Only in Norway would it be considered completely normal to come across a troll in a tunnel. This troll happened to be made of wood, and the tunnel was near Osa, a small scattering of buildings located at the end of the magnificently beautiful Hardangerfjord. The troll was about the size of a person, with the exception of its enormous proboscis. It was holding a candle, whose flame provided a small amount of light in the darkness. We came across the troll during our tunnel walk, one of the expedition offerings during our day in Osa.
Our guide warned us that there were also cave bears in the tunnel, but we knew he was pulling our legs because just twenty minutes earlier he had told us there were no bears in Norway. Don't let anyone tell you Norwegians don't have a sense of humor. Even if it turned out there were in fact bears, our hard hats and oil lanterns offered some protection.
We learned that our guide used to use this tunnel to store his homebrewed beer, its consistently cool temperature offering natural refrigeration. He ended this practice when all of his beer mysteriously disappeared…the natural suspects include the troll and the cave bear. Luckily, our guide has another, healthier, beverage option: Osa proudly proclaims itself the home of the best water in the world, a fact they assert has been scientifically proven (we were not shown the studies). In fact, one of the few buildings in town is the local water factory, which is owned by a wealthy Kuwaiti who loved Osa's water so much he decided to stop buying regular cases of the water and just purchased the entire facility.
Our day had started with a stunning sail through the Hardangerfjord, which offered the first of many great photo ops of the day…if you were willing to brave the chilly wind blowing across the outer decks. Even in August, snow still dappled the tops of many mountains. Luckily, the weather during the rest of the day cooperated better than had been forecast, the clouds mostly held back their rain, but they made sure to baptize us with a parting sprinkle before we got back on the ship.
The activities of the day included: biking along a picturesque fjord-side roadway; kayaking through the reflective waters of the Hardangerfjord; hiking along rocky trails to majestic waterfalls; attempting to capture the vast panoramas with a camera, and of course, drinking and eating, which are part of every day on this expedition. We ended our lovely day with a local cider tasting and delicious lox, shrimp or ham sandwich at the Hardanger Base Camp, a rustic shack that reminded the Frozen fans among us of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna. We kept hoping one of the staff at the base camp would greet the next person who entered with the phrase "Yoo, hoo! Big summer blow out" spoken in a strong Norwegian accent...but no luck.
As we rode the Zodiac back to the ship, we kept eyeing the rocks on shore looking for any motion…but there were no trolls to be seen. Maybe they only come out after dark…
