Summer Fortnight in Scandinavia

We booked this trip early this year thinking that Scandinavia would be nice and cool in August. However, the big heat wave even got as far as Denmark and Sweden. The hotels did not have air conditioning because, why would they? Even with the unusual heat we really enjoyed our tour.

We started in Copenhagen with a city tour that included a visit to the Christiansborg Palace and were able to visit the royal reception rooms. The main hall is decorated with amazing modern tapestries. Some of them reminded me of works by Picasso.

We continued our tour of Copenhagen by viewing some of the major landmarks, including the Little Mermaid and the winter residence of the Danish Royal Family. In the afternoon, we took a lovely ride through the suburbs of Copenhagen along the coast, often called the Danish Riviera. We viewed the outer walls and towers of Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's play Hamlet. From there we had a tour of the Fredericksborg Castle. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century and is the largest Renaissance residence in Scandinavia. After a full day, we had dinner as a group in Tivoli Gardens. Some of us (Will) stayed on after dinner to go on some rides. Some of us (Winnie) went back to the hotel to escape the crowds and long for air conditioning.

Our next stop was Gothenburg, Sweden. This city was a study in contrasts, founded in the 17th century. It is a lively place with a university, lots of beautiful parks, set along a series of canals. After a hearty lunch of Swedish meatballs, we enjoyed a leisurely boat ride on the canals and harbor of Gothenburg.

After a day of travel and rest, we took on Oslo, Norway. We toured the city hall. This building is covered with wonderful modern frescoes and oil paintings on the walls. The view of the Oslo harbor was wonderful.

Fun fact: This is the place where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. All the other Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm.

I really loved all the modern architecture we saw throughout our trip. But the opera house and art installation in the Oslo harbor were also favorites.

Our next stop was the Viegeland Sculpture Park. This was one of my favorite places in all of our explorations of Europe. Designed by Gustav Vigeland, it contains over 200 sculptures with more than 600 figures. Its most popular attraction is the Monolith column, carved from a single block of granite, measuring 46 feet high. All of the sculptures center around the theme of the cycles of life. I would love to go back with a detailed guide to the sculptures in the gardens and visit the associated museum.

The afternoon brought us to the Kon Tiki and Fram Museums. I learned a lot about the voyages of Thor Heyerdahl, Easter Island, and validated my decision not to travel across the Pacific on a raft. The Fram Museum focuses on the polar expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen to both the Arctic and Antarctic. Visiting their ship validated my decision, not to travel to either the North or South Pole with a bunch of smelly men. You might recognize the little known polar explorer Will Rafferty. Such a ham.

Leaving Oslo, we continued north along the huge Lak Mjosa to Lillehammer. Considering that this was the site of the 1994 Winter Olympics it is quite a small village. It was getting a little rainy and foggy, but that didn't stop us from wandering in town before heading the the Olympic ski jump. They have some special synthetic mat on it that allows athletes to train on it year round. The foggy weather impeded any potential trainees. However, we were allowed to ride the chair lift up to the top and down again. If you have never ridden a chair lift down a mountain and have a moderate to severe fear of heights (Winnie and Will), the ride incudes manic laughter and creative cursing. You might recognize the guy in the last picture. Yes...that's right, its Flem Geshspitz getting set for his next shot at a medal.

Leaving Lillehammer, we started to get into the mountains and some of the most beautiful scenery either of us has ever seen. We stopped at the charming little town of Lom. We visited a remarkable stave church, built in 1150 AD. After lunch in Lom, we headed up to the highest mountain pass in Europe, passing pine forests and lots and lots of waterfalls.

We spent the night in Sogndall which is close to the breathtaking Sognefjord. The next day was scenery overload. I assure you that these pictures do not even come close to the reality of the peaceful grandeur of the fjords and the surrounding mountains. We had a two hour cruise on the Sognefjord on a large, fully electric boat. Without an engine, the silence really added to the moment. After the cruise, we took the Flam Railway which ascends 3,000 feet into Norway's high glacial regions. The ship in the first photo is a cruise ship, not our silent little fjord ferry.

Our last stop was Bergen. Upon arrival, we learned that Bergen gets around 240 days of rain on average. We were lucky that we got some breaks in the rain. We stayed very near the Bryygen quarter with its UNESCO World Heritage designation. This is where the trading guilds of the Hanseatic League did their business. The city is home to a university. Students make up 30% of the population and they were partaking in some alcohol-fueled high jinks to celebrate (?) the start of the school year. We had an extra day in Bergen so we took a funicular up to a scenic overlook of the city. Up there, we saw the end of a cross-country ski training race for kids. They train on really short skis mounted on an inline skate. We were exhausted from watching them so we sat down for a soda and a pastry. As one does. That night we got caught in the rain. Our restaurant was prepared and gave their patrons ponchos. They are used to this situation. Our last night, we splurged on a wonderful dinner of crab legs. The last picture is a sign that is outside the Bergen airport. I'm not sure I would have loved seeing it if we had flown in. But as we departed we felt confident that we had indeed visited lovely Bergen.

Random Comments:

• We loved Scandinavia with its contrasts of old and modern. We encourage you to go for a visit.

• Norway is one of the richest countries on our planet. They got rich from all of their offshore drilling for oil and gas. Rather than splurging on all kinds of luxuries, the government has established an oil fund that is used to maintain and upgrade infrastructure, education, health care, etc.

• Norway is crazy expensive. For example, a lunch of two sandwiches, a beer, and a soda was a minimum of $50. A glass of wine was about $15. Or as I think of it, the same as three bottles of Portuguese wine. Don't even ask what we paid for our last dinner in Bergen.

• Both Copenhagen and Bergen have silent airports. There are no loudspeaker announcements at all. People tend to speak more quietly. I love this and wish that Lisbon would give it a try. The Lisbon airport is a chaotic frenzy.

Coming Attractions

• Our next trip will be to northern Portugal where we will go on a weeklong river cruise on the Douro River. We are going with our intrepid travel friends, Juan and Norma Rengel.