Honeymoon Installment #5

Oslo, Day 2!

Sunday in Oslo dawned earlier than we did (per usual when the sun comes up at 4:20am!), but we were ready to take it on! Steve went for a run while I continued to catch up on some sleep time, and when we got to breakfast, it was slightly less chaotic than the day before. We had some trouble finding where the church is that worships close to Oslo, so we opted for church in the room, which worked out well. I was disappointed, since I enjoy worshipping with Christians wherever I go, in whatever language (you can usually figure out the names of the books in the Bible, and if they know there are English speakers in the audience, churches usually make sure to tell us the verses in English, and even the gist of the sermon, in my experience), but it was nice to do church with just God and my husband and me. And thank goodness for recorded sermons online. =)

And now... off to find the Scream by Edvard Munch! There's one in the Munch Museum, but that was pretty far from where we were in the city, but, conveniently, there's also one in the general art museum, so we went there! We missed it the first go-around, even though it's not a large museum. It's a good thing Steve's adorable little wife is not afraid to speak to strangers! I asked one of the security guards where the Scream was located, and he pointed us right to it--we had walked past the room without noticing! It's behind a glass (or plexiglass) pane because it was stolen at one point, so that's actually kind of cool, I think. We got to see something worth stealing! And now, you can see it, too... AH!

We saw some other art as well. Lots of naked people, some fruits and veggies, landscapes, seascapes, flowers, etc. But this was the one everyone was taking pictures of. =) 

Check that off the list! Now on to the Royal Residence. Steve likes to see all the royal palaces wherever we go, and I like the medieval castles. We sat out front on the pedestal of a statue for a while until the changing of the guard. It turned out to be a lovely day, being sunny, not too breezy. Their changing of the guard took a VERY long time once it got started! I'm all for ceremony and show, but it really took a while just to get things going. Here is the main part of the event: 

Loads of guys (and girls!) marching in. 

Briefing/debriefing. 

The stare-down. 

The old "switcheroo!"

And off he goes! 

And by now, Whitney's getting hungry and needs to use the little princess' room. Unfortunately, we were not allowed into the palace. Onward we go! 

We found a good snack spot! that's a chocolate boulle and a latte. Mmmmhmmm. This is their version of Starbucks. 

And now to find some sculpture garden Steve wanted to see. Vigeland Park, it's called. It was one of the top 10 sights to see, so of course we had to drop by! It was a lovely walk there, especially walking hand in hand with my new husband! But when we arrived, we discovered it was not exactly what we'd envisioned... all the sculptures were NAKED! Or NEKKID, depending on your accent. Naked adults playing with naked kids, naked people standing around. Naked people sitting. Naked people walking... the statues were of all sorts. I know God made the human body beautiful, but Adam and Eve banished us to a life of clothing in public places... and I kind of prefer that! Anyway, we giggled about it all the way back into downtown Oslo! 

We passed several embassies on the way back, which was pretty cool. It's interesting to me the way different countries spell country and city names. For instance, Prague in Czech is Praha. Where do we get off respelling their city's name? It interests me! 

What's also interesting (and unbelievably irritating) is that Oslo wins Quick Whit's prize for the most convoluted and confusing streets! Even with a map, we still flirted with "lost" status throughout our time there. But we always made it back to where we needed to be! 

After a quick stop to freshen up at the hotel, we set out to find a true Norwegian meal on our last night in Norway. Herring, anyone? 

Bread and fancy butter

Pickled herring (in the little round dishes) with brown bread and a chip-like item

And my new favorite... RHUBARB! Streuselled and topped with homemade ice cream. Delicious!

Please join us for our last leg... Stockholm! No, we did not catch the syndrome. Yes, Whitney did channel her inner Ingrid Bergman. =) 

And in the meantime, please enjoy the rest of our pictures! 

OSLO 

And because I forgot, here is NORWAY in a Nutshell! 

Honeymoon Installment #4

OSLO!

Here we are in the Norwegian capitol city. Come along with us!

First up: a run around town! We'll go down to the water, run around some historic sites... or we'll turn the wrong way and end up in the industrial district. Whoops! I slow Steve down when we run together, so even though he wanted to stay with me while we were running in all these foreign countries, slowing him down made me feel bad enough for him that I told him to run free! My phone's running app has a map on it, so I could find my way back easily.

And hopefully everyone knows a run necessitates a shower. But let me tell you something about Norwegian hotel showers... they're messy! Or at least we never figured out how to take a shower unmessily. There's a glass door that only goes for half the length of the tub/shower, and unfortunately, the water went a bit beyond that, especially when it splashed off of me! Sorry I neglected to get a picture. But really, it was just wet.

Breakfast time. It's Saturday. It's the weekend before a Norwegian holiday. It's chaos in the breakfast room. While it's quite nice for the hotel to include breakfast in everyone's room rate, the sheer number of bodies is staggering! I think it would have been worth it to go out for breakfast, but I guess hindsight is 20/20. Oh well, on we go!

To the waterfront! as with most history-laden cities, the old stuff is by the water. Who wants to go on a little ferry ride with us?

Off to a Scandinavian island paradise! 

We bought Oslo passes for unlimited access to several museums and transportation, including the ferry ride. We decided to go to the Norweigian culture museum first. It's an open-air museum, so we were glad it was such a beautiful day! The flowers were beautiful, there were exhibits about Norwegian life through the years, including buildings that were hundreds of years old, and my favorite part was the Stave Church, built in the year 1200! 

Funny looking, huh? But really cool! All that carving is original, as are the paintings inside! Can you imagine? That's over 800 years old! And as a special treat, here's a guy dressed in traditional Norwegian clothes, specific to a nearby town! 

 He was really nice! And here's a house with grass and flowers on top for insulation:

Very Scandinavian! 

And for something else very Scandinavian, we're off to the Viking Ship Museum! 

  

So, Vikings are apparently very misunderstood. The museum was very interesting, with lots of artifacts and even a VERY well-preserved Viking ship, discovered in a yard by some kids in 1879. The serpent's head to the right is a replica of the original, which was on the front of the ship. Sometimes the Vikings would send ships off with mummified bodies as a funeral and burial. Like the Egyptians, they sent their people off to the afterlife with all they could need--live animals, food, jewels, money, tools, etc. Pretty swanky! So all those ships either ran aground or eventually sank, I suppose. Very interesting stuff! 

And now to a more somber, less-expected adventure: the Norwegian holocaust museum. Give me an F in world history, as I didn't know that the holocaust really even came up this far north. But sure enough, it did. That is part of the reason there is animosity between Norway and Sweden today--the Swedes were "neutral but friendly" toward Germany, and they allowed Nazis into Norway. Many Norwegians (Jews and others) were send to Dachau and other concentration camps, just like in central Europe. 

Moving on to happier things, another ferry ride! Next stop, the mainland and the Nobel Peace Museum! Which, unfortunately, was a big fat disappointment. There wasn't anything really about Nobel himself, and only a small exhibit about the prize winners. Mostly it was about some cause that I can't even remember now! Oh, and chemical warfare. Those two things took up 90% of the museum. Skip it. 

Next, the castle! Yes indeed, the castle grounds were quite lovely. The museum was already closed, but the grounds offered lots to see! 

Anyone up for a romantic stroll around the top? It was lovely! 

And now we're getting hungry... Good thing our Oslo pass also includes discounts on restaurants! The one we decided to go to, I think it was called the Christiana, was definitely a tourist restaurant, but the food was delicious! I got a type of fish I'd never heard of the before (Lind, perhaps?), and it was amazing! These Scandinavians really know how to blend flavors without everything getting lost in the sauce, so to speak. Take a look! 

OK, I just love the tea set lamp! In the middle picture, the fish is in the foreground with veggies and mashed potatoes, and Steve's steak frites are in the background. And our cute little mini dessert plate is on the far right. On the dessert plate, from left to right, we have a cookie, the cutest and tiniest cupcake ever, a brownie-hazelnut-type thing, and passionfruit mousse. Yum!

Time for bed! The sun stays out a while here, but Steve and Whitney don't! More to come! Oslo day two is next including THE SCREAM!

Honeymoon Installment #3

And now we're off to explore Norway in a Nutshell! First stop, the train station!

Well, the first stop was actually breakfast. =)

Now we're off to the train station! Norway in a Nutshell is a tour of sorts that takes you from Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, to Oslo, the capitol of Norway on the southeast coast. This is what we did on Steve's birthday (May 9), so that made it extra special! Here's the overview: scenic train ride, scenic bus ride, fjord cruise, train up to the snowy mountains, and another train to Oslo. It's going to be a full day!

The views from the first train ride were beautiful! Norway's mountains and lovely blue bodies of water are truly breath-taking. We were definitely there at a good time, too, what with so many flowers and other plants blooming. The train stopped in this little tiny town, whose name I cannot recall, and we all (the Norway in a Nutshellers) piled into a couple of charter buses. The driver (who said everything in English) was so cute! People in Scandinavia were terribly friendly, which made the experience all the more fun and entertaining!

The route we took on the bus was the primary road between Bergen and Oslo until as recently as 1999. Take a look:

A bit windy, to say the least! Our bus driver nonchalantly said, "This was a problem in the winter." No kidding! They now have a very nice, much straighter, much flatter main road, so the huge tour buses and other sightseers take this one instead! 

Down, down, and around we go, weaving through the mountains and valleys, down to the fjords! So, what's a fjord? According to Wikipedia, a fjord is "a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion." And it's pretty impressive! 

Lovely, yes? 

The fjord cruise was my favorite part. I just wish I hadn't been so tired and the sound and feel of the running engine hadn't been so very relaxing! We saw villages where people still live alongside the shoreline and up the mountain sides. The mail is still carried by row boat across the fjord from village to village in some cases, and there's even one village that can only be accessed by climbing a ladder up to it! These people live the same way they have for centuries, but to me it seems like a fun fairytale! I wonder what these people do for jobs (are they all herring fishers?), how long their families have lived there, where do they go to the grocery store? So many questions, but for now, it's fun to just wonder! 

We got out at a cute little (operative word, little) town called Flaam. No, not like phlegm, like Flaam. We had a couple of hours to spend before catching our next train, so we went off to explore! There are a few hiking trails, some shops, and even a resort, but nothing else! We saw a few homes on our walk, but for the most part, the town seemed to be made for tourists! Steve said these flowers must be like Scandinavian edelweiss. They're everywhere! 

Skip ahead a couple of hours, and we're off again! Here we go! 

Choo choo! I had Steve take that picture to make Joel envious. Anyone who knows my younger brother Joel knows he was very excited about trains when he was little! 

Up, up, and up we go! Up the hills. Up into the mountains. Up into the SNOW! Yes indeed, the freshly fallen type. 

Folks are still skiing the slopes through mid-May, at least around there. Glad we dressed in layers! 

So that train dropped us off at a tiny train station for a bit until the next train to Oslo came through. The last leg of our trip was a 5-hour train ride into downtown Oslo. It's really handy having daylight until 10:30 pm--we still got to see a lot of things, even in the late evening. We also took the time to just relax and read. It was nice to have some built-in down time! 

And at long last, we arrived! Now we just needed to find the hotel, which should be adjacent to the train station... By the time we really found it and made our way through all the people (there happened to be a "tattoo," or concert, going on involving one or more of Norway's military bands), we were ready for bed! With so much to do and see in Oslo, we needed our beauty rest! 

Come join us in out next adventure: taking on Oslo! Vikings, history, and more fjords await! 

Honeymoon Installment #2

Second stop: Bergen, Norway

Bergen, Norway. The Frozen Land of Loveliness!

Hei! (Hey! in Norwegian)

Welcome to the cutest city in the world! It is definitely in my top 5 favorite cities in the world anyway. Would you like a fun fact? I thought so! Arandale in Disney’s Frozen was set in a town modeled after Bergen! Norway was sunny and bright when we arrived around 5:00ish that evening. After Denmark’s overcast skies, we were excited for some sun! Bergen (and, as we found, most all of Norway) is breath-takingly beautiful! The trees were so green, there were flowers of every kind, everywhere we looked, the water was blue, the old buildings and homes were adorable and brightly painted.

But best of all, our hotel looked like it was plucked right out of Frozen! Everything was purple and/or silver, or some color scheme that went with that. Even the décor and the Norwegian-style symbols on the carpet looked like they’d just come out of the movie! Luckily, the temperatures in the hotel and in Bergen were above “frozen.” ;)

Since we got there later than anticipated, we didn’t get out to do much exploring. But we did wake up early enough to go for an exploratory morning run the next day! We ran along the waterline, up a hill, around the fish market, past a couple of churches and a couple of castles, and saw some very beautiful things! Steve runs faster and farther than I, but he was sweet enough to stay with me for a while. =)

We met up back at the hotel, showered, and headed down for a real Norwegian breakfast buffet! Yes, there were almost as many types of fish we there were cheeses! Smoked salmon comes at each and every meal, and pickled herring is delicious in several types of sauces! They also put out brownies and carrot cake, fruit (including passionfruit, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, and muskmelon), crepes, cook-it-yourself eggs, hard and soft-boiled eggs, juices or many sorts, and I’m sure some more things I’m forgetting! It was a true smörgåsbord!

After a thorough fueling, we were ready to take on Norway! First stop of the day: the Funicular, or Fløibanen! Up, up, and away! The mountain, Fløyen, is 320 meters (1,050 feet) above sea level, and the views on the way up and at the top are breath-taking! The funicular was built between 1914 and 1918 to help people who worked up the mountain to get to work. It’s engineered with German parts, and as it happened, the contract was made just before the German Mark lost a lot of value, so by the time they had to actually pay for it, the Norwegians ended up paying almost nothing for it! The system has been in continuous operation ever since, and it’s the #1 attraction in Bergen! We walked around a bit up there, seeing the city from various vantage points, and got a great shot together:

We also discovered there is a witch up the mountain. We didn’t see her. We’ll have to go back!

And now for something that was completely my idea: a museum about Bergen in the 1600s! I was blown away at the items they had on display—chairs, beds, chests, tools, maps, lamps, paintings—all from the 17^th century and all just right out there in the open! Many of the things are similar to what we have at Gunston Hall, the 18^th century Colonial home where I’m a docent. Even thousands of miles apart, people used the same technology even back then!

Onward we go. I looked at getting a sweater—because that’s what you get in Scandinavia, right? But I just couldn’t do it. I could NOT make myself pay hundreds of dollars for any item of clothing, even something really cool and authentically Scandinavian! What we did find fascinating, however, is that all the shops on the Bryggen wharf are extremely slanted! Click on the link at the bottom for pictures! I guess they’ve been standing for close to 400 years, so they should be sturdy, but wow!

And speaking of Bryggen Wharf, that happens to be where the cruise ships, sailing ships, and other seafaring vessels like to dock. It was quite the lovely sight to behold, for certain! We passed by several very large ships on our walk to the castle—again, so we can go to the highest point in town! What is not widely advertised, however, is the fact that it’s actually only open on Sundays during the winter, which is mid-may, and we were there in early May. Bummer! The castle was pretty, though. We saw some beautiful birds and some gorgeous flowers. Even in late “winter,” these Scandinavian countries have the most beautiful flowers!

Steve always wants to see EVERYTHING, everywhere he goes, and since we only had the one day to see all of Bergen, we needed to get a move on! Onward we walked, all the way across town. Scandinavians enjoy their statues. And we know this because we saw lots of them in each country we visited. We saw a lovely pedestrian street (if only we liked shopping!), the outsides of a few museums (who has time to go in when you must see EVERYTHING?), a lovely lake with birds of many sorts, found where the train station is, and looked at a couple of very old churches. But my favorite thing we saw? That would be the gardens outside the Natural History Museum! You know how I love my tulips! 

By the time we got back to the hotel, my little feet were tired! I'm sure Steve's were even more tired because he ran farther than I had that morning. I have to say, even though we spent fewer than 48 hours in the little town, it was my favorite place we visited! The little row houses and shops along the oldest part of the city looked very old Western to me, which makes sense, because many Scandinavians ended up settling the West! 

We knew we needed our sleep that night because we'd be making our way to the train station at 8:00 to catch our train--we are now headed all the way across Norway by train, bus, boat, train, and train again for Norway in a Nutshell! Please join us (on Steve's and my Mom's birthday!) on our trek across the country! We'll wake in Bergen and snooze in Oslo! 

In the meantime, please see our pictures! 

BERGEN

Honeymoon Installment #1

First Stop: Copenhagen, Denmark

Greetings to you all! My apologies for the blogging delay. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for coming along with us!

So, where do two avid travellers go on their honeymoon? Where is the dollar strongest? Where is the most beautiful place? What kind of food do we want? The biggest question for us was, “Where have we never been?”

SCANDINAVIA!

And that’s how we came to that decision. Steve has had it on his bucket list for quite some time now, and I’d never been either. I’m not one for a cold climate, but once I found out Disney’s Frozen was based there, I was 100% onboard!

So, where in Scandinavia? Where do we start? Is Finland technically Scandinavian? Steve says no, but I’m still skeptical! After much debate and deliberation, I gave honeymoon planning entirely over to my Love (Steve). What a load off! And here we are to tell the tale…

Like the title states, our first stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. Yes, Hans Christian Andersen’s home country, one of the happiest countries in the world, and land of Legos! Fun Fact: Denmark is the oldest kingdom still in existence—all the way since 995 AD.

So what’s there to see in Denmark? Well, most importantly, The Little Mermaid!

We went for a run almost as soon as we got there, having spent the better part of 18 hours in airports and on planes. After figuring out the public transportation system (FYI, all tickets can be used for any public transit—woohoo!), we found our hotel, saw lots of cool old buildings along the way, and checked in. We stayed at The Admiral Hotel, which is in an old warehouse right on the water, with beautiful sea views! They maintained the old exposed beams and really utilized the space very well. They upgraded us to a room on the top floor with a loft that overlooked the water—quite beautiful!

Gorgeous views aside, we needed to run and stretch our legs! Even though I know I slowed him down significantly, Steve stayed with me until the end, even stopping with me along the way when I needed to walk or take pictures. Appropriately, the first stop on our run was the Little Mermaid! She’s just off the rocky shoreline, and just over 100 years old. Though she looked a bit forlorn, I know she was as happy to see me as I was to see her!

We ran around to see some parks and gardens (their flowers bloomed beautifully, even in the chill!), an old fortress, along the waterfront, many many many statues, and even a large replica of Noah’s Ark! Who knew Denmark was home to the Ark?

Time for bed! They may get lots of sunlight up there in the spring and summer, but Steve and I were pooped! And with only one full day to see all Copenhagen had to offer, we needed to rest up!

Tuesday morning dawned before we did, but we caught up swiftly! Let’s go see the sights! Even with an overcast sky and the threat of rain, Steve and I got to see some very beautiful and historic things. The Danes have several very beautiful gardens going on in Copenhagen. My favorite, of course, were the multitudes of tulips!

Steve was in charge of the guidebook, so he directed our route. First must-see: The Marble Church, also called Frederik’s Church. While quite lovely and peaceful, it’s made of granite, not marble—so don’t let the name fool you!

The roof is copper, like so many buildings here and throughout Europe, with the green making it stand out on the skyline. The first stone was placed in 1749, at the request of King Frederik V. A series of budget cuts (and we all know about that!) and the death of the architect delayed the project until at long last it was completed in 1894!

The church is conveniently located next to Amalienborg Palace, home to the world’s oldest monarchy. It’s made up of four identical buildings, surrounding a large cobblestone plaza. While the monarchy is ancient, the palace was just built in the 1700s! We did not stay for the changing of the guard (too much else to see and do!), but we did see the Royal Guardsmen keeping watch! The flag was up over the palace, meaning the queen was inside.

And off we go! One would think my living on the bumpy brick streets of Old Town I’d be a pro at navigating round other countries’ bumpy streets, but not so! I nearly bit the bumps many a time walking around! We got a bit off course and ended up in an area where there was nothing particularly historic to see, but got back on track quickly! Steve made friends with a sweet white puppy:

Walking around, seeing sights, and looking for postcards is pretty exhausting work, so what’s next on our list? Lunchtime! My Danish friend Kim told me that the Danish love their open-face sandwiches, and wouldn’t you know that on the menu at the fancy café we went to were open-face sandwiches. Steve got the chicken club, but I went full-on Scandinavian and got the salmon!

Yeah, it was a little bigger than I anticipated! But it sure was good. Interestingly, they put sauce (heavy mayo-based) on the plate so that the sandwich sat in it, and also inside the sandwich. It was definitely a fork-and-knife endeavor!

Now that we were refueled, it was time to be about our business! Next stop, Rosenborg Slot—also known as Rosenborg Castle. Unfortunately for us, it was closed for a private event, which was disappointing because Kim told me it was the #1 thing we needed to see, but the grounds outside were open, so we did get to see the gardens!

In Steve’s and my adventures, you may notice that we like to go up into tall things. We both love to see the city skylines from the highest point possible. In Copenhagen, the best place we knew of to do that was the Rundetårn, or Round Tower—aptly named because it is, indeed, round and a tower! It was originally built as an observatory in 1642 by then-monarch Christian IV. Up and up and up the ramp we walked. Legend has it Christian IV rode up there on horseback, and history says that Russian Czar Peter the Great rode up to the top on horseback, pulling his wife behind him in a two-wheeled carriage! Steve and I walked. It’s 34.8 meters from ground to observatory platform (just over 114 feet, approximately 11 ½ stories), but there are a few lookout points along the way. One of which has “Kyssebaenken” written on the wall, so guess who got a kiss at that lookout point! (I made him, shamelessly!) The view from the top was just beautiful—all those green rooftops, the sea, the boats, the brightly colored buildings, the trees—we loved it!

Next up: City Hall! This was also high on the “must-see” list in the guidebook, and for good reason. It is quite elaborate and ornate, both inside and out. Gargoyles guard the doors inside:

Steve made friends with them. They let us in.

There is a big plaza off to the side that comprises City Hall Square. They were setting up for an event when we were there. A little thing called EuroVision, I think. ;) You know, that contest that made ABBA world famous? That thing.

Also on the square, right next to Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard, is Hans Christian Andersen himself! Steve and I made friends with him. He was great!

Moving right along, just across the H.C. Andersen Boulevard, is Tivoli, the world second oldest amusement park! THE oldest amusement park is also in Denmark, about 10 miles out of town. No wonder this is one of the happiest countries in the world! Had it been warmer and not threatening rain, we would have gone in, but as it was, we took a couple of pictures from the outside and peered through the gates.

And speaking of moving right along, the last thing we NEEDED to see was the world’s largest pedestrian street: Strøget! The pedestrian street started in the 1960s to preserve some of Copenhagen’s historic streets from the cars that were becoming more and more popular. It’s lined with shops and restaurants for 100,000 square meters, which is nearly 330,000 square feet! Some of the most expensive shops in the world are there (Louis Vuitton, Armani, Gucci, Burberry, etc.), but so are a lot of souvenir shops as well. And we were really in for an unplanned treat… The Danish Royal Navy Band happened to be giving a free performance! We sat and listened for a while, enjoying familiar tunes, including English songs!

After stopping in a couple of souvenir shops, we decided it was suppertime! The restaurant at the hotel was supposed to be excellent, so we tried it out. It’s called SALT, which is something the Scandinavians (and especially the Danes!) enjoy and use in large amounts on EVERYTHING! The restaurant was quite fancy inside, and the food selections they had were unique and all seemed delicious! Rhubarb was a common ingredient in many of the dishes. Also, I’d been seeing “cockle” on several menus and was so curious about what it was. So, I decided to branch out and try something new. I needed to try this cockle!

Word to the wise: “cockle” is fancy Scandinavian terminology for “chicken.” But delicious chicken! As a matter of fact it might have been the best chicken I’ve ever eaten! And I never would have thought to pair chicken and rhubarb—yum!

And for dessert? Why, rhubarb porridge, of course!

The next morning, I went in search of the one Danish food I simply must eat while in Denmark—the Danish. Or Viennese, as the Danes call it. Who’d have thought? Unfortunately, my search was in vain. There were no danishes anywhere to be found! Or at least not in the bakeries I saw. So I “settled” for a chocolate croissant and a mocha (settled? Maybe that’s not the right word) in a most charming little coffee shop! Yes, I was eating a pastry while Steve was running, but that’s what we do. =)

And we’re off to the airport once more! Where we sat until our flight to Bergen was cancelled! Luckily, we got on the next flight out, just an hour and a half later—whew! Please join us for our “Frozen” Bergen adventure! Next stop: Norway!

For more pictures, please see this link!

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