Planes, trains and automobiles (and buses and boats!)

Sidney and I wrapped up the two week Norwegian holiday with a trip to Oslo this week. Kimber drove us to the airport and we departed Stavanger and arrived in Sandefjord (south of Oslo), where we boarded a train to Oslo. There was work on the tracks, so we switched to a bus for the rest of the trip to Oslo.

Once there, we got right to work seeing as much as we could in two and a half days. Our first order of business was to purchase an Oslo City Pass. For 410 Norwegian Kroner (about $70) the 72-hour city pass gave us admission to all museums, free public transportation (even ferries), discounts on food and shopping, and even a two-hour cruise aboard a sailing ship with a shrimp buffet included! We probably saved around twice the cost of the pass while there.


We first went to the Royal Palace, where we walked the grounds and saw the Changing of the Guard. Here is Sidney with one of the guards. It was a good ceremony, and I must admire these guys for standing out in the warm sun in those very thick uniforms.


We then went down the hill and visited Oslo City Hall (where the Nobel Prizes are awarded) and the Nobel Peace Center. The mural in the picture is one of several in the City Hall Great Hall where the prize dinner is held. Sidney enjoyed the kid's scavenger hunt in the Nobel Peace Center and was able to add her name to the "Peace Tree" on exhibit there.



Afterwards, we went by ferry to the museum island of Bygdoy, where we visited the Viking Boat Museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum. The Viking ships are three original ships recovered from burial mounds near Oslo and preserved for display. They are 1100-1200 years old, and are exhibited with many other artifacts found in the mounds. The Folk Museum contains buildings, demonstrations and other features of Norwegian culture and history, including the stave church pictured here. There were cooking, music and dancing demonstrations as well as more historical artifacts on display. Also on this island are the museums for the Polar Ship Flam, the Kon-Tiki and the Norwegian Maritime Museum, as well as the Holocaust Center, but we did not include these on this trip.




We instead took a bus from this museum to Vigeland Park, where there are several sculptures by this famous Norwegian in a beautiful urban green space. I must admit the sculptures are very appealing, though the expressions are a bit strange. Sidney also enjoyed this park as it had a Castle Park (a huge playground that looks like a castle.) After a little while relaxing in the park, it was back down to the waterfront area for dinner. I broke down and we went to TGI Friday's (yes - same menu as in the USA!) and we had hamburgers and buffalo wings. One thing I must admit here is that the Norwegians have made me a bit self-conscious about how I eat hamburgers and sandwiches in general. They eat theirs with a fork and knife. I hate to look like a rude American, but I must eat my hamburger with my hands!



After a good night's rest, we went on our two hour cruise with the shrimp buffet (Sidney ate as much as I did). We saw several sights along the fjord, including the new Oslo Opera House. We also saw the royal yacht Norge, and some fantastic views of the harbor. Several cruise ships and large ferries were in port, and Sidney commented on each one.









We went from the cruise to Akerhus Fortress and Castle, where Sidney enjoyed actually getting to go inside a real castle. While she didn't see any princesses, she did get to see the king's room and lots of really cool old castle buildings. I found it interesting to encounter a statue of Franklin Roosevelt on the way up to the fortress, but I suppose it has to do with the American support for Norway during WWII (kind of a contrast with what we saw in Kirkenes.)


We then traveled to the east side of town to the Museum of Natural History and the Munch museum. Sidney was getting tired by the time we reached the Munch museum, but still enjoyed another scavenger hunt for various paintings. She also learned to identify two of his most famous works, "Madonna" and "The Scream", though she calls the latter "The Man That Was Screaming." This picture is her impersonation of this famous work.

We had dinner at an Arabic restaurant in the Greenland neighborhood before returning to the hotel for a swim before bed.

Our last morning included a visit to the reptile museum (Sidney wanted to see the snakes eat - we didn't see that, but did see a Cayman crocodile eat a large cricket) and a little shopping. We then boarded our bus, then train, then plane back to Stavanger to meet Kimber in the car for our final ride home.


Oslo was a very easy city to navigate, and public transportation was readily available everywhere. Pictured are a couple of trams, which make up the public transportation system along with buses, ferries and the subway. Everything runs pretty close to schedule, and there are digital signs at most stops that tell you when the next bus is to arrive.

The next post will probably be a slightly-overdue post about Kimber's experience offshore, but the travels occured before she could post it earlier. Until then...

Honningsvag/North Cape/Bodo/Andenes

Continuing on our journey above the Arctic Circle, we stopped for one night in Honningsvag and a visit to the North Cape. We arrived early enough to go get a bite to eat at a restaurant recommended by Frommer’s known as “The Corner.” The food was excellent, and the atmosphere was very welcoming. Kimber had the Cajun salmon and I had the fried cod, and there was plenty for Sidney to share with us both. We finished the lunch with three desserts - warm blackberries and ice cream, apple pie and ice cream, and cappuccino ice cream (enough ice cream?). The food was actually good enough for us to warrant another visit for waffles and coffee for our evening snack before heading out to North Cape. The waffles were to die for!


The remainder of our afternoon was spent wandering the town, which essentially is a cruise ship terminal and fishing village, and getting some rest. We needed the rest because we were heading to North Cape to see the Midnight Sun over the Barents Sea. The town was very pleasant, and while it was a bit of a tourist trap, it did have a welcoming “feel” to it.







We took a bus out to North Cape at 9:30 p.m. North Cape is the point traditionally recognized as being the farthest northern point of the European Continent (though the actual “farthest” point is about 200 meters further north and is located just a short distance away.) North Cape sits on top of a 300 meter high bluff, and is surrounded on three sides by water. There is a visitors center and a statue of a globe, but the thing most people come here for is the view. The water looks like thousands of blue ribbons moving around the cape, as you are surrounded by about 240 degrees of the sea, and the Midnight Sun glows orange to the north. At least it did the night we were there. Many visitors come from around the globe only to find the Cape completely socked in with fog. We were very fortunate for our visit to have such a beautiful view.

Even though we were up late for the trip out to North Cape, we got up early again and headed out for our next stop in Bodo. We only planned one day in Bodo, as Frommer’s did not have a lot to say about the town and actually only recommended visiting for one day. We were quite impressed during our visit, and will plan to visit again and at least do a long weekend there. There are really a large number of activities and the town is very visitor/family friendly.


Our first stop in Bodo was the Norwegian Aviation Museum. Housed in a building that resembles an airport terminal (and actually sits at the end of the airport runway), the museum has designated sides for military and civilian aviation. The exhibits are well done, and while it is not as large as the Boeing museum in Seattle, it has a wide array of aircraft. Of particular interest are the Junkers Ju-52 float plane and the U-2. Some history buffs will note that Gary Powers flight over the Soviet Union was to have landed in Bodo, but he was shot down instead.


After the aviation museum, we took a city bus to the Saltstraumen. This is a natural feature that has the strongest tidal current in the world. Every six hours, the water reaches its peak flow of over 400 million liters a minute through a very narrow passage in the fjord. The result is a churning current and whirlpools that can be over 10 meters wide. It is very impressive and worth the 45 minute bus ride.

While Bodo had many other things to do, we had to head out the next morning for our visit to Andenes for our whale safari. We decided to do a little rescheduling of our trip, cutting out the Narvik stop and extending our Andenes stop to two days. The reasoning was two-fold, one being that the whale safari would take the entire day and we wanted to spend a bit more time on this Norwegian coastal island, and the other being that we wanted a more relaxing “final stop” during the family portion of this vacation. Kimber has to return to work on Monday, but Sidney and I will visit Oslo from Tuesday to Thursday.

The whale safari was our anniversary gift to ourselves, and it was worth every penny (or krone, as the case may be). It started with a guided tour of their museum, which was very informative and featured, among other things, the skeleton of a 15.8 meter sperm whale. The whale washed up on the beach a few years ago, and the skeleton is in an ongoing process of preservation.


We were told before actually going out on our boat that we stood a pretty good chance of seeing sperm whales. This little spot off the Norwegian coast is one of only two places in the world where they can be seen regularly, as the waters are suitable for providing the squid they feed on. The other location is in New Zealand. We were also told that we may see some other species of whales, but that would be much less predictable, as other whale species move around quite a bit following their food.


We were quite lucky, as we ended up seeing pods of orcas (killer whales) twice, several minke whales (which are a bit cautious of boats as they are still hunted in Norway) and a sperm whale. Sidney got quite good at spotting the whales as they popped above the surface, and she can now easily identify the orcas by their unique black and white markings and large dorsal fin.


In addition to the whales, we saw puffins flying along the water between the island they live on and their feeding grounds. It was a very nice trip and something we will all remember for a long time to come.

Our hotel room was the largest of any on our trip. It was apparently the royal suite, and we were informed the room was used by Norway’s next king when he visited Andenes.




The next day, we wandered the town, stopping at a couple of playgrounds for Sidney’s pleasure. We also walked along the beach and a jetty near the fishing boat docks. This area, while not having any natural harbor, has been an important fishing port since at least the 1500’s. Kimber took a tour of the lighthouse, a key Andenes landmark, while Sidney and I (Sidney was too young for the 150-step climb in the lighthouse) took in a video presentation on whales and the Northern Lights. We did a bit more wandering, then went for dinner at the Lysthuset restaurant beside the hotel. The food was excellent (I had a fish stew and Kimber had a seafood pasta), the portions were generous, and the prices were quite reasonable by Norwegian standards. The atmosphere was nautical, with the decor being sailing paraphernalia and photographs.


We left Andenes Sunday morning and boarded our Wideroe Airlines flight back to Bodo, then on to Sandefjord and Stavanger. A little note here on Wideroe - this is an airline that serves primarily small airfields all over Norway. The specialize in STOL (short take-off and landing) flights, and are equipped with DeHaviland Dash 8 100, 300 and 400 turboprops. 40% of their routes are called Public Service Obligation routes, and it basically means they are the flying bus service of Norway. We are doing the “Explore Norway” ticket, which basically gives us 14 days of unlimited flying on Wideroe’s routes for a fixed price. We wondered what “technical stops” were when we booked, as most flights listed a couple, and one even listed five. We found out these are the stops in all the little airports between our points “A” and “B”. While it does make for some longer flight times, the scenery is wonderful, and the pilots try to make the best of it. An example was our flights into and out of Honningsvag, when the pilots flew around the North Cape to give us a spectacular aerial view.

Another positive aspect to Wideroe’s flights is that they are quite family-friendly. They had unaccompanied minors on most flights we were on, and they always try to make sure families are sitting together. We were greeted by friendly crew each time, and one flight attendant even remembered us from a previous flight we had with her. They are also good sources of information about the little towns in Norway and the sights to see in each place.


The sun has finally set on our 10 day journey to the Midnight Sun. Sorry for this being such a long post, but I got a bit behind on posting. The next and final post of our trip will be about Sidney and I visiting Oslo.

Hammerfest and Kirkenes

After leaving Tromso, we headed to Hammerfest (at 70 degrees and almost 40 minutes north.) We hit the ground running, first visiting the Polar Bear Club museum. Sidney was inducted into the Royal and Ancient Order of the Polar Bear (a club exclusively for those that have visited Hammerfest), and was number 224,124 to join. I wonder how many of those are less than four years old!


We then walked around town, going past the Cemetery church (the only building in town to survive WWII) and the new church. The new church's architecture is inspired by the fish drying racks seen in the fishing villages that dot the coast.


Our next event was a ferry ride out to several island locations to see some of the fishing villages. The ride was just over two hours and provided an interesting insight into what life in one of these villages is like. There is no other transportation than boat out to the villages, and the boat doesn't seem to come very often.

There are also no grocery stores in the villages. Or gas stations, or anything else except houses, maybe a fish processing facility, and the school. I guess that is one way to make sure your kids have nothing to do but chores and studying! Interestingly, we say a camouflage Land Rover at almost every stop. I cannot imagine what life is like there in the winter when there is no sun for two months!


Another thing we saw while on the ferry ride, as well as from town, is the Snovit Liquefied Natural Gas facility built by Statoil. For readers of National Geographic, a large picture of this plant was featured a few months ago in their article on the Arctic environmental issues. It is an impressive facility, in that is is the most northerly LNG facility in the world and the first to process Barents Sea natural gas. Snovit is the Norwegian word for Snow White, but the plant hasn't quite lived up to the name. There have been some issues which have resulted in the town getting covered in soot a couple of times, and of course some have argued about the impact it has on the Arctic as a whole.


After we returned and had dinner, we walked back over to the hotel and happened to see another boat named after Sidney. This one was a sailboat out of Germany named "Orion." For those that don't know, that is her middle name.


Sidney and Kimber stayed in the room and went to sleep, and I went out for a little walk to see what the midnight sun was like. It was a bit overcast, but this picture overlooking Hammerfest was taken at 12:34 a.m.


We got up the next morning and set out on a hike that was to take us to the top of a mountain overlooking the city as well as some of the islands. We saw several reindeer, including this group. Their antlers are in felt right now and they are shedding last year's winter coat, so they are quite striking in appearance. We also saw a fox, and I was able to get a quick picture, but it was not blog-worthy.


The landscape was beautiful in a desolate sort of way. There are several lakes that have been dammed and are used for hydroelectric power. There are also cabins occasionally, though these don't seem to be wired to take advantage of the power. The hike was easy - a steady climb up a gravel road - but the weather turned on us before we could get to the top. Rain set in and the temperature was quite cold. We were dressed appropriately in Gore-Tex jackets and pants, and Sidney in her rainsuit, but her feet were cold and we decided to head back.

We had dinner at a kebab restaurant called Popeye and must say it was fantastic. The gyros were HUGE and delicious, and the owner, after finding out I spoke Arabic (he is Iraqi), and that Kimber is an engineer (he is also an engineer), gave us our meal for free. He was very kind and again, the food was delicious!

We returned to the hotel and settled in, as our flight to Kirkenes this morning left early.


Kirkenes is about as far east as you can go in Norway. It is close to the Russian border (about 40 km), and actually has many roadsigns in both Norwegian and Russian. I must say seeing a roadsign for the road to Murmansk was a bit odd. Even stranger was seeing a Cooper Tire sign on a local gas station here (for all you Findlay-ites!)


We also saw this roadsign, indicating distances from here to some other European cities. It is actually a good indicator of how long Norway is. As you see, it is over 2600 km to Bergen (which is north of Stavanger), and that is over halfway to Rome! Kirkenes actually lies as far east as Cairo, Egypt.


The weather was very nice, so we went for a walk and enjoyed the outdoors. We stopped at a Sami Culture Center which is also the site of the Snow Hotel here in the winter. Sidney got to pet a couple of husky pups, but they were closing, so we headed to the regional museum. About half of the museum was dedicated to the WWII history of this area (which was eventually leveled as part of the German Scorched Earth retreat plan.) It was interesting to see the Soviet involvement with the partisans in Northern Norway, as this is often ignored by "our" version of history. The major feature of the exhibit was a Russian WWII fighter.

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow's flight to Honningsvag and the North Cape. We plan to be at the North Cape for the Midnight Sun, so hopefully that will be the main feature of our next post!

Our first BIG trip has begun!

We departed Stavanger Friday morning, and this was the last sunrise we will see for the next 10 days (well, sort of.) We are in the "Land of the Midnight Sun", that region above the Arctic Circle that has 24 hours of daylight this time of year. The only real problem is that the weather is somewhat unpredictable this time of year and we have seen and will continue to see quite a bit of cloudy weather and rain. At least the rain and clouds make it feel a bit more like the Arctic.


Our trip started with a two day visit to Tromso. It is one of the larger cities above the circle, and has some very nice scenery and activities. We did a little walking after our arrival and took in the views, but not much more the first night, as we were a bit tired from the early morning and the flight. One picture I caught quickly while walking was a bit entertaining, though, so I posted it for your enjoyment.

One other note on our arrival in Tromso - we have concluded that Norway is hollow. While the country is covered in mountains, the Norwegians have done a wonderful job of tunneling all over the place to shorten the distance from point A to point B. This was most evident as we drove through the tunnel from the Tromso airport that had two traffic circles inside the tunnel!


We were scheduled to go on a whale watching safari the next morning, but had to reschedule it for later in our trip, as the distance was too great for what our itinerary allowed. So we headed to Polaria, which is a museum and set of exhibits dedicated to Arctic wildlife. Sidney is kind of into polar bears and posed with this statue outside the museum.


The museum was very enjoyable, featuring a panoramic film on Svalbard (a Norwegian island near the 80th parallel) as well as live fish and bearded seals native to the Arctic Ocean. The seals were very entertaining, and quite rare in captivity. This museum is the only one in the world that has raised bearded seals from pups, and they are six years old now. The bearded seal is the largest of the seals, and its name in Norwegian translates to "large seal."

After this museum we headed to the Polar Museum, which has a slightly different take on things. It is focused more on the human history of the polar region, including North Pole expeditions and hunting and fishing in the Arctic. While it may not be socially acceptable to many, it must be viewed that seal and polar bear hunting and whaling are part of the human history and culture of this region. The museum also has many artifacts from the original expeditions to the North Pole, as the first undisputed sighting of the North Pole was by Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian. He also led the first expedition to the South Pole and is credited with being the first person to reach both poles.


We headed from the Polar museum across the bridge to Tromsdalen, where we viewed the Arctic Cathedral, a beautiful church built in 1965. It is very prominent along the skyline and recognized as a major landmark in the area. The mountains in the background still had significant snow in places and made quite a nice backdrop for the church. The stained glass windows inside were also very nice and reminded me of the church we were members of in Houston.


We continued on our walk to the cable car that goes up the mountain just on the edge of Tromsdalen. The view from the top of the cable car of Tromso was wonderful, but it was very chilly and the light rain and wind didn't help. Sidney was getting tired by this time as well, so we opted not to continue hiking to the top of the mountain.

After returning across to Tromso, we had an early dinner to celebrate our 11th anniversary at a restaurant called Emma's Under. The food was very good, particularly the reindeer with raisin sauce and the strawberry and rhubarb pancetta.



Our hotel in Tromso was very nice and located right on the water (actually, part of it was built onto a pier) and the view from the room was also very nice. I would certainly recommend the Rica Tromso to anyone else visiting the city. The breakfast buffet was also very good and the bed was comfortable to the point that Kimber actually looked at the labels to see who manufactured it.








We got up this morning and, after again enjoying the breakfast buffet, walked up a hill overlooking Tromso. We spotted some blue poppies, which are quite rare because this Himalayan native requires very cool summers to grow. After the walk, we returned to the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport for a 35 minute flight to Hammerfest, the next stop on our journey.

Our next post will tell of this town, including Sidney's induction to the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society and a Norwegian Snow White (it probably isn't what you think!)