EMBARCATION ON THE "HURLEY GURLEY'

Readers:  Another post in our activity.  To read the adventure in the order of the Day by Day Trip Report click HERE. To see all the photos click HERE

FEETS ON LAND....take advantage while your feets are still on land.

It's still raining and we have plenty to do today. We have not finished our viewing of Bergen, museums, and a return to the fish market. We have groceries to purchase..so we gotta hit the road before there is no road.

A FOND FAREWELL ....TO:  wifi, walking, shopping, restaurants, blogging, emails, texting, exploring, large rooms, large bathrooms, large any rooms, hotel staff, room service, morning coffee, clothes hangers, closet space, desks, land lottsa land.

Heads up: As we leave the hotel to board the M/S Finnmarken around 5:00pm, we may have problems with wifi access on board. Certainly we will not have access while on water and uncertain what will happen when we are in port. Be prepared for sporadic reports until we get settled and can access wifi. Also, when we off board, we will be in the far North of Norway in Kirkenes. Who knows what kind of service we will be getting. Therefore, below is the map of Norway and our stops. Becky has identified a link as to where the 

M/S Finnmarken (name of our ferry) will be at any time.

Click the name of the ship to see the interactive map of the ship's location/route.

M/S Finnmarken

Shopping in the rain

Fish market reprise -- this time to decide what to have for lunch.  We were offered tastings of many things, including whale meat!  For lunch we decided on another baguette with smoked salmon and while eating met a family from San Francisco.  Pouring rain, pouring off the edges of the tents covering the picnic tables.

A great looking food truck with no one patronizing during the marine rain!

Hanseatic Museum -- the 1702 building where the various officials managed trade among the Hanseatic states (there was no unified Germany and probably the Dutch ruled Norway and Sweden.)  Very cool cooperative idea among peoples with unique offerings to their 'global' region:  salt, fish (and these two go together for sure); grains; life stuffs such as fabric.  The officials in the Bergen building lived there and were locked in at night.  Coolest thing to see (not enuf light for a picture) was the lavabo on each floor: a hanging teakettle over a brass bowl, with a roll towel on the wall nearby.  Downpour when exiting the museum.

Wharf -- sailing boats, industrial ships, a view of our hotel.  Driving rain, sharp and chilling.

Groceries -- "just around there."  We have decided that hotel clerks need to be much clearer in their pointing and words.  "There" was twice to the right and down a street on the right.  Found cheese (second trip) and crackers and olives and some chocolates.  Mistake -- chocolates we thought were filled with nuts were actually marshmallows and shaped like gummy bears.  Stuck the grocery bag under my coat to keep things dry -- steady rain, not letting up.

Seagull watching -- back in the hotel lobby waiting for transport to "Hurley Gurley" Ferry we dried out a bit, discovered the mistake in chocolate purchase, and watched a seagull feasting on mussels scarfed from the piers just outside the window.

Of course the rain has stopped.  We are ready for the ship.

Remember, we may not have wifi so, as the astronauts said when circling the moon: "We'll see you on the other side."

BERGEN, A CITY OF BEAUTY

Readers:  another post in our activity.  To read the adventure in the order of the events click HERE for the Day by Day Trip Report. To see all the photos go HERE

 HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY !!!!!

You Should Say........Yes

Another hotel with a towel each, shampoo in a giant bottle, no floor mat AND to top it off, the ice bucket was folded cardboard........OMG! Bergen Admiral Hotel. A lovely room and a great location but PLEASE!

Bergen is the sister city of Seattle as I was reminded by our Washington Consular Association leader, HConsul Kim Nesselquist (Norway). Bergen itself is a jewel of Norway, and makes a wonderful base for exploring the nearby Hardangerfjord and Sognefjord. Bergen’s famous Hanseatic wharf, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is great for walks along the picturesque city harbour before taking lunch at the Bergen Fish Market. This is really a lovely lovely town. Each street produces more and more precious views of such great homes.

This year Bergen will host the Tall Ships Race in late July, an event that is expected to draw nearly half a million visitors, along with ships and crews from over 30 countries.

We were up and attem' by noon today...Becky for a great haircut! When Nina the stylist asked whether she wanted bangs, Becky asked, "What should I say?"  Nina: You should say....Yes!  She changed her mind as you can see below.

We had our almost daily hot dog. The best yet! 

And found out how to make perfect hot dogs!!!

hot dog shop -- at least 9 varieties, including chorizo; we chose bratwurst

 Just under $200.00

We found the self-annointed "Best Norwegian Fast Food" shop -- Sostrerie Hagelin.  There we bot a 9 nok fish cake, about $1.50 US.  It looked like a dollar-size pancake, maybe a bit bigger.  it was gelatinous and chewy and very hot.  And white!  We shared it and continued our stroll.

We wandered through the Fish market planning our purchases for tomorrow (the ship), purchased a smoked salmon roll for tonight's dinner! Yummy!

crab shells stuffed with crab salad

AND we even had the chance to see a marching band parade by.....

these are the soldiers that followed the band

Tomorrow we do our Ferry shopping, our repacking, and board in late afternoon. Don't forget we will not have easy access to wifi so we will post when we can! Hope you had a great celebration and the fireworks were terrific!

This photo does true justice to the beauty of the Northwest....great holiday...great weather....paradise...we could be homesick but the gray skies and light rain we are having in Bergen is so normal....

Mt Rainier from KOMO news.

FACTOID: Bananas were first introduced to Norway in 1905.

THE BERGEN TRAIN-- ACROSS THE ROOF OF NORWAY

Readers:  another post in our activity.  To read the adventure in the order of the events click HERE for the Day by Day Trip Report. To see all the photos go HERE

"This is Norway"

We hear this from hotel clerks, gift shop clerks, Norwegians we meet:  "This is Norway."  Translation:  It's expensive here.  We've paid too much for hot dogs and too much for a diet coke and too much for a bottle of water.  But "this is Norway."

Dinner on 7/2 was 'en suite.'  Room service was not an option due to expense and we'd walked ourselves silly on the city tour, so we spread out the goodies we had carried from home. We added some items left over from the lunch we'd made from the breakfast buffet and had ourselves a nice little picnic.  

Trains and Boats and Busses and Trains and Automobiles

Consistently hailed as one of the world’s most scenic railway journeys, Norway’s Bergensbanen (Bergen Railway) certainly doesn’t disappoint. Over the roughly seven hour trip, we have experienced some of Norway’s most majestic landscapes. From the awe-inspiring fjords to the mountainous terrain blanketed in snow, the train journey from Oslo to Bergen is one that everyone should experience in their lifetime. Do you see that we said SEVEN HOURS well....after almost 12 HOURS we stumbled into Bergen.

"Norway in a Nutshell" is full of nuts, and trains and boats and busses and more trains!!!

At 8:00am this morning, we hit Oslo Sentral Station to follow the trail across Norway to the mighty fjords.......through long dark tunnels and bridges and past loads of places that we were sure the trolls lived.

Thanks to Consul Wendleborg we knew which track and coach to pop on. We were well prepared. AND please take note...this is the very first time Beth has EVER EVER EVER put a back pack on her back! She whined and complained all the while!

We were on our way in a flash, loaded with wifi, great lunch prepared by us from the hotel. Ready for the great adventure.

The scenery was spectacular and became more and more outstanding as we headed into the fjords. At Myrdal, we changed trains and headed to Flam. Up, up, up, up, up we went with the topography changing becoming more and more barren and beautiful as the snow covered mountains got closer. 

It became colder and colder. The fjord water became floating ice. The cloud cover went from fluffy to gray and leaden and heavy.  From 20 degrees Celsius it dropped to 8 degrees C. Everyone was digging out their jackets, gloves and hats. 
By the time we climbed up to Flam, it was sleeting, bleak, gray and dreary and stunningly beautiful.

Once in Flam, we hopped another train and headed down the mountains, passing beautiful waterfalls, deep fiords, small villages and breathtaking scenery.  We saw many hikers, and found these bikes obviously used on sunny days as the weather warms.

                      We were happy to be safe and sound and warm on board the train.

Fortunately Becky found a porter service that was able to take our bags from Olso to Bergen so we did not have to lug the suitcases as well as a back pak. We were sure we would have a total collapse. Much better to sit back and enjoy the ride...

The steep decent from Flan allowed us to view amazing scenery with waterfalls and rivers  exploding with the winter snow melt.

Once down into the fjords, we boarded a small car ferry and had a two hour ride down a UNESCO fjord. Breathtaking in its beauty.

When the ferry docked us after the wonderful viewing, we boarded a bus to Voss. We drove down winding little roads to the bottom of the valley and back up again. Again, more and more beautiful views.

Once in Voss we boarded another train heading two hours toward Bergen. As you can imagine, we were totally exhausted by this time and took naps as we left the fjords and headed toward the city. A taxi to the hotel....showers, en suite eating and hopping into bed. TIRED TIRED TIRED and overwhelmed by the beauty we enjoyed all day!

Ski jumps! If you recall we visited the famous Olso ski jump on the city view. On the trains today we saw many ski jumps in the forests as we went by. It could be that Norwegians were not only born on ski's but were meant to fly. this short story below is from my friend Gene (a Swede, but trustworthy). 

A story re Norway: two ski jumpers stole a small fishing boat during the Nazi occupation and rowed across the North Sea to Great Briton. From there they were transported to the US where they ended up in St. Paul, Minn. to make a public appearance at the annual Winter Carnival ski jump. My dad, a carnival official was assigned to see to their care while in town. They both made several jumps, two each in competition..They were true hero's of the war and traveled through much of the US promoting War Bond sales.

Tomorrow, Fourth of July!!!!! Have the best of celebrations of our country's expression of Freedom and Independence. We brought our shirts and celebratory accoutrements which we will wear proudly.

OSLO CITY TOUR

Readers:  another post in our activity.  To read the adventure in the order of the events click HERE for the Day by Day Trip Report. To see all the photos go HERE

Vikings await . . . 

Oslo is the smallest of European Capitals but it has its fair share of sidewalks, museums, and notable structures.

Today was the Oslo City Tour, a 5-hour bus (on and off) tour of highlights of the City and surrounds.  We like the city tours.  City tours anchor the traveler in the spaces and directions; they show off the best of the city; they give hints about sights you'd like to explore in more detail.

Oslo Clarion Royal Christiania Hotel









Oslo City Hall


But first we had to find the gathering place, where the tour begins.  We'd had hints and pointings from Tore (Consul to the Seychelles) but this morning we were on our own.  We knew we had to get to City Hall and we knew that City Hall is off the main drag -- Karl Johans Gate (gate = street.)  We found our way to KJG and walked and strolled, doing a bit of window shopping on the "pedestrian" street.   "Pedestrian" street means no cars, but at 9 am it still translates into "delivery trucks allowed."  We dodged a few.

Corners and cut-throughs, a park and some close calls with a bus or two.  A stroll past the wharf and some 'discussion' about the building we very much wanted to be City Hall. Using time-honored navigation, we decided the west side was opposite the rising of the morning sun.  Sheer brilliance, don't you think?

An English-speaking bus driver confirmed the location when we finally arrived.  And within 15 minutes our bus had arrived, one of many coming and going from that "west side of City Hall' location.  (Factoid:  we learned at the Fram museum that the plaza is named for one of Norway's finest polar explorers.)

After the ride around down town;

"On the left side" and "on the right side" we saw:

Opera House

Parliament

The Grand Hotel

Summer home of the Royal Family

Farm belonging to the Royal Family (royal cows, royal goats and  royal horses).

Old Oslo, was called Christiania til 1925, which was rebuilt after a fire, in the 16th century.

The Sculpture park was very moving. 

Gustav Vigenland sculpture park, an homage to man/woman relationships and child/parent relationships, all by the sculptor.

From the park, we drove up to the Hollmenkollen, a giant ski jump which was built for the 1952 Olympics and rebuilt many times. It is very beautiful and made my head swim just to look at it. Wait until you see the photos...you will want to turn and run!!! 

We had the privilege to see folks doing "zip line" across the slope. Most of their skiing is "cross country" as they don't have high mountains. Within 30 minutes of Oslo there  27,000m of groomed trails. It is said that Norwegians are born with ski's on their feet.

The tour ended with visits to three fabulous museums:  The Viking Museum; The Fram Museum, and the Kon Tiki museum. We would return to any of them for a longer visit and in-depth examination of facts and relics.  Fascinating art forms from the Vikings and the courage and the endurance demonstrated by all Polar explorers. 

Kon Tiki 

We ate lunch along the way, filling ourselves with treats we'd packed from the fabulous breakfaxt buffet. 

Breakfast: Pepper herring, fish pudding, pickled herring

orange marmalade, fried rice, boiled egg

Lunch: packed from breakfast buffett

Expensive food remains a theme, well, truthfully expensive everything is a better whay to characterize the theme.  Fridge magnets are $8.00 US.  Ouch!

Back at the hotel we took care of some logistics -- having our big bags portered to Bergen so we don't have to haul them.  Then a trip to scope out the track from where we think our train is departing.

We've organized baggage and photos and reviewed our day and checked weather for tomorrow.  NExt stop:  bed and a book.  we are both reading "Meet Me in Malmo" (which takes place in Sweden but still...)

MIXING CULTURES IN OSLO

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Consuls Conferencing

It was soooo exciting heading out of SeaTac to Reykjavik June 30. The plane is full...Most everyone is tall, very blond and delightful to talk to.

A quick less than 7 hour flight with a full plane to Reykjavik and a 30 minute change of planes and we are off to Oslo!!! 

As we arrive in Oslo, what to my wandering eyes should appear!!! A beautiful Boeing Dreamliner parked right next to us! Norwegian Air.

Here we are in OSLO!!  Holy cow! lugging the luggage around the cobblestone streets was NOT fun! Even though the trainstation/bus station was close...NOT close enough. I considered a "just like in a movie" tossing out unnecessary items as I trudged down the street!

The hotel; Clarion Royal Christiania was built for the 1952 Olympics and it appears they might have not updated anything since then. But very centrally located across from the Train Sentral Station.

And the first in-depth conversation is my colleague Tore Wendleborg, 
H Consul, Republic of Seychelles for Norway. He arrived at the hotel shortly after our check-in. What a great mix of cultures. Rain outside the hotel and we sit talking about warm sunny places..

We had the opportunity to discuss the promotion of spreading the word on the glories of the Seychelles and environs like the brand new Savoy Hotel in Belle Vallon (5 Star). 

The 6,300-m² hotel has 163 rooms, a business conference centre, two restaurants, a beach bar, fitness centre and a spa which has a Russian steam room.

The new resort's biggest attraction is the Seychelles' largest hotel swimming pool with 700 m² of space for immersing the body from the heat of the tropical sun, that's for those who don’t want to walk a few steps onto one of Mahe islands' most popular beaches, Beau Vallon.

Mostly the discussion centered around when we were going back to Seychelles, how our Seychellois were doing in our respective countries and what we could do to help them. Consul Wendelborg has a 20 year affiliation with the Seychelles and a great knowledge of the country.
It was a good meeting and we hope to see him again while we are here.

Our walk to the train station was educational in preparation for our train trip. Consul Wendelborg directed us to the EGON Restaurant for our first hotdog and a beer which cost us 40$ each!!!