Our boat

We went back to our hotel, retrieved our bags from the storage area, and went to the Radisson hotel a couple of blocks away. We were to take the 5PM bus to the Hurtigruten (name of our boat's company) dock which stopped at the Radisson. At 5:10PM, I asked the lady at the desk about the bus and she said we should probably just take a cab. There was another couple waiting, so we shared a cab and arrived to see this lovely ship awaiting our arrival. You can't see the name of the boat from these photos, but it was the MS Nordlys (Northern Light). We checked in and boarded, taking our little bags (big ones were delivered later) to Cabin 363. You can actually see the window of our cabin in the left photo. It's the last one (to the right) in the red stripe of the boat. This almost proved to be my mental undoing while in our cabin. Here's why -

on our second and third nights on the boat, Ivan and I were awakened at least once, one time we were awakened twice, at around 1:30AM by the loudest sound I have ever experienced in my life. I say 'experienced' instead of 'heard' because our whole cabin was vibrating and the sound was deafening. It was frightening. I had no idea what was going on and was unable to sleep for the duration of the sound - about 45 minutes. This happened on 2 of our 3 nights on board and Hurtigruten will be receiving a letter from me, believe me! That's all I'm going to say about this unfortunate series of events - suffice it to say that, unless I can get some sort of guarantee from them that we have a cabin at least 2 floors up and in the extreme forward part of the boat, we won't be traveling with this company ever again! Everything else - the staff, the voyage itself, the cabin (during the day) - everything else was just wonderful.

Oldest McDonald's in the World

As we were walking back to our hotel once finished with the Floibanen, we noticed this interesting building with an even more interesting sign over the door. The date at the top of this building might be difficult to read, but it says "1710," making this the oldest McDonald's in the world, I would guess! It really is the fast food chain, too! Check out the "golden arches!' We did not patronise the establishment, although, Lar and Martha, we should have had hot fudge and caramel sundaes, in honor of you!

Explanation

Well, kind folks, thanks for your patience. I have had to use other means to write these posts and send them. Here's the explanation. I, Queen of Idiots, left the charger for my computer at Per Kristian's house on Sunday (Per is Astrid and Oddvar's brother). I'll be unable to do my blog on my computer without said charger because my battery is very delicate and loses strength fairly quickly. I'm writing this on Ivan's computer - does it look different?

Suffice it to say we've had a more-than-excellent visit with family we have never known and with whom I hope we'll stay in close touch. We've invited all of them to come visit California and stay with us and I really hope that some or all of them will visit at some point. To my brothers, Fred and Jerry, and my cousins, Howard and David, you and your families would just LOVE them. Remember Franni's goofy sense of humor? Guess where she got it!

So, I'm hoping that I can get caught up - we're on Day 13 now, so bear with me - I'm writing as fast as I can!

Ivan with friend

DISCLAIMER: This photo was Ivan's idea! I've not been able to discern the reason, but there were little troll statues all over the place in Bergen. One could buy shirts, magnets, hats, postcards, umbrellas, scaves, keychains, socks, etc. with trolls on them. And they all look like this guy (the one on the right!).

(This is being written 2 days after this excursion in Bergen and gives a bit of info we were told about the omnipresence of troll stuff.) In Norway, there live 2 kinds of troll - one kind in lakes and one kind in the forests. These are usually depicted as old, short men with very long noses, some of which (noses) have moss and weeds growing on them. They are very kindly, but do not tolerate being provoked. The women are lovely with pretty faces, long blond hair, nice figures, but having a tail that look like cow's tail. They always wear long skirts to hide their tails. They love to collect human men, who, once they have gone away with the troll lady, are never seen again. Trolls come out only at night. If caught out in the sunlight, they turn to stone and that's why you see many large stone boulders, especially alongside roads in forests. At least this is what our tour guide yesterday told us - and who are we to question her veracity??!

Cute couple at the top in Fløyen

We gave my little camera to some guy from Italy who seemed to be the designated photo-taker for anyone who didn't have enough relatives to spare one for a photo! He was very sweet, patiently waiting for people to clear away from where we were standing. As soon as he gave us a thumbs-up that the photo was good, I zipped away from the edge to solid ground!

The Floibanen

I guess this photo doesn't really show how very steep this railway is. Trust me - it might give someone with fear of heights the willies! Judy, you and I would be standing about 5' from the fence at the top! It's a beautiful and exciting excursion! And the views of Bergen from the top are breath-taking!

View of the 'Nordlys'

Our boat, the MS Nordlys, is right smack in the middle of this photo. It's the one with the dark blue bottom, white top, and red stripe along the middle. The Norwegian company, called Hurtigruten, runs 13 ships up and down the coast of Norway, in addition to voyages elsewhere. A ship leaves Bergen heading north every day and takes, obviously, 12 days to go from Bergen to Kirkenes (waaay north in Norway, near the border with Russia) (Sarah Palin can probably see the boats as they arrive and depart) and return to Bergen. We will be on our boat for only 2 full days, 3 nights. We disembark on Friday the 27th at 5:30AM.

Bergen view from Fløyen

This funicular is very popular with tourons because of the spectacular views of Bergen and surrounds it affords. This photo shows only one small portion of the about 180° views one has from the top. This tramway is very steep, ascending a bit over 1,000 feet vertically, but covering only about 300 feet horizontally (that's a guess). Breathtaking!

(PS - It took only 2 attempts for this photo to load, so I may be having some success with this wireless on the Nordlys! The following posts may or may not have photos with them, but I'll note at the end of the post if it should have a photo.)

Aug. 24, cont. - Floibanen

We left the aquarium, kind of disappointed, but the rain had stopped and the sun was making a brave attempt at showing itself. We walked back to the Brygge part of town, had lunch at the Harbor Cafe, and decided to give the Floibanen a go. This is a funicular tram sort of thing that goes up, up, up at a serious upward angle to the little gathering of houses called Fløyen. When I can I'll add a couple of photos of the view of Bergen from the top, as well as a view of our boat, a railway car coming up the track, and Ivan posing with a troll - really. The weather had cleared and it was very pleasant walking around outside. We had to keep an eye on our watches because the bus to the Hurtigruten terminal was to leave a hotel near ours at 5PM. Our hotel was storing our bags for us while we did our touron (word coined by our friend Steve Dolberg as alternative to the more commonly used, 'tourist') thing. (No photos with this post.)

Bergen

Greetings from near Ålesund near the entrance of the Geiranger fjord which is one of the biggest in Norway and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We're on the MS Nordlys (means "Northern Light") which we boarded yesterday afternoon. From the 'hot spot' for wireless on the boat I have lost several years of my life attempting to upload some photos from yesterday's galavanting around Bergen. I'm officially abandoning the effort until I'm once again on solid ground with an efficient wireless connection. Suffice it to say that I'll post my posts sans photos and will add the photos when I can. So you don't have to read every post again, I'll let you know when the photos have been posted to the blogs that have already been published (I hope that makes sense!).

Yesterday, Aug. 24, Ivan and I braved the rain to find our way to the Bergen Aquarium. If you're in Bergen and are feeling unaccountably happy, go the Bergen Aquarium and you will become slowly, but inexorably depressed. The following is only one reason that I would advise visitors to avoid this place. Remember - it's an aquarium, but there is a wretched exhibit containing 3 marmosets. The "vegetation" in this exhibit is plastic and I watched as 2 of the 3 creatures attempted to eat the stuff. I was horrified. The fish exhibits are slightly better, but are pretty small and oddly labelled in some cases. Not a place I'd recommend. (No photos will be added to this post.)

Verdant scene

I was completely amazed at the lushness of this desolate-seeming place. There are actually people living in these areas, areas that must have the longest and most severe winters of any populated area. These are surely very hardy souls! The beauty of the place, though, is breath-taking.

This photo was taken at a spot between Myrdal and Voss.

In conclusion of today's post, I will tell you that we are safely ensconced in our hotel, the Thon Hotel Bergen Brygge, a facility that re-defines the term "small living space!" Our room is about 20' long and 10' wide (including the bathroom which is about 5x6'!). The phrase most often heard in this room for the next 24 hours will be either, "Excuse me!" or "Please move!"

3 Glaciers

I took the photo in the post just before this one and then was somewhat shocked to see that there were even more glaciers right next to it. I photographed all three glaciers, but this blogging website won't let me display them side by side. The top photo is the one from the previous post and the next 2 were to the right of it. Now is where your map training comes into play. These were all at the stop for the town of Finse, a tiny, tiny burg situated in a most beautiful location.

(Map training will be useful for the next post too.)

Glaciers

We were minding our own business, looking at the scenery which was zipping by, when, out of nowhere, this glacier appeared! It was big, too, and there were many wide rivers cascading from it into lovely serpentine streams and rivulets.

Train Oslo to Bergen

Greetings from Bergen! We managed to get ourselves out of bed in Oslo this morning, eat breakfast, check that we had re-packed everything and walk, dragging our worldly possessions behind us (and on our backs), to the Oslo S train station. That alone deserves a round of applause! (Thank you.) Boarded our train, found our seats, and were tickled that the train, scheduled to depart at 8:11AM, actually departed at 8:11AM.

We had a smooth and fascinating ride out of Oslo and its suburbs, past forests of mixed conifers and deciduous trees, into the high alpine areas, characterized by no trees with boulder-strewn fields and marshes all around us. Oh, and lakes and rivers, did I mention those? It was gorgeous. Now this post will require that you find things on both of the attached photos if you want to know where the photos in the next couple of posts were taken. First, find 'Oslo S' on the "train route" map. Then, find Bergen - hint, look to the far left of the map. Now you're prepared to see the photos of the next couple of posts.

The Fram

This view is of only a portion of the side to the Fram, a sturdy and beautiful boat which carried many men to the Arctic region and on which they lived for many months. If you ever visit Oslo, a trip to this museum is well worth the effort. You can go inside the boat and see the exact places where the men ate their meals, where they slept and where their dogs were housed. Really interesting.

This Norwegian-by-marriage did not actually go to the Arctic on this vessel, but did graciously consent to give me a wave from the port gunwale!

BTW, I have changed the time thing on my camera, so you will now know when I actually took a photo! The time given on the previous photos is Fair Oaks time - sorry!

The Oseberg Ship

This ship was not used in battles, but rather was used by its owner for pleasure trips. Clearly, the Vikings had a very different estimation of what constituted pleasure than I do! The sign - which, at this museum, was in English and German as well as in Norwegian - stated that the trips must have been a bit difficult because there was no sort of shelter from either sun or inclement weather. The top photo is of the bow which, had I been able to get the entire thing in one photo, would be at the end of the boat that's at the left of the photo immediately above. Stunning workmanship.

Walking

Greetings from Oslo! Ivan and I walked all over this city today, starting after breakfast. We walked to the train station, which is so close we regretted the $30 cab fare we paid when we arrived. Neither of us fully appreciated how close to the station our hotel was. The walk was easy and our train tickets for the trip tomorrow to Bergen were handed to us by the ticket person about 30 seconds after we asked for them! We then meandered to the Botanical Gardens where Ivan spotted our first new bird - a Blue Tit. Yes, that's its name and yes, I've probably heard any joke you might toss my way about them! It's a pretty little bird that's related to chickadees and titmice. We visited the Geological Museum in the Garden area and were fascinated, but frustrated because everything was in Norwegian. I guess we are, after all, in NORWAY - what language should the display tags be in?! We did enjoy it nonetheless. After a very expensive lunch of grilled chicken burgers and 2 small beers (about $80!), we walked to the ferry terminus for a ferry to the Bygdøy peninsula where the Viking Ship Museum and the Fram Museum are located. One can either take a long bus ride to the museums or can take a 15-minute ferry ride to get there. We opted for the ferry and saw 5 Common Eiders (a northern species of duck) on the trip! Both museums were fascinating. The Viking Ship one has 3 real ships which were unearthed in the late 1800's. They were 'unearthed' because they were used as burial containers for the wealthy people who owned them. The even more interesting thing is that these ships were buried in the late 800's - 880 to be specific for one of them! No, I did not leave the number 1 off the beginning of the number - the year was before the year 1000! And these were the ACTUAL boats! Each had intricate carving on the bow, an elongated, curved frontspiece for the boat. A fascinating museum. The second museum in Bygdøy was the Fram Museum which has the very boat used by Roald Amundsen when he was searching for the elusive Northwest Passage through Arctic ice in the early 1900's. Another amazing showcase for this explorer and his craft. Now, at 9PM, I'm exhausted, but want to post a couple of photos I took today. There may be 2 or 3 more posts, each with a photo or two. Stay tuned . . . !

NORWAY!

This will be a quick post. We arrived at 6:10PM in Oslo on Lufthansa #3134 out of Frankfurt. It was our third wonderful and smooth flight in a row! As we were in approach on the plane, I took a couple of photos of the very pretty countryside which I'll post tomorrow. If you start the clock when Ivan and I departed our house on Thursday at 1:45PM, and if you account for the change of 9 time zones, we have been traveling now for about 44 hours! If my calculations are off, please be merciful - both of us are really tired and are looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed tonight! It's now 8:25PM, the sun is about to set, there's a light breeze blowing, and it's about 65°(F) outside. Stay tuned - lots more tomorrow!

First leg of trip

Ivan and I are in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, having arrived 30 minutes early from San Francisco. We had the most flawless flight I've ever had - on a 747 airplane and with weather conditions that approached perfection. I'm going to try to attach a perfectly awful photo I took this morning as we left SFO and saw Mt. Diablo poking above the fog which blanketed the entire Bay Area. I promise, no more phone photos!

I think this trip has gotten off to a good start - and I hope that keeps up! Our hopes are high for a fun and familially (is that a word?) fascinating excursion! (Points for alliteration!) Stay tuned.

Pedigree

This is how Astrid, Oddvar and I are related. We are grandchildren of two brothers. In 1912, brothers Hans and Ole came to the United States via Liverpool, England and Halifax, Canada. Both continued on to Ketchikan, Territory of Alaska, where Hans decided to settle and Ole, after staying to help his brother get established, eventually returned to Norway.

More Norwegian relatives

This is a photo of Ole Andreas Nordnes and his wife, Mildred Ingabora Monsen. Ole is the brother of my grandfather and is the grandfather of the relatives we'll be meeting and staying with, Oddvar Nordnes and his wife, Solveig and Astrid (Oddvar's sister) and her husband Svein Gårdvik. Confused? Next post will be a 'cheat sheet' that outlines our relationship.

Norwegian Grandparents

This is a photo of my mother's parents, Hans Martin Olsen Nordnes and Olga Pauline Olsen, on their wedding day in 1913. The next post will be a photo of Hans' brother and his wife.