Bergen Norway

We arrived in Bergen by train completing our 3 legged transport by boat, bus, train, and the next morning awoke in our Airbnb, a recently remodeled garden apartment that was cozy. Love the heated bathroom floors, which is common in most dwellings.

We chose to start our exploration at the Bryggens Museum, a unique insight to early history (1050-1500) based upon archaeological digs of 1950’s. The group walking tour was informative and even fun though we talked about many fires in the town that created layers of sediment filled with charred artifacts and structural building pieces. See photos.

We are led by a charming, well studied guide through the museum and then to outside points of interest that made this tour one of the best we’ve had. We were taken to the original Assembly Rooms (Schotstuene) of the German Hanseatic merchants that stood for the glory days of the city. At the peak of the Hanseatic League in the 15 century this German merchant's union was the dominant force —economic, military, and political— in Northern Europe. (The larger Hanseatic museum is under renovation).

We concluded the tour and head to the Fish Market in the harbor for a fresh fish lunch. There are many vendors and restaurant seating. We sit under a tent next to the water. Janet's choice for lunch is steamed mussels, my choice is salmon with french fries, so Janet could have her fries too. Both, particularly good dishes. Beverages offered were our new favorites, carbonated fruit drinks, and ginger beer. Frank asked the young waiter if there was a local sporting good store close by to find Norge Fire World Cup jerseys? He pointed the way, but warned jerseys are sold-out!

Now full of lunch and ready for action we walked to the Funicular access station in downtown. Easily bought tickets and got in the Q to enter the next available modern trolly. Quick trip up the hill with nice views of the terrain. Upon exit, you see the top of hill plateaus offering a nice restaurant and patios for seating and other walking areas and trails to observe the entire harbor of Bergen and surrounding waterways.

The city is hazy, but still specular view of the city

This night at the Airbnb we watch the World Cup match, Argentina -vs- Switzerland. Like to watch Messi, but only to half time.  We are no longer jet lagged with the 6-hour time difference from home, but these matches run to early in the morning and we need sleep for the next day activities. I’ve had Oura ring readiness markers as low as 44, or as high as 85. Readings do fluctuate with sleep and activities. Talk tomorrow and Happy Birthday to lovely Courtney, great MOM of two grandchildren.

We wake up looking forward to another day in Bergen. We have the lay of the land worked out and can easily launch from the Airbnb. We decide to go back to the waterfront to explore the 13th century Bergenhus Fortress Tower and surrounding ramparts to protect the strategic harbor. Bergen became the Kingdom of Norway’s first capital. This fortress complex built in 1240’s was a garrison, holding the king's residence called the Rosenkrantz Tower and a large banquet hall called Hakon’s Hall. The tower has a spiral staircase that leads you level to level through the troop garrison and cannon portals, to the separated King and Queen bed chambers and bath, the throne room, lookout rooms and exit to the observation roof, where we entered on to exterior walkways. It is easy to imagine the hustle and bustle of daily soldier life in the tower protecting the city waterway and the Royal family. We then moved outside to visit Hakon’s Hall, a magnificent medieval structure built in mid-1200s by King Hakon to set up a suitably impressive place to conduct coronations of future kings. Hakon had to leave Norway for his earlier coronation.

We then wandered over to St. Mary’s Church (Mariakirken) built by the Hanseatic merchants in the 12th century. It is Bergens oldest preserved building. (Remember those many fires.) It has a dour stone exterior, but a ornate altar.

We finish our day by busing to the Gondola Station, another mountain top observation post, but much higher than the Funicular we experienced yesterday. This modern machine quickly gets our group up the mountain top, marked by a large antenna. The public viewing area is smaller than at the Funicular, but the 360 view and vista is far more extensive, to fjords and harbor and both sides of mountain. There is a wonderful restaurant at the top too, where we had dinner—tasty food for sure—loved the meal, especially creamy fish soup with spiced olive oil. The day is at and end. We took a bus to city center and after an information stop at the Tourist Center, we walked back to our Bergen home. Good night.

On our last day in Bergen. 

The downside of Airbnb; the cleaning and finding the garbage, yuck.  Some travel logistics, with another all day outing, what to do with luggage?  Not to worry, Bergen is great, the tourist information center also stores luggage, no party store basement this time.

Next, we traveled to the Edward Grieg Museum and a lunchtime concert of Grieg’s greatest piano hits.  This was an outing planned and purchased long ago, and we were really looking forward to it; with our dear friends. 

While in Oslo we struck up a conversation at breakfast with a lovely couple from Virginia.  On our last day, we ask them if they might be interested in going to the concert with us.  It was sold out and our tickets were non-refundable, they said yes.  Fast forward to Bergen we meet up at the bus stop and had a wonderful time together on the tour and the concert was outstanding.  We really missed Christina and Bill today, but so glad we could share this special outing with fellow travelers.

After the concert we went back to the city, visited the KODE art museum, which was included in the concert ticket.  Had great local lunch and a last nice walk around other parts of the town.  Bergen is a special place, we will miss it, but time to get to the boat.  More on the boat trip in the next post.

Flam Norway

View from train

We left Oslo by train toward Bergen. This is the first step of our “Norway in a Nutshell” trip. 5 hours later we change trains at Myrdal station and leave toward our key destination of Flam.

Norway has extremely high rolling hills of tall green trees in the south; but not like mountain ranges we often see in the States. The topography may change as we continue northward. The trains route passes over rivers and cuts through the valleys surrounded on both sides of the track with expansive farms and crops, or modern hamlets of single-family housing, apartments, and commercial buildings. New construction is prominent.

As we move farther north, we pass large lakes, fjords, that are surrounded by the increasingly higher hills. We can’t tell if the water travels to the sea. We often go into short tunnels (just when I’m trying to photograph something nice). The hills are changing to mountain ranges.

We come through another tunnel and the mountains are grey, barren of trees and have snow caps. As we continue several large glaciers appear in the valleys. For the strong willed there are running trails and bike paths in the surrounding area. Look, several bikers. The train also passes through enclosed bridges constructed with metal siding and windows. Eventually we come out and the the mountains are enormous, covered in green foliage, swallowing up the light of the valley.

The whistle sounds, we are stopping at Myrdal and will change onto the “Flamsbana Express”, a train of old western vintage. It is cattle call on the platform everyone pushing to get on, we find seats and a place for luggage. We made it. Chug, chug off we go.

This train follows track that run in narrower valley between mountains. We sporadicly pass farmhouses, fenced pastures with Norge cattle, those with longhorns, all the time encased by the tall Nordic mountains. As we draw near to Flam the amount of housing increases and we again see the edges of the fjords

The track ends at the Flam station. The village is small, more like a trading post, but the surrounds are truly eye catching. On site you have restaurants, hotels, excursion vendors, tour bus and tour ship assembly points and railroad tracks. The service at the hotel is outstanding.  We are greeted with sparking juice and a review of activities.  Our hotel room was simple, but fashionable and overlooks the water and harbor and the mountain pathway we will walk through to the waterfall.  We opt for a 90-minute break in the hotel and then off to the Stegastein Viewpoint.

View from our room

The Stegastein Viewpoint an incredible man-made overlook for the fjord, Aurlandsfjord, artfully constructed of metal and wood beams.  This was a must see for us.  It is the cover of our Rick Steve’s Scandinavia book (read and re-read over the last year).  To get there we took an adventurous bus trip on a narrow one and half lane road with switchbacks twisting above Flam to arrive at the viewpoint. We were so glad our bus driver was the King of the road to get pass the traffic jams. This outing did not disappoint!

After a good night’s rest, we are off to our first hike of the trip.  We tramped over a bridge that separates the Flam described and gets us into the residential farms. We see clusters of Norge cattle close as we walk by the post and wire fencing and reach the marked trailhead. We complete 38 fights and a vertical mile to the base of the waterfall pool, a great observation point. This first hiking trip was invigorating, we did get tired along the way. We took a slightly different route to come down and enjoyed passing through adjoining parts of town.

After lunch we depart from Flam on a large electric tourist boat. Joined by about 250 people on board, with plenty of comfortable seating in glass cockpits throughout, or you can choose to sit or stand on the several levels of outdoor decking. Either way you can enjoy the views, sights and sounds of your travels up through the fjords to the next destination. This is the last leg of the “Norway in a Nutshell” and it is long.  We are so glad we split this up over two days.  Once our fjord boat completes, we take a bus for an hour to Voss.  Then a hot over crowded train where we sat in the “jump seats”. 

We arrived in Bergen at 8:30 pm, found a grocery store, chugged up several hills on cobblestone sidewalks and found our Airbnb, what a day!    

 

Oslo Norway Day Three

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Then I had a cup (of pour over coffee), dressed, with a positive attitude because we were going to have fantastic experiences today.

We started at Oslo City Hall, the site of governing and often the site of the Nobel Peace Prize presentations. We had seen City Hall from a distance the day before with our guide who said that the great depression and WWII had delayed completion until 1950. When finished the public was critical: “Why get excited about a building that just opened and looks 30 years old.” The brick work has some nice creativity, and looks nice from afar, but entering the building is an artistic treat. First, in the covered walkway there are a series of colorful wood carvings depicting historic and mythological themes. Just the beginning of the patriotic voyage. After passing security, we entered the Main Hall (where the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded). Norway’s leading artists contributed to each of the four walls that purposefully display spectacular art:

  1. The mural over the entrance doors celebrates the traditional industries of Norway, with the fisherman, the factory worker, the sailor, the farmer, and the miner. (FYI-The Artist Diego Rivera’s industrial mural room at the Detroit Institute of Art project similar theme and imagery.

  2. The main mural emphasizes Oslo’s youth taking part in rebuilding the nation after the Nazi occupation.

  3. The Mural of the Occupation portrays the story of Norway’s WWII experience in dramatic sequence.

  4. At the base of the main stairs is a mural of St. Hallvard the patron saint of Oslo, whose exploits to save an assaulted woman led to his own death. The story, considered one of compassion in the face of injustice, helped spirit the movement toward Christian faith. See photos.

The ceremonial rooms, such as the Munch room, are also great.

The below photos covers the full great hall, the story of WWII

We now continue are walk to the National Museum, a modern behemoth of a building that brings together Norway’s art from three separate sites. Too much to see in one day so we chose to follow the museum’s self-directed tour using our phones. We were well pleased to experience a variety of mediums and artists, especially the Edvard Munch gallery of Norway’s most famous and influential Painter. Now don’t SCREAM!                                  

PS. The lunch at the Museum Café was tasty.

This museum was first class operation

We went next door to the Nobel Peace Center which had an interesting inter active display and touch system for each recipient, Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, to name a few.

Janet’s plan was a visit to the fortress, but after a quick discussion we agreed that it is okay to end the day at 4:00. We headed back to the hotel for a rest. Evening meal was at the crowded dock area with music and street dancing to entertain all as we sat on the patio.

Oslo Norway Day Two

After a wonderful buffet breakfast at Thron Hotel (Thorn = Thor), we are full of energy and head to the docking area for boat transfer to Bygdoy Neighborhood where sits the Fram Museum and Kon-Tiki Museum. The Fram Museum is a captivating  exhibit named for the sailing ship Fram and Norway’s greatest Artic and Antarctic explorations. The entire 128 ft. original ship with masts and sails is walk on accessible to all decks with personal displays about the crew. It was fascinating and fun.

The raft Kon-Tiki

Empty bus stop

Next door is the smaller Kon-Tiki Museum about the large rafts built by explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his adventures to prove free floating and sailing the currents of the pacific to reach and populate the Polynesian  islands and Easter Island. The original large raft is displayed and an Oscar winning movie of the voyage  presented. Also very entertaining.          (Question- ancients  could have made this trip, but did they?).

Bygdoy has fun. We followed a short path, found the bus and went to the The Norwegian Folk Museum and park where 150 historic buildings mostly log built with sod roofs are situated in open air neighborhoods.

There are several eras displayed. Many are open to enter, which we did, and some have re-enactors displaying daily chores. As we walked the winding paths some of us could imagine the older villages alive with activity between respites of “going Viking”. The community feeling was greatly enhanced by visiting the Gol stave church built in 1212 and reconstructed on site. It was of classic design and displayed primitive but beautiful on wood paintings. We were endeared by the “Last Supper” painting over the alter (c1452).    


Keep on keeping on

This was a lot of walking for us today, but we were invigorated. So Janet suggested a trip to the sculpture garden. Ok. Why not I say. We get on a bus and travel for awhile then exit using google map. We end up walking through residential neighborhoods and into a small park by a river. Something feels wrong, we ask some locals about the park. They smile sarcastically  “oh yes there is a garden, go this way” (the other direction). We marched on, and on, and ended up in sprawling  Frogner Park. My knees were sore. But it was worth the effort. Here, Norway’s greatest sculpture Gustav Vigeland had over a  lifetime created tons of statuary work, ie. Vigeland Sculpture Park. The sculptor planned the entire site including  landscaping and designed 192 bronze and granite statue groupings-600 figures in all, each nude and unique. The presentation is immense. No wonder the local smiled when I inquired about a little ole “sculpture garden”. The statuary was very evocative to us as it clearly reflects the “good and evil in the community of man”. We took photos, choosing to capture images of love and friendship.

 

Caught a bus at the park entrance and got back to downtown quick. Tonight, we found a nearby Asian restaurant with good reviews called “Oriental Restaurant”. The atmosphere, food, sake and wine were all very good. By the way, Norway has really great carbonated fruit drinks,  non-alcohol ginger beer, and a tasty ale called Rallar. Long day, so good night.

Oslo Norway Day One

Our Norway trip was to start with our good friends from Seattle.  24 hours before their departure, Christina took a bad fall, needs surgery and must cancel the trip.  We are so very sad for them.  We needed to do some schedule pivots, changed a few plans and carried on with heavy hearts.

Norwegian pancake with brown cheese and jam and a fresh pastry

At the Oslo port, we are the last to exit the ship and see only one other group walking, the taxi line is long.  With small suitcases in tow, we walk along the dock, pass the ancient city walls and the rock face of the Akershus Fortress complex. The path took us by a wonderful bakery café. We stopped and settled in for a long while as our itinerary for the day had changed. We also had our first taste of famous brown cheese.  The verdict? We like it!    

The original plan was for a private food walking tour late in day after Bill and Christina arrive.  It was non-refundable so our guide agreed to an earlier start and Simon met us as our hotel to start what ended up being a wonderful full review of the city.  In addition to covering all the primary landmarks we discussed the upcoming soccer match. The city parks and waterfront are blocked with fences, large screens, port-a-potties and food trucks, ready for large crowds to watch the next soccer match (Norway vs. England). Per Simon these areas as well as all bars have been sold out for weeks. 

The highlight of the tour was the two food stops.  First at a wonderful restaurant that Simon had worked at.  He pre-selected for us:  House made bread, moose carpaccio and smoked whale.  Except for the bread, this is food that we would never order. on our own.  Our verdict?  No to whale, the moose was wonderful.

Second food stop was a street vendor for waffles, these were wonderful and we could eat them everyday

We ended our day with fruit and cheese in the room, some blog work, more soccer and early to bed! A few more photos of the walking tour are below

Boat Transport - Copenhagen to Olso

We are departing Copenhagen by overnight ferry. This is the first of five overnight ferries we will take on this trip, on four different ferry lines. This is a new way of travel for us, so we thought a short post with our views would be good.

Our first line is GO Nordic Cruise Line. We paid extra to have a pick up in the central city. This proved to be rather chaotic.  The bus site was also used by all the cruise ships for people on shore excursions, hundreds of people and all the buses look the same.  Once we finally on the right bus the Onboarding was easy.  Show passport and pre-paid ticket.

Total size of our 2 person room

We had a very small 2 berth cabin with window and bath as hotel room until we arrive in Oslo at 10:00 am the next morning. The room was functional but rather claustrophobic. We walked the decks, got snacks.  This is a full ship with people everywhere; it does not have a cruise ship vibe and reminded us of a trip long ago on a ferry to a Greek island.   Back in our capsule sanctuary, we tuned TV to World Cup broadcasted in Danish until lights off.  At some point we were both awake at 2:00 am for the US game, in Danish.

 We set the alarm, but we woke up by the announcement of arrival.  We went up on deck to view the mountains enclosing the fjord and bay as we approached the busy Oslo harbor. This was by far the best part of this journey, it was beautiful and not busy, most of the other passengers were in a long line to get off the ship.

So, is this form of transportation worth it?   The cost was $200, cheap when you figure it was our transport and lodging.  It is basic, funny our Oura rings told us we both had a great night of sleep, so perhaps yes, let’s hope the next four are closer to a cruise ship and less like a floating bus or train

On to Olso….

Copenhagen Denmark Part 2 - without a Toddler

Leaving the kids was hard, we waiting until that last minute when they turned the corner and are gone from site. Now on to the next 6 weeks, 7 countries in total.

We traveled back on the excellent train transport from the airport to central station and the Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum starting with a tasty lunch seated in the “Winter Garden”, a beautiful glass dome covered statute garden.

Here, artwork and artifacts spanning 8,000 years can be explored. It is said Brewer Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg Brewery fame envisioned this museum as a way to bring a piece of Paris to Copenhagen. We especially enjoyed both the French and Danish Sculpture of 1800-1920, with its exquisite detail and beauty, and the Egypt and Mummies sections with painted “death masks” that were as precise as photographs.

Next stop, National Museum of Denmark, which is quite large. We visited to enjoy the special exhibit about the “Sorceress of the Sea”.  This was a wild, psychedelic presentation with beaming colors, flashing lights, background film images and music, and powerfully voiced narratives, either male or the Viking Sorceress herself setting forth her spells. King Harold Bluetooth did accept Christianity around 950 A.D., but the role of the Sorceress did not end when Christianity was introduced. In Harold’s time, the Sorceress was still an important and highly respected member of society. Historians demonstrate that King Harold allowed the burial of a sorceress at his ringed fortress at Habro, Denmark. The show was entertaining.

 Around 950 A.D. Harold Bluetooth took over the throne of his father Gorm. To secure his authority he worked with the various Viking tribes to strengthen his kingdom against Norway to the north and the Ottoman Empire to the south of the border he coordinated construction of fortresses around the country. Some say his success to coordinate the tribes allowed him to be the namesake of the electronic term “bluetooth”.

 We head back to the airbnb after a very long day. It is Saturday (July 4). The neighborhood is alive with people and music. For a brief moment we consider joining the crowds, but we were just worn out, the music will need to wait until the next time.

Saturday at our local square, packed house, not a seat to be found

 Our first day alone starts early, we are heading out of town to Roskilde. We want to get to the museum when it opens and before our Copenhagen cards expired. FYI this card was a great value, it covered all our attractions and transports. Note, the transports are on the honor system and we got spot checked 3 times in a week. We hear it is a huge fine if you are caught, so buy the card or tickets for your transport.

Copenhagen central train station

The Roskilde Viking  Ship Museum uniquely displays the remnants of 5 Viking era ships that had sunk in the narrows of the fjords that touch the shores of the city of Roskilde. This museum was very interesting, especially with the learned guide’s historic and archaeological insights. He was a Viking geek, but not awed by their romanticized historic activities. He simply said: “Vikings were Pirates”.

Also, on the grounds are: Maritime Archaeological Workshop, boat yard boatbuilding, dock, and boat trips (row like a Viking crew). We passed due to the wind and white caps

A beautiful day, but very windly, they are rowing behind Frank

Next stop is the Roskilde Cathedral. It has Gothic pointed arches, exterior buttresses, soaring vaults and a majestic atmosphere. It is the royal burial church with 40 kings and queens thought to rest here. Altogether, there are more than 1,000 graves inside the church. It is designated a UNESCO site for outstanding value. Built in current form about 1,200  it was the first Catholic edifice in Scandinavia, but since the Reformation in 1536, it has been Lutheran. Much of the interior brick walls have been painted white. There is little ornamentation in the walls. But, the side chapels are filled with opulent sarcophagus.

 Music Festival. We arrived in Roskilde 1 day too late to enjoy ANY of the mega music fair held in the nearby countryside over the past week. I am told it is the biggest annual festival in Northern Europe. Probably, tickets unavailable.

Our Last Day in Copenhagen is hetic. We needed to do all the check out tasks of an airbnb, find a place to store our luggage and get downtown to join a 6 person guided walking tour of the Copenhagen city center before we would embark for Norway at 5:00 pm. This is why we packed light, carry on only, but for Janet the suit case and backpack were still heavy as we crossed town on cobblestones and up and down stairs. On our last trip we never had storage issues, now the stations do not have facilities and we used a “luggage storage site”. As it turned out it was a party store with a backroom. Frank was calm, Janet was not!

The party store, aka luggage storage, all was well in the end.

We usually start with walking tours upon arrival in each city. This was not a Cohen friendly activity, so added this to the end of the tour. We were also challenged with our schedule. Most downtown sites are closed on Mondays, originally we were going to visit some other castles out of town, but each was an hour one way on the train, we needed to depart for the boat by 3:00, so the walking tour it is.

One of the many beautiful streets on our rainy walking tour

We opted out of our traditional free walking tours and went with the higher cost, small group, 6 people in total. Our guide was good, knowledgeable and offered so much more than we could have gotten on our own. 

We had rain again as we wandered through old town. The highlights were the 3 houses of worship. Starting with the Great Synagogue guarded by 2 young armed soldiers, the first we have seen on this trip. We could not enter but learned some interesting facts regarding the efforts made in WWII, 95% of the Jewish population was saved, really something Denmark can be proud of.

Cathedral of Our Lady, Protestant style and favorite of the crown prince

The royal palace complex

The other 2 were Cathedrals, originally catholic, now Lutheran. We then had the full tour of the famous Nyhavn, very nice and very much like Amsterdam. Our tour ended at the royal palace, and much information on the beloved royal family. After the tour and retrieving our luggage we opted for a lovely lunch at a small Italian restaurant, it was dry, warm, great service and a plate of pasta, what a great way to end our time in Denmark.  Next stop, Oslo.  But first we go on a all-night boat trip to get there.  More on that to come…