August 1st. After another large breakfast, we took the now traditional first day walking tour with Jane. We walked to a square near the cathedral and then to Karl Johans Gate, through a park, past the National Theater, past the City Hall and to the harbor. We then converted our Swedish money to Norwegian at American Express, found an ATM to bring our supply up, bought an Oslo Card, a tacky pen and walked through Akker Brygge.
We had a cheap lunch (again the shared sandwich and shared salad) at a tacky place inside. After lunch, we walked to the National Gallery and walked around and then joined Jane for a "course" in art history. Our next stop was the Resistance Museum (where we activated our Oslo card) to learn of the story of the Danish Resistance during WWII. Then, we took the T-Banen to the Hollenkollen Ski Jump and Museum.We dined at the Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurang. Actually, we ate from their cafeteria and were able to eat on the terrace overlooking the city. On leaving the Museum, the skies opened up and we were drenched before we could reach the T-Banen. After another subway ride and then a tram ride we reached our hotel and tried to dry out. Dave took a futile walk to a Laundromat in hopes of washing and drying our clothes. Dave finished the day doing the laundry by hand.
August 2nd. We met Jane and rode tram #10 to Rådhusplassen (City Hall Square). From there we took a boat to Bygdøy and then walked through a lovely residential area to the Viking Boat Museum. We then walked to the Norway Folk Museum and its Stave church. We also visited a farm village and some craftspeople in a town setting. We continued our tour by walking to the Maritime Museum where we saw an IMAX type film "flying" us over many Norwegian fishing villages. At the museum, we noticed a quiet restaurant on the 2nd floor and ate hamburgers there. The museum was filled with ship models. From there, we crossed the street to see the Fram--the ship that has been further north and south than any other. We finished up visiting the Kon Tiki museum and then took the boat and tram back to the hotel for a nap.That 24 hour Oslo Card had really earned its keep. In the evening we looked for an Internet cafe in the train station (it had gone out of business) and then strolled Karl Johans Gate and ended up with pizza for supper at Sara's Telt (that's tent in English). After viewing a "car night" and taking a picture of "Oluf Lorentzen" we returned to our hotel to pack for our early morning getaway.
August 3rd. Today we arose early, to eat breakfast and pack a lunch from the breakfast buffet, and then to walk to the train station for our "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. The train ride from Oslo to Myrdal was similar to the ride from Vancouver to Banff--a long slow climb. We rode past lakes and waterfalls to above the tree line. The ride took us past glacier ice and alpine scenery. At Myrdal, we switched to the Flåm line and rode down to Flåm stopping at a scenic waterfall so everyone could take pictures. This steep train ride showed much scenery to look at along the way. The train had five different braking systems to insure safety. It was a short walk to the boat dock.
We obtained prime spots for boarding the boat for our fjord tour and eventually gained prime spots on deck to see the Aurlandsfjord and the Nærøyfjord. There was certainly not as much ice as the fjords in Alaska, but in some ways it was more beautiful with the occasional green meadow and small farm. We saw numerous waterfalls, goats, seals and almost no boat traffic. After almost two hours that appeared to go too fast, we arrived at Gudvangen and boarded a bus to Voss. The bus ride on the scenic route had many frightening uphill switchbacks--enough to turn everyone religious. Dave later complimented the driver on his driving skill. The young driver responded with grin "Just lucky!" At Voss, the home of Knut Rockne, we board another train to Bergen. This train ride took about an hour.
Once again, our luggage took a taxi and we walked to our hotel in the Bryggen section of Bergen in the rain. We walked right past the wooden buildings that everyone associates with Bergen. That night we joined Jane at Bryggestuene and Loft for dinner. Dave had reindeer and I had a mussel and prawn soup. The soup was fantastic. We did a little window shopping and returned to our hotel. Bergen is a shoppers paradise.August 4th. Today was our last full day of our Tour. Dave and I went out early to shop for sweaters for baby Mawdsley and me. I found a hand-knit Norwegian pullover ski sweater in navy and white with a little red for me. We got a red hand-knit Norwegian cardigan ski sweater in red and white for the baby.
At 11:00 AM we all met at the Bryggens Museum which is built on an archaeological dig. The tour continued through two more museums, the Schøtstuene and Hanseatic. The Schøtstuene showed the meeting rooms of the community and the Hanseatic showed the tenements which they lived in.For lunch, we wandered over to the Torget (the fish market and market square) for open-faced sandwiches, raspberries and finished up with cinnamon buns at Baker Brun. After a little more shopping and we decided to nap.
After naps we wandered a little more then joined the group to ride the funicular up Mount Fløyen to our final dinner. A quick picture was made from the restaurant looking at Bergen through liquid sunshine. We had previously chosen our main course (roast pork or cod) and desert (ice cream with mixed berries or apple cake a la mode).Dinner ended with awards. Dave got the Tycho Brahe (Danish Astronomer) award for science, (he didn't abandon me anywhere this year) while I got the light packer award. (Dave chose to carry my suitcase, so I didn't pack quite as light as it seemed.) Phyllis Briscoe made Jane a crown from pipe cleaners and life savers and we all expressed our appreciation to Jane.