Oslo Undressed

If Bergen is uncovered, Oslo is positively naked. If you're going to visit Oslo, the must-see, standout attraction has to be the Vigeland Park Sculpture Gardens. Gustav Vigeland, after whom the park is named, designed the 45 hectare park itself and is also responsible for the 200 or so wonderful pieces featured in the park which is lush and green, with fountains, a rose garden and beautiful picnic areas. We're glad we went early in the morning before the busloads of tourists arrived, because it was cool and serene and we could really enjoy it alone.

Enough said - here are some photos. The theme throughout is The Human Condition and many of the pieces represent mothers and fathers with children, or just people on their own.

We also visited Aker Brygge in Oslo, which is a shipyard turned into a shopping centre with cafes and restaurants, similar to Docklands or Southbank in Melbourne.

The next post will be about Brussels, in Belgium, where we arrived last night.

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Bergen to Oslo

10.28 am and the train pulls out of Bergen station exactly on time.

This story actually started six months ago, late one night at home in Melbourne when I decided to book and pay for the train tickets online. I was issued with a confirmation number and the dollars were deducted from my bank account. On our arrival in Bergen we went to the rail station, found a ticket machine, keyed in the confirmation number, and out came the tickets for our journey...Vogn 1, Komfort seats 33 & 34. We have a lot to learn about public transport in Oz, and about how to make it easy for passengers.

We gather speed and very soon seem to be far from the city, the ribbons of morning cloud are suspended only meters above the steep sided rocky walls of the numerous fjords that rush by. The water is black, reflecting the cloud cover, and all along the way there are small timber houses that cling to the mountain sides, most painted in the favourite Norwegian colour of rusty brown. The forests are a mix of autumn colours and evergreens, with fast flowing streams flowing between the broader expanses of water in the fjords. At some turns the valleys open up and the snow is visible on the higher peaks and rock faces. Sheep graze on lush green pasture and the sun comes out as we climb higher into the mountains.

The train speeds on, and it's time to eat the lunch that has been carefully purloined from the breakfast bar at our hotel in Bergen...worth a small fortune based on everything we have learned so far about the cost of living in Norway.

The train is now entering and leaving tunnels every few minutes, and the views out the window, when they are available, reveal that the snow is now all around us, and it looks very, very cold. The trees have also disappeared due to the altitude and the cold conditions, and all around is the cold, hard, snow covered rock that surrounds the still numerous lakes and rivers. The views are breathtaking.

The sun comes out, the snow glistens and the water in the myriad small lakes turns a brilliant blue. The birch trees have re-appeared and the rich tapestry of autumn tones is everywhere. Small wooden houses still dot the hillsides - no rhyme or reason as to why they are where they are...there are few towns and the countryside doesn't seem to lend itself to farming or grazing.

Towns appear in the most unlikely places, houses all facing the same way...always towards the water with their backs to the mountains, and all looking much the same...rusty brown. We seem to be at a lower altitude now and the tree cover on the sides of the mountains is quite dense and rich in colour. There is no sign of the earlier snow, just rich green countryside with the ever present lakes and mountains as a back drop and rapidly flowing, rock strewn rivers and streams.

The sun is on the right hand side of the train now as we continue south west towards Oslo. The shadows are deepening and the light is fading. This journey has been remarkable for the fact that we have been travelling beside water nearly all day, and must surely be rated as one of the most scenic rail journeys in the world and could only be made better by more snow. I liked the snow!

It's 5.26 pm and the train pulls into Oslo Central Station precisely on time. I would rather spend seven hours on a train any day rather than fly for the same amount of time...much more relaxing.

D2

Bergen Uncovered

So anyway, we arrived in Bergen, Norway, yesterday afternoon and have already decided that it is one of the most beautifully located towns in the world and probably one of the most expensive to live in.

Examples:

• two cups of coffee plus two buns = AUD$20
• half a pizza (four slices) = AUD$16
• one small children's book = AUD$40
• one litre of milk = AUD$6
• one Big Mac = AUD$13.80 (and no, we didn't buy one)
• one serve of fish and chips = AUD$23 (and yes, we had two serves - it was on paper plates at a makeshift trestle table)

It's beautiful though.

We had some fun last night, thinking we would just step out for a bite to eat - a pizza would suffice if we couldn't find anything better/quicker as we were only a little bit hungry after devouring a huge Norwegian waffle each, with jam and cream, at the hotel for afternoon tea (turns out that every afternoon from 4pm to 6pm guests at our hotel are invited to the lounge for free coffee and waffles). So we found a little bar nearby which served pizza and beer and we thought that would be good enough - and it was, especially considering the entertainment. About 10 minutes after we arrived, a 60-something year old lady at the next table stood up to leave arm in arm with her male companion and just metres from our table she fell down (apparently) drunk at our feet, taking her friend with her. It seemed to happen in slow motion but when we snapped out of our initial shock, D2 and I jumped up and leapt to their assistance, helping them up. When all the fun was over and the couple had righted themselves and left, we sat down again and reflected on the fact that not ONE other person had left their seat to do anything to help. No-one had uttered the words, "Are you OK?" and in fact within seconds, those who had turned to look had turned back to their beer. We didn't know whether to laugh or be alarmed at their seeming indifference to the plight of this poor couple.

We headed out into the night, later on, reflecting on human nature and wondering whether we could expect the same lack of response if it had happened to us (falling down publicly, not necessarily falling down drunk publicly).

I was very excited this morning to be going to the famous Bergen Fish Market. I'd heard about it and I have been looking forward to it for months. Whenever we travel overseas, the fresh food markets are our must-see attractions and we have seen some beauts! The one in Singapore will live long in my memory, but this is not the place for stories about that. It was disappointing though, with only a few little stalls set up and not much activity at all. We moved on to take a funicular ride on the Fløibanen, which takes travellers up to 320 metres above sea level and spectacular panoramic views of Bergen and the magnificent surrounding landscape of mountains and fjords. When you get to the top, there are beautiful forest walking paths and little streams to follow, making it a magical experience not to be missed.

In the afternoon we walked along the Bryggen wharf area where the building façades are from another era (and the prices of items in the shops are from another planet). The little laneways of Bergen are so sweet, the shops so enticing and if you have lots of NOKs (Norwegian Kroner) you can buy the most stunning Scandinavian homewares. I don't know what the wages are like here, but the price of living seems sky-high.

Tomorrow we take a long train ride (about 7 hours) to Oslo.

D1

The Sea Voyage that Was.

We enjoyed six days on the ship, eating far too much good food, making inland excursions, admiring the magnificent scenery and lazing about on deck enjoying Arctic sunshine when it was available.

D1, D2 and fellow travellers at the trough....

Seriously, these photos represent about 25% of the food options (who knew there were so many ways to prepare fish?) and I've just realised I didn't take even one photo of the desserts.

OK, I was just kidding about the trough thing (but you knew that didn't you?). Above are real photos of some of the buffet tables and of course D2 and I were very disciplined about our eating. *cough*

Norway has a rugged coastline and actually is made up of 50,000 islands (no, I'm not kidding) - some of them are only large enough for a couple of reindeer to stand side-by-side (if indeed there were reindeer on every island) while others are quite large. The population, though, is only 5 million, which makes Norway one of the most sparsely peopled countries in the world. The inland excursions opened our eyes to some of the prettiest little towns along this coastline, where we had the opportunity to explore centuries' old churches, walk paths barely trodden and to stand and marvel at the stark yet expansive landscape which supports so few people, but so many mooses and deer!

As we anticipated given the fact that we were on a working vessel, there was not a great deal of entertainment on board, if you don't count the German beer-drinking singalong each evening, the Travel Scrabble tables and the the groups of lovely Japanese tourist ladies teaching passers-by the art of origami. We made do with inventing stories about the other passengers, with calculating how quickly after the Germans vacated the deck chairs that we could pounce upon them and claim them as our own and with goggle-eyed observation of the amount of food American tourists can fit on their plates.

Anyway, the sun has set on our sea voyage and we're back on dry land now, having arrived in the south-western Norwegian town of Bergen, where we are spending a couple of days. More about Bergen follows in the next post.

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Excursions...and the absence of snow.

Needless to say, I was expecting several things on this trip to the far north of Norway, the first being sea-sickness as part of the cruise experience, and the second was snow...lots of snow, and ice, and blizzards and freezing conditions. None of these expectations has been fulfilled, although I am thankful for the absence of mal de mer.

The brochure describing the onshore excursions is mostly helpful, but full of the usual marketer's language, especially when it proclaims that "on today's excursion a hot drink and freshly baked cakes will be included". As it happened, we were on a four hour jaunt through the Vesteralen area of Norway from Harstad to Sorland and crossing a fjord on a car ferry when we were invited to have a luke warm, weak-as-water coffee from a thermos jug, and a cold waffle with a slice of delicious brown cheese. Not quite what I was expecting. Brown cheese, incidentally, is a local delicacy made with caramelised milk, The scenery was however as spectacular as promised, and made this excursion a very memorable one.

After another buffet lunch back on board where we were forced to eat much more food than we really needed, we went off on another excursion, this time in search of the legendary sea eagles that supposedly swoop down from the sky and snatch fish from the hands of the unsuspecting deck hand on a small boat fully loaded with tourists and cameras. The sea eagles at least lived up to their end of the bargain (as did several thousand sea gulls) and thousands of happy snaps were taken. Again, the scenery inside the fjords was amazing and made for a gratifying end to a long day of getting on and off buses, boats and ferries, as well as up and down from the lunch table, and dinner, and an afternoon cuppa with a biscuit or two.

Despite the absence of snow, it was bloody freezing outside and several warming drinks were needed after the sea eagle safari to get the blood moving in time for dinner.

D2

Not the Caribbean

I'm sitting in the 360 degree Panorama Room, the 8th (top) deck of the Norwegian vessel "Finnmarken" looking out to sea. The water is calm and in the near distance the sun is reflecting off gently sloping green hills covered in a light mist. The ship is smooth on the water and if it wasn't for the sound of the purring engine way below me, and the moving view from this window, I wouldn't have any sense of being on board a ship. This is surreal for me, the one who said I would never go on a "cruise" but to be fair, this is not the Oasis of the Seas (18 decks and 5,500 passengers) and I am not in the Caribbean. It's nice though, very nice indeed, and much more than I expected it to be in every regard.

When we boarded yesterday in Kirkenes, we were pleasantly surprised by the quite spacious cabin (larger than some hotel rooms we've stayed in) and the surprise gift of a fruit and chocolate basket, as well as bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us. Thought that was a very nice touch.

As I've mentioned before, when you book travel on the internet, you don't always know what you're going to find when you arrive, but we've been lucky so far and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it continues this way. The common areas of the ship, furnishings, the bars and restaurant, are all beyond expectation - and don't get me started on the food ... OMG! The food! It's EXCELLENT!

Pool Area - if you dare! Remember, we're pretty close to the Arctic Ocean

Panorama Room

The ship docks two or three times each day, sometimes just briefly while they deliver supplies and mail, sometimes for longer, allowing passengers to disembark to explore the little towns dotted along the coast. This part of Norway is quite remote and most people who live here have never been to The Big Smoke, which would be Oslo, 2,500 kilometres away. They are born here, live and work here, then die here.

Today we made an excursion inland, visiting the North Cape, the most northerly community in Norway. The area is barren and today it was quite cold and raining, but there is a beauty in this icy wilderness where the Sami (the indigenous people of this area) live semi-nomadically in tents not unlike wigwams, or small huts, herding reindeer and smiling indulgently for tourist photos.

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