Day 6 (June 27): Aurland
Another great breakfast with fresh bread and eggs among other things. The bread is fresh baked and hot but today's crust was thicker so it was hard to cut yourself a slice. It sprinkled most of the night and through breakfast so we began our drive to a local sheep farm in a light drip and started walking in the rain similar to Seattle rain. We got to the "farmhouse" fairly quickly which was at the end of a closed road. Once inside, we declined soup and coffee since we had a decent breakfast recently. This was supposed to be our destination for the 4 hour tour but our guide made a quick decision to just take us on a different hike up the mountain. It had stopped sprinkling and we started climbing.
The phrase Jill heard earlier today was: “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes”…
Clouds were coming and going after the rain so we got great peeks at the Aurlandsfjord on the way up. We got to the top with a sheep ranch but were in the fog. We sat on some rocks for over 10 minutes and suddenly we could see the entire fjord. It was amazing! We were glad we didn't sit in the lower farmhouse for 2-3 hours and added this walk instead. It was a total of about 4 miles and went from 1400 feet to about 2700 feet in elevation. We think the hike is labeled Blåskavlarden.
After we walked down, our guide offered to stop at the store in town and we accepted because the bakery is next door! We got two savory pastries (OST/Spekeskinke: w/ ham & cheese - Fyllt Focaccia: w/ pesto and cream cheese) plus two chocolate chip cookies w/ nuts. We ate a little of the spinach soup we were intended to eat on the hike along with all of this goodness back on the farm we are staying at.
After this we sat in the comfy chairs near the hot tubs to soak in the sunshine, listen to the waterfalls, and see some paraglides in the distance over the fjord. One of the employees was prepping a hot tub we were not sitting next to and we could smell the wood burning to heat the water. A couple walked by in robes and were directed over to the tub down some steps. They started disrobing and I realized it was the ‘Full Monty’ so I turned toward one of the falls to not have them in my peripheral view.
We showed up for dinner and got another speech from the owner. Our first night had the current chef but he is on vacation so the head chef from 2-3 years ago is here for the week. We learned from the 1st two nights to order our bottle of red wine right away because they store them below cellar temperature and it needs some time to warm up.
The Jakarta family from last night were at our table again. Last night the 8 year old declared himself a carnivore and tonight the main was halibut. Let's just say there was a meltdown and request for something a la cart even though everyone knows all dinners are set 3 courses. They asked before we arrived and verified when we checked in about food allergies and preferences.
On a more positive note, the dessert was almond cake with strawberries on it and some chocolate goodness on the side. I had suggested chocolate to the guest chef last night and he listened to me. I licked the plate. Then to my surprise, they sent out ANOTHER dessert that was almost entirely chocolate goodness. WOW! After this amazing finish we sat out by the hot tubs to watch another wonderful sunset for well over an hour.
