Sweden part 1

Two days in Gothenburg went quickly and without hassle. On arrival we navigated our way through the “burbs” Not sure how we ever managed without google and satellite navigation. (Occasionally we still manage to stuff up and turn too early or too late. Googles fault not mine!) accommodation is small but everything you need is there although we decided against cooking as the kitchen was tiny. 

We walked into town and visited the tourist information centre for confirmation on what to do tomorrow and then a bit of shopping before jumping on a local bus to see if we could get home. 

Day 2 was taken up with the city walking tour that you self navigate through and we explored the old Haga district where there were some lovely galleries but none of them open (10 or 11 seems to be the usual start time in most of Scandinavia), Fish markets and other nice old buildings including some nice artisan shops etc   Nothing out of the ordinary to report on the day but it was pleasant and rather exhaustive by the time late afternoon came around. 

Early start and drive to Malmö. Once again we marveled at the quality of the roads although I suspect Swedes are not quite as law abiding as their Norwegian and Danish cousins, these guys don’t wait for the pedestrian light to turn green before crossing the road and are a little faster than the speed limit in their Volvo’s but at least speed limits are marked so you can be compliant if you choose to! Unlike Denmark where you had to guess. (A n “end 60” sign can mean you have to slow to 30 or speed up to 130).

Malmö is about 3 hours drive but we had to return our car back to Copenhagen airport so after dropping the bags at the hotel we took the bridge and tunnel from Sweden to Denmark, great engineering and pretty easy to traverse despite the high winds that threatened to blow the truck in front of us over.  I was pretty sure I saw him go onto 2 wheels at one stage. We caught the train back to Sweden and had some time in Malmö to wander around and get a feel for what our second day might be like. It is a lovely old town with beautiful buildings and nice people so we spent our time strolling around and looking in some Swedish furniture design shops and galleries. We found one of Europe’s largest skate parks and had a couple of great restaurant meals. I am happy to report that our foray into exotic and endangered species including whale!and reindeer may have ended with a meal that included pigs head terrine and pigeon at a restaurant called Bastard. Great food and a nice night out. 

Day 3 in Malmö was a train trip down the coast to Ystad. A lovely old village and home to where Wallander and “the bridge “ were filmed. The village boasts the only complete block of half timber half brick houses, complete with internal courtyard area left in Sweden as well as a number of other beautiful old houses and buildings. The oldest house in the village dates from the early 1500s.

After my excitement at getting access to the AFL live screening of the grand final and then my disappointment at the final score it was time to Pick up another car this time a VW Golf with all the features you could imagine requiring me to steer but the speed is pretty well regulated by the vehicle in front of you and some smart cruise control buttons that just make sense. Unfortunately the guy at the rental company needed my passport so 20 minutes later I returned from the hotel with all the paperwork and we were on the road again. Our drive to Kosta was via the south coast to Ales stones  to look at a rather large stone ship that had been laid out by the Vikings many years ago. The rather large stones were laid out in the shape of a Vikings ship but in such a manner that you could map the months via the sun including the winter and summer solstice and the autumn and spring equinoxes. Interestingly they had even included a leap year into the design and adjusted the distance between some of the stones to accommodate longer months so the sunsets and sunrises were in line with each appropriate stone and the midpoint of the “ship”. Amazing stuff! 

 

The Kosta area is renowned for its glass blowing with many glass factories scattered around the area. One of the oldest glass factories is very close to where we are staying. So first stop before checking into our accommodation was a stop at the Kosta Boda art gallery to book in for a tour tomorrow and hopefully a chance to have a try at glass blowing. We were able to have a quick look inside one of the factories before they closed. Fascinating to watch! 

For the next couple of nights we have an entire house in a very quiet location that looks out onto a nature reserve or similar so it should be a very relaxing spot (although Stu is struggling with the TV at the moment - it seems it will only give him one channel in Swedish!!!) but nice to have some space, do some home cooking again and some much needed washing! 

Skagen to Sweden

Skagen was lovely once the weather decided to play nicely. When we arrived it was cold and wet so we had a wander around the town but being a Saturday afternoon there wasn’t much open so we stocked up on some groceries and headed to our accommodation for a lazy afternoon. First impression of our AirBnB was not good but once inside we were comfortable with enough room to cook and lounge around. We woke up to sunshine and we had a plan for what we wanted to see, the cape at Grenen where the two seas, Skagerrak and Kattegat meet as it is only a few kilometres north of Skagen at the northern most point of Jutland. To get to lands end you needed to take the 30 minute walk along the beach, Skagen Odde, considered to be one of the largest spits in the world. But once there you were well rewarded with the visual of the two seas meeting and crashing waves against each other. I seriously doubt the photos will do it justice and it is understandable why swimming is forbidden.  Next stop a large shifting sand dune that moves 20 metres per year with the wind pushing the sand around and quickly removing any trace of footprints. The sand is definitely fine. 

We had read about an old disused lighthouse that had been buried, abandoned and then re-exposed by the elements so off we headed down the west coast. They have built a new internal staircase and access is free after you do the kilometre walk through paddocks and over the dunes. It was necessary to keep the lens cap on the camera and your mouth closed for fear of sandblasting your lens and removing the enamel from your teeth. The lighthouse keepers residences have long gone with only foundations and bricks scattered around and the church that was also there was removed many years earlier. Again the dunes are moving inland and the lighthouse will eventually fall into the sea in a few years time.

Final stop and part of a recurring theme was a buried church, Dens Tilsandede Kirke, that had been abandoned due to sand migration. All that remains is the tower that they have again opened up to the public and you can climb to the top, - a great idea..... once at the top we looked out to see hoards of people heading towards us so thought we should make a run for it and get down the single access spiral stairwell before they started coming up but we were too late. I reckon 40 or 60 people came up before we could send a message down to stop coming up for fear of the whole upper platform collapsing! Once at the bottom we saw probably another 100 young people waiting to go up and another bus load arriving. I wonder if it is still standing as i reckon they would have all tried to head up at the same time and there was no exit until they stopped coming. Very irresponsible tour guides. A great day touring the countryside and both sides of the peninsula.

Heading to Gothenburg today on the ferry and kind of wondering if we may have made a mistake. Our thinking was to catch the ferry over rather than backtrack to Copenhagen. We would then have a couple of days exploring the city before driving down the west coast and across the bridge to Copenhagen in order to return the car and avoid the fees for dropping off in Sweden. The only problem with that plan was the £80 ferry fee and the wasted day sitting at the ferry terminal and three and a half hours on the ferry. Hindsight suggests we probably should have just driven back to Copenhagen on the motorway (after all you can do 130kph) and therefore saved on the ferry, bridge toll and train back to Malmo in Sweden. Not really a problem but ... local knowledge is a wonderful thing. 

Last few days in Denmark

Autumn is here or for those who watch Game of thrones “Winter is Coming” The days are getting shorter and we seem to be on the receiving end of some storm activity working its way through the UK and Northern Europe. 

After we left Odense in Fyn we made our move to the largest of Denmarks land masses - Jutland. The plan had been to go to Legoland in Billund but google insisted that it was on reduced operating hours for Autumn before closing for winter so we settled on a drive in the country enroute to Århus and made a stop in Jelling to check out the Unesco listed monuments and rune stones that were raised  by king Gorm and his son Harald Bluetooth (and yes this is where Bluetooth technology takes it name - the engineer developing the technology was a fan of Harald Bluetooth and in honour of his networking and communication skills in bringing the Viking nation together named the wireless technology Bluetooth! True story! The symbol used for Bluetooth technology is derived from the ancient rune symbols for H and B overlaid). Included in our visit were the two burial mounds, one for Harold and the other for an unknown Nobel man. Both had been robbed on previous occasions but there was definitely enough left behind to help unravel the mysteries that lay beneath. King Haralds claim to fame was to unite the Vikings and bring Christianity to the Danes and the oldest rune stone raised by king Gorm bears the first reference known to the name “Denmark”. Therefore King Gorm the old’s Rune stone is referred to as Denmarks name certificate and Haralds Rune stone considered Denmarks baptism certificate and the figure of Christ inscribed on the stone is now featured in all Danish passports.

We spent over an hour at the (FREE) museum with fantastic interactive displays that were lost on the school groups. What i do know is that i am still learning so much and that i need to get out my history books and study the Viking way of life. SBS has taught me a lot but i suspect the focus here was on the raping and pillaging vs the trade and resettlement. Within the site were two burial mounds and hundreds of “newly” erected white pillars marking the approximate location of the original palisade erected from approximately 4000 oak trees. They have also marked the outline of the 350 metre ship-shape which was once marked by stones. 

Our two nights in Aarhus are going to be comfortable as our AirBnB is actually someone’s house that she lets out while she is away. We might have had to make our own bed and leave the sheets in the laundry but we have a house! Washing machine, kitchen, lounge, tv ..... I couldn’t do it with my place but it was certainly nice to be able to spread out. 

Aarhus is a lovely area. We have checked out the town and wandered through the shops in the old Latin Quarter including some beautiful jewellery and artefacts made from horn. (we might have brought a few things but it would be a shame not to!) We  did a drive through the Lakes area that was really nice except for the rain storms but still worth it. Danish roads are probably the best designed roads that you could imagine, for a population less than 6 million they have totally nailed the motorway! Top speed is 130kph albeit somewhat confusing in towns where it could be 30, 40, 50 or 80 and they don’t necessarily tell you. Last year they had a total of 160 road deaths (Norway was around 120) so what does that say to us..... in Norway the roads aren’t so great due to the mountains but the speed limit is at a maximum of 80kph. In Denmark the extraordinarily low road trauma is because they have dual lane highways nearly everywhere. 

Tonight and tomorrow night we will spend in Skagen at the tip of Jutland where we will hopefully dip our toes in the water and explore the northern beaches. 

Couldn’t possibly sign off without mention of the mighty Collingwood Football Club. When we got back to the room yesterday i had to log in and check but had already prepared myself for the inevitable result and had promised Robyn I wouldn’t be crabby for the whole night. OMG crack another can and bring on the game next Saturday. We are going to be somewhere in Sweden to and my research so far tells me that it will be 6.30 am and there are no bars that are open..... i might however be able to find a local SwedishAFL club (they actually do exist) that are hosting an event.........GO PIES!

Denmark

Just had a lovely three days in Copenhagen and now on the island of Fyn (middle island) staying in Odense. We wandered around the old quarter of Copenhagen and did a lovely (touristy) canal cruise and a good introduction and orientation to the city. Food is still expensive but we can at least buy a drink in a supermarket that is comparable to home!

Day 2 involved a couple more museums and shops but as usual not enough time to see it all. The Copenhagen museum was intense to say the least with an impressive collection of early artefacts that were great to experience and intellectually challenging. So much so that it took us nearly 90 minutes to do the first of 4 floors and subsequently not as much time on the other 3 but well worth the visit. The Scandinavian design museum on the other hand was a little under- whelming but maybe we were just a little tired and “museumed out”   Our hotel is a budget one and therefore rather small with paper cups for your wine and not a lot of room for the ever increasing luggage (yes Robyn does have another new coat.... this time a rather delightful Helly Hanson number that will definitely impress the local Marion Bay community). Back to the hotel, we actually went back to reception after we checked in to enquire if they had made a mistake because there was only one single Donna and one towel in the room, it was correct , the others are under the bed in the pull out drawer....

Day 3 included some wandering around the shops! A visit to the  round tower and some general sightseeing before the legs had simply had enough. 

Today was spent driving to Odense. We first needed to find our way to the Metro with our luggage in tow to get out to the airport to pick up our next hire car. Once we found the metro station it was all very easy. Metro to the airport, free shuttle bus to the rental car centre, pick up our little diesel Renault and head out. First stop Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum. Absolutely awesome! They recovered five Viking ships from the bottom of the Roskilde fjord which in itself was an amazing feat. They built a metal wall around the wrecks, pumped out the water and then began excavating, cataloging, processing and preserving every piece. Once this was done it took 25 years to reconstruct the ships in the purpose built museum. The museum harbour also houses reconstructed ships modelled on the wrecks as well as many other reconstructions all built using traditional Viking tools and methods. This is all done on site and you can visit the workshops and shipyard and see work in progress and talk to the craftsmen about the process and how everything is done. They sailed one of the reconstructed ships to Dublin to “test” it and try to work out how the ship would have functioned in Viking times. Really well worth the visit. 

From there onto Svenborg on the coast via an amazing bridge (18km) across the ocean linking the two islands. From Viking engineering to current! Both impressive! Svenborg was a lovely little seaside town, lots of boats - probably very nice to spend a few days relaxing by the sea but onwards to Odense after a short walk along the waterfront (and an ice cream for Stu). Small apartment tonight so “home cooked food”. Very nice - some steak and veggies. Much cheaper and nice to eat something simple.  

Is it just me or do others agree that there is something wrong with having to insert your Visa card into a slot just to open the toilet door? Not only that but you can’t use your card twice due to security reasons meaning only one of us can go to the toilet or you have to use a different card and therefore attract an international banking fee for the pleasure of a pee.....

Tusen Takk (a thousand thanks) Norway

After realising we  had a slight issue with our rental car needing to be returned by 9am on the same day we were checking out in Flåm with a 4 1/2 hour drive to Oslo - obviously this was not going to happen - we were on the road early! A call to the office once they opened and all was sorted - just an extra days rental to pay on drop off! The drive was nothing short of spectacular as everything else has been. We started with the usual mountains, fjords etc but soon found ourselves driving through snow dusted mountains with outside temperatures of 1 and 2 degrees. This gave way to pine forests and mor fjords and waterways - beautiful but not as high as previous ones. Just AWESOME in all. 

The drive into Oslo was quite stressful. We found our hotel and checked in then set off into the city to return the hire car. Stu was VERY ready to give the car back when we finally found the Hertz office. Car returned we set off to find a laundry and do other mundane tasks like find a vinmonopolet. 

Day 2 and off we went into town. Travelling like a local we decided not to “touch on” with our tickets and plead ignorance as our first line of defence. It worked. Had a great wander through the sculpture park despite the eleventy billion Asian tourists. (Check out the book “why mummy drinks “ if you want a good laugh and also to understand the way we might talk aka WTAF and FML) Toilet stop enroute required but where - once located it required 15Nkr to enter but not coins - a card was needed - travel card did not work so desperation necessitated using the visa! So 15Nkr and an international transaction fee and crisis averted!!!!! Just! 

Opera house next spoilt slightly by a fatality (thankfully we didn’t see it) but no denying it was right there. A short walk to the modern sculpture park was aborted once we realised how far it was and how uphill it was going to be so 23000 steps later it was time to take the shoes off!  

Culture night in Oslo woohoo we had made it. As luck would have it we were in town for the night of nights. Clocked into the Viking museum which was fantastic and then the folk museum that took us through some brilliantly relocated buildings from greater Norway and 2 hours was nowhere near enough but it was nice to catch up again with Maria and Manfred from Flåm (Austria) would recommend both of these to anyone. B

Now back to Culture Night - Underwhelming is a term I am prepared to use. Some bits were great but on the whole not what the 40 page brochure was talking up. A lot of time spent trekking or navigating badly on local transport between supposed venues/ events only to find nothing or very little! Not a problem really as we were flying out the next morning  and 23000 steps later we were ready for bed.... but not before a final drink in Norway in the hotel bar on the 9th floor (only drink available when you miss 5pm closing! At the Vinmopolet on Saturday!) Hardy’s Stamp. (Available at Dr Dans for $6.oo per 1 litre ) but a bargain at 95 nok or $15 per glass. 

We had made some initial inquiries at hotel reception about transport to the airport and were informed that a taxi would cost us a mere $170AUD or train would be $33/4 each plus about $10/11AUD to get to the train station. Despite the hassle of dragging bags up the overpass to the metro and then finding the right train, buying a ticket etc we couldn’t justify the $170 taxi fare! So we attempted to case out the train stations do ticketting for our journey to the airport before returning to our hotel - unsuccessfully! So before heading to the bar we enquirer about purchasing a ticket for the train to the airport the next morning only to be told (by a different person) not to take the train - the bus would be quicker and cheaper and we could pick it up virtually outside the hotel and they gave us 50% discount vouchers! Go figure! Lucky we made the second enquiry. 

Armed with our 50% discount vouchers we waited patiently by the side of the road hoping we were in the right spot and the bus would turn up. Success! $16/17 per person later and we were on our way to the airport! 

Airports in a Norway are quite automated - print your own boarding pass, bag tickets, attach them and then drop them at automated bag drops! Who need people! Or passports for that matter. None required on exit or entry to Denmark. 

More on Copenhagen to come. Will throw up some photos tomorrow 

We think we have sorted out the problem with not being able to comment out so please knock yourself out but remember my mum and dad can see what you have written!

Failing that just send us an email x

Norway in a nutshell

Bergen

It was raining when we docked in Bergen so instead of walking the 10 min to our hotel we opted for a taxi. About $20 later and we were at our hotel and presented the paperwork for our booking to reception only to find out our booking was for the following night - Oh *+*+ = but the hotel staff were very helpful and although they were fully booked for the night contacted their sister hotel just up the road (which was actually an upgrade) and organised two nights for us there for the same price. So armed with umbrellas lent to us by the hotel we set off a bit further up the road to find our accommodation which turned out to be very nice. And the upside was we got to spend an extra day in Bergen so we had time to explore the city. We spent our day taking the funicular up mount Floyon to check out the great views over the city and harbour (and many cruise ships) and then exploring Bryggan including the Hanseatic Museum, the Assembly Rooms (great expanses of architecture and life from the 1600’s) and Fish museum. After a bit of shopping (and possibly the purchase of a hand made moose leather jacket) we decided to visit the fish market to find something for dinner. Whale meat was on the menu - mmm! An ethical dilemma - we don’t support whaling - will we try it? We decided to try it and were very  surprised by the taste and texture - more like a game meat than fish! Now back to not supporting whaling!!!!! Apparently Norway claims they have sustainable quotas in place for the harvesting of Minki Whales as numbers have increased. Maybe they do! They don’t take any other whales.

Next day we picked up our hire car - now to try and remember to stay on the “right” side of the road! Off to Stavanger - it was a fantastic drive along fjords (strange i know), across bridges, through tunnels (some that went under the fjord) and beautiful little villages and rural countryside. Success - arrived in Stavanger without incident! Spent the afternoon wandering the cobbled streets (past a gay pride celebration in the park - lots of singing and rainbow colours etc). Found an Irish pub called the Irishman with live music so of course a visit was necessary - a couple of drinks later (and a mortgage on the house) we went in search of a meal and found a Thai restaurant - prices were reasonable comparatively - so all things not Norwegian this afternoon! 

Day two in Stavanger and we had a cruise out to Pulpit Rock organised - weather was not great but!!!! Again beautiful scenery despite the weather. Pulpit Rock was spectacular although we only saw it from the water. You could hike up to it but we hadn’t realised it would be a bus trip from the boat and then a two hour walk up and two hours back and then a bus trip back so we hadn’t really taken the gear we would need with us on the boat given the weather so we just enjoyed the view from the water (Pulpit Rock features in one of the mission impossible films with Tom Cruise dangling over the side). We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of the old city and taking photos but being a Sunday not much is open including the Vinmonopolet! OUCH! In fact you are not even allowed to buy beer in the supermarket on a Sunday (I think the Mormons. Might be running the joint ) We headed out in the rain for some dinner and ended up sharing a pizza. I had a beer and Robyn a glass of the wine, but only one as the starting price for a bottle of the house red was $85 and the average price, for average wine, was closer to $120. 

Early start to begin the drive to Flåm. What can we say but amazing!, beautiful scenery and the most amazing waterfalls that we have ever seen, right beside the road..... the power of the water coming down the mountain makes you wonder where it is all coming from, let alone, how did they build a bridge over it. And not just one waterfall, dozens, probably hundreds! Truly amazing! Norway really is a strip of coastline, fjords, mountains, waterfalls, beautiful little villages and countryside with a few towns thrown into the mix. 

Today we actually drove through two tunnels with roundabouts in them and roads going off in other directions! These two tunnels were connected by a bridge across the fjord - amazing! Out of one tunnel across the fjord and into the next!!!!

Flåm has been both beautiful and a little disappointing. Firstly our accommodation turned out to be a hostel with shared bathroom - slightly misrepresented on bookings,com!!!!! But we did meet a lovely young Austrian couple, Maria and Manfred, who were staying there also and spent a very pleasant evening drinking overpriced alcohol and chatting. Good fun! Also it has been grey and raining the whole time. Not great weather to do a cruise on the fjord or a train trip up the mountain. We decided instead to drive the zigzag road up the mountain to Stegastein and the lookout over the fjord only to be told the road was closed for maintenanace and we may have to wait an hour or more to get up there. And there was a massive cruise ship - about 13 stories high in the fjord so hoards of tourists! (Not us of course!) At this point we were considering forgoing our second nights accommodation and leaving but we decided to give the drive a try and after about a 20 min wait we were let up the mountain and it was well worth the wait. Spectacular despite the rain and the 3 degree temperature outside! We then drove across the mountain - more beautiful scenery, rock strewn landscapes, small lakes and ponds, pockets of ice and snow, rushing streams and waterfalls. Then on to Laerdal another lovely little village and back to Flåm via a 24km tunnel (which was lit up with blue, green and orange lights every 5 or 6kms) and another little village called Undredal with the smallest Stave church in Norway (about 40 seats) and where they also sold goats cheese locally made (which we of course needed to sample)

Tomorrow Oslo! 

Hurtigruten - sad to be leaving

What a highlight this trip was. 6 days, 5 nights of entertainment provided by Mother Nature. I am not sure how many photos we have taken but i am sure we will need to do a serious cull when we get home and look through them on the big screen but everywhere you look is just another kodak moment.  - a word of warning to you all, if we ask you around for a “slide night” - you might like to put some parameters on the time.

I think the boat docked in at lease 30 ports during the week, some for only 15 minutes and many throughout the night that we slept through. Where we could get off we did. Sometimes to visit a museum, or look for a shop to restock the soda and tonic water for our contraband Gin that we had smuggled on board. In Trondheim we found the Vinmonoplet - Government run wine and spirits shop so grabbed a couple of reds and three beers and proceeded to hide them in my backpack to allow for a “special” sneaky drink in the cabin. Beer and wine on board, in fact even on land in restaurants, is so dammed expensive that you would need to sell a kidney to afford the bottle so we restricted ourselves to a glass! The last time we made a wine last so long was when we drank my retirement bottle of Grange a couple of months ago! The comparison only extends as far as the time because the quality of the $25 per glass wine was average, in fact it was probably South American and something that we could buy for 6 pounds ($11) in the UK.

We did a couple of bus trips that were ok. You hop off the boat, board the bus and then rejoin it at the next stop. These trips were good for the commentary and we did a few stops for photos along the way but as with all bus trips you tend to drive quickly past everything and the photos out the window are often compromised by reflections off the glass. We managed to get the front seat on our first trip that really pissed off one woman travelling with her parents. She loudly said “ i tried to get the front seats but some people were just so selfish.....” “ i will make sure i reserve the front seats next time” AND she did. Wouldn’t have worried us except there was nothing wrong with her parents and they were quite capable of sitting in any seat... but clearly they were much more deserving than any other person paying the eaxact same amount and they of course should not have to que in order to get seats at the front of the bus. Bloody yanks!

Talking of Americans, the boat has more than there fair share of them. All loud, all very important and all wanting to tell you how great they are... Not one of them would admit to having voted for Donald! Interestingly though very few Asians. 

Apart from the stunning scenery  and a second Aurora show, we have learnt a few things about Norwegian culture and their economy. Engrained in their culture is a sense of equality. They have a word for it and basically it means “don’t think you are special or better than anyone else” you can see this even in their houses. While there is difference, obviously, nothing so far seems to be overly ostentatious! In fact when Kirkeness was rebuilding after the devastation of WW2 the government offered cheap loans to people if they wanted to build a house of specified design and size. This meant construction materials were standard and houses went up quickly and more people were able to housed in a shorter time frame. Over time people have made some individual changes but you can still see the basic design. People also all call each other by first name - doesn’t matter who - prime minister, street sweeper - all the same. They have roughly 50% women in their government including a female prime minister. Alcohol is very heavily taxed and they have an almost zero tolerance policy. Blood alcohol limit is 0.02 - if you are over the fine is heavy, you lose your licence and do jail time. They have special prisons for drink drivers and you are required to organise your own time there - book in when they have a vacancy and pay for it!!!

It seems they have some very strong social policies. They also seem to make very practical, long term decisions for the benefit of the country and people. For example when they were approached by various companies to search for gas and oil back in the 50’s and 60’s they realised they needed to have rules and guidelines before they allowed this. So after establishing boundaries, ownership etc they allowed exploration. Shortly after companies started operation and there were a few accidents etc they realised they needed much more stringent rules to protect the environment. The upshot is foreign companies are charged 78% tax. This money has been invested in a pension fund which invests in ethical companies and is worth a staggering amount of money. The website can be googled. Apparently they were smart enough to realise that at some point in the future when these natural resources are gone or the population is aging they may need this money to support people! And as governements have changed this policy has been maintained and the fund has continued to grow. The governement also decided it would be sensible for them to have their own company which they have. They have recently rebranded this as they have expanded into more renewable energy. The governement also reserves the right to have a 50% share in any foreign investment! (Fancy being able to have such a sensible long term approach that hasn’t flipped and flopped with change of government!) Despite all this wealth coming into the nation they maintained a sensible approach to internal economiocs and people were still required to pay taxes and work etc meaning they have maintained low unemployment - about 3% and good infrastructure etc. When they build new bridges and tunnels - of which they have many connecting small islands and small villages - there is often a toll but once the cost of the bridge or tunnel is paid for then the toll is removed and it is free! If you have an electric car - you don’t pay the toll. Farmers are supported which means that they can be viable with 50 cows. The only milk sold in the local shop is the local milk produced in that area. Imagine that! 

It seems that when they need a new school or hospital they don’t tinker around wasting money doing a bit of this and that. They simply build a new building and the old may be torn down or repurposed later! Imagine! Teacher/ student ratios are 16:1 but we were told they have been pushing them up as high as 24:1 in recent years (even 28:1 in higher grades) Imagine!

A couple of other quirky facts - one town we visited had made a decision to paint all their houses blue. If you painted your house blue the paint is supplied. Another town decided that you need to paint your house a different colour to your neighbour! The result is not a lot of hideously painted houses but a range of blues, greys, greens, reds and yellows that all blend very harmoniously. Traditionally, barns etc were painted red and farmhouses white. White paint was a symbol of wealth as it was the most expensive paint. 

An amazing few days

WOW!

Ok I probably need to backtrack a little and try to do the last few days justice..... On arrival at Heathrow on Thursday morning we hit a minor hitch, our ticket did not include checked bags! Somewhere along the way the airline had cancelled our booking, rebooked us, almost sent us to Singapore then rebooked our original flights but alas without baggage. £180 later and we were sorted... (and an email to our travel agent to sort it with the airline!) A couple of hours in the air and we landed at Oslo for a 5 hour stopover so decided to pay to get into the SAS airline lounge rather than hang out with the masses. This turned out to be a pretty good idea as not only were the chairs more comfortable, the food and drinks were free and our connecting flight was delayed by another hour or so. Once the flight opened we had a reasonable walk to the gate (they didn’t mention that) and we had to negotiate some strange ticket scanning setups just to get to the right part of the terminal, including verifying pictures of our luggage. 

When we arrived in Kirkeness we stood around for a while until the bags started coming around on the carousel and, you guessed it, no bags! No problem as only 80% of the people had left and the other locals just stood around patiently and waited for at least another 10/15 minutes for “round 2”. In the meantime Old mate from France started stressing and banging on windows, trying to force doors and rant and rave. Second round and still no bags for us, or old mate (more banging on windows, shouting and storming around - strangely security didn’t arrive to check out the ruckus) and a couple of others. Off we went to find someone who cares, tired and stressed we made a report, described the bags and collected our overnight emergency kit from the airline with assurances that our bags would be delivered to our hotel in the morning and old mates would go direct to the ship as he was leaving the next day.

Back at the hotel Robyn opened the ‘ladies bag” to find deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush etc and the lovely XL tshirt. - mine had the XXL and a razor. When we mentioned to the hotel reception that our bags had been lost they assured us all would be fine and they would be delivered the next day. It seems it is not uncommon! True to their word our bags were delivered to our hotel the next morning so all was good! (We have since met another couple on board who arrived the day the boat sailed and his bag has not been located yet - we donated him my Tshirt which I hadn’t used).

The unfortunate upshot of losing our bags was we were so tired from the delayed flight and filling in missing luggage reports etc - having left Twickenham at around 7.30am and arriving at our hotel to check in at 9.30pm and too focused on our missing luggage we had no time to organise activities for the next day and so were unable to do the King Crab safari - Oh well! Luckily we had 30min before their kitchen closed so were able to get something to eat before trying out our emergency supplies and getting some much needed sleep.

After breakfast (food in Norway is very good but expensive to eat in restaurants - luckily breakfast was included) we decided to explore Kirkeness which is quite a small town and book a sightseeing tour for the afternoon as the King Crab Tour was not an option. For a small town we managed some very good shopping at an outdoors store and clothing outlet. Only took us a couple of hours to wander the town and check out the shops of interest. The town, however has some very interesting history starting with conflicts over land back in the days of the Vikings and British through to the Second World War when the town was devastated. Apparently Kirkeness was the most bombed city in Europe so virtually completely destroyed. Norway had declared neutrality but Germany invaded anyway so the Russians bombed and blew up everything in attempt to thwart the Germans. They currently share a boarder with Russia which has an interesting history also. Boarder security is taken very seriously. We drove to an official boarder checkpoint where we were able to take photos but it is forbidden to step over “the line.” We met a Norwegian boarder patrol team at another point along the fenced boarder who generously posed for photos with us. Another two of the team returned from patrol with automatic rifles, dog etc and people are caught.

Back to the hotel for dinner - Steak or Salmon - $50 or King Crab or Reindeer $70 each and a glass of wine $20 to $25/ small glass or splash out on a bottle of average wine for around $70! Ouch! Alcohol is heavily taxed in Norway. You can purchase it cheaper in a store but it is still much more expensive than home.

September 1st - time for our Hurtigruten cruise. We had a couple of hours before pick up at the hotel so decided to check out the museum. Worth the visit and filled in a bit more of the story about the history of Kirkeness in WW2.

Off to the ship - on board - offered a cabin upgrade that would cost us an additional $3,150 so we declined and have a nice little cabin with ensuite and a window, plenty of storage, very comfortable and lots of places to sit and relax around the boat. Spectacular scenery!

The boats are working boats and stop at numerous places along the route sometimes for only 15 minutes and obviously longer in others to allow you to go on land and explore the small towns. The first two land stops have not delivered a bottle shop as I have a plan to smuggle some contraband on board to supplement the bottle of Gin I have already hidden in my luggage in a feeble attempt to minimise the “hit” on the wallet. 

First night on board and conditions were good for the Northern lights - Aurora. She had made an appearance the night before which was the first for the season so we could only hope. Alleluia, after several excursions outside we finally got the call that it could be seen on the horizon. Thankfully we were still dressed in our thermal gear so straight up to level 5 and out we go. As with our previous outings you could still see the twilight on the Northern horizon but there was a distinct glow of green light strengthening between the beautiful orange red and blue twilights that we had already seen. Just beautiful and then, shapes started appearing overhead that could almost resemble clouds but where did they come from? The camera worked a treat as the difference between the naked eye and the camera is significant and we started to get some great streaks and swirls of green light across the sky. An hour later and heaps of pictures it began to fade and so did we. I think it was around 1.30 but we were a little too excited to sleep. 

I woke around 5am and realised we were docking in another port so thought i should have a quick trip on deck for a few photos then back to bed.. Wasn’t going to happen as it was just too beautiful so I decided I needed to drag Robyn out and of course that meant we were unable to get back to sleep. Sorry honey. ( but it was worth it!)

Later in the morning we docked at Hammerfest for two hours. This is the Northern most town in the world so a great opportunity to set foot on land. The Polar Bear Insitute is next to the ship so a great place to start and some great examples of stuffed arctic animals, including, bears, arctic foxes, Reindeer, otters and birds. And if we thought the day was about as good as it can get, then think again, REINDEER! Woohoo. One in the street that we followed up into the scrub and watched him massage/clean/de-fur his antlers. The other just down the road in someone’s front yard grazing on the grass and flowers. We were able to get within a couple of feet and took far too many photos. But then again its not every day you get up close and personal with a Reindeer!

Back on board - lunch - more beautiful scenery, snow and ice pockets on some of the mountains but the scenery would have to wait for a bit as it was back to the cabin for a rest as we have booked the midnight concert in the cathedral at Tromso! Another late night (and if the clouds clear maybe another light show) - what to do - take it all in. Spectacular!

Yes it was only 6am! But still looking beautiful!

Northern Lights

Quick post from last night and will write something this afternoon 

We are currently on the Hurtigruten of the northern tip of Norway and were privileged last night with an Aurora display 

Hare a a few of the shots straight from the camera and as you can imagine we were pretty chuffed.