Oslo, Norway

Our morning was filled with boats today.  We started off at the museum dedicated to the Antarctic exploring ship Fram.  This was the ship that Roald Amundsen's used during his expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole.  Kevin's great-grandfather worked at the factory that built the diesel engine for the vessel.

A trip to Norway wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Viking Ship museum.  The ships on display here were discovered while excavating several Viking-era burial mounds.  The clay in the soil preserved the wood from the time they were buried (in the 800's) until they were unearthed by archaeologists a thousand years later.

In addition to these historic ships, the government has also amassed a collection of buildings from around the country that have been relocated to Oslo so that they can be preserved as a living history museum.  The Folk Museum has a stave church from the 1200's, farm houses, and even an old town.  Inside the buildings you can watch people in period costume performing tasks like weaving, baking traditional bread, silversmithing, folk dancing, etc.

Farm buildings with sod roofs

One of the buildings in "town"

We were so glad to have a sunny afternoon for our last stop - Vigeland Park.

Gustav Vigeland was one of the most imaginative and prolific sculptors of the early 1900's.  He designed the Nobel Peace medal as well as a huge installation of statues in Frogner Park in Oslo.

Plaster models for The Monolith sculpture

My fitbit claims I've walked eight miles today, and I believe it.  Time to sit down and relax for a bit!

Flåm and journey to Oslo

We had some really nice weather yesterday for our ferry journey from Balestrand back to Flåm.

We've also lucked out the past few nights here in fjord country.  Our hotel in Balestrand and our apartment in Flåm both had a balcony with fjord views.

Balestrand balcony view

Our Flåm apartment overlooked the water

Flåm is a tourist mecca -- not only do you have all the "Nutshellers" passing through, but also several cruise ships can be in port at a time.  It was a pretty place but very busy, and we didn't mind leaving it after spending just one night.  This morning we took the scenic (and pretty much tourist-only) Flåmsbana railway up to Myrdal.  The rail line goes up 2800 feet through a mountain pass as it winds its way through twenty tunnels to get to Myrdal.  It is Europe's steepest standard gauge railway.

It takes about an hour to get from Flåm to Myrdal, and you pass idyllic farms, waterfalls, and gorgeous mountain views along the way.  We did have to laugh at a young couple sitting across the aisle from us ignoring scenery like this in favor of watching the latest Game of Thrones episode on their tablet.

At Myrdal we changed trains to get on the normal passenger train to Oslo.  Despite traveling all day, when we arrived in Oslo we hit the ground running with a guided walking tour of the city.

The palace.  Our new friends, the king and queen, live here.

City Hall mosaic -- are they arm wrestling?  High-fiving?  We have no clue.

View of the Oslo waterfront and medieval Akershus Fortress

We are looking forward to exploring more of the city tomorrow!

Around the Sognefjord

Walking around Balestrand feels a bit like going back in time.  There's a beautiful old hotel called the Kviknes that has a lovely interior to match its elaborate facade.  The VW bugs lined up out front were part of a Norwegian VW Beetle Club tour of Norway.

Not far down the road is St. Olav's church, built in 1897 in the old stave style.  But it's a youngster compared to several other wooden churches in the area.

Norway is famous for its wooden stave churches.  We wanted to see the one in nearby Vik, but had to brave another ferry to get there.  At least this time it wasn't raining and the ride was comfortable.

The Hopperstad Stave church did not disappoint.  It's one of the oldest stave churches still standing, built around 1130.  It underwent a significant restoration back in the 1880's.

When we first arrived, we counted no less than six tour buses.  However, after waiting patiently for about 45 minutes, we had the place pretty much to ourselves.  We had plenty of time to explore the interior before the next tour group showed up.

There's a really impressive carved baldachin inside.  The colorful paint on the canopy has been preserved through the centuries.

We were glad the rain let up enough for us to enjoy our time here at Hopperstad.  It did start to drizzle as we were getting ready to walk back to the ferry dock, but somehow the rain just makes the church look more imposing.  After surviving the elements for nearly a thousand years what's one more rain shower, right?

Norway in a Nutshell

Norway has so many tourists clamoring to see the fjords that they've actually incorporated several travel options (via train, bus, and ferry) into a package called "Norway in a Nutshell".  The package is marketed as a scenic tour, but it's really just a way to route a bunch of non-Norwegian-speaking tourists onto the public transit system.  We purchased the one-way basic tour going from Bergen through the Sognefjord (the largest and deepest of Norway's fjords) and ending up in Oslo.  The train ride from Bergen to Voss was pretty but went through so many tunnels that I wouldn't really call it scenic.  The bus ride from Voss to Gudvangen was a little more interesting.  The Stalheimskleiva road has 13 hairpin curves and in some places is an 18% grade.  Our own photos don't really capture it in all its glory, so I borrowed this one instead.

Image courtesy of vossnow.net

After the bus ride we were herded, almost like cattle, onto a slow ferry for a fjord "cruise" through the Nærøyfjord to Flåm.  It was meant to be scenic -- and under less rainy conditions it would have been stunning -- but it was pouring outside and unfortunately there wasn't enough space or chairs inside for all of the people.  Since the photos of the landscape didn't really turn out, here's one of the boat interior to give you an idea of the ordeal.

Chaos in a Nutshell

Normally at Flåm you would get back on a train and technically you could make it all the way to Oslo or back to Bergen in a day.  We've opted to spend several nights in the fjord area in a town called Balestrand.  To get there, we got to ride the posh Express Ferry which, despite our not having window seats, was almost a spa-like experience compared to the slow ferry...

As if hearing our prayers, the rain gods let up just enough to let us get a few nice shots of the fjord from the ferry deck.  Of course just as we docked the skies opened and it started pouring again the moment we needed to disembark and walk to our hotel!

We are glad that we planned a few days in the area to try to catch a little bit of clear weather and do some sightseeing.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll have some nicer shots of the scenery for you!

Bergen, Norway

We landed in Bergen yesterday after a short two-hour flight from Iceland.  Unfortunately it was raining but luckily Bergen has some really nice museums.  The KODE art museum had an interesting exhibition on Edvard Munch, Norway's most famous painter.

Serious art.

Even in the rain, Bergen is a really beautiful town.

A music pavilion in the park near our hotel.

This morning it wasn't raining (yay!). We had an ambitious agenda that immediately ground to a halt because the King and Queen of Norway were in town.  There were barricades all throughout the town center, and their ship's arrival in port was announced with great fanfare and cannon blasts.  Of course we stopped to watch the procession -- it's not every day you get within spitting distance of royalty.

Queen Sonja (white scarf), King Harald V, followed by Crown Prince & Princess Haakon and Mette-Marit

The town of Bergen pulled out all the stops with lots of people dressed in period costume, playing folk music, dancing, etc.

The royal procession tied up the town center's traffic for hours.

Luckily for us the museums were still open during all the pomp and circumstance.  We joined a very informative walking tour that took us through the Old Wharf buildings that formerly belonged to the Hanseatic League, a group of German merchant traders who had a base here in Bergen from the 1300's to the 1700's.  Because of the historic buildings and structures still in place today, the town is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

An "illuminating" tour

Since it wasn't raining, we decided to take the funicular up Mount Fløyen.  There was a low cloud that eventually cleared just enough for us to get a view of the harbor from above.

Back down in town we had dinner and beers out on the quay followed by a whisky for Kevin at the Grand Terminus hotel bar, which had a whisky menu as long as a book.  Skål!

Iceland's South Coast (video post)

Here's a short video of the second half of our Iceland trip.

Scandinavia Week 2: Iceland South Coast from Solsticecatamaran on Vimeo.

Vík back to Reykjavík

It's hard to believe but it's our last day in Iceland.  We headed out early to the Reynisfjara beach just outside of Vik.  Like Svartifoss, this stretch of beach has bizarre basalt columns that form massive walls (and sort of resemble the videogame Q-bert).

From this section of the beach is a nice view of the promontory at Dyrhólaey.  Puffins nest on the headland this time of year.

About 20 minutes further down the road, we trekked right up to the edge of the Sólheimajökull glacier.  You can pay money to rent gear and walk on it, but we skipped that since we walked on plenty of glaciers on our Alaska road trip a few years ago for free.

We could tell we were getting closer to Reykjavík because parking lots at the main tourist sites were getting more crowded.  At Skógafoss (one of Iceland's most accessible waterfalls) we were definitely "back on the beaten path".  The waterfall was still beautiful despite the crowds, and there was even a couple getting married there.

About an hour outside of Reykjavík, the crowds were even bigger at Seljalandsfoss.  Although there were lots of people gathered in front of the falls, only the very brave ventured out to where the freezing cold spray hit...

Find Kevin, if you can...

...and even fewer followed the trail behind the falls.

Do you see him now?  He's waving at the camera...

We got back in time to explore the funky, quirky downtown area of Reykjavík a little bit more.

At dinner, we even managed to try some traditional Icelandic cuisine - Kæstur hákarl (fermented shark) and harðfiskur (wind dried haddock).  The fermented shark wasn't too bad -- although I have to admit that Kevin ate most of it and I was content with just a taste.  Kevin joked that he was a "man eating shark" as opposed to a "man-eating shark".

Served in airtight containers to preserve the aroma

We washed the fishy taste away with a couple of White Russians at the Big Lebowski Bar.  Why does this bar exist, and in Reykjavík of all places?  No idea, but the drinks were good.

"Careful, man -- there's a beverage here!"

Since we have an early flight tomorrow, we decided to call it an evening and say goodbye to Iceland.  Here's one last farewell look at the iconic Hallgrímskirkja.

Southern Iceland - Höfn to Vík

We are now on the home stretch and only have two full days left in Iceland.  We are wishing we had budgeted more time for the south coast because there are some amazing sights along the road here.  So much to see, so little time!

The Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon is one of the most iconic destinations in the country. The glacial water has formed a lagoon that flows down to the ocean.  Large icebergs float all the way down from the glacier to the sea.

The beach is littered with ice chunks of all sizes that have washed ashore.

Continuing on our way toward Skaftafell park, we stopped in the tiny town of Hof.  This church (Hofskirkja) was built in 1883 the old style, using turf to insulate the roof.  It was the last church in Iceland that was built this way, and the church is still used by the community here.

Skaftafell is a part of the Vatnajökull National Park.  Here's the glacier that gives this section of the park its name: Skaftafellsjökull.  (Say that three times fast, if you can).

This part of the park is great for hiking and we really wish we'd had more time to do more than just one hike.  But if you can only do one, the hike to the Svartifoss waterfall is the one to do!  The name means "black falls" and it's surrounded by hexagonal basalt columns.

Another stop just off the main road is Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon.

Can you spot Kevin in this photo?

We finally arrived in Vík, but there was still more to see before we could turn in for the night.  This is the Vikurfjara black sand beach in town.  Seabirds nest in the cliffs and circle in massive flocks overhead all along the beach.  Having learned my lesson, I watched them warily from a distance to avoid any more confrontations...