Jo’s Quantum Cafe

Thursday, May 19, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark
We left for the Orlando airport at 1:45 for a 3:50 flight. We flew Air Trans to Baltimore, connected with Icelandair to Reykjavik and changed planes for Copenhagen. Our one check-in bag was routed straight through to Denmark.

The flight through to Iceland was uneventful. Richard managed to sleep more than I. I got a couple of hours then was awake the rest of the Atlantic crossing. I couldn’t sleep through passing over Greenland into Iceland, two places I thought I’d never see., even from the air. Both were incredible but Iceland had the most unique geology of any country I’ve ever been in. Near the Reykjavik airport, the landscape was flat, rock-strewn, and brown. There was one small patch of green and that was it. It was all tundra vegetation but barely a sign of spring. So flat you could see 100 miles or so it seemed.

Friday, May 20
We were in Reykjavik just an hour, before boarding our 3rd plane to Copenhagen. When we arrived in Copenhagen, our trip was nearly ruined. I used the toilet (it’s not called a restroom in Scandinavia) and the hook was very high on the left side of the stall, not on the door in front like it is in the States. Anyway, I walked out and was through Customs when I realized I’d left my camera hanging on the hook!

I was sent on a goose chase until I got to the information counter at the other end of the airport, far away from the toilet and my camera. I couldn’t go back through Customs to get it, and the guy at the information counter was very slow to respond to my urgency. When he finally did, he was throwing out roadblocks as to why he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t send a man into the ladies room (ask a woman to do it I told him), he couldn’t send someone through customs (get someone on that side to look) - anyway, he finally called on his radio and the search was made. Ten minutes later, a young man came down beaming that he had found my camera! He was so happy. The complete antithesis of the “helpful” man behind the counter.

We took an electric train 3 stops to our Scandic Weber Hotel near the Center Train station. First thing was an hour nap, then change of clothing and go walking. We were a couple of blocks from Tivoli Gardens and had ribs for dinner at Bryggeriet Apollo at Tivoli. This restaurant is a mini brewery. Tivoli Gardens, from the outside, seems more an amusement park than a garden.

After dinner, we changed at the hotel, then walked the city 4.5 miles, covering over 6 miles for the day. However, we couldn’t find any Danish pastry shops for dessert so we bought a piece of chocolate at a sweet store in the train station. The travel film we saw said their was a pastry shop on every corner. Not in this part of Copenhagen which, by the way, is pronounced and spelled Cobenhavn by the Dahnish.

At the train station, we also bought two small bottles of Gatorade and 1 bottle, also small, of Evian. That came to 54KR ($10). Dinner was $56.

Saturday, May 21
Today we walked our little doggies off. First thing though, we had a nice shower and a breakfast of ham and cheese, hard boiled egg, Danish, flat bread and apple juice. We did a walking tour of Cobenhavn past the canal, the Hans Christian Andersen statue, buildings dating to the 17th century, plazas, and wide squares. It rained all morning, some of it a drencher.

We stopped at a local hamburger place for sandwiches. I had something called tzatikis which consisted of cucumber and olives in a heavy cream sauce on a 10 inch hoagie! Then it was back to the hotel to get out of our damp clothes and rest a bit.

The afternoon excursion was toward the wharf and Nyhavn. We saw Hans Christian Andersen’s residence and another statue of him. We also saw where to get the boats for the canal ride.

The sun was shining brightly so we decided to bike from the hotel to the wharf. The bikes are free in Cobenhavn. Put in a coin, take a bike, and get your coin back when you lock the bike. These bikes are colorful, adjustable, and heavy. Definitely difficult to steal but not to wreck. We did see a few banged up and without seats.

Motorists pay the equivalent of $4 each time they come into the city. If you have to drive to the city on a daily basis, this could get expensive fast. As a result, it is a very bicycle friendly city with special lanes for the bikes and fewer cars on the roads. Pedestrians have the right of way in Denmark and in Norway, even if they jaywalk.

We left the bikes at the wharf and walked to the Little Mermaid statue, a hefty hike. As predicted, the statue is rather small but it attracts a crowd and people climb down to get their picture taken next to it. Actually, it’s about life-size.

We took the train back to the hotel. Our walking tour of the day included Frederiksborg castle (from the outside), the Marble Church f(from the outside), the Royal Palace (from the outside)… We also strolled through two parks.

Dinner was a Chinese restaurant, the China House. It was good if simple. Then we talked to our daughter using the internet as a telephone. The hotel, the first and last on the trip to do so, had wireless connection in the room so we could use the laptop. The computer said we walked 5.5 miles. The GPS (we brought the portable system) said we did 8 miles. I’m more inclined to believe the GPS.

Sunday, May 22
Another full day. We were so worn out from the past two that after breakfast, we went back to bed. We woke around 11:30 and went to Tivoli. I was very pleasantly surprised once we got inside. It was lovely with a lake in the center and hundreds of tulips. There were pipe water fountains with air bubbles gushing up in clear plastic tubes.

The thrill rides were at least 50 years old for the most part. Only two seemed modern, a parachute drop and a no bottom, twisting metal roller coaster. One coaster actually was so old it had a brake driver on every train! This is a guy that rides the coaster with the kids and pulls a lever to stop the car. Wild and out of the 40’s. then there was a carousel that had a horse that rocked back and forth instead of up and down, spin cars, an elephant with an Indian style carriage on top, a giraffe with two seats - very cool. For there kiddies, there was a carousel that had a fire engine, motorcycles, a locomotive. And there were 1900’s cars on a track that parents could ride with youngsters. Also, there was an amusement arcade.

We skipped lunch, instead sharing a softice ice cream. When we left the park, we got our wrists stamped so we could return in the evening for the lights.

After reorganizing, we took the train to Nyhavn and took a canal boat ride in one of those flat boats that hold 100 people. It was a great hour, especially as the sun was shining today.

Interesting note. Richard wears transition lenses. They were so dark they were black. They never get that dark in Florida even in direct sunlight. Northerners really need to protect against UV rays. They are much worse in the north then we have in the south.

We took the train back to the hotel and ate at a Chinese restaurant nearby called the Golden Bamboo. It had the prettiest décor of any restaurant I’ve ever been in and the food was the best we’ve had so far.
Afterward, it was pack for tomorrow’s train ride and back to Tivoli for the evening light shows. Richard also wanted to stop at the train station and check on the train.

Monday, May 23, Sweeden to Norway
Today we rode the train through Sweden. It was a bit disappointing as it was the same train as for Cobenhavn. It was classy in the city, but uncomfortable for a 4 hour trip.

All the trains in Scandinavia are electric and very quiet. That was a pleasant surprise.

At Gothenburg, we changed trains and this one was great - foot rests, reclining seats, large picture windows that were clean.

I slept much of the first train. When we changed trains, I wanted to get some food. We had a 15 minute layover. But in Scandinavia, there’s a problem with currency between countries. Although they all use a version of the kroner, each country has it’s own version and doesn’t accept coinage from the other countries. I had to run to a bank, change my Danish currency to Swedish currency in order to buy tuna bagels (bialys) and sparkling water (water with gas).

The second part of the train trip was more interesting. The scenery looked very much like Pennsylvania, PA, which was settled by Germans and Swedes, so it stands to reason there would be many similarities.

We also had an interesting conversation with a Norwegian woman who was traveling with her 3 sheep dogs on the train! Customs are quite different toward animals in Europe. This woman was Norwegian, spent half the year in Sweden because it was cheaper, and had a Danish boyfriend of 13 years. And I also found out that the Norwegian language is the more difficult of these three countries and that Iceland kept the Viking language pretty in tact while lower Scandinavia has changed through the centuries. Norway is, this year, celebrating its 100th year of independence from Denmark. It was also, at one time, under the rule of Sweden.

Our hotel is the Rainbow Munch (pronounced Monk) in Oslo. This one is tiny. The toilet faces the sink so sitting on it your chin is fighting contact with the basin! Another problem with the hotel is that it’s convenient to nothing. It’s a mile from the train station and the cab fare for that one mile was $26 for us! To take the trolley it costs $16 for two people. In Denmark, the hotel was a couple of blocks from the train station.

One unusual aspect of Scandinavia is the beds. They aren’t made up with bed covers, usually, the way we do in the States. They were very comfortable in all the hotels, but it took us awhile to figure out the thin white part is the mattress and the folded thicker part on top is the down coverlet, not the bedspread. The attendant couldn’t understand why we were asking where the cover was.

Tuesday, May 24, Oslo, Norway
We began the morning taking the trolley and the subway to the ski jump in Holmenkollen, overlooking Oslo. The area was beautiful with a grand view of Oslo below and we were able to climb to the top of the ski jump and look down it. We spent about two hours here, then subway to Vigeland, a park of statuary by a single artist. The centerpiece of the park was a human obelisk of intertwining bodies. Gustav Vigeland was Norway’s most famous sculptor with over 180 thematic works displayed on the 79 acre Frogner Park. His work is a study of the human form from infancy through old age in accurate and explicit detail.

We next saw the city hall, begun in 1918 and finally completed in 1950. Politics had much to do with the slowness. This is where some of the Nobel prizes are handed out.

NOTE: I have learned that the Nobel Peace Prize is handed out in Oslo at the City Hall and that all other Nobel Prizes are given out in Sweden. Thanks to Erik of Norway for this correction.

From City Hall, we walked across the street to Akershus Fortress and found the castle closed. Darn. It closed at 1600 and we got there at 1605. Darn. I really wanted to tour this one of dungeons, banquet hall, state rooms, and chapel. Maybe on the back end of the trip.

We skipped lunch yesterday and today and had Italian dinner which was very good if pricy - $80 for 2 bottles of water, spaghetti with meat sauce, and a vegetarian pizza. All ala carte and no vegetables. The restaurant was the Mona Lisa.

We’ve been sleeping with the windows open since beginning holiday and that is so great. In Florida, it’s very seldom one can open a window. It’s just too hot.

Wednesday, May 25
This day was our 30th anniversary day. The day did not start well. We checked out of our hotel and dragged the luggage to the trolley stop. The number 10 trolley was there and we ran to make it. Just as we got there, the driver closed the door almost in our faces and drove off! It was 20 minutes before another number 10 came by.

Then at the train station, I went off balance on the escalator and fell backwards, landing on my suitcase but then sliding several steps backwards down the escalator. I screamed for Richard but there was nothing he could do. I was hoping he could grab me at the top. I was afraid I’d get caught in the teeth. Richard couldn’t make out the coding to find the emergency cutoff button among the clutter of foreign symbols. Luckily, a passenger at the bottom hit the stop and the woman directly behind me struggled to lift me upright. I was badly shaken, but not hurt. I don’t even remember how I got to the top of the escalator but suddenly I was in Richard’s arms and he was comforting me.

The rest of the day was more pleasant. The Oslo/Bergen (pronounced Beergen) train ride was delightful and the main reason to go to Oslo. There was snow and ice on the mountains that we passed through. People were still skiing in Finse (Fin see) at the 3000′ elevation. We passed the area where we would later catch the Flambann train. That’s in two days when we do the ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour.

We found out later that this has been the coldest May in 50 years. I didn’t mind too much. I love snow and it was wonderful to see it.

Our hotel was the best yet. It was the Grand Terminus and is across the street from the train station. The rooms are luxurious and spacious with an actual tub.

Tonight’s dinner was fish and chips for Richard and fried scampi with rice and salad for me. We shared an appetizer of tomato soup with quartered hard boiled egg and I had hot chocolate for my drink. Total for dinner was about $60.

After dinner, we took the funicular up Mt. Floyban for a spectacular view of the city, even though it was drizzling and chilly. We also stopped at an Internet Cafe to check messages from home.

Thursday, May 26, Bergen
Bergen is a beautiful city - larger than i expected. today, though, it was cold. In the 40’s, windy and wet.
Our first stop was the wharf area which boasts the oldest wooden structures in Europe still remaining from the 12th century. We also visited the fish market, which is huge. This was on our way to Rosenkrantz Slotz, a twelfth century tower.

At Rosenkrantz Slotz, we were disappointed that we couldn’t see the great hall which was being prepped for an affair. The tower rooms were completely devoid of furnishings. You had to try to imagine how they might have been decorated. The narrow, twisting stairs, high arched windows and parapet were all interesting and some of the glass windows looked to be original.

The castle had a parapet that we were able to go out onto. The rain wasn’t hard but was blowing sideways across the walkway. I had to turn my back to it as I moved along the narrow wooden parapet. I found out later, as we watched the movie Richard filmed, that it was ice pellets I was dodging. Apparently it was cold enough to produce hail.

Next, we visited Mariakirken, (kirken means church) built in the same era as the castle. It’s the best preserved medieval building in Bergen. I loved the painted wooden carvings and beautiful art work on wooden planks.

We also visited Korskirken and got some history of the place from an historian and volunteer docent. He pointed out things we never would have noticed like how the cross wings of the church didn’t line up.

The third and last church we visited was Domkirken, an austere church newer in design and closer to the style of today’s churches.

Lunch was at the Storecenter and then we went back to the hotel to dry out and warm up. Our short nap turned into a two hour sleep.

When we woke up, we loaded the laundry into a suitcase to find the laundrymat the hotel had pointed us to only to learn it was non-existent. Asking local businessmen where there was a laundrymat proved fruitless as well. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a sushi and noodle house for a very good dinner, then went to the internet cafe to download and answer email.

Back at the hotel, we got ready for our ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ trip that we would take the next day. Today’s walk clocked in at 6.5 miles.

Friday, May 27, Norway in a Nutshell
Today we did the “Norway in a Nutshell” trip. This was a wonderful trip and I recommend doing it but in reverse to the printed schedule. We took the train to Voss, (Vahss) got the 2 hour fjord tour at Gudvangen, then the train from Flam (the Flamsbann) to Myrdal and another train from Myrdal to Bergen. It was much less crowded this way. The cost is $152 a person and worth it.

(One word of caution: take plenty of medications along with you to Norway. I ran out of lactaid tablets and it cost $44 for 100 pills in Norway. Advil was closer to $60. However, I found the lactaid tablets to be better than the lactaid pills in this country.)

The fjord was as beautiful as expected. It was intermittent cloudy/sunny and at this time of year, with the snow melt, there were literally hundreds of waterfalls. Some of the passengers were tossing bread to the gulls so they were in tight proximity to the boat. Our tour covered two of the smaller, most beautiful arms of the Songnefjord, one of the largest fjords in the world. The arms were the Naeroyfjord, the narrowest in the world, and the Aurlandfjord.

One of the highlights of the Flamsbann was Kojosfossen Waterfall. there was a Maiden of the Mist show with music, short but a plesant distraction. The waterfall is 305′.

We took the train to Voss where we got the bus to Gudvangen. The bus made one stop high above the valley and fjord for a spectacular view which was, of course, a pit stop and souvenir gift shop stop as well. The bus took us down to Gudvangen where we caught the boat for the fjord trip. We exited the boat at Flam and spent about an hour at the few shops along the port and then took the Flam train up to Myrdal. The Flamsbann follows one of the steepest train grades in Europe for a non funicular train. At Myrdal, the train took us back to Bergen and it was snowing while we waited for the train! This was the one and only time it was snowing although we did see plenty of snow on the ground later on.

Saturday, May 28
This was the day we rented our car, an Opal H class wagon from Avis, adding me as a driver. This one gave us plenty of room for suitcases, jackets, etc. Nice. The A class cars won’t even hold a large suitcase, I found out.

We spent the first hour trying to navigate our way out of Bergen. I was driving and Richard was using the GPS. The GPS has been a blessing. Even if we get lost, it doesn’t take much to get back on the right path with this hand-held Magellan unit to guide us. (NOTE: We now own a MIO and I LOVE this unit! So much more user-friendly than a Magellan and the maps are much better. With the MIO, I don’t think it would have taken us an hour to get out of Bergen.)

We drove a scenic route from Bergen along E16, stopping at a restored stave (pronounced stahv) church, Fantov Stavkirjke. It was difficult to find off the beaten path.

At one point, I pulled off into a shopping center and I was followed by a motorcycle. He pulled even with Richard to point out our left rear tire was low and direct us to the nearest gas station! The air was free at the station and we found that both tires on the passenger side were low. We had to keep an eye on these for the rest of the trip, but when we returned the Avis car and told them about the tire problem, they took off charges for adding me as a driver and for the extra day we had the car. Really nice of them!

At Fantov, we learned that stave refers to the pole construction used in making the church, not to the ornate decorations on many of them. Several stave churches had dragons to protect them as well as Christ figures and paintings inside the church. That’s because when they were built, the Norse people were in transition between their gods and Christianity.

In 1992, the church was burnt to the ground (vandalized). With all the tar used to protect the wood from insects and rot, they said it was more like an implosion and the church was completely destroyed in minutes. It was rebuilt with tools reconstructed to emulate those of the period. Only the roof tiles were machined. There were over 20,000 0f these and to make each by hand as they did when the church was first built would have taken years. The only metal in this church were the door hinges and candle holders.

The girl who was giving us all this information was studying English and American history at university. She was reading a book called “Fear of America” that piqued Richard’s interest and started a lengthy discussion. We talked also of dragons and speculated about them actually having been real creatures at one time. I recommended “Dragon Riders of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey and she got excited about the book and had me write down the information.

From Fantov, we drove southerly to Oystese (Oy stes e), stopping along the way for photo opportunities. I shot over 3800 pictures this trip! Isn’t digital wonderful? We brought the laptop computer along so I was able to dump the card each day into organized folders named for each date of the trip.

One stop was especially thrilling to me. It was a roadside farm with lots of sheep and lambs! We pulled into the driveway and got out of the car to watch the farmer guiding the sheep up the road from one pasture to another. No sheepdog. As they passed, two lambs actually came over to me to sniff and take a look. It was idyllic. The farmer’s wife came out of the house to call her English spaniel, a beautiful dog, and her cats and we chatted a bit as she spoke English.

On the way to Oysteses, we crossed the Hardangerfjoid to Vaga (Vah gah) by ferry. What a surprise when I spotted a large dorsal fin cutting the water that turned out to be attached to an Orca!!! I’ve never seen killer whales in the wild before. They were too fastfor me to photograph, although I did manage to snap a shot of the fin. Richard got some wonderful movies, though. We saw them breach as well.

After we left the ferry, it was a pretty intense drive, twisting and turning, to the hotel. Our first action, after checking in, was food! But the hotel dining room was closed between 4 and 7. The clerk recommended a Chinese restaurant across the street that was open and the food turned out to be very good.

Our room was about as far away from the front as you could get and no elevator to lift our luggage. The clerk recommended driving down this gravel path to the back of the hotel and bringing in our luggage through the sliding doors leading to a small porch. Since in the back this was ground level (from the front we had to go down a flight of stairs), that proved the best way to handle things - with one exception. No way could I back the car up the long gravel road and the only way to turn around was to avoid bushes and go on the grass. Richard had to come out and guide me through this maneuver. It was tight!

After unloading our luggage, we drove to a wonderful waterfall. This one was much wider then most we’ve seen. Someone told me this was the coldest May in 50 years. That might account for the snow just starting to melt.

The second site we visited was Goldfish Lake. Signs to the site were problematic and we got lost. There would be a sign saying Goldfish Lake, then a 3 way split in the road with no indication which path to take for the lake. We were about to turn around when I pulled into the driveway of one home and a woman came out. I got out of the car to talk to her and ask directions. She struggled to tell me she didn’t speak English so I showed her the map with the Norwegian name of the lake and by signing and my repeating the directions in English, we figured it out. She gave excellent directions and we found the lake in a lovely hidden valley. The lake was stocked with Koi.

Sunday, May 29, Voss
Norway is closed. We were fortunate to find a Shell station open for gas and soap suds and a campground with a single washer and dryer. These were tiny by US standards, only holding 4 jeans some shirts and socks per load, but I’m thankful they were there. One campground would not let us use theirs since we weren’t staying there, but this campground outside of Voss had no problem with that. We couldn’t get laundry service in Bergen at the hotel and could not find a laundrymat, which seemed non-existent. The hotel told us where one was but it wasn’t there and a native we spoke to said there were no laundrymats in the city. This was the first trip we planned on doing laundry in a country and this occupied a considerable amount of time trying to find a place to wash clothes. Go figure. But Norway is very new to tourism.
We had to exchange our cash for tokens in order to use the machines. The washer ran on low water and took an hour per load, regardless of the setting you chose. The same with the dryer. Low heat and an hour per setting so it took 3 hours to do 2 loads of wash and dry.

This day was rainy with low visibility most of the day. While we were waiting for our last load of clothes to dry, we walked to the nearby waterfall to take pictures. The falls were large enough to create a refrigerator effect so we were well chilled when we went back to get the clothes.

The hour was late when we left for our hotel. We had to rush through Vik without stopping. Pity. They have the oldest stave church there and I wanted to see it.

However, the drive was spectacular across a road seldom open with snow drifts 12′ high! The terrain was Arctic tundra. The snow was crystallized ice, not powder. At one point, the highest, we pulled over and I go out to photograph. There was exposed vegetation, purple, green and brown, and near the edge a grand view of the valley below. The wind was gusty. The car temperature gauge read 2C (34o).

Our hotel for the night was the Kvikne. Okay. This is now my favorite spot in all of Norway. The city is Balestrand and we had to take the ferry from Vangness to Hella, then get off the ferry, do a U turn, get back on the ferry and take it from Hella to Balestrand. Then we had to drive around a tiny fjord to the hotel. Richard jokes (but it’s true) we rode more ferries during our two weeks in Norway than we did in our entire previous lifetime!

The view surpassed our Mountain room view in Banff. We were in Banff shortly after our marriage. In Balestrand, we had a picture window room that appeared to look over a parking lot until you stepped out on the balcony. Then it was a 180o view of Sognefjord, the artist community of Balestrand, and a snowcapped mountain.

We are far enough north (61o latitude) that although the sun set at 10:15, the twilight effect lingered past midnight. It didn’t really get dark until 2ish and then the sun rose again around 3:30. if we had known about this place before the trip, we would have spent more time here and less time in Oslo.

Monday, May 30, Balestrand
Today was our first warm day and it got up to 15C. We spent the morning in a hot bath, then touring the hotel and exploring the 1800’s stave style church. This one was St. Olav. And yes, the thought turned immediately to Rose Nyland of Golden Girls. The church is called the ‘English church’ and was built in 1897.
From here we walked a little into the community to see some of the artists’ homes. The sun was shining! It was beautiful, our first full day of sun.

When we left the hotel, our main activity was a 64 mile drive that took 5 hours to make. This included a couple of stops for sheep and for views. The drive was to the stave church in Borgund that is the best preserved stave church in Norway. We took lots of photos before seeing the sign on the door that said no photography. Oops. The door was open and in shadow and when we entered, all we both saw was the church itself. No one stopped us or told us not to take pictures. Since we couldn’t take any in any of the other stave churches we visited, I was glad to have these photos.

Tuesday, May 31, Glacier
What a glorious day. The sun shone all day and our first stop this morning after leaving Sogndal was the Nigardsbreen for the Jostedalsbreen glacier, the largest in Norway and one of the largest in the Europe. This was a small arm of the glacier.

We were going to do a blue ice family walk. But it was too early in the season and that wasn’t running. Richard believes this walk included a boat ride to the foot of the glacier. Instead, to do the ice walk, you had to first hike over slick boulders and through streams for over an hour, just to get to the ice. We opted out of that walk and decided to try to get to the foot of the ice. After hiking about a quarter of the way, even with my walking stick, we both decided the going was too treacherous for the kind of footwear we had on and we turned back. The only indication we had that this was a trail was a red T painted on some of the boulders.
Instead, we began our 90 mile drive over mountain roads that were closed most of the year. The path lead through the Sognefjellet mountain range with some of the most spectacular views I’ve seen anywhere. The elevation was around the 3000′ mark but the snow was pristine. We started by looking up toward high, jagged peaks reminiscent of the Grand Tetons. Occasionally, a dark boulder peaked through the snow, a sure sign of spring and snow melt, which was just beginning at the higher elevations.

The Sognefjellsvegen stretches between Gaupe and Lom. This road was first declared a scenic highway in 1997 and was the first of its kind in Norway. Improvements were made to the road so cars could pull off for photograph opportunities.

We wound our way to the top of the pass, stopping frequently as every turn produced a new vista for the cameras. Stone cairn with rotting wooden posts showed where early travelers had crossed, marking a path through the ever-present white. Newer posts reached 20′ or more into the sky, noting the sides of the road for the snowplows.

Some of the drifts beside the car were in the 8 to 12 foot range. The temperature was a brisk 2C (34o). We weren’t dressed warm enough for anything but short bursts out of the car.

Two of our stops were of special note. One was a lookout that was a short walk from a parking area through snow. On the platform, we were almost parallel with the peaks seen from below. I photographed Richard beside a snow drift taller than he and took a picture of my hand with some of the snow.

The second stop of note was a ski lodge, still operating, at the summit. This area was being used for cross country skiing. It’s no wonder the Norwegians are hard to beat at the Winter Olympics. They can literally practice all year round. This stretch of road was, for a Florida gal, the most wonderful landscape of any Norway had to offer in the southern part of that country. Tonight we are in Lom, a lovely tourist community with log cabins and knotty pine hotel rooms.

Wednesday, June 1, Dombas
Tonight we are in Dombas at the Norlanda Dovrefjell Hotel. We took an easy day, visiting sites in Lom (the stave church for one and an open air museum of various styles of old Norwegian architecture) and Vega, an artist community. Still, we both slept when we hit the hotel, totally wiped out.

Thursday, June 2, Muskox
Yesterday was a rough day physically and emotionally. Last night went much better. The hotel in Dombas faced NW for our room and there were no blackout curtains. It was like taking a nap in overcast daylight. We went to bet at 10:30 and the sun was just setting behind the mountains. I was up around 2 and it was still twilight. At 4:53 I was wide awake to full sunlight. It took over an hour to fall asleep again.

Today we decided to do the guided mooskes (musk ox) safari. Richard and I both thought this would be get in a car and ride around looking for animals. It turned out to be a guided hike 300′ up a mountain and ¾ of a mile in. Total tour was 300′ up and 300′ down and 1.5 miles with an elevation of 3000′. The hike was over rocky terrain, across streams, and through snow over a foot deep. Neither of us were in hiking shoes. Richard wore his white K-Swiss sneakers and I had my Brooke running shoes. Definitely not waterproof.
The walking stick Richard got me for my birthday paid for itself this trip. There were only a couple of places on the way up that I needed some help from our guide, Orine (Arnie).

Just as we started up the trail, we saw two bulls very close by - less than the 200 meters distance we were supposed to keep. They are beautiful animals with long silky outer hair and a wool matting underneath that is the warmest wool produced by any animal. Several clumps were on fences and Orine pulled them off and let us feel. So soft. And clutched in a bare hand, so warm.

Orine told us these bulls were around 12 years old. Musk ox is in the goat family, not the cow family.

The trail lead through a snow field to the top of a mountain where we stayed for almost two hours. Orine set up a Carl Zeiss spotter scope to show us a heard of musk ox with young on a distant ridge. There were just 4 of us, Richard and I, Orine, and Harrald, a retired railroad worker. He told us we were very lucky. In the distance, we spotted a herd of reindeer! These are shy creatures but we were far enough away and downwind of them so they didn’t bolt at our presence. This was a rare sighting. They aren’t usually seen in this area.

We relaxed, lay on the tundra next to 30 year old trees no taller than a hand, ate our packed lunch and snacks, took lots of pictures. Sometimes we attached the camera to the trekking stick which had a removable knob for that purpose. Sometimes we put the cameras up to the eyepiece of the spotter scope and took pictures through it. Orine also pointed out a grouse which we saw in the scope and I got a photo with enough detail to know it was a grouse. It was white with two feathers on top of its head like a quail.
We also saw a weasel and a couple of eagles.

Going back was actually harder. The snow path was very steep and my knee was giving a spot of bother. I used the trekking stick on the left side and Orine held my right hand for part of the downward trek through the snow. He prevented me from falling when I slipped.

Toward the bottom of the trail, rangers diverted us away from the two bulls who had moved close to the trail and down further toward the highway. The grass in this field was green and new and , of course, they wanted to stay. None of us were thrilled that the way the rangers were trying to encourage the musk ox out of the field was by throwing things at them. It actually made them more stubborn and angry to the point they turned on each other for a moment with a bit of head butting. Eventually, though, they did leave and the gate was closed to the field. Orine told us about a woman who had stopped to watch the musk ox and wasn’t paying attention. She was hit by a car and killed with her son standing nearby. For that reason, they didn’t want the musk ox in that field.

We could now continue down to the road. Except that Orine didn’t want to backtrack to the path and suggested we cross the field. That would have been fine and the guys could manage it. I’m not a fence climber. Especially a five foot wire fence with two rickety wooden posts holding it up. There was no way I was getting over that and not enough room to crawl through it. Orine offered to lift me over!

It was with a lot of trepidation that I agreed to this. I found a spot of ground a bit higher and Orine lifted me clear over the fence while Richard guided the back end and kept my feet from catching on the top. It was so smooth all I felt was an airborne sensation. I was truly amazed and yes, the thought was in my mind that he was a lot like Scott Bakula. So I guess there are a few people on this earth who are strong, kind, gentle, and caring.

What an incredible experience. Despite the painful knee, I was surprised to learn that I was in better condition then ever before in my life.

Tonight we are at the Rica Victoria in Lillehammer.

Friday, June 3, Lillehammer
Today is our last day in Norway. Tonight we are in Oslo at the Rainbow Munch - again - and tomorrow we fly out around 3:30.

This morning we hiked through Lillehammer and around the Olympic Village museum. We saw the ski jump from the bottom, which was steeper then the one near Oslo, and then went to the top to view the jump, the arena and the torch, though the torch was, of course, no longer lit. we paid Hans our coin and climbed the stairs for a closer view of the jump. Hans tended the gift shop. A likeable and talkative fellow who gave me some pins from the Olympics. A film ran, reminding me of Dan Janssen’s gold and Bonnie Blair’s victory. We saw the skating rink. The hockey rink. The stadiums.

Next to the big jump was a smaller green one that skiers were using. No snow. Some kind of plastic surface that absorbed the jump but allowed the skier to slide down the hill to a sand pit. They exited the jump area, washed down their skis, then climbed to the top for another jump. They wore skin tight suits but with the temperature at 8C, that didn’t seem to be a problem for them.

From the top of the main jump, the drop was drastic. We learned the shorter platforms on the left side of the jump were for cameras. Not sure about the right side of the jump. More cameras and newsmen?

It was tricky getting out of the area onto Route 6 and a bridge across the river. Route 6 is the main stretch to Oslo and the only highway we’ve seen that’s 4 lanes in parts.

Tonight’s dinner was Turkish. I had trepidations walking into the deserted restaurant at 7PM, but it was fine and located just across the street from the hotel. I had lamb kabob and Richard had chicken, both with salad and bulgur (wheat) with tomatoes. Very good. Food in general has been good in Norway.

Saturday, June 4, Home
We are on our way to the Oslo airport after visiting Akershus castle for a ½ hour guided tour. Richard and I both slept poorly last night. For me it was drunken revelers at 2 in the morning.

The castle was again not what we expected. The fortress was interesting with thick stone walls. The castle was missing the center keep and showed signs of much renovation and rebuilding over the years as well as Renaissance additions. It was originally built in 1295.

What was missing was furniture. Both of the Norwegian castles we visited were that way. I wondered why.
From the ramparts, we could look over the harbor to Oslo. It was raining again. Then it was on to the airport and our flight home.