An update from Maria who is in Norway.

 Maria is once again in internet contact so is able to share more of her travels with us.

It just keeps on getting better!  I thought I was in Heaven yesterday, well today was even more spectacular as we travelled through the countryside of Norway by train, on our way to Voss where we were thoroughly spoiled by a magnificent buffet of all the local, traditional foods such as meatball, fish and fresh strawberries accompanied by a cream that you could stand a spoon up in. And yes I made a little piggy of myself.  Thankfully we did not have the smoked sheep's head where it is the custom to start off with the eyes as they are the most flavoursome as they are full of fat.

Norway is mainly an agricultural country, there are approximately 900 registered farms in Voss with an average size of 23 acres with an additional 7 acres of summer pasture lands in the mountains.  The farmers have a strong union and receive government subsidies which in turn makes the cost of food very expensive.  Everything is very expensive here and apparently gets more expensive the further north we go.  Education and medical care is free.  Today sunrise happened at 3.28 am and the sunset  at 11.40 pm.  On Saturday we will be in the land of the Midnight Sun where the sun never sets for 2 months.  Most people's religion is Anglican Lutheran and the local church has to have enough seats to accommodate all it's parishioners. Also, Mass will not start until everybody has arrived.  Each region knows how many reindeers, moose etc. it has in preparation for the hunting season. If you want to fish it will cost you 50 kr ($10.00) for the day and to hunt will cost about about $100.00 for the season.

The first photograph is of typical farmhouses situation in the mountains which I snapped from a moving train.

The second is of the outside dining area where we had lunch at Fleiches Hotel, the third is of a Troll which is the country's 'emblem' which apparently belongs in a fairy tale.

This photo was of a poster in the town we visited the day before "Stavanger".

Due to sailing in the Fjords for the last couple of days, the satellite signal apparently is not strong enough to get onto the internet.  Good to be back again, just hoping I don't go through my account before finishing this holiday.