Put simply, Norway's Lofoten Islands are surely the most stunning mountain scenery we've ever experienced. I'll let the pictures and a few anecdotes tell the story...

We stayed in a tiny fishing village called Henningsvaer,or Henningsvær, if you want to be accurate.  Our lodging for three nights was a "rorbu", which is a fisherman's cabin redone for visitors.  It was low season, so we got it for half price for three nights (USD$80 per night). It had a kitchen, a view over the water, four beds and low doorways - as my head would tell you.  Our expectations were exceeded from the start.

 Having a kitchen was nice because Norway is obscenely expensive: $8 dollars to rent a DVD, $10 for a pint of beer at a restaurant.  We ate meatballs and noodles at "home".  Speaking of home, this was the view out of the back.

 and from the side...

 The little town of Henningsvær, is called "the Venice of the Lofotens". I think every country has a "Venice of" and "Paris of".  It is an incredibly charming place.

Here's a closer look at the mountains in the back...

However, the real sights, the real drama and the reason we took two days to arrive were the mountains that seemed to go on and on and provide a perfect backdrop for quaint arctic dioramas.

The Lofotens only get about 280,000 tourists a year, likey thanks to being so far out of the way. When we were there, it was low season and the place was empty - closed for the season and preparing for weeks of darkness. We would both like to experience an arctic winter some day.  We've done an Asian summer - why not an arctic winter?

 Did you know?  Fjords are fjords because they are by the sea and are formed by glaciers.  That is why you find them in places like Norway and New Zealand - places where giant glaciers existed.

 Despite all the focus on sealife and catching cod - we saw little wildlife, but I made friends with a jellyfish that liked to pose for the camera in the unbelievably crystal clear water...

 In the end though, it was the glaciar-carved mountains in the rural artic settings that really peeled our scalp back, as our friend Tom would say.

 

 It took us 4 busses and 3 trains to do it, but we have finally arrived in Narvik, Norway, from Helsinki, Finland - the starting point for exploring the Lofoten Islands and fjords via rental car over the next few days. Narvik is a cool little town that has the northernmost train station (and supposedly disco) in the world. It is a few hours north of the Arctic Circle by train.

This completes our overland trek from Beijing - from the Pacific to the Atlantic across Eurasia. Going from Asia to Norway seems like traversing planets instead of the same land mass. What a contrast.

On the  way through we stopped at Rovaniemi, which is known for being so close to the Arctic Circle and having Santa's "official" residence.  Surprise, surprise - it was a giant gift shop!

I wasn't really upset - i just love making stupid faces in these contraptions.

 We did cross the Arctic Circle for the first time there though...

...so we can check that one off the list.