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ScandiRAYvia 2015, Travel
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So hear they are.  My train tickets for one of the four rail journeys I’ll be making during ScandiRAYvia.

TICKETS

But these aren’t just any train tickets.  Nope, nope, nope.  This is my ticket to the Flamsbana, regarded as one of the most spectacular rail journeys in the world.

The trip from Oslo to Bergen itself travels through the highest rail altitude of any train ride in Europe.  And the Flamsbana, which is a spur about halfway through this trip, which takes you down to the fjord, is one of the very steepest railway lines in the world on normal tracks.

Here’s the route:

flamsbana (1)

 

kart-flaamsdalen-stort-copy

I love trains.  No, I love love love LOVE trains.  I’ve loved them my whole life.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve always believed I was conceived on a train. (Ew.  Made you think about it.)

This train trip was one of the main reasons for putting ScandiRAYvia together.

It’s fitting that it’s almost at the end of my trip.

Now all I need is some good weather so all of those postcard-pretty mountains, meadows and fjords are presented in their best light!

Flaam-Railway-Norway-740

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ScandiRAYvia 2015, Travel
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Why would I want to visit Scandinavia in the first place?

Oh, come on.  It’s Sweden. It’s Denmark.  It’s Norway.

I’ve been drawn to these places for as long as I can remember.  There’s just something magical to me about all those beautiful storybook cities sprinkled across little archipelagos.  The snow, the mountains, the lakes, the politics:  It’s just always clicked with me.

There are a million reasons to go.  Aside from all of the obvious ones, here’s a few really specific ones for me:

Trollstroll_hunter_blu_ray

I’m a documentary junkie, and one of my all-time favorite documentaries of Trollhunter, which tells the shocking true behind-the-scenes story of how the Norwegian government secretly controls the wild population of trolls.  I hope to see some troll action while I’m in Norway.

Vikings

I don’t really have to explain this one, do I?viking 1 viking 2

 

The Scream

The one by Edvard Munch.  Okay, there’s four of them, but one of them is in Oslo.

scream

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edvard Grieg

Peer Gynt.  “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”  (See Trolls, above).

Pining for the fjords

ex-parrot

The Girl with the International Book and Movie Franchise

Did you READ these books?  Did you SEE the movies?  If they’re not enough to make you want to visit Stockholm, you’ve got no blood in your veins.  And the Millennium Trilogy is merely the most famous of the exploding film and fiction genre of Nordic Noir.  If you haven’t seen it, you should check out Headhunters, and read the book as well!

I already have my ticket to the Millennium Walking Tour!  Gonna get my Lisbeth Salandar on!

Girl_with_Dragon_B_RJ_VER

 

Train Rides

I’m a huge fan of train travel, and I’ll be doing a LOT of that on this trip, including  a very special journey that I’ll discuss more in an upcoming episode.

There are more reasons, but these are plenty enough to get started on.

Are YOU drawn to Scandinavia at all?  What would you be interested in seeing there?  Let me hear from you in the comments!

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