Norway and Denmark - August 2015

While I was  home in England in August, Nancy flew over to Europe to join me for a little trip around Norway.  She tried out the new service from Norwegian Air who are now flying direct from Oakland to Oslo three times a week.  By all accounts the airline is pretty good and the price is significantly cheaper than the other offerings.

I flew from Manchester to Oslo to join up with her on a damp Monday evening.  We had secured a great deal at the Oslo Grand Hotel, one of the finer old hotels in Oslo (apparently the place you stay when you are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize).  It is looking a bit tired now but it is still a fine hotel with a bit of history to it. The breakfast buffet was one of the best and the hotel cafe/restaurant was very fine indeed.  Worthy of a visit by itself - apparently it was a favorite of Ibsen's.

Vigeland Park

The weather was not cooperating during our stay and it was raining most of the next day.  We wandered around the harbor and city hall area before heading off to Vigeland Park to see Mr Vigeland's collection of bronze and granite sculptures.   Vigeland Park is quite the beautiful place and Gustav Vigeland was quite the prolific sculptor with some 600 of his figures arranged around the park - how did he find the time?  The rain kept the crowds away but we were quite damp by the end of the morning.

Vigeland

From Vigeland Park we took the tram back into town and visited the National Gallery of Norway.   The gallery has a nice collection of paintings and was just the right size to cover in a couple of hours without feeling overwhelmed or that you missed something important.  Of course there was the obligatory collection of Edvard Munch paintings and his most famous, The Scream, was mobbed by people.  No photographs are allowed of the Munch paintings but I did like the one below by Christian Skredsvig - very Norwegian I think.

Youth Festivity in Eggedal - C. Skredsvig - National Gallery of Norway

Towards evening and in between showers of rain we headed over to the new Opera House.  This very modern building was built in 2008 at some horrendous cost ($0.5 billion).  It's roof is also a public space and you can walk up its angled planes and wander around on top.  It is a nice building, but I wonder how it will wear in the extreme weather in Norway.   It is already showing signs of grout issues so we will have to wait and see.

Rooftop of Opera House

The Opera House is in the East Harbor;  we walked from there past the ferry dock for Denmark (we would catch the ferry later in the week) past the Akerhus Fortress area to the West Harbor and the City Hall.  We found a very nice Italian restaurant just outside the City Hall (named Prima Fila I think) where we had one of our best meals in Norway.  Norwegian food did not impress me other than with its price - seriously expensive - and this restaurant had pretty good food at a reasonable price.

We were forced out of our fine Grand Hotel as the weekend deal we got did not extend to the work week but we found a reasonable hotel nearby - the First Grims Grenka. All the hotels do a great breakfast buffet which we soon found to be the real deal in Norway (perhaps the only deal) - if you do it right you can secrete away enough ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit, and cakes to provide you with lunch as well.  Always take a coat with pockets or a some sort of bag to breakfast.

Houses Myrdal

The next day, Wednesday, we took the train from Oslo to Myrdal.   A very scenic route on the line to Bergen.  We traveled through some beautiful countryside - forests, lakes, picturesque farms and villages.  The route climbed slowly to the highest point on the line at Fense (4,000 ft) where there were still traces of snow.  Myrdal is about two thirds of the way from Oslo to Bergen and it sits high above the fjords of Aurlandsfjord and Sognefjord.  We changed trains in Myrdal and caught the smaller private train on the Flamsbana Railway down the hill to the fjords at Flam.  This railway is quite dramatic traveling some 20-25 km steeply down the side of the hill to the fjord.  I believe it is the steepest non-cog railway system in the world.

 Kjofossen Waterfall

Waterfalls and rivers were everywhere.  The train stopped in the middle of the route at the Kjosfossen Waterfall where we could go out and get drenched by the spray from this torrent of water pouring down the hillside.  It was impressive and dramatic.  To add to the drama when the train stops a sylph-like woman appears singing and waving her arms around high on the side of the waterfall.  She is apparently Huldra a seductive figure in Scandinavian folklore.  To be honest, it was impressive enough without Huldra.

Flam

At the bottom of the hill at the end of the line lies Flam, a beautiful little town - 2 or 3 hotels, a handful of restaurants, a museum, gift shops and a gorgeous setting by the side of the fjord.  We found a reasonable hotel and spent the evening wandering around town.  The most notable thing was the railway museum describing the efforts to create the railway line down the hill from Myrdal.  It certainly was a major piece of work.

Old Church Flam

The next morning we awoke to a slightly different town - overnight a cruise liner had docked (how do they get such big ships so far inland?).  As we left our hotel in the morning, droves of people were leaving the ship to take the train up the hill to Myrdal.  We wanted to take the train back up the hill and cycle down but there were so many people from the ship that the first two or three trains were totally sold out.

The road downhill from Myrdal to Flam

We made the trip a couple of hours later after the initial surge of cruise people had subsided.  We rented bikes in Flam and traveled with them on the train up the hill to Myrdal. The bicycle ride down the hill was most enjoyable - a bit steep and a bit rough at the start on a gravel road with a series of hair pin bends that tested the brakes and our cycling skill.  Lots of waterfalls, rivers, goats, farmhouses, a tunnel, and eventually a paved road into Flam.

Cycling down the hill to Flam

We had a few more hours to kill in Flam so we rode out along the edge of the fjord to Aurland, the next town.  Aurland was a little less touristy in that it didn't accommodate cruise liners but it was equally pretty.  We rode back to Flam in time to catch the high speed ferry to Gudvangen.

Leaving Flam on Aurlandsfjord

Traveling down the fjord from Flam on the ferry we passed through the most beautiful scenery - steep cliffs, little villages and farms nestled on the waters edge, picture postcard settings except for the gray skies and drizzling rain.  We re-evaluated our journey whilst on the boat and since the weather was not that great we decided to stay on board the boat as far as Bergen - another 4 hours ride from Gudvangen.  The weather stayed overcast and showery for a good part of the way, but every now and again the sun poked through and made things look a whole lot better.

Sognefjord

In Bergen we arrived just at dusk and we struggled a bit to find a hotel.  In the end we got in at a perfectly nice Scandic hotel near the bus station.

The next day, Friday, we spent walking around Bergen.  It is a nice town and just the right size for a walking tour.  Since we were a little way out of the center of town we switched hotels to one closer to the harbor just behind the Bryggen in a beautiful old building - the Hanseatic Hotel.

The Bryggen, Bergen

We spent the day wandering around town - the Bryggen area (the old Hanseatic Wharf), the Rosenkrantz Tower, the funicular up to Mount Floyen, Bergen Cathedral with its embedded English cannonball, the Leprosy Museum and the Fish Market.  In the evening the rain came down again, but by now we were used to it and we were carrying umbrellas - a travel essential in Norway.

Bergen from Mount Floyen

Saturday morning we took the bus out to Bergen airport and caught a short Norwegian Air flight back to Oslo.  By lunchtime we were back in Oslo with 3 hours to kill before we caught the overnight ferry to Copenhagen.  It was a beautiful day and we got to see the Opera House and other areas of town under blue skies and sun - it all looks so much better in such conditions.  We went over to the Astrup Fearnley Museum area - a very modern development on the east harbor side of town.

Astrup Fernley Museum, Bergen

We took a late lunch in the same Italian restaurant as 3 days before (Prima Fila) and while in that area I went inside the City Hall to view the murals (Nancy had previously paid a visit before I arrived).  The interior of the City Hall was spectacular - murals on every wall depicting the history of Norway from early rural life, through Nazi occupation, to the post war era.  What a wonderful building.

Oslo City Hall

Murals inside Oslo City Hall

The Danish Seaways Ferry leaves Oslo every afternoon around 4:00 pm for Copenhagen.   Simultaneously one leaves Copenhagen for Oslo and they cross paths in the night.  We had a cabin with a window and it was just great - a comfortable bed, shower, toilet, complimentary champagne, what more could you desire.  About the same price as a hotel and it included breakfast - one of the few deals in Scandinavia.

Our Ferry to Copenhagen

Leaving behind Oslo we traveled down the Oslo fjord, passing very close to shore in some places for such a large vessel.  We left land and crossed the Skagerak to Danish waters and the Kattegat Sea.  The crossing was quite calm though up on deck the winds were blowing forcing everyone back inside.

In the morning we docked in Copenhagen very close to the center of town.  It was an interesting walk to our hotel past the Mermaid statue (Den Lille Havfrue), through the park around the old military fortress (Kastellet),  through the square where the Queen's Winter Palace is located (Amelienborg) with great views of the splendid Rococo masterpiece, Fredericks Church.  We also passed the office of Maersk Drilling that I had visited a couple of times a dozen years earlier.  Alas we never sold any software to Maersk but I did enjoy my trips to visit them.  Our hotel was in the Nyhavn district and in fact was called Nyhavn 61 after its address - a nice old warehouse building on the dock side that had been converted to a hotel.

The Little Mermaid

Nyhavn

For once the weather was cooperating so we set off to walk around Copenahgen.  Through the Kings New Square (Kongens Nytorv), past the Round Tower, out to the Rosenborg Castle.  We toured the interior of the Rosenborg Castle then walked over towards the City Hall and Tivoli Gardens.  At that point we decided to be adventurous and rent one of the city bicycles.  A great idea - you create an account with a credit card on the bicycle's terminal, unlock the bike and away you go.  When you lock the bike back in one of the many stands around town you are charged by the hour (20kr per hour as I recall).  The bike has a map interface so you can see where you are going or where you should be going but it was a bit of a challenge to watch that as well as everything else that you have to pay attention to when cycling in a big city (cars and pedestrians and more capable bicyclists).

We headed over to Christianshavn neighborhood on our bikes as I wanted to look at the church with the spiral staircase on the exterior of its spire - Vor Frelsers Kirk.  On the way there we got separated and I never did find Nancy again till we were back at the hotel. Riding the bicycles was fun and a great way to see the town but you do have to pay attention.  Bike lanes are everywhere but are also quite busy and, unlike in the US, Danish cyclists obey the traffic rules - no sliding through red lights there.

Vor Frelsers Church

In the evening we returned to the main square (Radhuspladsen) and went into the Tivoli Gardens amusement park.  It is one of the oldest amusement parks and is right there next to the city hall in the middle of the city.  It must have been an inspiration for Walt Disney.  At Nancy's insistence we bought tickets to the SkyFlyer ride.  Before being allowed on we had to remove everything we were carrying - bags, cameras, hats, coats, money in pockets - nothing was allowed in case if fell to earth and caused damage to some unsuspecting soul below.  Then we were off on a high altitude roundabout high above the city.  I was pretty terrified at first but finally settled in and was able to enjoy it.  I'm not sure I would want to go on it again though.

Sky Flyer in Tivoli Gardens

The next morning, Monday, we were off back to the UK.  Its a very easy subway ride out of Copenhagen to the airport which is just as well as we were cutting it a bit fine to catch the plane.  We made it with a couple of minutes to spare.

There are more photos here.