Day 16 - The Long Way Home

Today is the day when we start our journey back to Dallas ...  wake up... a nice sauna and a stunning cold plunge .... a Sommerro Hotel style breakfast ... a long walk through the palace gardens and the main pedestrian street in Oslo ... purchase of my very own Norwegian Helly Hanson jacket ... purchase of souvenirs and books for Eleanor and Wyatt ... and a nice visit to the Radhuset (City Hall) where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place.

Once back at the hotel we packed and walked to the train station to take the amazingly quiet and smooth airport train.  After flying to London ... this city is waaay busier, dirtier, noisier, and way more crowded than Norway ... it is interesting how you get used to things and when exposed to a different world after 2 weeks it all seems ... very interesting!

Tomorrow, we take an early nonstop flight to DFW.  Here are some last pictures from our morning walk through Oslo.

And, here are the "Motopia 2024 Norway Motorcycle Adventure" numbers:

• Number of countries visited:   1
• Highest temperature:             74
• Lowest temperature:              49
• Weather:                                Mostly sunny, some overcast days and a few showers
• Longest tunnel:                       24km
• Number of traffic violations:     0 (so far)
• Number of flat tires:                 0
• Number of technical problems:  0
• Motorcycles:                            two 1250 GSA, three 1250 GS, one R1100RT
• Number of participants:           10 (4 couples, 2 single riders) + Einer for a couple of days
• Highest altitude:                       4,000 feet
• Lowest altitude:                        0
• Number of tunnels:                  Too many to count
• Number of underwater tunnels: Too many to count
• Number of fjords:                     Too many to count
• Kilometers ridden:                     2,000+
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites:    3
• Animals seen:                           Deer, sheep, goats, seagulls ... and a reindeer skin (Alicia's seat)
• Birthdays:                                 1 (Andy)
• Participants:                              Dana, Chris, Armando, Monica, Andy, Alicia, Chuck, Richard, Pam, and Rene

Oslo main pedestrian shopping street

The Radhuset (City Hall)

Oslo's Domkirke (Cathedral)

Some of the rooms inside the Radhuset

City Hall's chambers

This is where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held ... a great room

The opposite view of the great room

Some of the many large wooden art pieces from Norwegian mythology adorning the Radhuset

Enjoying the sun in Oslo

Day 15 - Lillehammer and Back to Oslo

After checking out of our very cozy nordic-center lodge ... nice breakfast, roaring fire going on in the fireplace, great views all around of the mountains ... we headed to Lillehammer to check out the Winter Olympic village and facilities.

Lillehammer is a quaint town with a nice main pedestrian walking street and lots of coffee houses and tourists.  We also went to see the sky-jump ramp up the mountain ... why would anybody want to do that : )

Once in Oslo, we dropped the girls at the hotel and rode to Sandefjord just south of Oslo to return our motorcycles to get ready for our last dinner together as a group by the water.

A great trip with a great ending ... no flat tires, no accidents, no mechanical malfunctions ... just fun in one of nature's most amazing places ... we also celebrated Andy's birthday!

This is the official end of an amazing 2-week Norway motorcycle tour!

Leaving our nordic-skiing lodge in the clouds

A giant with two beautiful ladies in Lillehammer ?!?

The main shopping street after a nice cappuccino

A nice river running through the middle of Lillehammer

Ground zero for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994

The olympic ski jump at Lillehammer

On our way to Oslo after returning our motorcycles

We definitely give this trip a two-thumbs up ... wait, it is a 1.5 thumbs up : )

Celebrating Andy's birthday with a very Norwegian cake

Our fairwell dinner with the whole group in Oslo

Day 14 - Trollstigen from the Bottom

After leaving our home (Hotel 1904) for the last 5 days, we headed out of town, in the rain, towards Andalsnes, at the foot of the Trollstigen pass.  Had a nice cappuccino there ... it was sunny and beautiful already ... considered taken the funicular to the very high top of the boulder in the middle of town but decided to ride to see Trollstigen instead to see it from the bottom to take advantage of the nice clear day ... very impressive drive between huge vertical granite walls that slowly came together ... the Trollstigen road in its full glory appear in front of us ... what a cool feat of engineering.

After Trollstigen, we found a great restaurant and store in the middle of farm land ... the sheer cliffs of the fjords have given way to undulating low mountains and a lot of farms, cows, and sheep. 

On our final approach to our lodge for the night, we decided to take the side roads ... a great ride with no traffic, through forests, mountains ... slowly climbing to 3,000 ft ... and, then, armageddon! ... and as we like to say, "slowly worsening catastrophic conditions."

Strong winds kicked in, rain, fog ... "pea soup" ... and as we were making our way through this weather at the top of the mountain ... all of a sudden, in the middle of nowhere ... our lodge!

The lodge is a sky lodge for cross country skiing with the look and cozy feel of a lodge ... a cozy sitting area ... somebody paying the piano ... lots of people around tables with drinks ... big windows with great nature outside.  

They called us to dinner at 7pm ... a 3 course meal that we did not know what was going to be ... and it was amazing.  Always impressive to see how 200+ people are served flawlessly at the same time in a beautiful setting.

After dinner, and after armageddon cleared, we went for a walk through the cabins and the lakes just outside.  A nice way to stretch our legs after a long ride.

Tomorrow, we head to Oslo and to return our motorcycles.

A final picture with the statue at our hotel in Alesund

Stop for coffee in Andalsnes with the very steep funicular to the top of the rock in the background

Getting into the jaws of Trollstigen from the bottom

We finally got to see it ... Trollstigen ... and the platform we were standing on a few days ago at the very top when the fog was here

Trollstigen

OK ... we have seen it, back to the motorcycle

Our stop for lunch at Avdemsbue in Lesja after the sheer cliffs

The attached store to Avdemsbue restaurant

A stop to see the lake in the mountains as the weather was worsening

Our hotel is a sky lodge in the winter ... horses, hiking in the summer ... in the middle of nowhere

Dinner at the lodge in the middle of nowhere

A very Norwegian dining experience

We went out for a walk after dinner

Lots of house with gardens on top of their roofs

Another sign post with places in Norway

Day 13 - The Day of the Fjords

 We went out for a pre-breakfast walk around town ... no people, great light for pictures, great wooden boats on the harbor ... all before the start of our ride to the fjords.

Another great day ... the pictures speak for themselves.

Tomorrow, we begin making our way back to Oslo (2 days) with a stop at the bottom of Trollstigen hoping for a clear day.

Pam and I went for an early morning walk through a new part of town

And found a sign post with interesting distances

Wow ... the convergence of the 3 most scenic fjords

A panoramic view

Our stop for coffee at Hellesylt

With a waterfall view

Andy barely was able to get into this tiny electric cars for rent

Our stop for lunch (kebabs) in Hornindal

The view from our lunch table

Our kebab and pizza restaurant

Met a dad from Dominican Republic who married a Norwegian and moved to Norway 15 years ago ... he and his boy were playing beach volleyball and we asked them to take our picture

Our ferry on the way back to Alesund

Day 12 - The Atlantic Road

Our goal today was to reach the so called Atlantic Road ... a road that connects many small islands, islets, rocks, across a long stretch on the northern part of the Alesund archipelago which is supposed to be a sight to see.

A great sunny day with great roads ... one long ferry crossing on the way there and 2 smaller ones on the way back ... amazingly enough, most roads we took today had very little or no cars at all ... with the scenery and the winding roads through forests and the coast and the mountains ... the world and the universe were all aligned again!

And, the confirmation that there is nothing like traveling in places like this, with such spectacular nature, on a motorcycle ... in tune with the world ... immersed in something bigger and so awe inspiring ... floating on roads that undulate through villages, forests, islands, coastal areas, cliffs ... but, I digress : )

The pictures below shows some of today's sights.  No words needed.

Back in town, we went to a great Italian restaurant (hard to get reservations for) run by Italians and withe extreme attention to service and the quality of the food.  Maybe the best restaurant in Alesund so far.

Another beautiful sunny riding day ... on our way to the so called Atlantic Road

The cabin of our nice, very modern, very clean, electric ferry

A visit to the WWII bunker in the fishing village of Bud

The fishing village of Bud

Leaving our lunch place ... table on the deck overlooking the ocean

Riding on part of the Atlantic Road

An aerial view of the so called Atlantic Road connecting multiple islands

The floated walkway all around the visitor center with the curved bridge in the background

One of the tall bridges in the Atlantic Road

A view of the walkway around the visitor center

One of the ferries on our way back to Alesund

Even the trash trucks in Norway are immaculate clean

Yoga on the ferry

The view from our dinner restaurant on the 6th floor overlooking the harbor

The view from our table on the 6th floor at 9pm