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| Scenic Scandinavia and its Fjords, with Trafalgar Tours |
Copenhagen, Denmark
We arrive without incident. This is remarkable because it's so rare. We have a full day to ourselves, so we walk all around town, take a much-needed nap, and then walk some more.
On the second walkabout, we wind up at Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is an amusement park (which normally wouldn't interest us), but it also includes flowers and gardens galore. The rides are sort of old-fashioned, but all the kids and families seem to be having a ball. Lady Adventurer and me? We have a ball as well. The flowers are spectacular.
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| Tivoli Gardens |
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| Tivoli Gardens |
We enjoy our day in this neat, clean city with its great blend of architecture and excellent quality of life. In the evening, we meet our Tour Director, Amanda Flint, and some of our travel companions.
We get a better dose of Danish culture (and even some Danish pastry) the next day. We visit The Amalienborg Palace Quarter, the famous Little Mermaid statue, and other local sights. Then we drive up to North Zealand where we visit the summer Royal Palace and magnificent Fredriksborg Castle. Turns out that if you want to be King of Denmark, you need to have the name, Christian or Fredrik. Then have at it with a castle or two.
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| Fredriksborg Castle |
In the evening, we go to "Copenhagen Mountain" (where they burn trash to make power) and to the fairy-tale village of Dragor, with its thatched cottages and picturesque harbor where we have dinner.
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| "Copenhagen Mountain" |
Odense and Randers, Denmark
Odense is the home of Hans Christian Anderson. We walk around and explore during this stop on the way to Randers.
Randers is our home for a night. It's a quaint small town, with historic hotels and at least one great restaurant.
Denmark is wonderful. Lady Adventurer states that she could live here. She doesn't say that about too many places.
Stavanger, Norway
There's a lot to be said about the similarities between Denmark and Norway, and probably Sweden as well. After all, they're all Scandinavia. And in the past, they all seem to have taken turns ruling one another. But at least one major difference is the landscape. Denmark is pancake flat, but there isn't a horizontal square meter in Norway. Another thing is the price of everything. Whereas Denmark is super expensive, Norway is super-duper expensive. I don't like that aspect, but Lady Adventurer keeps telling me to just suck it up. I guess she's right. But then who would do all this bitching?
The 3 1/2-hour ferry ride to Kristiansand, Norway is comfortable, but when we arrive, it's pouring, the currency has changed, the landscape has drastically changed, and the price of everything has doubled. There are 1,242 tunnels (really!) in Norway, and we drive through 2,000 of them on the way up along the coast.
Stavanger is a quaint little town. The nearby fjords are everywhere. Unfortunately, there's no time to do anything here, except eat and sleep.
Bergen, Norway
It takes only three underwater tunnels (and several other ones as well), and two ferry rides to get to Bergen. Norway, which according to a former U.S. President is not a sh!thole country (one of the few things I agree with him on and something Norwegians have joked about), has gobs of oil money from North Sea drilling as well as hydro-electric projects. They are spending some of it on replacing all these ferries with more underwater tunnels. It's quite the infrastructure. Just getting around here is fairly amazing, even now; it's hard to imagine how much it will improve from here.
Bergen is Norway's second-largest city. It's also the Gateway to the Fjords. There is plenty to see and do here. And we see and do it.
We visit Composer Edvard Grieg's home and museum. Although it's close to Bergen, the setting is serene. But silly me. I thought they'd be blasting his music (which I love) everywhere throughout the house, museum, and grounds to enhance everyone's appreciation of him. But no; it's pretty silent.
The funicular takes us to the top of Mount Floyen, where we enjoy panoramic views of the city and surrounding area. If you like to take scenic photos, this is the place.
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| Bergen from Mt. Floyen |
Trafalgar tours always feature a Be My Guest experience. It's usually a highlight, and this one does not disappoint. Arold, runs a local small farm, and he gives us a brief talk about it. Everyone loves the animals. He and his folks then serve dinner as well as a small amount of entertainment. The best part is Arold's dry wit and humor. It's all very Norwegian.
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| Arold and family in traditional dress |
Also from Bergen, we visit the Village of Televag, which was totally destroyed by the Nazis during World War 2 as an example and reprisal after the townsfolk assassinated two Gestapo Officers. Most of the men and children were killed and the women were sent to concentration camps, all while each of the homes was burned. Later, German prisoners of war were made to rebuild the town, mostly as it had been. The area is stupendously serene, and the nearby museum is heart-wrenching.
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| Rebuilt Village of Televag |
Speaking of refugees and hardships, Trafalgar had changed hotels to make room for refugees at the original one, presumably Ukrainian refugees. Problems arose when they failed to secure two consecutive nights at the same place in Bergen. Consequently, we have to move to a Thon Hotel near the airport for our second night (the first one was in town). We manage to survive the ordeal, but we choose to remain unhappy campers. Life is so hard. (Please note: Okay, okay. Life is probably hard for the refugees as well. But lookyahere: we're Americans and shouldn't have to put up with such discomfort.)
Also, speaking of hotels, it had to happen. The shower thing, once again. I turn on the water, engage the shower control, and now I suddenly have a crazy, wild snake, swinging all over the place, spraying water everywhere. By the time I get it under control, there's a centimeter of water everywhere in the bathroom, with extra on the toilet seat. Even when this wild snake thing doesn't happen, the bathroom floors are still often wet because the shower doors are stupid. I've said this before and I'll say it again. I love Europe, but why can't they make a shower that works? (On the plus side, the heated bathroom floors are nice.)
Sognefjord, Norway
Sognefjord is the name of Norway's, and therefore the world's largest and most extensive fjord. It's also the name of the hamlet and hotel where we'll stay tonight. But we are taking the scenic route to get there.
First, there's the drive around and through (via tunnels galore) the fjords, then there are the two train rides - Voss to Myrdal, which is very scenic, and then Myrdal to Flam, which is beautiful to ungodly proportions. Then, a short drive later, we're on a boat, cruising the Sognefjord Fjord. That ride just couldn't have been better. Finally, there was the last drive from Voss to the Village of Sognefjord. I think I even forgot to mention the ferry and the world's longest road tunnel. But wait: there's more. Just before checking in, we even stop for a visit to another Norwegian farmlet where the farmer tells us about his work and gives us samples of hard apple cider and lefsa.
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| Myrdal train station, on the way to Flam |
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| Sognefjord Cruise |
Geiranger, Norway
Geiranger is yet another hamlet on the side of a fjord of the same name. We travel over a mountain range to get here, and when we reach the snowy pass (the road only opened for the season this very morning), Tour Director Amanda announces that we will stop for a snowball fight. We all think she is kidding, but then we get out and had a dead-serious fracas. The height of the snow is amazing.
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| Snowball fight |
Once we arrive in Geiranger, we take (another) fjord cruise. This one is similar to the one at Sognefjord, but here the fjord is narrower and the mountain walls are steeper.
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| Geiranger Fjord Cruise |
Geiranger couldn't be more of a paradise. It's far from everything, mostly by itself at the start of the fjord of the same name. The view from our hotel is outstanding. And we get to spend two nights here.
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| Geiranger area during my morning run |
It seems as though everyone on the bus has some form of a cold or other upper-respiratory infection. Some think it may be allergies. One fellow traveler, a man in his 80s, is taken to a hospital ICU. That's a two-hour ambulance ride from Geiranger. Turns out he has Covid and other issues. Later, we are relieved to hear that he is recovering and will be released. But meanwhile, I whisper to Lady A. that it seems strange that everyone is sick, and now one person is diagnosed with Covid. In the privacy of our room, I test myself, and I'm NEGATIVE. Whew!
Since we have some time here, we explore the area. Just a little hour or so drive gets us up, out of the fjord, and over to the next one or two. More driving takes us through some narrow, winding tunnels to a dam as well as up close and personal with some scenic waterfalls. Back in Geiranger proper (population ~200), we walk the stairs and trails along a high and busy waterfall right in town. Lady A. announces that she has now seen enough waterfalls, this being number ten thousand or so.
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| Geiranger Fjord from above |
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| Waterfall in Geiranger |
Lillehammer, Norway
On the way up and out of Geiranger, we stop at the site of the snowball fight and then head up further from there to a lookout. It's pretty spectacular.
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| Above Geiranger |
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| Looking down at Geiranger |
Upon getting into Lillehammer, we stop at two stave (wood) churches that are 800 and 900 years old. We also visit an old-timey-type farm, and the site of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games.
We lose even more of our passengers to Covid. One more is hospitalized (our Trafalgar Wellness Representative!), but we later learn that both hospitalized patients were released. The dropout count is now 11, out of the original 39. Once a person tests positive, they are OFF the tour. They are supposed to stay where they are and make their way back home when they're well enough to fly. I'm becoming scared once again.
Oslo, Norway
It rained all the way from Lillehammer to Oslo, but now that we're here, the rain has ended. We visit two parks: the King's Garden and Vigeland Sculpture Park. The King's Garden had nicely manicured flowers, and Gustav Vigeland's sculptures are incredible.
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| Vigeland Sculpture Park |
Stockholm, Sweden
Ikea's former CEO has recently been elected Prime Minister of Sweden. He is now assembling his cabinet.
The traffic is snarled all throughout the city, causing hours of delays and detours. We later learn that this is due to a U.N. Climate Summit. Sweden doesn't have fjords, so the scenery has not been as great as Norway's. It's a little hard to tell however because it's pouring. Stockholm is built on 14 islands in the Baltic Sea. There is a lot going on besides the climate thing: the Stockholm Marathon is this weekend and there's a huge U.S. Warship in the harbor. On queue, the rain stops, and the clouds part when we get out to walk around Stockholm's Old Town area. What's for dinner? Swedish Meatballs.
We visit Stockholm's City Hall (not your average city hall - the 'Gold Room' is really gold) and a museum dedicated to the Vasa, a massive 17th-century warship that sank within minutes of its initial launch. We also take a nice harbor cruise around one of the islands. Stockholm is crowded due to all the activities, but we manage to get around in spite of that.
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| Stockholm |
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| Stockholm City Hall Gold Room |
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| Stockholm Harbor Cruise |
Kudos once again to our fantastic tour director, Amanda Flint, who did a wonderful job. Our local guide in Stockholm, Adi Cohen, took over for Amanda and was also a great help to everyone. Why was his help so important? Read on.
Stockholm, Sweden: Still Stuck!
Besides packing up, there's one other small task that needs to be done before tomorrow's flight home: obtain a (hopefully negative) Covid-19 test. Lady Adventurer and I do a self-test before walking across the street to get an official one. The result for each of us is... POSITIVE! Later, the official version is the same. Now what??
First of all, we're both feeling nearly 100% fine. My cold symptoms are done, but Lady A. still has some minor congestion that's more like a sinus infection. Consider that testing positive with few symptoms is not the worst that could have happened. Testing positive and then dying a slow, painful death would have been worse. I know. The ordeal isn't over yet. The bottom line is that we need to stay in Stockholm for five days or until we test negative. Luckily, Sweden is lax about quarantining (in fact - it's the best place on the planet to have covid, other than your own home), so we can and do get outside. Adi and Trafalgar are helping us a lot with the logistics of all this.
We're not the only travelers in this predicament. Here are the numbers, so far as I can tell. Of the original 42 people (including Valeri the driver, Amanda the tour director, and Cassie the Wellness Coordinator), 2 were hospitalized, and 9 others also had to leave the tour before we arrived in Stockholm. Once here, 15 Americans needed to be tested in order to fly home. Of this group, 11 tested positive. That's 22 confirmed cases out of the 42 people, and 22 positive results from 26 tests. The 16 not required to be tested were Australians, Canadians, and Americans not going directly home.
Days pass. The initial shock is gone. Same for the Climate Conference and the U.S. Warship. Boredom and frustration set in. But now we have graduation festivities. No matter where you go in this city, truckloads of kids are partying like crazy. It's kind of fun. Kind of.
After a week in Stockholm, I've finally gotten a NEGATIVE self-test. Our traveling companions are also, one by one, beginning to test negative and traveling home. Lady Adventurer, however, is a different story. She is still as positive as ever. There are still a couple others like her, but this is getting really, really old. We have been walking all over the place, and we know our neighborhood really well. Today we even go somewhere real: the National Museum. They have some great European Paintings and also some nifty Early Ikea furniture.
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| Just outside Sweden's National Museum |
Lady A. and I walk to the 'back-alley testing center' where we both test NEGATIVE! Queue Ode to Joy. Now it's just a matter of getting on a plane and heading home. Trafalgar, so helpful to us a week earlier, now drops the ball when it comes to assisting us in our efforts to get home. We book the trip ourselves. We're hoping our travel insurance covers all these expenses.
One final bit of irony occurs just as we're arranging our long-awaited travel. The United States drops COVID testing requirement for international flyers beginning the VERY NEXT DAY. Had this been done even a few days earlier, it would have saved us a ton of trouble. As the French say, c'est la vie
