Into the tunnel of hate?

Now that we’re wrapping up our Ålesund exchange, I realize that I haven’t posted anything about the tunnel from hell. By now you know that there are tunnels all over the place - it makes sense to drive through the mountains rather than around them. So when Tourist Bureau Lady suggested we visit the islands of Giske and Valderøy, we were excited for a close up view of the land we’d been seeing each time we visited downtown.  The trip started off nicely, we ended up finding a beautiful church in the countryside, and then went up a winding road where we saw a great view of the water and mountains in the background. Let’s keep going!  We’d already gone through one tunnel that was quite long (even Jon was starting to get edgy), but what the hell, we are here to see the sights, right?

The next tunnel was a disaster.  It went on and on, until it was just ridiculously too long, and then just kept on going. Sam started to freak out because Sara kept asking if we are really under the ocean, and what would happen if the tunnel collapsed. Are we really driving on the bottom of the ocean?  It was dark in there, and every once in a while Jon would make a slightly pained expression and tighten his hands on the steering wheel.  I don’t like this tunnel, he would tell me, as a random car would come barreling past us from the other direction. It was endless. And it was underwater. Eventually we made it through unscathed, but it was bittersweet: we knew that we had to go back into the tunnel to get home. Swimming miles across a frigid fjord never looked so appealing.

 

Oh, and just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating (why I never!), here is a photo I took from the Ålesund observatory:

And here is a brochure image showing the tunnel so that you believe me!!