Gretnablog: NORWAY! JUNE 11-29, 2013

Last fall I (Susan) said to Dave - "We are going to Norway. I want to see the homeland of the Ødegard family (my father's side)." Our itinerary was planned on Skype with Nancy Bundt, a Minnesota friend who lives in Oslo as a world-class photographer. She travels the world taking pictures of food, people, places, business, beauty/fashion, sometimes from helicopters! See her photos at http://www.nancybundt.com

HIGHLIGHTS

A stay with Nancy Bundt and Jørn Pettersen in their home on the Oslo Fjord
Oslo Continental Hotel with Meltem, Barry and Ozan, who joined us from Istanbul
A one-day "Norway in a Nutshell" journey on boat, trains and bus to Bergen
Hurtigruten postal ferry trip up the west coast to Tromsø
2 days in the Lofoten Islands staying in Norwegian fishing cabin
Train from Trondheim to Ringebu to visit Ødegard relatives

OSLO at Nancy and Jørn's

Our mementos - Norwegian sweaters. We wore them up North!

Susan and Nancy Bundt

Oslo is a ferry ride from their home. We took it!

Getting organized.

Nancy's welcome tea, with cookies, buns and gjetost - "yay toast" brown cheese. Our first taste of Norway.

And a very red Post Office where we bought Norwegian birthday cards for Barry

OSLO with Meltem, Barry and Ozan

grandpa and Ozan celebrate Barry's birthday

Ozan jumps for joy at Aker Brygge

And wades in the fjord

Lots of sculpture to see around town

We watch Ozan play with sculpture

Stave church at the Folksmuseum

making lefse! (Norwegian bread)

And eating Lefse for the first time

A treat for Susan as we ate lefse in MN at family gatherings

Our little Viking (he wanted a helmet!)

Dave, Meltem, Barry and Viking Ozan

Ozan's favorite stop - THE ICE BAR

ALEX SUSHI dinner! A great time with Nancy Bundt, who does their menu and ad photography. This one is Dave's iphone shot. Perhaps the only photo from the meal - we ate a lot of sushi!

Walking on the roof of the Opera House

Gorgeous building - see Dave Meltem and Ozan seated on left?

The wonderful Fløm Railway

complete with waterfalls and a troll! (she made an appearance here)

The troll

view from Fløm railroad

Geirangerfjord

Snack en route - brought one back for our friend Joan Royer

Geirangerfjord trip. We are light on fjord pictures due to a camera malfunction. Dave's scene shots for the first half of the trip are lost.

At 3 p.m we finally saw a "Norway in a Nutshell" sign on the 3rd leg of the journey! It was a challenge finding the trains and boats. Barry kept us on track.

bus ride down a steep and winding road

scene from the bus

Tracteursted Restaurant where we enjoyed fish stew and beer in Bergen.

cheers

Barry's beer flight

Dried fish?

The "Bar Code" building project with buildings that together look like bar code!

Hurtigruten

We scored an amazing suite on the first 4 day leg of the journey. Nancy B had never seen one like this in 35 trips (sent pictures).

closet, bathroom and entryway. Next Hurtigruten digs were less auspicious!

A bay window to enjoy the view

handwashing at every point, on/off, dining to avoid germs

Route up the coast. Lots of stops. We went from Bergen to Tromsø. Then Tromsø to Svolvaer, then Svolvaer to Trondhiem. 3 legs.

Dave crews in Svolvaer

The Trolllfjord Hurtigruten ship

Svartisen Glacier and lake

Lefse and tea at the glacier cottage

The boat ride back from glacier to Hurtigruten was 3 hours. Nice, but long.

Crossing the arctic circle. We disappeared as they began pouring cold water down people's backs as a ritual

Tromsø

Coming in next to another Hurtigruten

Bus stop in Tromsø. We went to the Arctic Cathedral and waited with people from Afganistan, France and Africa, chatting while we waited.

Our entertainment during 9 hour layover was this!

Our cozy cabin on level 3 - just above the engine and propellers that push the ship from the dock. Awakened at 1:30 a.m. I levitated and laughed from the sound and vibration as we left port. Really loud.

The Mayor of Sortland, Grete Ellingsen! She met us at the dock and gave us the 10 minute tour of town. Nancy Bundt's friend.

Excursion in Vesterhalen

TROLLFJORD (the big one!)

A lot of bridges like this. great roads, tunnels, bridges. Electricity even on remote islands.

exiting Trollfjord

The Lofoten Islands

dried fish in Svolvaer. Norway exports fish all over the world. Important nutrition for Africa, South America. It dries very hard and reconstitutes when cooked in stews.

See the mountain in the background? Upper left?

Way up there climbers jump from one precipice to another. The name has something to do with goats.

Svolvaer

Dining at Svinøya Hotel

Wildflowers are everywhere

The water is clear turquoise

The Viking Museum. A farmer unearthed artifacts in 1985 and the entire place has been developed since then.

Vikings

communal stew

bed

dinner

shoes

Church at the Viking Museum

This is a common symbol depicting affection between Vikings.

Reine. Once we got here we wanted to stay a week.

Our cottage at Reine Rorbauer. Notice how in Noway they have a quilt for each person. Also see the bunk beds above.

Our route from Svolvaer to Reine in the Lofoten Islands. You can't get lost there's only one road - E10. It means Europe 10. On the continent the road is E6 - goes North to South in Europe.

A little hold up for construction

several tunnels, some under the water

Wood for fish drying racks

The "Seven Sisters" - from a Norse tale about seven sisters bathing naked in a stream....(we read various versions)

Our Wheels. As we drove south the display pinged with display - "hastighet overskredet." We didn't know what was wrong. I asked a Norwegian man at the Viking Museum and he said "you are speeding!" It was likely quick acceleration because we were not going more than 20-30 kph.

FOOD