Jurassic Park - the forgotten kingdom in the North

After the weather god Thor (responsible for the weather in Norse mythology, especially thunder and lightning) was very generous with us yesterday, today he shows that he can also do otherwise.

Ironically, he gives us rain, fog, and low-hanging clouds in the statistically driest fjord in the country! Until now (since Asterix in Britain), I always thought that it is never possible for it to rain and be foggy at the same time!

"Nyah-nyah-nyah," as Ida would say!

But ever since our three-week weather acceptance course in Scotland last year, a little rain doesn't bother us anymore.

Besides...you get wet anyway when kayaking. So it's all a matter of attitude!

The change in weather was already noticeable yesterday evening on our way out of the Geirangerfjord. The ship was noticeably rocking for our liking. What's funny about it is the straight-ahead sailing. Because it is simply not possible anymore...

It is particularly amusing to watch others take every corner and wall like pinballs!

Admittedly, we don't look any better doing it!

After a surprisingly long night, we woke up at half past eight, where earlier birds were already leaving the ship! However, since our kayak tour would only start at 12 o'clock, we had enough time for breakfast. Afterwards, we also disembarked. We still had ample buffer for a stroll through Flåm...

Just five minutes later, we went to the boathouse. Because Flåm offers as much variety as Geiranger: merino sweaters, merino hats, and troll figures!

If we fail in FFM, we will become sheep farmers in some fjord village! There always seems to be a need for wool here...

After an hour-long briefing, including changing clothes and escaping from the boat in case of capsizing, we finally got on the water with our guide Erwin (no joke!)!

At the latest, the continuous rain was completely insignificant to us here. Because the view, or rather the position from which we observed the fjord, was incredibly impressive! How tiny we are when facing a nearly 700-meter cliff perpendicular to the sky. We have goosebumps, and that's not from the cold and wetness.

The idea that dinosaurs could have lived here millions of years ago is not at all difficult for us, and those who have seen Jurassic Park or World, or whatever it is, are just waiting for the next Pterosaur to majestically plunge from one of the mountains and...probably have eaten us!

But Erwin quickly rescues us from our thoughts and directly paints the next (much more realistic) picture in our minds.

The one of the Vikings!

On a hill with a waterfall in the background, we notice nine stones that served as gravestones about 900 years ago. Guarded by stone-throwing mountain trolls, we are naturally not allowed to get too close.

A side note on burial customs:

Depending on the rank of the deceased, the bodies were either wrapped in linen, weighed down with stones, and sunk into the fjords, or they were placed on a wooden raft and then shot with burning arrows.

For some reason, there were rafts that were not hit and ended up on the other side of the shore!

And these dead bodies were then covered with stones along with the wooden raft. This is how the famous Viking burial mounds were created everywhere. Because the tribal warriors were too dumb to hit the wooden vessel...

Anyway, we enjoy the ride and the wealth of information, and the astonishing homogeneity and synchronicity of our paddle strokes allow us to glide through the rough fjord like a hot knife through butter. Or was it the knife through the hot butter? No, then it would be liquid. Never mind...

Soaked, but blissful and content, we return to land, where we slip out of our neoprene condoms (fans of The Naked Gun 2½ will inevitably think of Leslie Nielsen) and make our way back on board!

Freshly showered and fueled by the buffet, we end the day with violin sounds (of course live) of well-known classics and coffee with plenty of shots!

(one of 6 staircases made of Swarovski crystals)

If you don't think of the string quartet from "Titanic" here...

"Gentlemen, it was an honor to play with you today!"