Norway : The preparation and arrival

So the first of the courses I'm taking is on glaciers, and so our first week of classes involved preperations for a trip to Norway to check out the Hardangerjøkulen ice cap and its outlet glaciers.

Anna preparing her crampons for the trip.

Monster shoes!

Laslo and Christian tying some knots - we had to learn a few to prove that we would be able to climb out of a crevasse should we fall in.

We then had to climb a tree outside the geology building.

We started our drive to Norway!

Our little van family.

The bridge from Sweden to Norway!

Our only tourist stop- a medieval Norwegian village. 

20 minutes from Geilo the other van broke down!

Getting off the train.

We had to take a train to Finse from Geilo because there were no roads to the tiny little mountain town which only have around 5 permanent residents.

We stayed at the hut in Finse - Finsehytta.

When you walk in, the first room is the shoe room! No wearing your shoes inside. 

As a side note, Swedes are just like Canadians that we take our shoes off when we enter someone's home.

Anna and Artemis in our room - complete with bunk beds.

Every night we were there we would get a three course meal for dinner - soup, an entree, and dessert. The first night it was potatoes, a potato ball (which is that weird looking thing), some sausages, and what I'm told were sheep's knuckles.

The first day was miserable weather, but we were all so excited to go out in Norway, we went anyways.

Hanging out in the fjord.

Tea - so nice when it's wet and rainy.

More photos to follow!