Question— how many times can you look at scenery and ooh and ah and not get bored? All day and beyond, if you are in the incredible fiords of Norway! In a little village called Flåm ( the å is pronounced somewhere between "oo" and "oh"), founded in 1340 with a population of only 500 people, Wendy went outside at 7:00 am to gawk and start taking ( hundreds of) pictures as the Viking Venus wended its way through the intersection of the two large UNESCO-designated fiords of Nærøyfjotd and Aurlandsfjord, to dock in the middle of this cute town

"Norway in a Nutshell" is the touristy name of one of the most iconic trips you can take in this region. Thanks to Wendy’s extensive research and a bit of help from Rick Steve’s invaluable tour book on Scandinavia on Cruise Ships, we found a company that planned a four part trip. It involves a boat, then bus, a train, and the final iconic "Flamsbana" train. It’s an 8 hour adventure and less than half the price of individual pieces of this tour that were offered on Viking.

We walked through the " touristy" part of Flåm— a one block stretch of shops, food stalls, etc. and easily found the boat.

The boat portion was about a 2 hour trip with stops in even smaller villages to let off very few passengers. Scenery continued to be breathtaking, and both the blue sky and picturesque clouds provided nonstop picture opportunities. Like our boat in Stavenger, this is also incredibly quiet ( electric energy), clean and spacious, although very chilly from the wind.

We disembarked in Gudvangen, and walked over to a large area of buses. Although the signage wasn’t great, we found our bus, one of many that accommodated all the tourists going to the same spots.

More incredible scenery followed, with the stunningly blue sky as a backdrop on the way toward Voss, the ending point of this section of the trip. We stopped at a hotel along the way for a photo op overlooking the most beautiful valley!

In Voss, we had a layover so we stopped to eat at a local hotel. We tried our luck with a table game, kind of like bocce on a long table. Fun, but none of us were very good.

The third tier was a train ride through these waters and mountains. We actually caught an earlier train than planned to get us to our final stop, the famous Flamsbana railway that would return us to Flåm.

This train travels through multiple tunnels, dug deep into the mountainside, has a very steep grade which makes the five sets of brakes squeak— a lot!It was crowded and very touristy, but the stop at a major waterfall had a surprise— amplified singing from a women high up above the falls, in a bright red dress singing and swaying to her music.

Another long but wonderful adventure admiring these gorgeous fiords! We enjoyed another delicious dinner and then went to the overflowing theater to say goodbye to the over 400 crew members who paraded down the aisles and congregated on stage as we thanked them for the incredible service they have given us for the past three weeks. Viking really knows how to do it right!