Flam

16 July- today had an early start- mainly because my phone kept making noises every time my ABC app delivered another piece of bad news about Turkey or France. Very glad not in either country. Got a train to a place called Myrdal as part of the Norway in a Nutshell tour. Very scenic 4 hour train trip through the mountains saw lots of snow and watched the temperature drop to around 9 degrees. At Mydral you swap to the Flam railway- a very scenic train trip through the mountains- lots of waterfalls, grass roofed houses etc. scenery is very dramatic- reminded us a bit of Scottish highlands interestingly. Some of the rocks had that purplish tinge. Did really enjoy the ride and was easy way to see dramatic Norwegian scenery. We are staying overnight at the Fretheim Hotel in Flam. A very small place which started its tourist life as a fishing spot for wealthy English lords. Eventually the wealthiest person in the village - Mr Freitheim built this hotel as he got sick of the English lords staying with him. The hotel is more ' comfortable' then grand now but definitely good enough for an overnight stay. Went for a walk mid afternoon and visited every tourist shop as that is all there is. Many overly warm jumpers for sale hat we would only ever wear if we moved here. Neither of us can imagine how cold this place must be in Winter- judging by the weight of some of the jackets- very very cold. The place is wedged between dramatic mountain scenery and the beginning of a fjord- beautiful  scenery. Dinner is at hotel as part of our package and then off on a fjord cruise tomorrow morning- looking forward to it. Enjoying a smallish glass of Cointreau before dinner- the bottle was definitely a good investment. Dinner was very enjoyable - buffet which is not generally our favourite but was pretty good and we splurged and had a glass of Italian red each- missed having wine with dinner. Decided over dinner that the place reminded us of a scene from a James Bond movie- was expecting to see Bond abseiling over one of the sheer mountains any moment and walking into this hotel in the middle of nowhere. Also decided that west coast Norway is like Scottish highlands on steroids- the mountains and lakes are similar just more dramatic- the mountains are definitely much larger and the lakes are huge.