Tusen takk (a "thosand thanks") Scandinavia
Ignorance is bliss, or so they say. If we had only known how much hassle, trouble, and headaches we were in for we may have never gone. But thankfully we didn't know exactly what lay in store and we were off, wide eyed and eager for 9 days in Scandinavia and Russia. I was so excited I could hardly wait to get going, but first we had to take care of our visas.
As an American wanting to go to Russia, there is a lengthy and expensive visa application process you have to go through. First you need an invitation to visit from a hotel ($$), then you fill out a very detailed application form (they wanted to know everything!), then you take these plus your passport and quite a bit of cash to your local Russian embassy. After waiting over two hours in line I had dropped off our passports and then had to return (for another 2 hour wait) on a different day to pick them up. Oh, and once we arrived at our hotel in Russia, we had to "register" our visas which cost us even more money. All in all the visas cost us about $450... a bit steep for a little sticker. But we paid up and with our visas in hand we were on our way.
Our first stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. This was one of the places I had really been looking forward to visiting, since my grandfather (by marriage) is Danish and was born here. We flew British Airways (BA) through Heathrow which was a big mistake. We arrived just fine, but our luggage was nowhere to be found. We met a nice couple from Arizona who were in the same jam and we were all told our bags would be delivered in 3-4 days. No problem, but in 4 days we were flying to Oslo. With just the clothes on our backs we headed into town and settled in for a quiet evening.
The next day we headed to the town of Roskilde to see the Viking Ship Museum. We didn't realize that the day we went was also the opening day of the Roskilde Festival, one of the largest music festivals in Europe. We would have loved to go, but we didn't have boots for the mud and the tickets (which started at around $270) were sold out. But at the museum we were treated to our own festival; a medieval festival, complete with battling Vikings, Nordic food, and loads of craft smiths.
Back in Copenhagen we took a canal cruise before heading over to Christiania, a partially self-governing neighborhood of about 850 residents. It is a mix of hippies, idealists, potheads, and nonmaterialists. This is such a cool place, we decided to take an evening wander and have a couple beers at the open air bar called "Nemoland" where we listened to a groovy band. We stayed until the rain came, and then we retreated to a fantastic waterside restaurant where we ate outside, under cover of course.
The next day we went on two walking tours (one around town and one at the Rosenborg Castle), saw the very tiny and overcrowded "Little Mermaid", and ate a traditional Danish pub lunch of meatballs and herring. We had been relatively lucky with the weather, but now we were caught in a downpour! We still did not have our luggage (and no word on when we would get it), so we bought new umbrellas and decided this was a good time to do a little shopping. We were still hopeful we would get our bags, but the BA automated phone system kept hanging up on us and the BA website reported "Tracing continues... please check back later." Hmmm... not good.
The rains passed just long enough for us to enjoy an evening at the Tivoli Gardens, which opened in 1843 making it one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. We had a great time, riding the rollercoaster and walking the grounds of the park. We had stopped to listen to a band when there were our lost-luggage Arizona friends we had met at the airport! We couldn't believe it. Unfortunately they hadn't had any luck getting their bags either and we were all set to sail out of town the next day. Them on a week long cruise through the Nordics and us on overnight ferry ship to Oslo.
Our ship wasn't set to sail until 17:00, so we were able to visit the Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød the next morning. Back in Copenhagen we had just enough time to visit the National Museum and check back with our hotel to see if, by any chance, our bags had been dropped off by the airline, but no luck. So, with only a little backpack with a few clothes in it, we boarded our ship to Oslo, "The Pearl of Scandinavia". As we sailed away we sat on the deck and sipped beers from the bar. The ship was fantastic, almost like a cruise ship with swimming pools, restaurants, bars, and even a casino. It was so relaxing and just what we needed.
We arrived in Oslo at 9:30 to a complete down pour! We scrambled to a city bus and by the time we got to our hotel we were soaking wet! We really didn't have much to change into, but we were determined to make the most of our time here and we got right into the sight seeing. We took a tour of the City Hall and the bell tower (we even had a private concert by the carillonneur, the musician who plays the bells which can be heard all over Oslo). We also went on a free tour of the Akershus Fortress (the old castle built to defend the city) with the rudest tour group I have ever seen! These people were unreal, pushing their way to the front, videotaping and photographing the tour guides from inches away, and being so rude that they had to be repeatedly reprimanded. We escaped to the Norwegian Resistance Museum and learned that one of the first German ships sunk off the coast of Norway in WWII shares its name with us! The things you learn on holiday.
We were now resolved to the fact that we weren't going to see our bags and decided to buy a piece of proper luggage (something "checkable") and purchase a few more basic clothes to get us through the rest of our trip (5 more days). Too bad we were in one of the most expensive cities in Europe, but what could we do? Our bags were still listed as "missing" so we instructed BA to send it back to Geneva and listed G's office address to be sure someone would be there to claim it. To get our mind off all the things we had to buy, we took a walk around the Vigeland Sculpture Park and ate dinner at the harbor front, just before another rain shower.
On our last day in Oslo we took a ferry to the nearby Bygdøy peninsula where we visited The Viking Ship Museum, The Norwegian Folk Museum, The Fram Museum, and The Kon-Tiki Museum. We got back just in time to catch an afternoon cruise through the Oslo Fjords, the bay dotted with islands and inlets. It was beautiful, and I can now see why Norwegian Fjord cruises are so popular. But about halfway into our 2 1/2 hour voyage, the sky opened up. This was the rain to end all rain. I have seen some crazy rain here in Europe, but this was one of the most impressive down pours I have ever experienced. We nibbled on griddlecakes & dried fish and waited out the storm.
We arrived back in port safe & sound and managed to squeeze in a little more shopping before heading out to dinner. We traveled about a 1/2 hour outside of town to the Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant, an old classy sod-roofed restaurant nestled high in the forested hills overlooking Oslo harbor (1,400 feet about sea level). It was one of the coolest places I have ever eaten! I loved every moment of it. They are famous for their apple cake (which was very good), but our dinners were absolutely mouth watering! It was a hike to get there and back (we actually passed the ski jump from the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics), but it was totally worth it!
I really love Scandinavia. There is so much to see and do, but for me my favorite part is the friendly people. I love the local languages; from the "hey" of Sweden to the "takk" of Denmark. When I thanked the pub owner in Copenhagen for lunch with a "tusen takk" (a "thousand thanks"), he asked if I spoke Danish! A girl in the mountain top restaurant in Oslo greeted me with a friendly "hi hi!" and I was grinning from ear to ear. It’s all those friendly encounters and connecting with people that really make traveling fun for me!
The next morning, with our new luggage in hand, we were off to Russia and all the new adventures that awaited us...
In front of Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen
Freetown Christiania mural at the entrance of the neighborhood
Traditional pub lunch in Copenhagen
Our Hans Christian Anderson tour guide in Copenhagen
Evening falls in the Tivoli Gardens
The Little Mermaid statue sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbor
Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød
In the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo
G on the Fram polar ship in Oslo
The papyrus boat Ra II in the Kon-Tiki Museum
At the Oslo Viking Ship Museum
The view of Oslo's harbor from the mountain top Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant
The ski jump from the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, just outside Oslo
As an American wanting to go to Russia, there is a lengthy and expensive visa application process you have to go through. First you need an invitation to visit from a hotel ($$), then you fill out a very detailed application form (they wanted to know everything!), then you take these plus your passport and quite a bit of cash to your local Russian embassy. After waiting over two hours in line I had dropped off our passports and then had to return (for another 2 hour wait) on a different day to pick them up. Oh, and once we arrived at our hotel in Russia, we had to "register" our visas which cost us even more money. All in all the visas cost us about $450... a bit steep for a little sticker. But we paid up and with our visas in hand we were on our way.
Our first stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. This was one of the places I had really been looking forward to visiting, since my grandfather (by marriage) is Danish and was born here. We flew British Airways (BA) through Heathrow which was a big mistake. We arrived just fine, but our luggage was nowhere to be found. We met a nice couple from Arizona who were in the same jam and we were all told our bags would be delivered in 3-4 days. No problem, but in 4 days we were flying to Oslo. With just the clothes on our backs we headed into town and settled in for a quiet evening.
The next day we headed to the town of Roskilde to see the Viking Ship Museum. We didn't realize that the day we went was also the opening day of the Roskilde Festival, one of the largest music festivals in Europe. We would have loved to go, but we didn't have boots for the mud and the tickets (which started at around $270) were sold out. But at the museum we were treated to our own festival; a medieval festival, complete with battling Vikings, Nordic food, and loads of craft smiths.
Back in Copenhagen we took a canal cruise before heading over to Christiania, a partially self-governing neighborhood of about 850 residents. It is a mix of hippies, idealists, potheads, and nonmaterialists. This is such a cool place, we decided to take an evening wander and have a couple beers at the open air bar called "Nemoland" where we listened to a groovy band. We stayed until the rain came, and then we retreated to a fantastic waterside restaurant where we ate outside, under cover of course.
The next day we went on two walking tours (one around town and one at the Rosenborg Castle), saw the very tiny and overcrowded "Little Mermaid", and ate a traditional Danish pub lunch of meatballs and herring. We had been relatively lucky with the weather, but now we were caught in a downpour! We still did not have our luggage (and no word on when we would get it), so we bought new umbrellas and decided this was a good time to do a little shopping. We were still hopeful we would get our bags, but the BA automated phone system kept hanging up on us and the BA website reported "Tracing continues... please check back later." Hmmm... not good.
The rains passed just long enough for us to enjoy an evening at the Tivoli Gardens, which opened in 1843 making it one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. We had a great time, riding the rollercoaster and walking the grounds of the park. We had stopped to listen to a band when there were our lost-luggage Arizona friends we had met at the airport! We couldn't believe it. Unfortunately they hadn't had any luck getting their bags either and we were all set to sail out of town the next day. Them on a week long cruise through the Nordics and us on overnight ferry ship to Oslo.
Our ship wasn't set to sail until 17:00, so we were able to visit the Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød the next morning. Back in Copenhagen we had just enough time to visit the National Museum and check back with our hotel to see if, by any chance, our bags had been dropped off by the airline, but no luck. So, with only a little backpack with a few clothes in it, we boarded our ship to Oslo, "The Pearl of Scandinavia". As we sailed away we sat on the deck and sipped beers from the bar. The ship was fantastic, almost like a cruise ship with swimming pools, restaurants, bars, and even a casino. It was so relaxing and just what we needed.
We arrived in Oslo at 9:30 to a complete down pour! We scrambled to a city bus and by the time we got to our hotel we were soaking wet! We really didn't have much to change into, but we were determined to make the most of our time here and we got right into the sight seeing. We took a tour of the City Hall and the bell tower (we even had a private concert by the carillonneur, the musician who plays the bells which can be heard all over Oslo). We also went on a free tour of the Akershus Fortress (the old castle built to defend the city) with the rudest tour group I have ever seen! These people were unreal, pushing their way to the front, videotaping and photographing the tour guides from inches away, and being so rude that they had to be repeatedly reprimanded. We escaped to the Norwegian Resistance Museum and learned that one of the first German ships sunk off the coast of Norway in WWII shares its name with us! The things you learn on holiday.
We were now resolved to the fact that we weren't going to see our bags and decided to buy a piece of proper luggage (something "checkable") and purchase a few more basic clothes to get us through the rest of our trip (5 more days). Too bad we were in one of the most expensive cities in Europe, but what could we do? Our bags were still listed as "missing" so we instructed BA to send it back to Geneva and listed G's office address to be sure someone would be there to claim it. To get our mind off all the things we had to buy, we took a walk around the Vigeland Sculpture Park and ate dinner at the harbor front, just before another rain shower.
On our last day in Oslo we took a ferry to the nearby Bygdøy peninsula where we visited The Viking Ship Museum, The Norwegian Folk Museum, The Fram Museum, and The Kon-Tiki Museum. We got back just in time to catch an afternoon cruise through the Oslo Fjords, the bay dotted with islands and inlets. It was beautiful, and I can now see why Norwegian Fjord cruises are so popular. But about halfway into our 2 1/2 hour voyage, the sky opened up. This was the rain to end all rain. I have seen some crazy rain here in Europe, but this was one of the most impressive down pours I have ever experienced. We nibbled on griddlecakes & dried fish and waited out the storm.
We arrived back in port safe & sound and managed to squeeze in a little more shopping before heading out to dinner. We traveled about a 1/2 hour outside of town to the Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant, an old classy sod-roofed restaurant nestled high in the forested hills overlooking Oslo harbor (1,400 feet about sea level). It was one of the coolest places I have ever eaten! I loved every moment of it. They are famous for their apple cake (which was very good), but our dinners were absolutely mouth watering! It was a hike to get there and back (we actually passed the ski jump from the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics), but it was totally worth it!
I really love Scandinavia. There is so much to see and do, but for me my favorite part is the friendly people. I love the local languages; from the "hey" of Sweden to the "takk" of Denmark. When I thanked the pub owner in Copenhagen for lunch with a "tusen takk" (a "thousand thanks"), he asked if I spoke Danish! A girl in the mountain top restaurant in Oslo greeted me with a friendly "hi hi!" and I was grinning from ear to ear. It’s all those friendly encounters and connecting with people that really make traveling fun for me!
The next morning, with our new luggage in hand, we were off to Russia and all the new adventures that awaited us...
In front of Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen
Freetown Christiania mural at the entrance of the neighborhood
Traditional pub lunch in Copenhagen
Our Hans Christian Anderson tour guide in Copenhagen
Evening falls in the Tivoli Gardens
The Little Mermaid statue sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbor
Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød
In the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo
G on the Fram polar ship in Oslo
The papyrus boat Ra II in the Kon-Tiki Museum
At the Oslo Viking Ship Museum
The view of Oslo's harbor from the mountain top Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant
The ski jump from the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, just outside Oslo
posted by Swiss Miss | 10:30
1 Comments:
That's actually the ski jump from the Oslo 1952 Olympic Games.
The 1994 Winter Games were naturally held *in* Lillehammer... (far away from Oslo).
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