Operation Mountain Climb

Today we left the lovely (but very rainy and windy) Alesund for the snowy mountains of Grotli. Grotli is a big skiing area in the winter and the hotel we're staying at is a historical skiing lodge. But let me back track a bit to our adventures getting to Grotli.

To get to Grotli we had to climb up and down the sides of two mountains. The roads up and down the mountain sides are entirely switchbacks with hairpin turns. Our small van was enough of a challenge to maneuver along the switchbacks but there were also obstacles along the roads to hurdle, scoot around, and plain avoid. We like to keep it exciting here in Norway. The obstacles mainly consisted of enormous, German/Chinese/French tourist- filled tour buses. Luckily we are blessed with a fabulous and fearless driver, Ed our tour guide, who faced these challenges with the outmost calm and collectivness. The same could not have been said about the rest of us. Every time a tour bus grazed past us I could literally feel all of us cringe. One of the most terrifying (and I'll admit exciting) moments of the trek was when we witnessed a German mini-Rv and Norwegian FedEx truck face off along one of the switchbacks.

Battle Royale: German Mini-Rv VS Norway FedEx

 No worries though, all potential danger/ death/ crashing and tumbling off the sheer cliff face was avoided! The views from the top of the mountains were fantastic... here's just a glimpse of the all the natural beauty we saw today

Yes. Gabe and I were one of the attractions.

The 7 sisters' waterfall

Birds' eye view of our twisting curvy road we traveled on for 3 HOURS

Finally we arrived at the Grotli Hotel! In no way is it not my favorite hotel that we've stayed at, the trip was sooooo worth it. Its a historic ski lodge as I've mentioned, cozily and comfortably decorated AND Rupert Grint shot his new movie here! Can it get any better? (Dramatic pause............) YES IT CAN! The fooooooood. Words can hardly describe the flavors, variety, and deliciousness! You filled up your plate, ate it, got a new plate, filled it again with a completely different assortment of delicacies, sat down again, and repeat x 1000! My favorite new thing I tried (and there were many, ask me about it sometime) was the precisely slivered moose meat, and perfectly seasoned salmon. Mom please find out the recipe. I'm still in a bit of a food coma..... delirious with happiness.
The food was all you can eat and buffet style. Some of you more observant readers (though I really don't know how many of you are there) may have realized my last experience with buffets..... do German landwhales ring any bells? WELL I am happy to report no terrifying experiences or cultural confusion this time! Though there was a buffet, and old people tourists, the one significant difference was the people were DANISH! A nice change that resulted in an extremely pleasent meal for me :)

LOOK AT ALL THAT BRIE! be jealous Kyla :)

The local selection of meats

Off to Trondheim tomorrow!