We celebrated the Fourth of July in the air, traveling from Bergen, Norway, back to Stockholm, Sweden. But, before heading to the airport, we took the funicular up to the top of Fløyen, one of the mountains encircling Bergen. The view of the city from this elevation (1,400 feet) was suberb: But our stop in … Continue reading
After our boat trip through the Sognefjord, we took the Flåm-Myrdal railway, billed as one of the world’s great scenic railroads, back to Bergen. Built by hand in the 1920s and 1930s, it is an amazing thing. By the way, if you’re thinking of going, the right-hand side is the better view. The Flåm railway … Continue reading
Fjords are deep, underwater valleys that often extend far inland. They are created by glaciers so enormous and heavy that they compress and erode the land below before beginning to melt and float on the intruding ocean water. For this reason, fjords are normally deeper toward their middle or landward terminus than at their connection … Continue reading
On Saturday morning, as we were leaving the hotel, we were surprised when a taxi pulled up along side of us and friendly voices called out our names. Our friends, Bob and Johnna, had arrived a little earlier than we expected. We were all going together at noon to Troldhaugen, the home of one of … Continue reading
We’re back in Norway for a few days, this time in the country’s second most populated city and former capitol, Bergen, which has been superceded on both counts by Oslo, to the south. We’re here to meet our friends, the Giles, whom we met through home exchanging several years ago. We arrived first, on Friday, … Continue reading
When we woke up the morning after our Stone Valley hike, the sky looked ominous. At the lodge, they make a point of telling you that Abisko is in the rain shadow of the mountains of Norway and they get very little rain as a result. Could be, but that wasn’t our experience. Sensing that … Continue reading
Leaving the Kon-Tiki Museum, we caught the public bus to the Norsk Folkemuseum, the open-air Norwegian Folk Museum, where several farmsteads have been carefully reassembled in geographical and chronological arrangement. Unlike the rest of Europe, Norway never adopted feudalism; thus, farmers have always held absolute ownership of their lands, unlike countries such as England where, … Continue reading
Thursday morning, we caught a water taxi to the Bygdøy Peninsula where there are several museums we wanted to visit: the Fram Museum; the Kon-Tiki Museum; and, the open-air Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (we didn’t have time for the Viking Ship Museum or the Norwegian Maritime Museum which are also on Bygdøy). The Fram … Continue reading
I’ve called this post “Osloinaday” to give you a feel for the whirlwind walking tour we made of the city after getting off the ship at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. You could say “Oslo in a day,” if you were taking your time; but, then, you could also take a week to do what we … Continue reading
At the northern end of Oslofjord in Oslo Harbor as we pulled into dock, we could see the recently completed (opened in 2008) Oslo Operahuset, the Opera House, across the water. Covered in white granite and marble, the Opera House was designed to appear as if it was rising from the water. And pedestrians – … Continue reading
Having rested a few days from our race around Jutland, we departed for our next adventure Tuesday afternoon: a mini-cruise to Oslo, Norway. DFDS Seaways runs two ferries daily between Copenhagen and Oslo. They call them ferries because they carry cars and trucks, but, as a practical matter, these ferries are cruise ships, complete with … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 