Scandinavia 2015

We arrived in Stockholm around 9am after a fairly easy trip. Deltas nonstop flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam was only 7 hours. Didn’t sleep much which I sure did feel on Friday afternoon. We took a bus to Central Station and then a metro (subway) to find our hotel in the Sodermalm neighborhood. After getting pick pocketed in Athens last...Read More

June 6 Saturday was a very long day with as much walking and sightseeing as our feet could bear. We had purchased a Stockholm visitors card which gave us access to most museums and sights as sell as public transportation for 72 hours for about $100 each. Our plan was to spend the day on the island of Djurgarden and...Read More

Stockholm to Copenhagen – June 8 Monday was a travel day from Stockholm to Copenhagen by train. We hoped to meet up with Bonnie, Barb and Les at the Copenhagen train station. I love taking trains in Europe. I had booked two window seats with a table for the 5 hour ride. Had time to sleep, read and write and...Read More

June 9 A beautiful sunny day to explore Copenhagen. Breakfast in our rooms -smoked salmon and cream cheese on a very dense rye bread. Picked up a Copenhagen card which we use public transportation and entrance to many museums. We had read about a free city walking tour that started at City Hall. It was a great tour by Daniel,...Read More

Copenhagen day and overnight ferry to Oslo June 11 Walking day. Had to check out the pedestrian shopping street of Stroget. Mostly big name national stores…nothing impressive. Except that it is the first pedestrian shopping street in modern Europe…said our guide earlier in the week. Found a little shop to buy a piece of Baltic amber jewelry. Doesn’t take any...Read More

June 12 We got up very early on the ship to get a primo seat at the front of the ship to be able to watch the scenery as we sailed through the islands surrounding Oslo. So Bill and I were sitting outside the restaurant with several hundred Japanese from a tour group. Somehow we got shuttled into a different...Read More

June 14. Norway in a Nutshell Part 1. Oslo to Vatnahalsen by train. This is a combination of train, boat and bus travel between Oslo and Bergen to see some of Norways most scenic sites with a taste of the fjords. Many tourists do the trip in one day, 14 hours with 3 train rides, a bus ride and a...Read More

Todays blog courtesy of Bonnie Breakfast was to be at 8 am.  I was the first to arrive in the blue room. I had some time to sit there with my coffee and say thank you for my many blessings.  I was also flooded with thoughts of Mom and Dad and wished that they could have made this trip.  The...Read More

June 17 The rain has arrived and we are grateful for all the sunshine we have had so far on this trip. A leisurely morning packing as we are going to board the Hurtigruten cruise board tonight for our trip North through the Fjords. Bill has been reading a tongue in cheek book about Norwegians for foreigners. He enjoys sharing...Read More

June 18 First full day on the boat. We enjoyed a quiet morning with a buffet breakfast, Norwegian style. Smoked salmon, pickled herring, salad fixings, yogurts with toppings, baked beans, tasteless scrambled eggs, fish cakes, fresh bread with jam and excellent cheese selection, hard and soft boiled eggs with caviar, cold cuts, and cereals. The rain had stopped but it...Read More

June 20 Today at 7:30am we crossed the Arctic Circle which is at 66 degrees above the equator. It is marked by a steel globe on an island. Abovr the arctic circle the sun does not dip below the horizon at all during 24 hours for at least one day. Thus the name, Land of the Midnight Sun. We made...Read More

June 21 Summer Solstice,  Grammy’s bday,  Fathers Day. A day of “wows” and “OMG” views… and a day of celebrations. It is the summer solstice, Grammy’s 91st birthday (she is in nursing home in Charleston), Father’s Day and the eve of Barb and Les’s 46th anniversary. And it ismour last day of vacation together, in a wonderful place and we...Read More

June 23 Our trip home was scheduled to take two days – one to get from the Lofoten Islands to Amsterdam with an evening in the city and then an easy trip home. Nonstop Amsterdam to Atlanta, and then Atlanta to Pensacola. The flights from Svolvaer to Bodo, then Oslo and Amsterdam went as planned. We had some fun trying...Read More