Oslo, Norway July 27 to 31, 2015

We travelled to Oslo by train.  It is probably the most comfortable train we have ever been on.  The seats allow enough space to store our carry-on suitcases and/or our backpacks.  The seats lean back but don’t interfere with the traveller behind.  We have tables and there is WiFi although just now I can’t connect.  The scenery is spectacular--snow covered mountains with lakes and waterfalls.  There are also lots of tunnels and of course, rocks.  We learned about the tunneling through the mountains to build roads and rail tracks. The passing scenery seems to get more pastoral the further we go but only about 3% of Norwegians are in agriculture.

Arriving in Oslo, we noted that change in atmosphere from Bergen which is smaller and calmer than Oslo.  Maybe because Oslo is 4 times bigger than Bergen!  Our hotel is fine, quite new, but not in the best part of town.  They seem to be rebuilding on both sides of it.  We feel safe because there are two of us and it is always daytime here.  It is good that this is not the only part of town we will be in.  George was heard (by me) to say, "The further we get from our hotel, the better this city looks."We had a stroll to the harbour and checked out the opera house which is built over the water.  We think we will try to take in a concert on the 29 of July.  It is an amazing building.

Day two was a day of walking.  My legs are tired.  We tried to visit the Parliament but Rick Steves  was wrong about the time so we missed the tour. We will try again another day.  Anyway, we went to a grand tour of City Hall.  What an excellent guide and he told a great story of the murals.  Wow, I wish I could paint like that.  I don’t mean the Picasso-like look but the ideas expressed.  The guide was so proud of Norway and  the history.  We stopped for coffee and a cinnamon bun.  Then we had a tour of the Nobel Peace building.  The guide started by saying that it was her pleasure to be our guide.  Her English was good but she had some problems.  She was talking about that Chinese fellow who got the award but is still in prison and can’t accept it.  She said, “the Chinese don’t give a s__t about human rights.”.  We chuckled with surprise but she went on with the tour with out a hitch.  The inspiration room was certainly inspirational.  There were photos of all the winners set on top of many small lights that appeared to grow in the pathway.  It was cool to see Lester Pearson as one of the winners.  We felt the Manitoba Museum for Human Rights has a similar feeling.  We stopped to people watch and then walked on home.

We noted that there are many large groups of young people together and then realized that the Norway Cup is on .  It is an international youth soccer tournament with 30,000 participants.  So what about that!    A note:  The Norwegian Kroner is 6 koner to 1 Canadian $ so I am way better at my 6 times table than I was.

Today was our first rainy day--yay for umbrellas. I did tramp through a puddle so my pantleg is wet.  We got to Parliament in time for the tour today.  Chatted with a family who live here--very confident kids and an opinionated father.  He thinks Canadians are so nice.  Our guide was OK but if I were Grant, I wouldn't give him top marks.  The House was impressive and there was lots of interesting art.  Norwegians seem to prefer nakedness in their sculptures.  I had a relaxing people watching sit this afternoon while George went off to the Norwegian Resistance Museum.  Then we had coffee and cinnamon buns at the Alfred cafe,  We poked around in book stores and then came home to relax.

Hot day in July, Yay.  We got a transit pass for this our last day so we can get around for 24 hours on trams and buses.  The best part is that it will still work to get us to the train station tomorrow so we will not have to walk and pull our suitcases..  We will take the train to the airport for our flight to Berlin.  I am so glad that cities are so well organized to get us around.  Today we went to the Vking Ship Museum--a couple got on the bus and sat in front of us, both had maps and the maps were the same.  They were having a grand time figuring out where they were going. Anyway the museum, Kulurhistorisk, showed three Viking ships that had been used a graves.  The one I liked the best was the one that was used for two women--they must have been pretty important to get such an elaborate grave.  They were buried with 6  horses, 2 dogs and 1 cow  and lots of other stuff.  I wonder what Vikings thought was in the afterlife.  It didn't say if the animals were alive or not.at the time of burial.  I thought Brennan from "Bones" would have loved to identify what the bones could tell.

We attended a cello/violin/piano concert at the opera house--very nice. I loved having another chance to be in that building.  People were walking off the sloping roof into the fjord--kids were playing in the water and others were just sitting and enjoying the warm sun.  For our final hurrah here, we took the tram to see Vigeland's sculptures at Frogner Park.  He spent his life sculpting the circle of life and the relationships that are part of it.  Some are quite unhappy.  I needed to see a bit   more joy.  Anyway, it is a 75 acre park where Norwegians come to play.

And so good-bye to Norway.  A wonderful place to visit and experience.  Oh, a word we encountered here and in SA--it is "parkering".  You will guess what it means--the opposite is "parkering forbudt"  So there!  Tomorrow to Berlin.

Land of the Trolls, Bergen, Norway (July 23 to 27, 2015)

Our first sound of Bergen was walking across  Festplassen square pulling our suitcases.  There was a man, wearing the hat with straight hair, singing Neil Young, tunes.  We also watching some tiny children flitting around with scooters.  Our place is in a cute neighbourhood--it is painted Cheese Whiz orange, has a orange, rose tree at the front door and is close to everything.  There is no microwave but lots of other things.

After a much needed sleep-in the next morning, we used the Funicular to get to the top of Mont Floyen.  There is a park at the top--great view of the city and many, many trolls.  We have pictures. We had lovely pastries and coffees.  It was a long walk down but pleasant.  I thought "this would be lovely in the summer".  Wait, this is the summer!  We strolled in the town centre and there was another troll.  The fish market was interesting, We will eat there on Sunday unless we go to the McDonalds we found.  The building that houses it, is white, was built in 1710 and  has no outside markings.  We usually feel it is part of our job to eat at the big M sometime during a trip!

Norway in a Nutshell was an amazing tour!  We left our place this morning (Saturday) at 8:00 and travelled by train, boat, coach and train again.  We saw waterfalls, mountains, fjords, very green forests and grass, goats and water the colour of Lake Louise.  There was a siren singing to us from a cliff in the middle of a huge, steamy waterfall.  We returned to Bergen at 21:00--a wonderful, day full of Norway.  Some breathtaking sights to behold. Driving back to Voss, the road was so twisty that I had to hold my breath a couple of times.  The Driver was excellent.

Today is a laundry day.  Seems like washers in this neck of the woods wash for hours.  We have taken to stopping and advancing the machine to finally get things washed.  We have been in many homes since November--usually like to use AirB&B places.  It is always an adventure to see what is where and how to make things work.  Getting groceries is also interesting as there isn't always English on the labels.  In Iceland, we bought double-yoked eggs which I find gross.  Here, the egg pan was so great, I could actually turn them over with no breakage.  So far we have slept in 31 beds.  By the time we return to Ottawa, maybe we will know what kind of bed to buy.

We had a lovely stroll around the downtown area--had ice cream and coffee.  While having coffee, a little girl,maybe 4 years old, and her Dad sat down next to us.  The little girl looked over to George and said, "Dad, he has the same book as you.".  George was reading Rick Steves.  We visited a few markets, saw many people in the square and some buskers. It isn't a surprise that Norwegions are lean, there are so many inclines and stairs to walk on. Bergen is a delightful place.

This evening we attended an organ concert at the Domkirken The Cathedral.- a Lutheran Cathedral.  This concert was part of a series--the organist was from Russia.  George thought that there were parts he could have played with both hands and feet.  Did you know that Norway is 76% Lutheran?  Did you also, know that  sometime in the past the Lutherans killed the Catholics and there was a bounty on priests?  The music was classical--organs really are amazing.  We strolled through the Festplassen and then home to pack.

Tomorrow we leave here on the train.  And so to Oslo.

NIceland (Island) July 17 to 23

This is the coldest, windiest, ugliest place I have ever been!  We arrived at midnight and it was still light--  note about the airport:  There is a space called "The Meeting Place" where our driver asked us to wait for him.  It is a big sign in bright orange where people meet..   Next morning while waiting for the driver, I was dressed in all the warm clothes I had, including glovies.  Why did I think warmer would be any part of a place with the word "ice" in it!  When I looked around I could easily believe that we had landed on the moon--nothing but peat bogs and brown. Things improved as we got closer to Reykjavik--some green grass, trees and lots of colour on the houses.  Our AirB&B has red siding and a lime green door.  We walked around our neighbourhood and it is lovely.  Visited a huge Lutheran Cathedral this evening.  Did I say it is light until midnight!!!  The sky is almost always awake.  We think that the builders of the church must have run out of money or decided that grey concrete was attractive.  The inside is quite stark.  There is a tower to visit with a great view of the city.  A statue of Lief Ericsson graces  the front.  It was a gift from the USA because according to our driver Liefor visited the USA before 1492!  We found a lovely sculpture garden nearby.


We decided to stop at the Blue Lagoon on our way downtown.  The area around is lava rock and here it is again easy to believe that we are on the moon.   We didn't stop to swim but will visit a geothermal pool near where we are staying.

We had two trips into the country to see waterfalls, mountains, turf houses, geysers and hundreds of ponies.  Our driver said there are over 70,000.  and they have no purpose now--used to be ridden, eaten and sold--currently they just look beautiful and some farms have trail rides. The trip included a movie about most recent volcano eruption.  We drove by an Icelandic forest and the driver told us that if you get lost in the forest, you need only to stand up.  There are no big trees here unless they have been planted.  The countryside was lovely, many mountains and glaciers.  We walked to see the edge of a glacier.  We also saw puffins.

Here is a shocker.  Today, at a water closet (read bathroom) there was a charge of 200 IS KR. which is about $2, Canadian.  The kicker is there were credit card machines so one could use VISA.  A young fellow before me went over the bar saying he had no money so I went under as I am short.  Icelanders seem quite protective of their currency.  You can't get any anywhere outside the country.  However, they are happy to take credit cards.  Today, I had hot chocolate for 450 IS Kronurs and paid with my VISA.

The only crop that farmers grow is grass which sometimes they get to harvest twice during the three month long summer.  The grass is baled into round bales covered in plastic which were called marshmallows, dinosaur eggs and tractor eggs as jokes.  Most of the things grown are in greenhouses and they use geothermal energy to heat them.  Geothermal energy is also used to heat homes.  They tell us that the cold water is the best anywhere and can be drank right out of the tap.  The hot water smells a bit like sulfur.

Our last day, we did a walking tour which was enlightening. It was a free, pay what you want tour--the guide was great.  Amazing factoids are that Iceland has  330,000 inhabitants, has very little crime, no army and a great education system.  Our guide said he can't understand why more people don't move here.  Um, did I mention the weather.  Although today was beautiful and sunny.

We had a wonderful dinner in a revolving restaurant called Pearlan.  The food was lovely and so nicely presented.  I had lobster and George had lamb.  We also had yummy desserts.

So this is Iceland from my point of view.  Would I come back?  Well, maybe, well probably not, but then I have been here.  Actually coming on a stopover in winter might happen as seeing the Northern Lights would be amazing!

Ottawa--like coming home January 16 to February 1, 2015

Arrived her by train on January 16. Travelling by train is always a delight.   Our home base is in the Glebe.  This is our chance to get to know another area of the city.  We had an excellent skate on the canal on Sunday but no beaver tail as the line was very long.

Monday was the day to have lunch with three mates who have political leanings.  The restaurant was on Beachwood so I decided to take the bus.  Unfortunately, I got the times mixed up and found myself near the Rideau Centre an hour too early so I stopped to poke around.  I was standing by Shoppers and lo and behold, there was my neighbour from Watergate walking through on her way home.  We had coffee and chatted.  Now what are the chances that we would be in the same place at the same time without planning.  I was delighted.  Lunch was fun including the Sticky Toffee Pudding.  I walked back to the Glebe.  All this walking is good for my health.

The Glebe is an interesting area.  We walked lots, visited Stella Luna, Truffle Treasures for hot chocolate, shopped and had a lovely apple crumble at Fleena's.  We had lots of company.
We need to make some decisions about 2015.  What will we do?

Friends from Burlington arrived on the last weekend.  We, three, skated on the canal while the Princess Brenda sat in the ice sleigh.  What fun.  We had beaver tails.

On January 24, 2015, Brienne Victoria McLaughlin Klein entered the world.  She resembles her momma at birth.  What a joy!

We are off to Oak Island to meet her.  (February 1 2015.)  Yay.