Oslo

Today we visited museums in the city.

Started with the Vigeland outdoor museum of sculptures. Though the spelling is slightly different, we expect that there might be some relation to the Vigland in the Frankfort/Benzie area as we know he is Norwegian. Amazingly, this guy sculpted from granite and bronze. He had the idea for this park, which took 10 years to complete between 1939 and 1949. Unfortunately he died in 1943, and didn't get to see the results of his park design. He sculpted all nudes and they represented phases of life of all ages, sex and families. 

It is the only park in Oslo open 24 hours. The first pics below are of his sculptures. 

Next we went to the Viking Museum. Mostly it contained Viking ships and what had been found with them. When the Vikings died they were buried with their ships along with provisions as it was believed they would return and would need materials to live. Dead animals were included. In one finding, only bodies of women were discovered. Two of the ships were reconstructed and placed in this museum. The ships all dated to the 900s. The first one was discovered in 1904 by a farmer digging in his field. Also contained in the burial were wagons and sleds. The Vikings sailed long distances carrying all they needed including tents for use on the boat, as half of the crew slept, while half rowed. 

I expect my sailing friends know all about the source of the terms starboard and port. It was derived from the position of the rudder as it was placed on one side of the rear of the boat; therefore making it impossible to dock on that side. 

Some pics follow the sculptures of the Viking stuff. 

Next we went to the Norway Holocaust Museum. Many Norwegian and Russian Jews were arrested and sent to camps. One boat load of women and children were gassed as they reached Auschwitz. One third of the Jews in Norway were lost. 

The German's wasted know time in invading and occupying Norway, especially because Hitler thought the west was going to come through Norway. He assigned way too many of his troops there, which contributed to the Normandy and overall success of the opposition. 

The Norway front was headed by a Norwegian Natzi leader. The house he commandeered and used as his during the war now houses the Holocaust museum. The pic following the Vikings is of the Holocaust Museum. 

The last museum was the Kon-Tiki museum. Until we heard the story, was hard to figure it out. A Norwegian, Thor Heyerdahl, believed that inhabitants of the Polynesian Islands could have come from South America. He set out to prove this by building a balsa wood raft and sailing with a crew from South America. He believed he could do it in 100 days-it took 101. Many skeptics existed. He had bound the huge balsa trunks with rope and the skeptics told him the rope would only last 14 days. All ropes made it all the way. An Oscar winning documentary was made about the voyage as well as the making of the raft. Though they took along enough provisions to last, they arrived with a lot of the food as they were able to catch lots of fish. 

The pics are obvious of this. 

After finishing a bit of an extended drive back to our hotel, Nan and I set out to explore on our own. Unfortunately, we were only able to see the Resistance Museum in the time we had. The museum dwelled on the resistance movement in Norway against the Germans. In the beginning, Great Britain had a great deal to do with supplying them with munitions. The English also allowed the King and other government people to come to England and run the country from there. 

Didn't take any pics of this, but did catch some of the free electric parking with chargers and rental bike racks that were located throughout the city. We saw many of the bikes being used on the street day and night. 

Tonight is our last night on the trip. We have a long trip home tomorrow through London. Hopefully, flying on 9/11 will be peaceful and uneventful. 

Sorry about dup pics. Software not friendly enough to delete. 

Bergen

Not sire I can do this justice as my brain had to absorb way too much today. 

We started the day with a tour to the outskirts of Bergen a museum that delt with the history of Bergen and the development of oil and gas. 

The Bergen area actually was first settled 12000 BC. Sometime in the 16th century, it was under Danish rule. They were invaded by the German's during WWII. They have never had to deal with famine as they always could fish. 

In 1994, oil and gas became a big industry, having been found in the North Sea. The rigs were built in Bergen and pulled out to sea. Now they have separate facilities for both oil and gas production. Much of the product goes to Germany. 

Fish is still a major industry, but since licenses are auctioned, six companies now hold all the commercial licenses, though many of the smaller fisherman are employed by the larger companies. 

We were allowed to drive through the gas plant, but the bus could not stop and we weren't allowed to take pictures. This one plant employs 300-400. 

The state income from the sale of oil and gas goes into the retirement fund, which today is said to be the largest fund of it's kind

Upon return to the city, we took a ride up the funicular. The views are depicted in some pics below. Also some pics are included from our drive outside of Bergen. 

The comment I made yesterday about Tesla and electric cars in particular was emphasizes again today as I personally saw several Teslas and Nissan Leafs, the latter on the road into Bergen this morning. In addition to free parking, charging stations are plentiful in town. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent roaming the old German shopping area and touring a museum dedicated to how the Germans lived and worked in this shopping area. Young Germans were recruited to come to Bergen as apprentices in these stores. The pecking order was a Head Merchant, journeyman and then the apprentices. No women and no marriages. The apprentices slept two to a bed and were not paid. 

We are off tomorrow on a tour called Norway In A Nutshell on our way to Oslow. We will take two different trains, a bus and boat. We have to be on the bus by 5:45 a.m.👹

Bergen to Oslo via Flam

Another ungodly hour out of hotel today for a 2 hour bus ride to catch a boat to Flam, Norway. This tour was part of a bigger plan to get us to Oslo on a scenic voyage and train rides. The pics are mostly from the ship, but some are from a train that took us from elevation of 2 meters to 866 meters.

The boat started in one fjord and ended up in another, 1.5 hours away. The scenery was magnificent with very remote homes that in most cases appeared to be accessed only from the water. Some were farms with some hay fields and sheep. Power lines were strung over mountains and under water to reach many of these remote places. Some of the mountains were high enough to have glaciers at the top, with water falls running from the tops of mountains to the fjord below. We observed several landslides, that have created problems in the past. The boat ended up in a village named Flam. Though now roads lead to this area, winding through the mountains through tunnels, before roads, a railroad was built to reach the Bergen railway at the 866 meter point. 

18 of 20 tunnels were built by hand over several years. The manual method could accomplish I meter in 3 days. The major waterfall shown in the last pic was taken from a platform along the train tracks halfway up the mountain. Took the train 1 hour to climb the distance. Many tourists in Flam from all countries coming in by boat, bus and the train. 

We boarded the Bergen to Oslo train at Myrdal. Took us 5 hours to get to Oslo. The view continued to be magnificent to include a huge glacier as we moved along the top of mountains through many more tunnels. 

As an aside, Norway is considering building a tunnel to provide a shortcut for boats to sail to other side of a mountain. 

We took walking tour of center city Oslo as we are in a hotel in the center right across from the train station. One of the key discussions on the tour was the crime committed few years ago, when the man bombed city hall and then murdered 69 young people at a camp on an island. I remember that well, but didn't remember hearing that a life sentence in Norway is only 21 years, which can be reduced for good behavior. It can also be extended in 5 year increments, which is what general opinion believes will happen. He did get sentenced to 21 years. 

We were told that Oslo has the highest immigration rate in Norway, with 25% of the population having immigrated to Oslo.  Norway's total population is 5 million. 

We take a tour of Oslo and some museums tomorrow, our last day on our trip. 

Also note to the "weatherman", weather including today's boat ride has been better than we expected. We have not only had warmer weather, but basically no rain when ever we were outside. 

Cruise to Bergen

Today was a bit lazy as we cruised to Bergen without any stops. After a sunny day yesterday, we faced a light rain when we got off the ship. Remember my complaints about email, well the past two days we couldn't even access the internet. Today trying to depart the ship, we were held up for sometime because they couldn't get their electronic card reading system to work to check us off the boat. Must say outside of these issues, the boat was more than we expected. 

Bergen appears so far to be interesting. We are located in a Radisson right in the heart of central city with lots of sights within walking distance. A short bus tour showed us several sights including a farmer's market, whose last day just happened to be today. We walked through some of the old area where again wood structures are prominent. Some pics below show the area, which at one time had been a German market area. 

After our tour, we went to a house/restaurant for a light snack of homemade mushroom soup and chocolate cake. The place pictured below in white was awarded the 3rd liquor license by a king in the 1700's. The original structure dated to the 1400's. Tomorrow we are to have a bigger tour of the outskirts of Bergen, then we can see the downtown on our own in the afternoon. There is a funicular climbing a mountain from the city center plus museums and of course shopping. So pleased that there has been so little of the latter on this trip. In the city center, there also is a fish market, where you can buy fish dinners or to take home. 

So glad to be back where we have a fridge in the room. As an aside on prices again, buddy and I paid over $12 after tax for a draft beer on the boat. In Bergen, I got a "deal" on Sprite for Nan at $3 plus a bottle. Haven't checked price of beer at store as I'm still drinking Finnish beer I bought in Ivalo before we got on ship. 

A pic below is of an all electric mail truck. Also, because of government incentives, Norway has more Teslas than Germany. I can' t believe what I was told, but the claim was that they cost less than $50,000. I'm sure they are $80 in the US. We did see one in one of the small towns we stopped on the way south. 

So nice to have email access again and solid internet. 

For those mentioning commenting on the blog, I had it blocked inadvertently. I fixed that. 

The wooden "fish" is King Cod. Norway noted for their Cod and of course Salmon, though I've also tried mackerel, dogfish, herring in many sauces the best being mustard, peppered salmon, lox, and I'm. Sure I've missed some. Also Trolls are big here, so pic is of several in a store window. Legen has it if they are out when the sun comes out, they turn to stone😜. 

Trondheim and south

Day started early as we had to be on the bus by 7:30 for our tour of the town of Trondheim, third largest in Norway. We had a great local guide who had been a jr. high teacher. She was very proud of her city and country. 

The tour took us high on a hill overlooking the central city and harbor. A major position exists by the local university, which specializes in high tech education. A large hospital that is keep to the region also has some key specialties, one being development of a potential skin cancer drug. 

Population is around 130,000, with 30,000 students. 

A large cathedral with a 2000 capacity took 250 years to construct out of stone with stone statues as part of the front facade. Pics below show the size and intricate nature of the structure and statues. 

Many of the center city houses are constructed of wood and they are very proud of them. Red continues to be a very prominent color dating back to when copper mines existed in the area and oils could be obtained for free to create the red color. A few of the pics show the wood structures. 

One building houses a restaurant deemed by some worldly writer as the most cozy eating place. It is shown as the orangy colored building below. 

Another one of a kind item is a bike funicular, that will carry biker and bike up a steep hill in town. The pic with biker is demonstrating how it works. Basically, biker places right foot on a plate, presses a button and a piece of metal is placed against the heel, then a second button pushes the foot, bike and biker up the hill. Similar concept that happens in automatic car washes. 

This is our last night on the ship as we arrive in Bergen tomorrow.

The first pic is of an old wooden church dating back centuries. 

Second to last is pic of our travel group and the last is the top of their music museum, that has an exhibit to Heavy Metal. The guide seemed quite proud that not only did they have the museum, but that Heavy Metal was represented. 

Crossing Arctic Circle heading south

Mid morning we crossed the Arctic Circle, which was celebrated by swallowing cod liver oil and receiving a commemorative spoon👹. 

Last night was a bit rocky as we were on open sea instead of sailing through islands. I wasn't sure for awhile if I would stay in the bed, but I did. Tonight is supposed to be worse. 

Pretty laid back day, so far. We had a lecture on Vikings from our tour leader, who by chance I haven't said anything about. She is Swedish and his employed for this purpose by Grand Circle and has lead tours in China and Ireland in addition to Norway. In addition to being a tour guide, she does research for a German firm half time. She has a PhD and specializes in medical ethics, specifically in regards to brain implants. Though she got off to a rocky start, perhaps due to her boss being along for the first part of tour, she seems to be better now that he's gone. Still not totally up to the quality we have come to expect from Grand Circle, but maybe we always had the best before. 

Tonight is a Fairwell Dinner for the boat as appears many may be getting off tomorrow at Trondheim. We don't get off until Sunday in Bergen. 

Not sure I can do the discussion of Vikings much good. Appears that some were very feared and others not. Leif Ericsson, in the early 1000's, may have touched the shores of Canada and Greenland. 

Other Vikings would travel the rivers of Europe clear to Bagdad and places in between to trade for all sorts of stuff to include spices and slaves. Their boats were designed such, first with keels, that they could run up on shore and then be pushed off when time to sail. Sorry, but that's the best I can do. 

For my car buddies, today in a small town of a few thousand, a Tesla appeared near the ship. Also saw  a Full size Ford Van, a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a smaller Jeep make from states. The latter three aall diesel of course. Also saw a stack of tires with studs. Learned tonight from our tour guide that the Tesla is very popular here and owners receive special incentives and benefits.

Bronnoysund, the town we saw these cars in is considered geographically to be the center of Norway. If you took the upper half and added it to the south end , it would stretch to Rome.

The following pics are:

#1&2 The arctic circle crossing drink and marker.

#3 A sign in Norwegian warning drivers of children playing. 

#4 You know who at playground/square