Sunday July 1 Canada Day in Balestrand

It was very quiet last night - except for the birds who seem to work long hours

The weather forecast was for rain but it was quite dry first thing.

Raindrops looked like diamonds in the changing light.

 After breakfast we walked out along the road south.  Many of the houses are decorated beautifully.

A patch of thistles added some colour near the water

A pair of oystercatchers had a nest on a chimney.  One was calling loudly to the other which was poking around on some grass.  Eventually, it flew down to the grass and its mate reluctantly, and noisily, flew back and sat on the eggs.

 

 

The mail boxes shelters were very ornate.  Several had shingled rooves.

But dominating everything were the continually changing patterns of light and shade over the fjord.  Every few minutes the scene would change and the light would present a completely different perspective giving the camera a good work out.

Back in town we admired St. Olaf's church

A visit to the aquarium was worthwhile

It now commenced to rain quite hard so we sheltered under a canvas while eating a Bratwurst with bread.  It was excellent.

Then the sun came out.

Then it started to rain again.

Then the sun came out.
We went out around 1800 and there was still some rain.
Dinner was at the smorgasbord at the Kviknes Hotell which was excellent although expensive.  We splurged and had a bottle of Sancerre.  The seafood in particular was very good, crab legs and many types of fish smoked, poached and pickled.  The cured and smoked leg of lamb was interesting but the main meat was roast reindeer.   As the meal progressed we could see more and more patches of sunlight.  A large tourist boat went out towards Bergen looking small against the fjord itself.

The Kviknes Hotell, reputed to be the largest wooden building in Scandinavia, was not so busy this evening - they only had four tour buses.  The dining room was easily able to cope.

Click below to see all pictures of Balestrand.