Clever title? No, I didn't coin that it's the name of the tour we found to explore what we think is one of the worlds most scenic, peaceful and livable places we've seen so far. The tour took us through Norway's 3 largest cities (Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen) and some of the most beautiful scenery in the Fjords of Norway.
Saturday we flew from FRA to Oslo, which only took about two hours. Once we arrived at the Gardemeont airport we bought tickets for the speed train into the city center and a quick 23 minutes later we arrived at Oslo S. It was pouring buckets! That does not make for fun sightseeing. We walked fast to the Thon City Hotel Panorama which was about a 5-7 minute walk from the main station. We checked in and went back out into the rain to the Hard Rock Café.
There were tons of people lining the streets which was odd because of the rain but then we heard the music and saw the parade, it was Gay Pride weekend and was it ever festive! We had a window seat at HRC and were able to watch the entire parade, a fun experience indeed!
It was still raining so we hopped on the HoHo for a good overview of Oslo since we were only in the city about 24 hours. The entire loop was about 90 minutes and we weren't on it very long before the rain stopped and the weather cleared up. Yahoo!
It is always great to hear the commentary as we ride by all of the hot spots. Oslo is the worlds largest Capitol city by area, with 454 square kilometers (of which 242 are forests) and with about 600,000 people. It dates back to about the year 1000 but is a very modern city and easy to get around.
 |
| The Opera House |
 |
| Cool looking modern buildings |
 |
| Oslo City |
Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel and then hopped back on the HoHo to visit The Vigeland Sculpture Park for a nice walk. The park has free entrance and is filled with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron from Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). The sculpture all depict the cycle of life and it's quite obvious that the artist put a lot of effort and emotion into all of his sculptures. It was really interesting to stroll around studying the ideas behinds some of them.
 |
| The Vigeland Sculpture Park |
 |
| The Vigeland Sculpture Park |
 |
| The Vigeland Sculpture Park |
 |
| The Vigeland Sculpture Park |
We leisurely made our way back through the city on foot, enjoying the residential areas, and reaching the Royal Palace which was undergoing major renovations. We walked back to the hotel where we picked up our bags and walked to the main station for our 7 hour ride up north.
 |
| At the Royal Palace in Oslo |
The NSB trains are quite nice in Norway, much like our German trains but honestly the scenery is a bit more picturesque during the ride! It did remind us of northern Montana or even New Hampshire in some spots. We followed along a river most of the way and saw so many waterfalls, lakes and lovely little farms on the mountainsides.
 |
| Heading North on the train in Norway |
 |
| Heading North on the train in Norway |
 |
| Heading North on the train in Norway |
It was a nice long ride to Trondheim. The station was right on the water and our hotel wasn't far from there. We made the quick walk over to our hotel and then walked through the city which was filled with tons of people and super loud music. We came to the city center and found a large concert being held. It was the Band TOTO on their 35th anniversary tour. It was fun to hear a few recognizable songs as we walked around.
 |
| Trondheim city center and a TOTO Concert |
We visited the most iconic cathedral in Norway and it's national sanctuary, the Nidarosdomen or the Nidaros Cathedral. It was built over the burial grounds of Saint Olav, began construction in 1035 and took 250 years to complete! We had the zoom lens on the camera so we weren't able to get a good full picture but the entire Cathedral was really beautiful. Especially the West Front decorated with statues and ornaments.
 |
| Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim |
 |
| Nidaros Cathedral's West Front |
We found a peaceful outside spot called Egon's to have a drink and snack. It was hard to believe that it was 11:00 pm because it was still so light out but we thought we better head to bed! From our hotel window we could see the Hurtigruten ship out in the bay and the next morning we walked over to the harbor to board for our overnight cruise southbound in the Fjords!
- Posted using BlogPress from iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think!