— Organists and Organ Playing —

Mirrored reflections

August 8, 2019

On our way to the Hardangervidda National Park we passed many locations where the land meets the water—the water was so still that you could see a mirrored reflection of the steep mountains and valleys. This is a lot harder to describe than it is to just show you the photos! As you can see, the weather has cleared up and it’s absolutely gorgeous here!

I was especially pleased with these photos—all of which were taken from a moving bus!

Obviously the bus stopped for a photo op for this picture!

We were stopped dead for 40 minutes while a construction crew paved the road for us!

Along the way we saw numerous waterfalls, caused by the melting of the glaciers.

The Hardangervidda National Park was created in 1981 and is Norway’s largest national park and one of Europe’s largest parks covering 3422 square kilometers—just slightly smaller than Yellowstone National Park in the USA. It is known for its population of 11,000 wild reindeer, which come from a different genetic stock from the North. It is also the home to the Arctic fox. birds, and lemmings.

Since we didn’t arrive at the park till 1:40 pm, well past our scheduled arrival time, the first order of business was lunch! I was a little skeptical when we were told the meal was reindeer stew, but I have to admit the meat was tender and juicy, not at all game-y.

Even though it was delicious and I could have eaten the whole plate, I only ate a third, in keeping with my diet.
Restaurant overlooking the park.

This man is the director of the park who gave us some introductory remarks as we were eating our lunch. He also said he had a relative who lives in Hawaii!

He quoted a very interesting statistic: there are 5.5 million Norwegians who live in Norway; 6 million Norwegians live in the US; and 1 million Norwegians live in Canada, all to say that there are more Norwegians outside of Norway. People have lived in this region of Norway since 400 BC.

Downstairs there was an interactive exhibition of wild reindeer, including examples of reindeer taxidermy and  a reproduction of a cave painting showing wild reindeer.

Before getting back on the bus, we took a group photo, then headed for the Gaustablikk Høyfjellshotel for dinner and overnight.