Part 7 - 14 tunnels in 1 day

Unfortunately, nothing came of the Perseids; it started to rain continuously from 6:30 PM onwards, and it didn't stop. So we had dinner inside, watched a few YouTube movies, and then went to bed.

Yesterday morning we packed up and set off. The weather wasn't particularly good, but at a small rest area, we treated ourselves to a good-morning tea with a view of the river.
We continued towards Lillehammer, where there was supposed to be a birdwatching station. We found it too, a wooden building with a balcony overlooking the Mesna River. We sat there for a while, but we didn't see a single bird. Only an angler was trying his luck next door.
On the further drive, we stopped at a spot where there were amazing water games to observe. I had read that there are people who lay in the rapids in summer and slide down... now that seems too adventurous for me! There were also rock drawings or carvings on the curbs depicting moose and other creatures. However, I couldn't find any more information about them.
Shortly after, we arrived at our next campsite at Etna in Etnedal. Nothing spectacular, nothing to experience. The scenery between the mountains with the rock massifs was quite nice, but there wasn't much else to do. No hiking trails or waterfalls, oh well. Since we had read that the reception supposedly has particularly delicious fries, we wanted to try that at least. After about half an hour of waiting, we could finally order (the owner had sooo much time to chat with her apparently regular guests about anything and everything), and then we waited another 20 minutes for the fries to be ready. The discussion about the seasoning salt was also quite something, whether we wanted it, smelling the container, it’s very good, yes, go ahead, how much... wow. They must be so good that you've never eaten better. What should I say? They were just regular ridged potato sticks from the freezer bag, like you can find everywhere. Just a little less salty.
Ok... Showering in the camper, watched a few videos, and called my son (everything is great at home) before heading to bed.

This morning, the sun was shining intensely; the weather could have almost rivaled that in Germany. We had breakfast comfortably in T-shirts until we set off on the tour that was on André's wish list. He wanted to drive through the Laerdal Tunnel. On the way there, we marveled again at the gigantic, impressive, breathtaking, imposing (and whatever other adjectives) nature of Norway. The mountains, where snow still lay on the peaks, the rushing rivers, the clouds that get stuck in the mountains, the green rock walls, the lakes bustling with anglers, and the roads winding through the valleys, sometimes seeming too narrow for two cars... I posted some pictures, but it’s hard to convey that...

In any case, we were gradually brought to the Laerdal Tunnel. The first small one was only 1.8 km long. The second was 2.1 km. This went on for quite a while until we finally drove through the (YET!) longest road tunnel in the world. After 24.5 km and 3 illuminated halls, André had fulfilled his wish. But it continued; we still passed many shorter tunnels. A highlight was the 11.4 km long Gudvangatunnel, which had an illuminated section that changed colors. When we drove through, it was just purple ;-)

Overall, we passed through 14 tunnels on the 270 km long drive today and were nearly 66 km away from daylight. Incredible. The Norwegians really know how to do tunnels. In 5 years, if all goes well, there will be another tunnel in Norway that is 2 km longer, breaking the record of the Laerdal Tunnel.

On today's tour, we made a brief detour to the tourist hotspot Flåm to look for souvenirs. As in 2019, the cruise port was abundantly full of people traveling with MSC or wanting to take the Flåmbana (train). Mainly of Asian descent. One souvenir shop after another, a street food mile, and that’s it. We only bought a hot dog and a portion of fries (tastier than yesterday!) for a mere €15 and took a few pictures; we also paid €3.20 for parking for an hour before we moved on.
After Flåm, we went a few more kilometers southwest, passing Tvindevossen (waterfall) until we reached the campsite. Again, nothing special, parked on green grass with a view of a lake and the rain starting. Despite that, we were on the road for 7 hours today, and it was the first day completely in T-shirts. It was warm and sunny; it can now be cold and rainy overnight.