Land of the Vikings... and all things civilized

The ship itineraries continued over to Norway, up to Tromso then down the Norwegian coast... then I got off the ship to visit friends in Sweden, Germany, and Denmark.  I then rejoined the ship at Copenhagen and continued exploring the coast north and then back across to the UK, ending finally back where I began the UK season in Portsmouth!

The scandinavian and European part of my summer was excellent for so many reasons, and it was repeatedly refreshing and edifying to take advantage of and benefit from a much more human-centric system of life most easily summed up by the depth, breadth, and variety of public transportation options.  But that I found on my own travels.  This will be mostly my ship-based memories... we'll see what I can find!

It's easy to start with the most spectacular bit... the Lofoten Islands, off of Tromso.  As a colleage said, it's the barrier or speed bump on the way north to Svalbard!

I say not a bad hump to have to suffer...

kittwakes repurposing window ledges

an old fishing village and fishermen huts-- back in the days when there was a huge seasonal workforce to  harvest cod and put them out for drying on racks in the salty wind... now just some heads strung up to evoke the history of the place...

I have joked many times that summer in Scotland and Norway equals no summer... but we did have some pretty spectacular weather a few times and boy does it make all the world of difference.  but the moody weather days were also pretty neat too.

Heading down the coast, a variety of scenes.  It is more rugged with fjords and mountains in the north and things slowly mellow as you travel south.  We called in at a variety of places, taking busses to visit cities, parks, villages, do some hiking... too many names to get into at the moment, but here's a visual smorgasbord...

 Tromso and the Polar Museum

Oslo, the Fram museum, Viking ship museum... pretty awesome.

Bergen, my favorite city there-- neat alleyways and old buildings, lots of character.  And you can hike up the hill behind town and can go hiking or skiing... for an hour, or days!  Being in the nature is a very Norwegian thing.  So awesome to have that quality of recreation (variety of trails for walkers bikers skiiers in winter, refuge huts, lengths...) so close to a major city.

view at a distance from the historic warehouse sector... the Hanseatic Quarter

inside one of the old Quarter buildings conserved as a museum; these are the beds for some of the guild members and/or visiting merchants... snug as a bug in a matchbox!

cool old office cubicle... old wavy glass!

tribute to Cod, the unlovely but hugely important fish to the region and really the world economy.  Check out the book Cod: the biography of the fish that changed the world, by Mark Kurlansky.

Bergen from above... these are real houses, no living museum.

and really above town in the recreation zone...

lovely trailside rest stop...

looking down at the port area

this is a real fish (though dead), on display at the fish market.  i'd guess we tourists asked lots of questions about "well jeeze marge, i wonder what that thing is?"... i imagine the friendly fishmongers kindly provided a sign to give their vocal chords a bit of a break...

and outside of Bergen is Trollhousen, Edvard Grieg's home conserved as a museum and where there is also a purpose built auditorium where the conserving foundation hosts a rotation of Grieg-focused pianists who give regular recitals.  We would be signed up for a private recital on each of our visits to the city (I attended three or four) and each soloist was excellent, with their individual choice of pieces which was a nice variety as a repeat visitor.  Usually however their final piece was his wedding march which was when their unique styles were demonstrated more clearly.  a gorgeous venue-- specifically designed to allow the viewer to experience the nature that inspired Grieg at the same time as the performance... the red cottage you see through the window was the actual retreat where Grieg did his composing, overlooking the sound.  A deeply thoughtful and truly affective experience.

Now, an assortment of other images from smaller towns and such along the coast...

lots of wooden churches in Norway, this one was particularly beautiful

the incredible display of wildflower in the highcountry was difficult to capture in the grand scheme... took lots of individual photos and created a plant guidebook sort of file for guests to take home with them... which was really fun for me, a great way to learn the local flora and enjoy the plants that much more deeply via their photos.

turf roofs all the rage... great insulation.  rafters then slabs of rock, then layers of birch bark then turf which will then host a wide range of naturally colonizing species of grass, moss, flowers... and even trees if you're not keeping up with your roof weeding chores!

spectacular high country

butterwort... carnivorous plant! big sticky broad leaves...

(some) Beers of Norway... well, I encountered them there anyway.  I think the O is actually Danish?

we went inland a ways to take a trip on the Telemark Canal... I'd never gone through locks before...

visited the "art deco capital of Norway" at Alesund...

which had a knit store showing the cutest baby wear ever!

and then some really cute small towns / villages in the south where the theme was all white houses and terra cotta roofs... including Kragero where Edvard Munch spent a lot of time painting and being inspired...

the man himself (in bronze) with a replica of his painting "the light" behind... he is looking out to where the sun would rise with that sort of brillance... beautiful.

Here are a few shots from Skagen, Denmark.  Right up a the tip...

the theme here... yellow and terra cotta... and BMWs and porches etc in the driveways of these wee village houses... Danes have a high standard of living but this was clearly some sort of Martha's Vineyard-esque sort of holiday scene.

cool mirror, or lens... what amazing design and function

great view from atop the lighthouse, of where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea... you can see the turbulence in the ocean and the different colors at the top right of the photo, leading from the apex of the sandy shoreline off to the right just below the actual horizon.

and here is the actual meeting point of the waters... swimming prohibited because of the crazy currents.  There wasn't any wind this day... but crazy waves happening out there off the spit.  Had my feet in two bodies of water at once... pretty neat.

Gosh, so many more photos I have but maybe they'll make it here another time.  Hope you've enjoyed the trip so far.  Until the next installment...  tallyho!