Sep 4, 2018 - Day 10 of the trip; bus ride to Stockholm, day 1 in Stockholm

4 September Leaving Oslo Up at 0630 and to breakfast about 0700. Packed up, checked out and on the bus by 0800. Joy and I each have a 2nd row window seat; I have my computer plugged in and am listening to my music on the computer. Of course, I’m directly in front of the “talker” of the trip! So I’ll read and write my journal on this trip. We are on a “Westin Buss” We are driving through Oslo now on our way out of the city. Going on ouw way to Sweden! This was a fun place to be; remembered some of the placed we had been when mom, Olive,...

Sep 3, 2018 - Day 9 of the trip, day 3 in Oslo

Day 3 in Oclo (labor day) woke up at 0700; to breakfast and went to the palace park to get 2 caches. Norwegian Literature The presentor works in a library; studied literature Literature goes way back……we will be starting back to Snorre Sturlasson (1200s) Known for the history of the kings (back to premedivial times). This man was Icelandic; not Norwegian King Olaf the holy; made Norway Catholic. Interested in old mythology. Also Thor like writing. Heimskringia The Younger Edda Mid 1300’s; not much produced due to the black death. In...

Sep 2, 2018 - Day 8 of the trip, day 2 in Oslo

Saturday night in oslo is busy! At least along the streets around the hotel. Oh well, up at 0700 and off to breakfast about 0730. Day 2 Oslo Lecture “Norway, Past and Present” (up in the 7th floor of the hotel) 10-12000 years ago, Scandinavia and most of Europe was covered in thick ice (up to 1 mile). The weight of the mass of ice pushed the earth underneath way down. During the melting process, 2 different processes were going on. From the stone age to the Viking raids. Became hunters and gatherers. Migration between Scandinavia...

Sep 1, 2018 - Day 7 of the trip, day 1 in Oslo

Arrived in Oslo about 0930 this morning! The room was very hot; the top bunk was HOT and I did not sleep too well; turns out Joy did not sleep well either. We got up to the buffet/restraurant when it opened and go to one of the tables near the front window. We ate in many courses and left there about 0820 :) Went to the room and got our coats/hat and went to the back of the boat. About this time we were going through the narrowest part of the ferry ride. We took lots of photos, laughed about some activities on the trip and stayed "on the...

Aug 21, 2018 - Bergen 2

Blue sky and sunshine greeted us on our second stop in Bergen. The buildings were more brilliant in the bright light. Our plan was to walk to the funicular view the town from above and then go back. Anne had some yarn shops in mind. We visited them and she bought some Norwegian wool yarn. We managed to spend all of our Krone before returning to the ship. A violinist from the Bergen Symphony performed just before sailing to Stavanger. Very talented!

Aug 20, 2018 - Flam Railway

Building a railroad from the Myrdal Plateau hundreds of kilometers above the Flam valley became a major engineering challenge in the 1920’s. It was opened to steam trains in 1940 and the current propulsion of electricity in 1944. The train snakes its way over 20 kilometers of track through 20 tunnels at an incline of 55%. It is the steepest adhesion-type (normal) system running on standard gauge track in the world. Besides being a major tourist attraction of Norway, it is also an important link with the Bergen railway system and part of the...

Aug 19, 2018 - DAY 3 - Oslo

DAY 3 - Oslo During the night we left the North Sea, sailed up the Skagerrak between Norway and Denmark, and by breakfast were just entering the Oslofjord. A leisurely morning sailing up the Oslofjord, docking in Oslo at lunchtime. It felt very strange looking out from our balcony straight onto an ancient fortress which was literally just across the road - it was as if this huge ship had simply been parked in a town centre car-park! With less than 4 hours ashore we had opted for the 'Oslo Highlights' coach tour which, after a slow drive...

Aug 19, 2018 - Skjolden & Tour Sognefjellet mountain pass and the national park Jutonheimen

As we entered the fjord in the middle of the night, the sea calmed down markedly. However, there was still a lot of the steep, rocky, waterfall shore to enjoy as we headed toward our dock. We boarded a bus to tour the area and see the highest mountain in Norway (if the clouds cooperated). There are a lot of green valleys and in the sumer, the Norwegians take full advantage the warmer (60 F+) weather and with daylight almost 24 hours long, many crops grow quickly. We saw many motorhomes descending the road which was very narrow. There was a...

Aug 8, 2018 - Viking and Museum tours

On our first tour, we had three museums to visit. The first was to the Viking ship museum where unearthed burial vessels were on display. These are real oak ships and are still well preserved. We then traveled a short distance to the Kon Tiki museum. Kon Tiki was an expedition predicted to be doomed to failure. Thor Heyerdahl 33-year-old leader had no sailing skills and minimal swimming experience besides being severely hydrophobic. He was out to prove that it was possible for people to sail from the west shore of South America to the...

Aug 7, 2018 - Oslo walk

Our dock in Oslo was very close to the principal street and the main shopping district. A brisk walk down this dock and through the security tent open our view to the newly built (2000) opera house. The central train station was just across from the harbor. We got as far the Cathedral where we decided to sit a while and then returned to the ship. Oslo public transportation is served by both trolley with overhead catenary and ordinary busses. A number of these passed us in the busy part of town. Back onboard, we dined on Beef Wellington...

Aug 6, 2018 - Lillehammer to Oslo

6 August 2018 Breakfast as usual. No need to hurry away, want to let early traffic go before we get on the road. Another clear warm day and an easy drive out of Lillehammer. Plenty of traffic heading north and not too much our way. Roads are clearly marked and our nav girl did a good job too. Not long before we hit the roadworks. As mentioned earlier, it is a big job extending for 43 kms. Lots of rock to blast through and several spots were tagged ready to blast. Pleased they weren't doing any blasting on our trips. Had a break after we got...

Aug 5, 2018 - Lillehammer

5 August 2018 A very slow start to our day. After breakfast we set off for the Olympic Park area. Took a bit of navigating around the streets, but found it eventually. Had a look around the bottom part of the ski jump, the Olympic torch structure, and general seating area for viewing the jumps. They are rather scary and much higher than it looks on TV. We then drove to Lysgardsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena which gives an even scarier view down the ski jumps. They have a plastic coating so they can be used in summer, but no one was jumping...