Category: 2018_009 Norway

May 12

Today was our trip back to Oslo via the Norway in a Nutshell tour. As advertised, it was incredible. We started on the 8:45 train from Bergin to Voss. The scenery on the trip was beautiful, but nothing like what was to come. At Voss, we had 10 minutes to make our way to the busses for our 60-minute drive to Gudvangen. The majority of the people from the train were on this tour so there were about 175 of us in four buses. The scenery on this part of the trip was spectacular. There was one section, about 1.5km long, that were hairpin turns down a steep section of road. The driver told us that this was the steepest road in Norway. Peter wasn’t thrilled but it was over in just a few minutes.

Once we arrived, we walked just a short way to where the ferry was docked. This leg of the trip was a 2-hour ride on two of the deepest fjords in Norway. Once again, the scenery amazing. The ride ended in the small village of Flam where we had 2 ½ hours before the next train. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm so we enjoyed sitting outside for lunch and taking a walk around the harbor area.

The Flam Railroad, or Flamsbana, was the next leg of the journey. The railroad started construction in the early 20s and was completed in 1940. The original trains were pulled by steam engines but switched to electric in 1947. The cars are old-fashioned rail cars and since this is a tourist attraction, there was narration along the way pointing out highlights. It’s probably redundant to say this, but the scenery was truly spectacular. It’s easy to see why this is the #1 tourist attraction in Norway. Shortly before arriving in Myrdal, the train stopped for 5 minutes to give us the opportunity to take pictures of the Kjosfossen Waterfall. It freefalls over 350 feet and was awesome.

Once in Myrdal, quick a few folks took the train back to Bergen while the rest of us waited about an hour for the train to Oslo. That’s what we’re on now. It’s about 7:30pm and we still have another 3 hours to go. Ironically, the weather has clouded now that we’re coming out of the mountains and the scenery, while still very nice, isn’t quite as spectacular as it was earlier. Or maybe our eyes have just become immune to it. There was a beautiful sunset, though. We significantly further south again so the sun was down by about 10:30pm.

We probably won’t get this posted tonight as we don’t seem to have an internet connection on the train, and we get in too late tonight to mess with it. Hopefully we’ll post in the morning before we leave for Stockholm. We’re having difficulty with our phone chargers and neither one of them is connecting to the computer anymore to download pictures. So, we have to upload them to the blog one at a time from the phones…. very time consuming. Our train doesn’t leave, though, until almost 2pm so we should have time in the morning. Lynn’s going to the laundromat in the morning but that shouldn’t take too long. First item on our to-do list in Stockholm is to search out new phone chargers. Hopefully we can find the ones that just have USB ports on the end instead of plugs so we can use them when we get home. But we’re pretty desperate right now so we’ll take what we can get.

Today is our last full day in Norway and we’ve really enjoyed our stay. For the most part it was quite relaxing and, except for one day, the weather was beautiful, even in Bergen which is the rainiest city in Europe with over 300 rainy days a year. We have only about 80 kronor left (about $10) but luckily most places prefer credit, even the laundromat, so we should be fine until we get to Sweden.

We’ll talk with you again soon.

May 11

After spending an uneventful morning on the ship, we pulled into Bergen yesterday around 2pm. It was a cold, cloudy, rainy day so we took a taxi to the hotel and walked around a little while before having lunch. We tried going out in the evening, but it started raining again so we just headed home.

Today, though, was a different story. The sun has been shining all day and it is a beautiful day. We started the day with a ride on the funicular to the top of the mountain. From there we had a beautiful view of the city and the nearby fjords. We strolled around for a little while then just sat and enjoyed the view. After getting back down, we decided to separate as Peter wanted to do visit museums and Lynn would have rather had a hot, sharp stick in the eye. So, while Peter was learning all about the German merchants in Bergen, fishing in Bergen and looking at old buildings, Lynn was strolling the shops in the Bryggen, having a milkshake at an American diner and, most importantly, getting a manicure. The latter was LONG overdue, and the manicurist almost ran screaming from the room, but it was a wonderful treat, at least for Lynn.

Just as she was about done with her mani, Peter texted to say he was also done so we met at the dock and had a light lunch of shrimp. We tried two kinds…scampi on a stick and some freshly deep fried. Both were delicious. Then we sat in an outdoor café, enjoying the sun and an adult beverage before heading back to the hotel for a little relaxation before going out to dinner. Not sure where we’re going but our new favorite restaurant, Olivia’s, is just across the street so that could be a safe bet.

That was pretty much our day. Tomorrow we are heading back to Olso via the Norway in a Nutshell tour. Here’s a short YouTube video about the trip but we’re doing it in reverse. We start in Bergen, take the train to Voss, then a bus to Gudvangen, the cruise to Flam, the Flam Railroad to Myrdal, then finally a train to Oslo. This trip will take all day. We leave at 8:45am and arrive in Oslo at 10:30pm but it stays light until about 11:30pm so we should still get to see all the great scenery. It’s supposed to be another sunny day so we’re looking forward to it. We’ll let you know how it goes.

May 9

We’re on our one-day cruise from Trondheim to Bergen. It’s another beautiful day but the deck gets cool when we’re out in the open, mainly from the strong wind. This is a very small ship, probably no more than a couple hundred people on board. It has absolutely no amenities other than a tiny shop, snack bar and dining room. We’ve spent most of the day in one of the forward lounges with very comfy chairs and a beautiful view. In fact, the view is what this cruise is all about. It’s really stunning. Here’s a video of us leaving port this morning.

This is the last day of a 12-day cruise that started in Bergen on the 1st and sailed north to Kirkenes, then headed back down. It stopped at 33 different ports on the trip north but most of them are only 30 minutes long. Seriously, what can you see in 30 minutes. Absolutely nothing but apparently people use that time to get off the ship and stretch their legs on land. Several of the biggest stops were 3-4 hours long but there were only a few of them. So, there may have been 5-6 port calls per day for a grand total of 2-3 hours on land but with only 30 minutes, there’s not much outside the dock you can visit. We already had one today, so Lynn used it to run out and grab a couple of beers and sandwiches for dinner. We didn’t know this but only breakfast was included in our ticket. We could have bought dinner, but it was $150 for the two of us and there were only a couple of dishes to pick from, so we decided we’d just wing it. We got on board early enough to grab stuff from the breakfast buffet for lunch and during our short stop in Kristiansund, Lynn ran off the ship and picked up a couple of sandwiches and beers. There isn’t much available in the snack shop but what is there is very expensive. We have another stop tonight from 9-9:30pm so we might run off again to find something else. We wouldn’t be really happy if we were staying for any length of time but for only 30 hours we’ll manage. We dock in Bergen tomorrow at 2:30pm then spend the rest of tomorrow and Friday sightseeing in that port town. Then it’s a full day trip back to Oslo.

May 8

Unlike the France and many of the other countries on the continent, Norway wasn’t liberated during the war. It wasn’t part of the invasion plan in 1944 and remained occupied until the end of the war. The surrender was signed on May 7, 1945, and word got to Norway on the 8th, 73 years ago today. So, instead of being liberated, the Germans laid down their arms and went home. We found all of this out today when we visited the Resistance Museum in Trondheim. Actually, we hadn’t planned to go there but it was in the same compound as the Norwegian Crown Jewels, and it was free. It was basically the same stuff we saw in Oslo, so Lynn walked through pretty quickly and found a comfy place to sit and wait for Peter to visit at a more leisurely pace.

As we mentioned yesterday, we rented bikes today. It worked out quite well, much better than in Utrecht last month. There we were competing with about 5,000 other people on bikes where here we practically had the bike path to ourselves, except for the school kids. We picked up the bikes at the hotel across the street from where we’re staying. Then we headed to the harbor where tomorrow we’ll pick up the cruise to Bergen. We hadn’t gotten any information about when to board, so we decided to check it out while today’s ship was still in port. Once we got that info, we rode down the harbor path. We were following a tourist walking route on our map. We did a little backtracking as we didn’t always know where to turn but we eventually got to where we wanted to go.

At one point we had competition for the bike path from about 2500 school kids. The route took us past the Trondheim Stadium where the kids seemed to be having some sort of sports day. We think every kid in Trondheim was there. We also ran into some construction that took us off our desired route, but we managed to get back on track.

After riding for about 2 hours, we stopped at the Nidaros Cathedral. It is an 11th century church built over the burial site of St. Olav, an 11th century king of Norway. It was a major pilgrimage destination and because authorities were afraid of people taking relics, no one knows for sure exactly where St. Olaf is buried. The best guess, though, based on scans and X-rays, is that he is buried under the high altar. Like the cathedral we saw in Oslo, this one is very simple with a mix of modern and old. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but here are a couple from google. The Cathedral is where the kings/queens of Norway are consecrated. Since the early 20th century, they no longer have a coronation but a religious consecration ceremony.

After the Cathedral, we went to the Archbishop’s Palace which has an archeological museum and the Crown Jewels. The archeological museum had lots of artifacts from the Cathedral and original Archbishop’s Palace. Finally, we visited the Resistance Museum which also had weapons and uniforms from the different periods of the Norwegian Army.

Then it was time to get back on our bikes and head to the hotel. By this time, it was almost 3pm and we were a little tired. The bikes are easier on Peter’s ankles than walking but are not so great for Lynn’s knees. But, overall, we did quite nicely.

We stopped for drinks then headed back to our hotel for a rest before dinner. Not sure where we’ll eat tonight but there are a ton of restaurants within a stone’s throw of the hotel so I’m sure we’ll find something.

Tomorrow we’re cruising south to Bergen. We’re taking the Norway in a Nutshell tour that we booked several months ago. Here’s a link to the website so you can see what we’ll be doing. While it’s called a “tour” it’s not guided so we were able to add as many days as we wanted to several different stops. We choose to add one night in Trondheim and another night in Bergen. Then we’ll head to Oslo via a train, bus, 90 cruise through the fjords and the Flam railroad. It should be beautiful. We probably won’t post again until we hit Bergen, so we’ll fill you in then.

Here’s a video from yesterday’s train ride. It was so beautiful!

Love to all from Trondheim.

May 7

Well, the ride we thought was 6 hours was actually almost 7 hours, but it actually went very quickly, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures don’t do it justice as they were taken while we were moving. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground and a lot in the mountains. But once we got to Trondheim, there was no snow at all, and the sun was shining.

Once we walked from the train station to the hotel and got settled, we headed straight to tourist information. Trondheim was founded in 997 as a trading post, and it served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until the early 13th century. It’s a relatively small city but is the 4th largest urban area in Norway with a population just under 200,000. We saw a lot of younger people which makes sense as this is a major college town, with several large universities located here.

Since it was still relatively early, only 4pm, we decided to walk around the city center for a while and have dinner. We ended up eating at the harbor, which like Oslo, has streets lined with restaurants. Since Scandinavia is all about fish and neither one of us (Peter less than Lynn) are huge fans, we ended up back at our new favorite Italian restaurant…. Olivia’s. Apparently, it’s a chain here in Norway so we ate there…. again. And it was just as good as it was in Oslo.

The harbor area is beautiful with colorful houses along the river, very similar to Amsterdam. We plan to rent bikes tomorrow (say a prayer for us please) so we’ll explore this beautiful city on wheels.

Not much else to report so we’ll say night for now. Love to all.

May 6, 2018

Here we are at the laundromat…. again. It seems like that’s all we do is laundry, but we only have 5 sets of underwear, and we leave tomorrow for another 6 days without Airbnb, so we thought we’d better do another load of wash before we leave.

It was a beautiful day in Oslo. We tried going to City Hall as it’s supposed to be a beautiful building and it’s where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held. But even though the brochure says it’s open on Sunday, apparently, it’s not. Bummer. Instead, we walked to the Akershus Castle which is closed for renovation but is where the Norwegian Resistance Museum is located. Lynn was there with mom in 2002 and remembers it being a very good museum. For once, her memory was correct. It was very well done. The Norwegian resistance was very active throughout the entire war and this museum went into a lot of detail about their accomplishments.

After the museum we headed to the Royal Palace. Since the royal family lives there we couldn’t go inside but we at least wanted to see the building. Then we walked down the main drag to the Cathedral. It’s relatively small, especially when compared to the Cathedrals we saw in France, Spain and Portugal, but it was still beautiful.

By this time, it was close to 5pm and we were hungry so we found a place to eat where we could sit outside in the sun. It was a gorgeous day, sunny without a cloud in the sky. We were actually a little warm in our jeans. We had a delicious dinner and splurged on dessert (we are so going to need to go on a diet when we get home) before heading back to the hotel to pick up the laundry.

Tomorrow we’re off on our Norway in a Nutshell trip and have an 8:10 train to Trondheim. It’s a 6-hour ride but it’s supposed to be beautiful county side so we’re looking forward to it. We’ll chat again tomorrow.

Love……us.

May 5

Yes, faithful followers we have a new world’s record; at least for us. Five museums in one day…OMG. But more on that in a second.

Yesterday (Friday) was primarily a travel day but we had several hours before we left to wander the streets of Gothenburg. We ended up back in the park in which we walked the day before, but it was a beautiful day, so we didn’t mind.

It took 4 hours to get to Oslo but much of it was a beautiful ride. The countryside was so pretty. We tried to take pictures out the window but weren’t too successful; the train was going too fast. We arrived in Oslo close to 5pm but before we left the station, we picked up our tickets for the Norway in a Nutshell trip we’re doing next week and stopped at tourist information. We decided to get a one-day Oslo card as it gave us free transportation as well as entry into the museums we wanted to see today.

The hotel is only a short walk from the station so, even with our luggage, it was an easy walk. The hotel is nice and very close to the things we want to do while we’re here. That’s a nice switch from the last several Airbnb flats where we had to commute from the outskirts of town. This is so much more convenient.

After getting settled into the decided to head to the harbor, just a few minutes away, for dinner. After a delicious meal and after dinner drinks, we came home for a good night’s sleep.

Today we took what they call the museum ferry. There are several museums on the other side of the harbor and while we could have taken a bus, the ferry was much faster. We started at the Viking Ship Museum, which was very cool. There were 3 ships that had been excavated in relatively good shape. At least the pieces were in good shape. One of the ships was in about 1,000 pieces but because of the way they were buried, archeologists were able to “rebuild” the ships. Two of the ships are virtually intact but the 3rd looked more like an unfinished boat. There were also quite a few artifacts that were found with the ships. All 3 had been used as burial ships so the artifacts were things that had been buried with the deceased. One of the ships had skeletons of the women who were buried on the ship. They weren’t intact but the archeologists were able to piece the girls together. The picture isn’t very good because of the low light and reflection off the glass but if you look closely, you can see the bones.

After the Viking Museum, we took the local bus to the Fram Museum. This one is dedicated to the exploration of the North and South Poles by the Norwegians. There were to fully intact exploration ships….the Fram (which was used for both Poles) and the Maud, which was used in later explorations. The Norwegians were instrumental in mapping out the Northwest Passage and Roald Amundsen won the race to the South Pole in 1912, beating the British and Captain Scott. The story is fascinating and there are several youtube videos if you want to learn more about it. The one linked above is only 10 minutes long but there are several longer documentaries.

The museum had tons of fascinating artifacts and pictures from both expeditions. We spent a ton of time here, about 3 1/2 hours. Most of that was Lynn waiting for Peter to read every word on every sign, but she used her downtime well, making friends with a couple from Perth. We saw them at the ferry in the morning and kept running into them at the museums. They’re a very nice couple and hopefully we’ll have a chance to visit them in Perth Australia someday.

There were two other museums on the same block, so we hit the Maritime Museum next. Lynn really wasn’t interested in this one at all, so she spent her time charging Peter’s phone and making more friends. This time with a retired Admiral and his family. She didn’t know he was a Vice Admiral until he gave her his card as they were leaving. They live in Williamsburg VA, which is someplace we’re planning to visit someday. Turns out Peter didn’t stay long in this one either, so we don’t have any pictures.

The final museum on that block was the Kon-Tiki Museum. This one was a lot smaller than the Fram Museum, but it was very interesting. This one told the story of Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947. The 25 word or less version is that he and his 5-man crew sailed 4,300 miles across the Pacific in a raft. The intact raft was in the museum as was the Ra II which he and his crew sailed across the Atlantic in 1970. He had tried the crossing in 1969 but the boat broke up before it reaches the Caribbean. His second try, though, was a success. It was very hard to imagine sailing across a lake in these “boats” let alone across the ocean.

We took the ferry back to the main harbor where we hit our 5th museum of the day, The Nobel Peace Center. This museum was about the Nobel Peace Prize which is decided and awarded in Oslo. We saw an exhibition Generation Wealth by the award-winning filmmaker and photographer Lauren Greenfield. It was a photo exhibit that depicted the pursuit of status, beauty and wealth. The photos were excellent, and the stories were interesting, but we weren’t sure why it was being exhibited at this museum. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Nobel Peace Prize and seemed an oddly out of place.

There was, though, one room dedicated to the Nobel Peace Prize. It included a short bio of every winner of this prestigious prize. By the time we finished in this museum it was after 5:30 and even Peter had had enough of museums. So, strolled the harbor looking for dinner. Tonight, it was delicious pasta at the same restaurant where we had eaten pizza yesterday. Most of the restaurants here are heavy on the seafood and since Peter’s not a fan, we’re looking for alternative dining options. Since we usually can’t go wrong with pasta and pizza, we decided to play it safe. Both nights were delicious. Hopefully we can have more traditional Norwegian fare tomorrow. We’ll let you know.