The Apex entered one of many Norwegian fjords today as we docked in Flâm, Norway where our plan today was to take the famous Flâm Railway. The railway is 20.2 kilometers long between Flâm abd Myrdal where it connects with train service between Oslo and Bergen. It was originally built as a trade route and later a passenger route to travel from the fjord to the major cities but is now mainly for tourists. It travels 2833 ft above sea level at its peak and is the steepest standard gauge railway in Europe. The train passes through several tunnels along the way, including making a nearly 360 degree turn inside one of the mountains.

After assembling in the theater, we walked through a small touristy area and waited on the rail platform for our train to arrive.

The way the seats were arranged on the train were not conducive to sightseeing. Janie was able to get a seat by the window facing backwards and J. R. sat beside her but that meant there was a third person next to him who complained about not having a window seat or being able to take photos. We did wish the seats were designed to reverse so everyone faced forward.

The train stopped twice, but only one where we could get off and that was at Kjosfossen. Our guide told the story of the woman in red who danced at the waterfall to lure men to her, but in reality she was a troll. They had a woman dancing at the waterfall when we arrived. The waterfall was impressive at 93 meters high and it is only accessible via the train.

We disembarked the train at Vatnahalsen station and made a short walk to Vatnahalsen Hotell, built as a sanatorium in 1896 but never used for that purpose and instead turned into a Nordic hotel for downhill skiing in the area. It now features a zipline which Didi and Tom were going to do before biking down the rest of the path. We had originally booked a tour that would have us hiking down from the hotel back to Flam but cancelled it when the round-trip railway became available. Given the drizzling weather, we had made a good choice. We were served Nordic pancakes with cream and jam along with coffee and tea as a light lunch.

We were given some free time before our return train was scheduled to arrive so we took the opportunity to photograph the snow-capped mountains, small waterfalls and take a short hike to where the zipline was located. We saw Didi and Tom getting off the train that we would be boarding for their zipline adventure. When we talked to them later, they enjoyed the zipline, but the bike ride was rough and Didi said the bikes had little padding.

J. R. boarded quickly and got us seats facing forward on the other side of the going down the mountain, much to the dismay of the people who sat down opposite us who complained they had to face backwards going up to. We think they thought it would guilt us into moving but we just said we faced backward going up too and they got quiet. We stopped at the waterfall again on the way down and enjoyed the scenery we had missed on this side of the train going up.

Our guide had shown us the real town of Flam which was further up the train tracks as opposed to the touristy area near the train tracks. She said everyone lived in the real town and came down here to work during tourist season. She had also mentioned a local brewery with local brewed beers so we stopped into their pub and had a flight of their favorites, including a Pils, Rallar Amber Ale, Palmesøl Hefeweizen, Ægir India Pale Ale and Sumbel Porter. It took awhile to place our order because fellow cruisers in front of us were struggling to understand their bill and the exchange rate between NOK and USD and arguing they were being overcharged.

After getting back on the ship, Janie headed to the spa and then to Craft Social while J. R. went to the room to watch the sailaway from our verandah. We were back in Blu tonight for dinner where Janie enjoyed the lamb chops. The evening show was another piano singer, Salvatore Hasard, so we decided to skip that and spent the night at the Martini Bar listening to the music in the Grand Plaza.

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