buses they crammed on the ferry.  One bus got in front of us and our driver gave him a hard time.  Courtesy should rule.  The fjord crossing was wonderful.  We got wonderful pictures of the Seven Sisters and the Suitor waterfalls and a wonderful shot of the fjord opening.  We also had time for a cup of coffee and a lefse.  Well, it was there so I thought I better eat it so not to anger the Norwegians - don't want to be an ugly American!  Perhaps all the lefse was one reason the bus drug along parts of the road.  On the way off the ferry we heard a loud sound.  Turns out the rude driver hit our left mirror on his way (rushing) off the bus.  So the time we made up by arriving early for the ferry crossing was lost stopping to get the mirror fixed.  The service station had a wonderful waterfall right next to it, so we got some nice pictures.  There was a little shop there and I bought a Scream (Munch) magnet in case I can't find a Scream poster for my son.  We continued on our way to Alesund.  More beautiful scenery and waterfalls.   We are joking now - oh another waterfall - and not jumping up to take pictures the way we did when we started this tour.  We all have about a million waterfall pictures at this point!  We drove by a mall on our way to Alesund which was very modern looking.  We also passed by the football (soccer) field which was to be the site of a game at 7PM that evening.  Alesund vs. Oslo.  Hilde said that everyone roots for the team playing Oslo.  We arrived in Alesund and got to see a bit of the town thanks to the GPS which took us in a convoluted path into town.  Just like in the US where I sometimes wonder what the GPS is thinking.  We stayed in the Radisson SAS hotel right on the harbor.  It was a modern looking hotel with wireless in our room.  We played around a bit on my PDA.  We arrived there about 3:30 and checked in.  Hilde told us most stores were already closed but some stores in the mall might be open.  We walked around a bit and found a couple of stores open.  We also found the mall and took pictures of EB games for my son.  We also found fingernail polish remover in H & M.  We couldn't find it before.  We saw many people in the colors of Alesund and also of Oslo walking around the town.  We had dinner at 6:30 PM.  Again, very good food.  We got updates on the game from the hotel staff.  Two of our tour buddies inquired about getting tickets to the game, but it was sold out.  After dinner, Carol began to play the piano in the lobby. We were singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" when a man walked in and asked if we were Americans.  He turned out to be Howard Crosby, nephew of Bing Crosby who was visiting Norway with his wife and children.  We visited with his wife who was very nice.  Her father grew up in Norway.  He sang a few songs for us.  Their son is going to the University in Beijing and I gave her Kate's email in case he needs anything while he is there.  We met their children also.  They were on their way to Ireland the next day for two weeks to explore his roots.  It was midsummers eve which is a big holiday in Norway.  Communities work to build big towers of wood to set on fire.  They start the fire about 10PM and by the time it is really going it is about 4AM.  We could see fires along the islands which ring Alesund.  By the way, Alesund beat Oslo 1-0.  Another early start tomorrow.  8AM.  At least we are not sleeping on the bus!  I looked outside my window about 2AM and it was still surprisingly light outside.