We didn't get to see many more animals or plants up close on our trip, but I can't close my account of Norway without showing a little of Geiranger. It's no wonder this fjord is so famous, with views like this:
We spent the whole day of our stay here ooh-ing and ah-ing at the landscape, and this alone would've pretty much made the whole trip worthwhile.
The scenery was gorgeous, and the wildlife was cool, too. There were eagles soaring over the fjord (I didn't manage to get any clear pictures of them), and smaller birds flitting around in the trees. This cute White Wagtail was nice enough to pose for me in Geiranger village while we were running (literally) from one scheduled excursion to another:
And the mountainsides were carpeted with wildflowers. I was particularly struck by these luminous Eurasian Bunchberry blooms (Cornus suecica):
While in Geiranger, we took a bus right up the side of the fjord, to the top of one of the neighboring mountains, Dalsnibba, 1500 meters above sea level. As we drove higher, all the greens and blues of the lush forests below were gradually replaced with browns and purples, grays and whites. The clouding skies (and even a snowstorm) made this seem even more like an alien world:
The only wildlife we saw up here were mosses and lichens, making furry purple coats on the rocks. When I look at this picture, I can't help seeing a sleeping creature, half buried in the snow:
Paul and I agreed that we could've easily spent another couple of days in Geiranger and never gotten bored -- we passed several walking trails in the mountains just begging to be explored, but of course we didn't have time. But maybe someday we'll return. Norway is definitely a place worth visiting, and I would gladly take a chance to go back!
OK, so we did get to do a little woods-walking on our trip after all. :P We spent a day in Bergen, Norway, and while we were there we took a tiny train up to the top of neighboring Mount Fløyen, then walked the mile or so back down winding paths through the woods. I know it's strange for me to post pictures that have buildings (and people) in them, but this will help set the stage -- the little building at the very top of the ridge is the train's destination, with Bergen's streets in the foreground, and all that forest in between:
And this forest was just beautiful:
Everything was all moss and leaves, and every surface green. The trees were positively shaggy with all that extra growing stuff:
I could've walked these woods for hours, but our time was limited. We did get to see some cool (and of course, completely new to us) wildlife while we were there, though!
This is one of the first birds we noticed when we got to the top of the mountain, a Great Tit (a relative of our chickadees and titmice):
This fellow was puffed up and singing loudly, and since neither Paul nor I knew what this bird actually was at the time, we called it by its song -- I'm guessing this is probably the only time anyone's ever said the phrase, "look, there's the Beepoo-beepoo again."
We saw another Great Tit further down the mountain, this one closer to us and less conspicuously gregarious:
Here's another bird that seemed to be pretty prevalent, and we saw it a few times -- a Chaffinch:
As a side note, I love that I can now put some bird faces (as it were) to formerly mysterious names -- I've heard the word "chaffinch" before, and probably read it in books, but never had any idea what such a bird would look like. As it turns out, it's pretty crazy-looking! Nice color combination, bird!
Here's a bird whose face I did know from pictures and illustrations, but which I'd never seen before in real life -- a European Robin: (and what a wonderfully shaggy tree it's chosen for its perch)
This Eurasian Blackbird was flitting from ground to rooftop, singing a surprisingly beautiful song for such a plain bird:
And it wasn't all birds in the forest, either. We were impressed by this big slug by the side of the path (possibly a Spanish Slug, which is apparently invasive):
There were flowers everywhere as well. I don't know what this flower is (I haven't been able to find an online source for identifying Norwegian wildflowers), but I love its delicate purple stripes:
(Updated 6/6/11: It looks like this is actually Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), a species of geranium that's originally from Europe but which has naturalized in North America as well. Thanks for the ID help, hikeagiant2!)
It was a while into our walk before we realized that something felt a little strange about the Norwegian woods: We'd seen plenty of birds, but no mammals -- no squirrels or chipmunks or any of the other scurrying critters that are so ubiquitous in North America. In fact, we didn't see any mammals on our whole trip.... The internet tells me that squirrels at least do exist in Norway, so maybe it was just chance that we didn't see any, or maybe they're not as prevalent as they are here.
In any case, this was a great part of a fantastic trip. Have I mentioned that Norway is awesome?
After we left Bergen, our next stop was the famous fjord at Geiranger, but that's a post for another time! (Which is to say, tomorrow.)
