Terry Haller

I was up very early (4:30am) in Oslo.  This was the last day of my trip, the day I planned to return home.

I had accumulated quite a bit of stuff on this trip, and now I had to stuff everything into my three suitcases — quite a job.  My big suitcase felt VERY heavy, and I later found out that it weighed about 75 pounds.  With the help of a strong bellman, I got everything down to the lobby around 7:30am and arranged for a cab to the airport.  I had a lot of stuff — my camera and laptop cases in addition to the luggage.

The cab driver was well-traveled, having visited 35 countries (how many American cab drivers can say that?).  He was complaining about the immigrants who have been allowed into Norway and how they consume free medical services and do not work.  He said he wished that Norway could be more like the U.S.  I get the impression that this is a minority opinion, as most Norwegians do seem at least outwardly happy with their welfare state and are at least willing to bear the amazing prices.  The driver said that the country is not benefiting directly from its great North Sea oil wealth, as that is being invested for the future.  Imagine that happening in the U.S.!!

The flight from Oslo to Newark, New Jersey, was uneventful.  I tried to sleep but without success (though I had had just five hours the previous night).  Since I was in Business Class, I had good treatment and very nice food.

The weather in Newark was quite a shock — it felt like it was in well into the 90′s and with high humidity.  I found a cab to take me to LaGuardia Airport.  He made the trip with the drop-off of another passenger at the Waldorf-Astoria, so I got to see Manhattan.  We pulled over to a street vendor there, and I bought two cans of Coke for $2.00.  As a contrast with Norway, this was remarkable.  Over there, two smaller (1/4 liter) cans of Coke would have cost me ten times as much!

We made it to Laguardia, and I checked all of my bags through to Madison.  The heavy bag cost me a $75 penalty fee, not unexpected.  After a wait of several hours, my plane left for Milwaukee.  The remainder of my trip and the connecting flight to Madison were uneventful.

Now I am happily home and dealing with major jet lag!  To make matters more complex, I will only be here for several days before leaving for the west coast to attend my brother’s wedding on Friday.  It is a good thing that I absolutely love air travel and interminable waits in airports!!!

Well, the amazing epic trip is now finished!  All-in-all, I would have to say that it went pretty much as planned.  I had no serious mishaps or disasters.  The scenery I saw was awesome, and the cities were lots of fun.  I took 2700 pictures in all, and some of them were pretty good.  My favorite scenery was the mountains and rugged coastline of Norway, though Lapland had a wonderful feel as well.  I enjoyed my visit to the Baltic Countries and my stay with Liuda and Ceslovas in Lithuania.

Someday, I would like to return to the far northern region in the dead of winter to see the Northern Lights!!

I took no pictures this day.

Saturday was my last full day abroad, as I am to leave for the U.S. on Sunday morning.  Fortunately, it was a gorgeous day, with temperatures of around 70.

After breakfast, I set out to get on the tram, as I needed to go some distance to get to my first site.  A tram ride of about 15 minutes took me right to the entrance gate of Vigeland Park.  This is a 80-acre park created to display the works of Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943).  In cooperation with the government of Oslo, he laid out the grounds for this park so as to complement the hundreds of sculptures and sculpture groupings he placed there.  The strength of his vision is amazing, though I am not a big fan of his sculpting style. His intent was to portray the human condition in all its complexity via nude human forms in bronze.

I spent several hours here.  Being a lovely Saturday, the park was jammed with visitors.

I took the tram on down to the waterfront and walked from there to the Ibsen Museum.  This is devoted to the life and works of Scandinavia’s greatest playwrite, Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906).  The museum is located in the apartment Ibsen occupied during the last ten years of his life, and they have restored it to exactly how it looked when he lived there.  All the furniture and even the carpeting is original.

I had planned to take the tram over to the Munch Museum, but I had a slight headache.  So I walked back to the vicinity of my hotel and smoked a cigar (which does wonders for headaches).  Then I went in to take a nap.

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Friday dawned rainy, and it drizzled all day long.  I never saw the sun.

My plan this day was to take the boat from the Oslo wharf to the nearby peninsula of Bygdøy.  Here there is a concentration of some of the major museums in the Oslo area.  So, after breakfast, I walked the four of five blocks down to the water and found the shuttle running to Bygdøy.  The trip is short, about ten minutes.  I walked to my first stop about 1 km from the wharf.  This was the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, devoted to the costumes, crafts and lifestyle of the various parts of the country over time.  It is one of the oldest such museums in the world, dating from 1894, and it has 153 buildings spread over a large area, similar to Skansen in Stockholm.  The museum building itself is large and has many fine examples of Norwegian craftsmanship, such as this chest:

However, the large museum is only the beginning.  Spread over about 30 acres are 156 historical buildings from various parts of Norway which have been moved here.  First among these is the Gol Stave Church, a national treasure which dates to 1210:

This church, virtually unchanged from the time of its construction, was moved to this site in 1907.  It is about as old as the great cathedrals of Europe, though only wood was used in its construction.  The church was brought from the community of Gol, about 130 km northwest of Oslo.  A modern replica of the medieval church has been erected in Gol, though not on the original site.

I walked around the grounds of this outdoor museum, but it was sprinkling, so I did not stay outside too long.  Leaving the museum grounds, I walked to the nearby Viking Ship Museum.  This place was more crowded with tourists, as it is apparently on everyone’s “to do” list in Oslo.  The museum contains three Viking-age ships which were excavated almost intact and in an amazing state of preservation:

I had lunch at the outdoor cafe here and, fortunately, it was not raining.  I then walked about 1 km over to my next museum grouping:  The Norwegian Maritime Museum, the Fram Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum.  They seem to have separated these into three museums so as to be able to charge admission three times (fortunately, my Oslo Pass lets me into all museums free).

The Maritime Museum is devoted to the sea and ships.  It includes a section on nautical artwork and it has lots of ship models and some full-size boats.  But the real highlight is a part of the museum which had no visitors at all and was empty except for me.  This is a section of the museum which is actually cantilevered out over the waterfront in a simulation of a ship’s bridge:

I went next door to visit the two other museums.  The Fram Museum houses just one exhibit, the polar ship Fram, which was used for polar exploration from 1893 to 1912.  This vessel was used by Fridtjof Nansen in an attempt to get as close to the North Pole as possible in 1893, and it was the ship which carried the successful Amundsen expedition to Antarctica in 1910.  Next to that is a museum which houses the Kon-Tiki and Ra II, vessels which Thor Heyerdahl built and sailed in 1947 and 1970 respectively.  He believed that the Polynesians came originally from South America and that Egyptians could have crossed to South America (much of his work has not been accepted by the scientific community).

Afterwards, I sat outside by the harbor smoking a cigar.  Just as I finished, it started sprinkling, and I hightailed it for the boat landing.  I sailed back to Oslo harbor and walked the short distance to my hotel.

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Thursday was a bright clear day, a perfect day actually, and the temperature stayed in the upper 60′s.  After breakfast at my hotel, I retrieved my car from the hotel garage and drove it a short distance to the place from which I had rented the car originally.  After returning the vehicle, I set out on foot to tour the nearby Royal Palace, which is where the King of Norway lives.  The palace also has extensive grounds, open to the public, which I walked through.

Next, I wandered through some of the nearby neighborhoods before finding a main street and following it to the vicinity of the City Hall.  I stopped in at the Tourist Office and purchased a three-day Oslo Pass, allowing me free public transportation and entry to all museums.  Then I walked over to tour the City Hall.  I had seen this building on my first visit, but I had never been inside.  From the outside, the building is not particularly attractive.  However, the extensive artwork inside the building is amazing.  This is the site on the annual Nobel Peace Prize event, presided over by the King of Norway.  The main room where the ceremony is held is dominated by an enormous mural:

Other public rooms on the second floor are of monumental size.  The chamber where the city council meets is also on this level.  The colorful murals are on a scale than would have made Diego Riviera or Jose Orozco proud — gigantic.

As I was walking out, the big bell tower in this building sounded the hour.  I walked over to a large nearby plaza beside the waterfront and spent an hour smoking my daily cigar.  Then I walked up the embankment to the Akershus Fortress.  This is a large military complex on a hill above the Oslofjord, parts of which date back to 1300.  Most of the buildings in this complex are open to the public.  I walked around the grounds and up into the castle looming above everything else.

Leaving the fortress, I found a nice outdoor cafe on a pleasant side street, and I had a bite to eat.  From here, I walked east to the amazing Oslo Opera House, right on the water.  This angular building is clad in white Italian marble and appears as something of an apparition, as if rising out of the water.  It was completed in 2008 at a cost north of $600 million.  The interior is clad in oak, arranged in striking striated patterns:

From the opera house, I next walked over to the main train station and checked out the tracks, waiting room and other public spaces.  Exiting towards the west, I found myself on the main Oslo downtown street, Karl Johan Street, which runs from the station to the royal palace, where I started my walk.  I walked west, through a throng of humanity, street artists, vendors, mimes and whatever else.  Before reaching the palace, I came to my hotel, and so I ended my walk and returned to my room.  The total distance covered on foot this day was probably 4 or 5 kilometers.

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Wednesday was a rainy day in Trondheim.  After breakfast, I packed up and was on the road by 11:00am.

My goal this day was Oslo, Norway, where I had started this trip 43 days earlier and would end it today.  This is a pretty long drive of about 500 km and seven hours.  The sun did come out some of the time on this trip, but it was mainly cloudy.

The road ran through low mountains and forests.  I drove pretty steadily and did not even need to stop for gas.  As I advanced southward, more and more farms appeared.  Finally the road widened into a 4-lane freeway with 100 kph speed limits.  At the outskirts of Oslo, I encountered pretty heavy traffic, which I assume was the rush hour.  But I made it to the central city and my hotel not long after 6:00pm.  I parked the car under the hotel and had a bellman move everything up to my room (I plan to return the car to the rental agency tomorrow).

I am staying the The Grand Hotel in Oslo, and it lives up to its name.  Located in the heart of the historic area, this luxurious hotel is located right across from the town’s main square and public buildings.  After I was settled in my room, I had a nice room service dinner in my room.  Then I walked down to the park and smoked a cigar, watching the many people go by and listening to my audiobook.

I took no pictures this day.

I will be in Oslo for four nights, so I will have three full days to explore things here.

Now that my driving is complete, here is an exact map of my travels, as recorded by my Garmin GPS unit, a total of about 6,000 miles or 1/4 of the circumference of the earth:

Tuesday was a free day in Trondheim.  I was up in time for the sumptuous breakfast provided by the hotel (in Europe, breakfast is always included with the room price, so I have an incentive to get up and to eat a lot).  Nonetheless, I dawdled around in my room after breakfast, enjoying the fact that I did not need to hit the road this day.

The old part of Trondheim is a compact triangle, bounded by the Nidelva River on two sides and by the sea on the third.  My hotel was right in the center of this triangle, so it was sited in a good location for setting out on foot.

First, I stopped in a bank to get some Norwegian Kroners.  I had existed exclusively on credit cards thus far in the country, but I wanted some cash for small purchases.  Then I walked down to the river and followed it southward.  I noted that the hotel where I stayed on my first visit to the city was in the other direction, near where the river reaches the sea at the Trondheimsfjord.

This area along the river is the oldest part of the city, dating back well over 1000 years.  When Norway was still a Viking kingdom, Trondheim was the capital.  The buildings here, though not ancient, are the direct descendants of those occupied by Hågar the Horrible and his fellow Norskies.

Later, I walked the short distance to the immense Nidaros Cathedral.  This is the largest cathedral in Norway and one of the principal churches of northern Europe.  Work started on the cathedral in 1070 and was completed around 1300.  This was an important destination for Christian pilgrims during the Middle Ages, and it has been the traditional coronation site of Norway’s kings.

I spent some time inside this impressive building.  The light was low, and they do not allow photographs, but I sneaked one anyway!  I discovered that the cathedral lay in ruins for centuries after fires and religious upheavals, and work to restore it to its former glory was not started until 1869.  Much of what one sees today is a rebuilding or restoration, though some original building parts and even items of furniture survive.

Later, I toured the museum nearby and the treasury housing Norway’s treasury regalia and crown jewels.

I walked down to the park along the river and enjoyed a cigar there for an hour.  By the end, the wind was picking up, and it looked like it might start raining, so I walked back to my hotel where I took it easy the rest of the day.

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Monday had cleared up a bit from the rain of the prior day, but it was still partly sunny and partly rainy all day.  I was staying in the village of Mosjøen, Norway, which, fortunately, has a very nice hotel.  After breakfast, I walked along the large Vefsna River which flows right behind the hotel.

My goal for the day was the city of Trondheim, about 325 km south.  This would be a revisit to Trondheim, which I last passed through on my way from Bergen to Sweden, 33 days prior.  Setting out, I drove along the Vefsna River and noticed some large waterfalls along the way.  The road eventually led into low mountains and forests, winding hither and yon amongst rivers and lakes.  Again, I had very variable weather and did not get many pictures.  The road paralleled the Trondheim to Bodø railroad track then entire way, though I did not see much in the way of train traffic.

Eventually, when the sun came out, I stopped south of the village of Spartbu by the tracks to smoke a cigar.  I did see one “train”, a two-car self-propelled passenger vehicle, which whizzed by at 100 kph.

Continuing southward, I eventually came into the vicinity of the huge Trondheimsfjord.  The road passed through several very long tunnels of over 4 km each before ending up in the vicinity of Trondheim.  My GPS directed me to my hotel in the old quarter downtown, the Brittania.  Here I was to stay for the next two nights, so I will have a chance to see more of this city tomorrow.

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I slept in late Sunday morning, having gotten to bed well after my midnight arrival in Bodø.  I did manage to check out of the hotel by noon.

Before leaving the town, I drove all around the waterfront.  Unfortunately, Bodø was totally destroyed during World War II, so everything in the old town is a reconstruction.  The town originally was based on fishing, but tourism is probably the number one industry here today.  Indeed, the number of busses filled with tourists one encounters in Norway (and Finland too, for that matter) is simply amazing.  There are not many trains running up north, so everyone seems to travel by bus — very big bus.

My goal for the day was the small town of Mosjøen, about 325 km south of Bodø, by the main highway (the term is relative, as the road barely had two lanes in some spots).  This is another gorgeous ride over hill and dale, through thick forests and along rushing rivers and fjords (ho hum!).  I picked Mosjøen because it is about halfway to Trondheim, my next day’s target.

The day was mainly overcast and rainy, so I was not able to get any photographs.  By mid-afternoon, I passed the Arctic Circle heading south.  I knew this for sure, as there was a big crowded visitor’s center and tacky souvenir supermarket, and the parking lot was crowded with RV’s and campers and with people getting their picture taken with feet on either side of the “line” (even though the circle does not stay in one place and is moving 49′ northward each year right now).  I greeted this sight with a shudder, as in Finland.  I dislike encountering other tourists, or anyone else, for that matter, who might attempt to speak to me.

When I arrived at the lovely little village of Mosjøen, I found my hotel.  I hoped to be able to smoke a cigar at the verdant riverside spot behind the hotel, but it was raining too hard, so I stayed indoors.

I think I like these quiet little towns more than the big cities, or even the medium sized cities.  It reminded me of the village of Mora in Sweden, where I had stayed some weeks earlier:  charming, green and silent.

Click to see the one picture taken this day

I awoke early in my hotel in Svolvaer, on the Lofoten Islands.  It had been a long trip down from Tromsø, but I did have good Internet in my hotel (amazing!) and was able to bring this travel blog up to date.

I made a point of leaving the hotel not long after 9:00am.  I had a 2:00pm ferry boat for Bodø to catch at the far southern end of these islands, and I wanted to be in line plenty early.

The Lofoten and Vesteralen archipelagos, off the northwestern coastline of Norway, contain some of the most spectacular scenery in a country which contains much such scenery.  The two island groupings measure about 210 km from tip to tip and are between 17 and 85 km offshore.  A number of ferry boats connect points on the island with the mainland and with other islands.  Svolvaer, my hotel city, is located at about the middle point of these islands.  Due to the Atlantic current, these islands have an amazingly temperate climate for their northerly location above the Arctic Circle and are among the warmest far north locations in the world.  The islands have an average temperature above freezing all year long, which is much warmer in winter than my own city of Madison.  In summer though, temperatures are not hot.  It was shirtsleeves weather during my entire visit here.

The Lofoten Islands are connected by a single road which uses bridges and tunnels to avoid any inter-island ferry boat trips.  Driving south from Svolvaer, I encountered a wild landscape, with soaring peaks plunging to quaint seaside fishing villages.  At one moment, you are traversing a valley which might be in the American Rocky Mountains like this

and the next moment, you spy this view at the seashore

I drove all the way down to the end of these islands, at the resort town of  ”å”.  Then I was back to the nearby ferry landing at Moskones in plenty of time (I thought) for the ferry.  However, there were a lot of other people lined up, and when the ferry finally arrived and loaded, about 1/3 of the people who were lined up could not get on the too small boat — including me!!

So I asked the ferry guy when the next ferry was due, and he said 7:30pm — 5 1/2 hours later!  Most of the others just resignedly stayed to wait.  Being the impatient type, I would not consider this.  However, I was not sure where to find another ferry (there was no “Plan B”).  My Norway map showed ferries departing from two cities north of there, including my overnight stop of Svolvaer.  However, when I drove to each of these cities and scoured the waterfront, I found no ferry operating.

So I continued north from Svolvaer, retracing part of my route of two days prior.  Finally, at Lødingen, I found a ferry which was running (This point was 225 km driving miles north of the ferry I had failed to catch).  I got in line and waited.  Only a few other cars lined up, but the ferry did come and had me over to the mainland in about an hour, a crossing of about 25 km.  However, I still had a long way south to get to Bodø — another 220 km!!

It turns out that this unplanned excursion was extremely fortuitous.  The gorgeous country through which the highway passed was well worth visiting, with high mountain passes and imposing mountains:

But I was very tired when I finally got to my hotel in Bodø at midnight, after fifteen hours on the road!!  Of course, the sun was out so I could see things (In July, it is light all the time way up here).  I was glad to hear I could wait till 11:00am the next morning to get breakfast.

Here is my amazing route of 630 km (391 miles) this day:

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Friday started out sunny in Tromso, Norway, but the weather had turned rainy before I was out of the hotel.  The place was jammed with tourists, and breakfast was a zoo.  The day was to have mixed periods of rain and sun, and my picture-taking was to be a little dampened as a result.

I set out on another very winding route to take me to Svolvaer on the Lofoten Islands, famed as one of the most scenic areas of a scenic country.  En route, I traversed a dozen different fjords and several mountain ranges.  It was a little nerve-wracking driving on the narrow roads and competing with large trucks and busses.  However, I passed some unbelievable beautiful scenes, such as:

At length, I made it into the vicinity of the Lofotens and their sister island chain, the Vesteralens.  Here the road passed through several tunnels of 4-5 km in length, and I went through dozens of shorter tunnels.  At one point, I stopped by a lake and took this picture of a man fishing:

Late in the day, I finally pulled into the small fishing village of Svolvaer.

I had passed through large mountain ranges which reminded me of Colorado, except that these mountains were on or near the sea.  Thanks to some great bridges and tunnels, I had not needed to take a single ferry all day!

My route this day was as follows:

I found my hotel in Svolvaer and learned that they had accidentally overbooked and did not have a room for me!  But they had booked a better room at a nearby Best Western hotel, and so I was able to get a room at this second hotel.  As with Tromso, the rates were ridiculous, but I guess they are just charging what the traffic will bear.

Having gotten a bite to eat on the road, I did not have dinner but got myself to bed as soon as I was able.

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