Here I am in beautiful Tallinn, Estonian, after a hideously early morning because TripaDeal booked us on the 7AM ferry. This city is so pretty that it was worth it. It didn’t stop me having a quick restorative nap when I got to the hotel this afternoon, though.

Estonian has roughly the same area as Denmark, but they have 5 million people and Estonian has only 1 million, half of whom live in the capital city of Tallinn.

We had another city guide for a 2 hour walking tour, and she wasn’t long into her spiel about Tallinn’s history when I became aware that these people were some of the unluckiest in history. People kept invading and invading; plagues kept plaguing; the weather is cold and thank god my ancestors didn’t decide to settle here.

Estonia has been occupied by the Danish for around 200 years, back in the 1400’s. Before that… Viking raids.

Then the Swedish had a go for another couple of hundred years in the 1600/1700’s.

Russia then had its turn, until Estonia fought them for 2 years in the early 1900’s and they signed a paper saying that Russia will never touch a single blade of grass on Estonian land ever again, which they totally kept their word on.

LOL, jokes. They came back after WWII and said, “That paper is irrelevant, because we’re not called Russia anymore. We’re the USSR, so we’re making you part of the Soviet Union whether you want to or not.”

Ugh. Russia.
Anyway, the Baltic states gained their independence in the 1990’s, and you can BET they’re keeping a close eye on what’s happening in Ukraine.

But Estonia has one of the best preserved medieval neighbourhoods left in the world, which has made it a Mecca for tourists.
We made straight for the castle, which was built by 12th century crusaders. Yes, crusaders! We normally think of the wars. In the Middle East against the Muslims as being the crusades, but the pope had his greasy little fingers in a few different pies.

The Pope declared a crusade for the pagans living here. The vikings had all turned to Jesus by then, but the people living around here were still worshipping trees and streams and such, as they had done without incident for thousands of years. They were an easy target. 

This crusade was led by the Nordic Kings. Tallinn = the Danish Town.

The old part of Tallinn is split into two. The castle on the hill, and Old Town, which is set lower down. The guys in the castle didn’t want to house all the merchants, so they told them to go further down the hill and build their own wall to defend their buildings from invaders.

In 1248 the wall was built so the merchants could defend their shops from invaders. The wall was originally a little over 2kms long, and nowadays 2/3rds of that original wall is still standing.

The reason it survived is quite interesting. The wall was defended by merchants, who were there to make money. They didn’t have an emotional connection to the town, which would have made them fight to the last to keep invaders away. Instead, they’d haggle and bargain with invaders, and when a deal was reached, they’d open the gates of the town and let the invaders in. By the rules of war, a city that doesn’t make you fight is one that is treated with clemency, because you haven’t had to waste time and money fighting them.

Capitulation or the plague, which also happened occasionally… the town stayed intact. Ironically, WWII inflicted the biggest damage, 13% was destroyed.

We emerged into a garden overlooking Old Town.

This wasn’t the only time we had buskers filling the air with music.

All too soon, we were heading further down the hill.

Orthodox cathedral was built by Tsar Alexander, the second last tsar. He wanted a heavily Russianised presence, hence the architectural features. When Russia invaded Ukraine, a lot of ties with Russia were severed here.

24% of the population is Russian speaking. Estonia keeps the church open for them as a sign of respect and tolerance.

I have no clue who this is, but he’s striking.

This is St Mary of the Rock, the oldest church here. The steps lead down, as the street level has risen 2.5 metres over 800 years. This is the main church for the Lutherans.

No state money goes to churches. Not a penny. Estonia is a secular state.

500 years ago, the first book published in Estonian was published.

Our city guide gave us a great quote, all about how universal education began when Martin Luther said that bibles should be translated into people’s everyday language. Once that was done, people had to learn to read.

“Writing begins with the church.  Nationhood begins with a book.”

Our last ledge overlooking Old Town. Doesn’t it look fabulous?

And then we were down there. Some of the buildings have had their windows changed since they were first built, but they are still medieval.

The cobbling on this street was nice and smooth. On most of the Old Town, it’s just rounded rocks placed haphazardly everywhere, at all levels. God knows how anyone with a pram or wheelchair would go.

It was like a massage for the soles. This stretch of concrete was there to give hope to people using wheels, only to finish abruptly for no apparent reason.

We had a medieval lunch together, which was surprisingly good. Then I had an hour to wander Old Town before I had to order an Uber to go back to the ferry terminal. My luggage was packed in a locker there.

Town Hall 1322. It looks like a church, but it’s always been the town hall.

The pharmacy in the town square is the oldest in Europe. It’s been continuously running since 1422. I did my bit to keep the business going by buying some antihistamines.

At 2PM I retrieved my bags and went to the hotel to have a sneaky snooze and wait for Liga. The Scandinavian leg of this trip is finished, and now I’m on the last of the 10 holidays I have booked for this year: touring the Baltics with Liga and James.
Yes, James from Ireland is coming too. It’s going to be so much fun!

Dad joke of the day:

Finland is the same size as Germany, but has 80 million fewer people.

What’s happening in Ukraine at the moment is history repeating itself. At the end of the Second World War, Stalin decided to annexe Finland. After a hard-fought war, Finland kept its independence, but had to give up 12% of its territory…  not surprisingly, the parts rich in natural resources.

This is why Finland felt it had no choice but to join NATO in 2023. Can’t say I blame them.

Finland has free education for everyone. No private schools, and every university degree is free. No one graduates with debt. I wish we had the same in Australia. Their taxes are high, but as the city guide said, “ No one complains about taxes here, because we get our money’s worth. Free healthcare, a year’s maternity leave at 80% pay, cheap childcare, generous unemployment benefits… the list goes on.

Sibelius monument.

An abstract homage to his music. 600 stainless steel tubes resembling an organ. It was very controversial in its day, so they added a mask of Sibelius in his prime to keep the old codgers happy.

You’re allowed to climb up and under it to see the whole sculpture. It’s terrific.

Our city guide was taking pics of the couples in the group. Wanda and I are a couple, I guess. She’s been to 7 continents with me, after all.

The Rock Church is the local Lutheran church. 

It was opened in 1969, just 2 years younger than the Sibelius monument.

Instead of putting the church on top of the granite hill, the architects embedded the church in the granite, using dynamite to blast a hole.

The hole is covered by a copper dome, and the interior is covered by concentric copper circles/cables.

The colours of the roof and the rocks are just lovely.

Next, we were off to the public library.

Outside the library was a huge crowd of tweens dancing and lip-synching to K-Pop music. They come here every Sunday.

Here’s some who have gone all out, with costumes.

We were taken inside the library. Every public building that is built here has to have an element of art. This double helix stairwell has words that were submitted to the artist by the public, adjectives describing people they know and care about. Some are complimentary, others, probably submitted as a joke, are not. But aside from a couple of omissions, the artist used them all, to show that everyone, even your flatulent alcoholic uncle, is welcome at the library.

Alexander II of Russia. He’s the one who sold Alaska to the US.
Big mistake. Huge…

This is the Orthodox Church, which was built by the Russians in 1860. It’s stunning.

The city guide was asked how Finland feels about Sweden and Russia, seeing as both those countries used to rule over them at different times.

”The relationship Finland has with Sweden is like that of having a beloved big brother. He annoys us, because he likes to tell us what to do, and the annoying thing is that he’s usually right. But when we meet up overseas, we are best buddies and we have each other’s backs. We love each other.

” Russia is like a mother-in-law… the bad kind. She has power and you try to stay away because if you say or do something she doesn’t like, then you’re in a world of trouble.”

Scott and I met up in the foyer of OUR hotel. Yes, not only are we in the same city at the same time, we’re in the same hotel. Too easy!

We walked around a craft market, where I bought a Finland Christmas decoration for my epic tree, then we took ourselves off to a little art gallery with an eclectic collection.

Scott got excited when we found a room full of Ugly Medieval Babies.

Buff baby, this one. He’d knock the devil right out of you, he would.

What is on his forehead??? And why does he look like a middle-aged bank manager sizing you up after you asked for a mortgage?

When Scott was in the locker room getting his backpack stowed away, I saw an image on a magnet, and after making sure I’d actually see it in the museum, I bought it. I loved the image so much. When we went into the room it was in, I asked Scott to guess which painting I loved. He chose this one.

Nope.

It was this one. It wasn’t until I read the label that I realised it was a Rembrandt. Maybe this means I have excellent taste. I can’t get over the use of light.

As we were walking away from the museum later, a memory came back to me. I think I may have seen this painting before, in an exhibition at the NGV when I was a student and I was captivated by it then as well.

We were almost at our hotel when all hell broke loose. Something was going on in the street behind. Police, ambulance, and fairies were all there, lights and sirens flashing. It was huge.
When we came back that way an hour and a half later on our way to dinner, you wouldn’t know that anything out of the ordinary had ever happened there.

Then I met a wire-haired dachshund at the tram stop! She was so friendly. Just one more week to go, Scout.

Scott told me that the restaurant he booked was his favourite in Helsinki, and it was a little quirky.
I tell you, when he opened the door, I was not expecting to see a cow.

It’s set up like a Finnish farm. It’s all hearty, Finnish food. I had the meatballs with mashed potatoes and it was great, but very filling.

Who would have thought that two friends who live on opposite sides of the world would be in Shanghai and Helsinki on the same days in the same year?

Life is pretty amazing.

Dad joke of the day:

Today was exciting, because I got to meet a woman I’ve “known” for years from the Simple Savings forum. It’s practically the same as a blogmeet, which are always good. You’ve never met in person, but you already know so much about each other that you just dive right into conversation. It’s lovely.

She probably wondered why on earth I was so interested in seeing the burial place of a queen who, quite frankly, wasn’t all that good at being a queen and was terribly homesick for Paris when she finally moved to Sweden. But it was her life before that happened which fascinates me.

Desiree Clary was a silk merchant’s daughter, who met Napoleon Buonaparte when she was around 15. She became engaged to him very quickly – Napoleon was broke back then and probably had more than a passing interest in the dowry – while her older sister married his older brother Joseph.
Napoleon then went to France, where he met the charming widow Josephine. Desiree was dumped like a hot potato.
A couple of years later, she met Field Marshall Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, and married him.

They were both commoners in Republican France. No one could ever have foreseen that a decade or so later, the Swedish King would need to adopt an heir to the throne. Bernadotte was chosen. Desiree was suddenly the Crown Princess of Sweden.

When the allies defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, Napoleon was going to fight right up to the last man, which would have meant hundreds of unnecessary deaths. The allies sent Desiree, the Crown Princess of Sweden, in to negotiate with him. She emerged holding his sword as a sign that he’d changed his mind and would surrender.

The last years of her life as Sweden’s Queen weren’t all that happy. She never really adjusted to life away from Paris and was terribly homesick.
But I love how the dynasty she and her husband founded 200 years ago is still going strong, while Napoleon’s fizzled.

”What a beautiful church,” said Nina as we walked in. I was pleased that this was new to her as well as to me.

Riddarholm Church is the traditional burial site of the Swedish royals.

I wandered around, looking in all the nooks. I knew I’d find her at some stage, there was no rush. These coffins on the left are made of tin, while the more ornate one on the right is made of pewter. There were quite a few pewter coffins in here.

And then there she was.

Her husband is bundled up in the pink sarcophagus behind her, while her son Oscar is to the left. He’s with his wife Josephine, who was Napoleon’s Josephine’s granddaughter!

I got tears in my eyes when I looked at Oscar’s dates and saw that he died a year before Desiree. How terribly sad.

We all have places that we’d like to see. This was one of mine.

I liked this pink spire. Nina and I were walking to the car where her husband Mark and one of his mates were waiting for us.

She was saying how her favourite royal is Prince Dan. He’s a commoner, the owner of a gym, and he got to know the Swedish Crown Princess when she started going to his gym because it was a private place to work out.
It worked out, alright. They got married.

Mark parked a little away from the Royal holiday house of Drottningholm Palace, and we walked through a very nice garden to get there.

This was given as a wedding present to a queen. I don’t know which one, but it was a couple of hundred years before Desiree.

Every time I go into a building in Europe, Scott’s words echo in my ears.

“Look up!”

Marble everywhere.

These stoves kept the rooms warm in the cold climate. The top was filled with pipes full of oil. You’d start a fire at the bottom, the heat would rise, warm the pipes and heat would radiate from the oil for hours.

Happy snap.

The library.

This bedroom used to be a different colour when it was first built. The queen who received the palace as a gift hated the original colour and changed it to the dark blue.

This caught my eye. So ugly and yet so friendly.

Can you imagine having all of this marble all over your house?

I think this is the only room in the palace that wasn’t ornately over-decorated. It was a bit of a relief to stop here for a minute and recover from all of the gilt and marble.

This was interesting. There was a room which had huge tapestries 200 years older than anything else in there. The tapestries originally belonged to Charles I of England. After he was executed, the tapestries somehow ended up here.
The circular shield that the cupids are holding at the very top of the tapestry is his emblem.

Desiree’s son! King Oscar I. His portrait was in between Napoleon and Queen Victoria… though he appeared larger than both of them.

After the palace, we went out for lunch, then it was back to the hotel for the pickup for the ferry crossing. When Nina and Mark heard which ferry I was on, they said, “Oh, the Booze Cruise!” Apparently on a Saturday night, it’s a third tourists, a third local travellers and a third locals who go to party.

There were a LOT of animals on board.

But look at the tail end of the sunset I managed to catch:

Dad joke of the day:

Well , I hate to say it, but today’s tour of Stockholm was the most boring I’ve ever been on. Jan is a lovely guy, but he’s not a thrilling raconteur. We got the facts. The facts.

This is City Hall, where every Saturday around 80 couples get married. You can choose a wedding ceremony of 1 – 3 minutes if you want, so they obviously churn them through.

There’s the spire of the church I’ll be going to tomorrow. It’s where Queen Desideria/ Desiree Clary is buried. Ever since I saw the movie Desiree when I was a teenager, I’ve never forgotten her story. When Scott and I were in Paris 10 years ago, I unexpectedly came across her portrait in a little art gallery, (in the same room as a portrait of Josephine), which was a highlight of my trip. I still have postcards of the two of them on my fridge.

Here’s Desiree’s husband, the first king of the current dynasty of Sweden. He certainly had a honker on him.

The little castle was built for the royal family so they could go ice skating in private when the sea/ lake froze. 

Directly across the water is an amusement park. It was once an island where the king would go hunting.

Old a town is full of buildings that are charmingly lopsided-sided, because they were built on reclaimed, or soft land. The black metal thing is actually holding the building in place.

There were lots of intriguing side streets.

I love the colours here.

This is the oldest pub in Stockholm. It’s owned by the committee who decides the Nobel Prize for Literature. They meet here every Thursday for drinks.

Look at the angles on the building to the right!

And then we walked up the narrowest street in Stockholm.

One last shot of Old Town.

After a morning of gentle tedium, I found a park bench and actually went to sleep for 20 minutes. I must have looked like a homeless person!

I was ready for more exciting things when we embarked on the 2.5 hour Archipelago cruise.

Today was not the day for my wishes to be granted.

It was more gentle tedium, which, as I’m still not 100% recovered, was probably a good thing. I sat on the deck of a boat, by chance out of the wind, and looked at pretty little islands for a couple of hours.

My life is so hard…

Citadel. Since 1600’s they have always had the Swedish flag, showing that Sweden was not at war.

In 1996, 5 students from Norway came in and flew the Norwegian flag from the Citadel for 43 minutes. So, technically, Sweden was occupied by Norway for that time.

Royal hunting park. It was established in the 1400’s and stayed that way for 400 years. One king in the 1600’s actually built a huge wall around the whole island to keep the wolves away.

When Desiree’s husband became king, he gave the park to the people. It makes sense, as he was brought up in revolutionary France. It probably felt a little weird to have a whole hunting island for yourself.

This used to be owned by Bjorn Borg. When he owned it, it used to be pink

Cat Island. I I was ever going to buy an island, I’d want something like this.

It’s a very expensive area, full of houses that look like this. In other words, it was easy on the eyes.

Had dinner at a sushi restaurant with a couple of couples, which was very nice. We’re all dealing with caring for elderly parents. I’ve decided that 6 weeks is too long for me to be away. Mum had a fall when I was in Greenland and she’s not doing so well. I think it’s best that I only go away for shorter hops from now on.

Dad joke of the day:

How can you go to Oslo and not see ‘ The Scream’?

Twice…

… or even three times?

After a 14 hour sleep, trying to shake off my lurgy, I tottered down to breakfast and decided that I was going to take things easy today. I’d go to the Munch Museum and see Edvard Munich’s ‘ The Scream’, then wander back to the hotel in time to catch the train to Stockholm.
This plan actually worked.

This is worth reading.
They have each Scream on rotation at a half hour at a time. When the half hour for a Scream is over, automatic doors slide in front of it, and then another pair of doors slide open.

To my surprise, I was drawn to the black and white image more than the others.

This was depressing. ‘ Workers on their way home.’

’The Murderer.’

Remember that odd statue of Ibsen I saw a few days ago in Bergen? Maybe he really did look weird. Here’s a portrait of him.

I loved this one.
That’s not the case with a lot of the paintings and sculptures here. It’s a very large museum, and they needed to fill it. Still, a more ruthless curation wouldn’t have done any harm.

Here’s a sculpture he made before painting the picture behind it.

’The Day After.’

Honestly, we’ve all been there.

After a 6 hour train trip, I’m now in Sweden. Tomorrow we explore the city of Stockholm.

Dad joke of the day:

Today we went to Lillehammer, and even though I was so sick, I walked down all the steps next to the ski jumps.

The noise that they make when they’re floating in the air is just like the sound I heard when I was free falling when I did the skydive.

I spent the previous night and today either sleeping or spewing. I feel miserable.

At 5:30 I got up out of bed to at least go and see the church.

It was locked. It’s really not my day today.

I walked around for 10 minutes, then gave up and went back to bed.

we have the whole morning free in Oslo tomorrow. I’m making a strategic withdrawal tonight, hoping that my body will get rid of whatever is making me feel sick.

Ah well. I’ve travelled so much lately that I suppose I was due for a bad day…

Dad joke of the day:

Most of the buildings in Alesund were built after the big fire of 1905. Kaiser Wilhelm, the last kaiser of Germany, loved Norway and spent a lot of money here to restore the town.

We left Alesund at 11, which allowed time for a walk to the harbour. 

This place is very pretty. 

Jan said that in the middle of winter, Alesund only gets 4 hours of daylight a day.

I went shopping at 9am, but very quickly discovered that most shops didn’t open until 10. Back to the hotel to pack, then at the stroke of 10 I was hitting the shops. I came home with a hat and a polar bear magnet.

This mug made me laugh.

So did this one. Excellent marketing strategy.

A last look at this pretty town.

The weather has suddenly turned sunny. This morning, I chose to sit in the front left seat, which in this new bus is actually a horrible place for taking photos, but is a great place for seeing the vista. The photos that follow are the best I could do…

We drove through a little village that is famous for growing the best strawberries in Norway, if not the world. 

Every midsummer, Scandinavia and the Baltics celebrate by eating strawberries with whipped cream. Jan also mentioned something about dancing around trees and having a jolly old time. 

Suddenly, there was snow beside the road!

Then, more and more.

This started to remind me of when Megan and I went to Alaska last year. Brilliant sunny days in their summer, (to be fair, it’s the beginning of autumn here), and yet there’s snow.

We stopped for lunch, but the café wasn’t open, to the disgust of the rest of the bus. I, on the other hand, was prepared, with my lunch made from the breakfast buffet. The others had to wait 2 more hours for lunch at 3 pm. Jan warned us at the start of the trip to always have some snacks with us. A few people listened. I bet a lot more will, after today!

Snow and water.

It really shouldn’t be this cold when the sun shines. My hands were icy.

The Troll Road was built in the 1930’s. Jan said, “It’s quite lucky for this road to be open. I have been a guide on this trip 6 times and this is the first time I’ll see it. It was closed all last summer. They have rocks and boulders which fall on it.”

I’m not sure how much the bus driver enjoyed driving along the Troll Road. I know Jan hated it. He’s not good with heights, though even he agreed that it was very beautiful.

This is where we stopped to take a group photo, with Troy setting up a timer. We were standing in front of a big troll statue. I haven’t bothered to show you trolls because they do absolutely nothing for me. I don’t get the attraction some people have for them.
These mountains are so tall. When I was standing, looking up at the top, my head was tilted right back, almost as far as it could go. Photos simply cannot do it justice.

Then it was down to Lillehammer, the Olympic Village, where we’ll stay the night. Tomorrow, after a look around the town, we’re off to Oslo again.
Our time in this beautiful country is rapidly coming to an end.
The day after tomorrow, we’re off to Sweden…

Dad joke of the day:

This morning we were scheduled to go for a two hour hike to a glacier. When I woke,I checked the weather. 

9C and a huge chance of rain and snow. This photo was taken when the bus stopped for 5 minutes to enable us to take photos of the snow. I was chatting with Liga on WhatsApp and she thought that was hilarious.

I was regarding the hike with grim foreboding. I hate being rained on. 

The water from the glacier retains a blue tint for quite a while after it melts. 

When we got there, I asked Jan how steep the hike was.

“It’s only steep at the start, then it’s flat,” he replied.

I decided to do the walk and not take the train. How bad could it be?

Bonsais on top of the rock, just like in Japan!

Fortunate Frogdancer struck again. As soon as the bus pulled up, the rain stopped.

When we reached the glacier, the clouds lifted.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First we had to get there.

That path was STEEP. There were only two good things about it. There was only one section with steps, and at least the scenery was beautiful. 

This waterfall was making the most of its freedom. Imagine being frozen for hundreds, if not thousands of years? Each water molecule was going nuts.

I almost wished that I was here in the 1700’s. It would have meant that the walk would be over now… I continued the uphill climb.

At the turn off to the railway I saw Jan standing there, fresh as a daisy. He’d taken the train up! 

Livid, I was. 

“I thought you said it was only steep at the beginning?” I said.

He laughed and waved his arm forward. “It’s flat from now on.”

A few steps further, and we saw our first glimpse of Briksdal Glacier.

Thank goodness I brought Wanda. I needed a drink. That path was steep. But Jan was correct – it was easy from that point on.

This glacier has definitely shrunk.

I thought this was the end point. I made it!

However, it turned out that we still had a bit to go. Off I set again.

I told Mum I’d take a photo of Dad’s Riley hat in the snow, and I figured a glacier was close enough. For those not in the know, Riley cars were made in England for decades, finally finishing up in the late 60’s.

Look at this wonderful place. On the left, directly below where the glacier ends, is a waterfall. The blue of the pool of water below made me happy. And yes, I am in this photo. I made it. This time for real.

Blue ice again! How lucky can one woman be?

This is the view when I swung around to see what the glacier would see, if it had eyes.

We stayed here for around 10 minutes, then we headed back down to the bus. We have a ferry to catch.

The views coming down the hill were just as good as the ones going up.

Then it was off for a 2 hour bus ride to the ferry. As soon as we got in the bus, the rain began again.

Ten minutes before we reached the ferry, Jan warned us that we could only eat food on the ferry that was bought there. So I quickly unwrapped the sandwich I’d made at breakfast and ate it, and a hard boiled egg, on the bus. Prices for food are still pretty high. Ready- made sandwiches cost anywhere from $16 – $20, so I’ve been making lunch from our breakfast buffets.

When we reached the ferry stop, I bought the girls’ Christmas presents. I like buying souvenirs, but I don’t want to fill up my house with a lot of crap. Buying Christmas and birthday presents scratches that itch, and kills two birds with one stone.

This ferry crossing wasn’t as pretty as the last one. The rain didn’t help.

This waterfall is called The Seven Sisters. Every time I counted, I got a different number of sisters.

Ferry directly in front of a waterfall.

Then we were on the road again, heading for Alesund.

We stopped by the side of the road to take this photo. We weren’t the only ones.

Alesund. I went out looking for a supermarket and bumped into Jan and an older couple. They asked if I wanted to go for a beer or wine. Well, they mentioned the W word, so I was in.

Interesting couple. The guy was very like Dad, in that he constantly watches WWII documentaries and refuses to hand over the remote control, AND he’s also a collector. Dad collected cars and watches. This guy collects guns.

Yikes.

He has over 300 weapons. In Australia.

The supermarket was closed while were were in the pub, so I went out to dinner with them. This meal and tiny wine cost $90 AUD.

Dad joke of the day:

Today was a massive travel day, with the added inconvenience of the blocked tunnel adding a couple of hours extra driving time. We didn’t care because we saw some beautiful views.

Imagine having a house so close to the fjord?

Many of the houses don’t have fences around them. That would do my head in. How do they keep their kids and dogs from wandering?

This was the scene that greeted us at the first toilet stop of the day. I’m guessing no one who visits these loos has any trouble having a wee…

I was sitting in the second row, and this was the view through the windscreen.

The colours of houses in Norway are mandated by law. There are certain colours you are allowed to paint your house, and if you are a rebel and choose a different shade or totally different colour, you are made to repaint it, which is very costly.

It certainly adds to the charm of Norway, as the colours of the buildings look fabulous against the green of the countryside.

Imagine living with a waterfall in your backyard. And a mountain.

This kid was running around, causing mayhem with his battle-axe in the ferry gift shop. Viking blood still runs strong, it seems. I air dropped this to his Mum.

This was where we caught the ferry to cruise along the fjord for a couple of hours.

Zoom into the red building between the flagpoles. It’s across the river from where the ferry is. Then, zoom out again, looking at where that building actually is. There’s nothing else there. It’s incredible.

The next shots are taken from the deck of the ferry, in between me going inside periodically to warm my hands up. There was a brisk wind blowing, though we were lucky enough to escape the rain.

The thing I’m seeing here is how the Norwegians take every flat piece of land to live and farm. It’s a bit like North Korea, though they did it for famine reasons. Jan said, “In summer near the fjords, it’s very lush. But sometimes you wonder how they get to the farms. Often there seems to be just a house, not even a road.”

The ferry came within metres of the shore so people could take photos of the waterfall.

That water!

Taken from the back of the ferry.

Melodious, aren’t they? 😂

I just can’t get over the height of the cliffs and the angles that the ice has carved.

Yet another little village nestled beside a mountain.

This cruise was like going to Venice… it’s almost impossible to take a bad photo. Norway is so beautiful that the Norwegians must feel sorry for almost everyone else in the world when they see their countries.

This is the mid point in a 24 kilometre tunnel we drove through directly after leaving the ferry.

Another photo opportunity at a rest stop.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard a couple of women saying, “It’s all getting a bit same-same, isn’t it?” My god, people can be entitled.

Our last stop before we reached our hotel was this glacier.
Unlike the ones we saw in Iceland and Greenland, this was small and you can see the rock underneath it, but what a perfect place! The clouds, mountains, ice, rock and water combined into an almost magical image.

Not a bad way to end a travel day.

Dad joke of the day:

This morning we drove to 1,200 metres elevation is, the highest we’ll get to on this trip. I couldn’t help thinking that it looked remarkably like Greenland.

As you can see, I could have saved myself a fortune if I’d only realised!

This countryside is so reminiscent of the hikes that we went on, though the forests are slightly taller. Greenland’s birch forests are only 3” high!

Driving through this scenery brought back so many memories of Greenland. The colours, the lichen on the rocks, and the chill in the air. It was 8C when we first set out.

Glaciers lined the road. It was stunning.

We saw one of the biggest waterfalls in Norway, at over 180 metres high. It rained last night, so there was plenty of water. Voringsfossen Falls

This secondary fall was a bit tricky. I had to hang over the fence a bit. You’d better believe I was hanging onto my phone like grim death! I’m sure you’ll remember Morgan’s obsessive love for waterfalls from when we were in Iceland. so I sent these videos to him. I know, I’m a giver…!

The scenery was spectacular. You can see how the ice gouged its way through.

People are so kind to solo travellers. It’s funny how it looks like the water is emerging from my finger, though!

While we were here, Jan googled to check the road and found that a tunnel we needed was closed, adding an hour’s detour to our trip. In beautiful places like this, it’s not a great hardship.

Here’s another waterfall I shot from the bus window. It’s hiding behind a cloud, and the clarity of the water is incredible.

Can you see that there’s living roofs on these buildings? I suppose it’s done for insulation, but it looks very pretty too.

We stopped in a little town for lunch. It was located at the edge of a fjord, with mountains all around.

As we drove out of town, this tree caught my eye. Brilliant colours.

We needed to stop to top the bus up with water and this was at the side of the road.
Not bad, hey?

We drove into Bergen 2 hours later than scheduled, because of the closed tunnel, but the town was worth it. This was the first thing I heard when I stepped off the bus.

Bergen is surrounded by 7 hills, just like Rome. It began as a beautifully sunny day, which is apparently unusual for this town. The seven hills trap the clouds and hold them in place above the city.

A local guide showed us around. Any quotes are hers.

Bergen is the 2nd largest city in Norway. It used to be the capital until 1294. The king died here and his brother lived in Oslo so he moved the capital here. The people of Bergen are still unhappy with him about this.

There are 292,000 people living here, and 40,000 are students.

In 1349 a ship from England brought the Black Plague and 60% of Norway’s population died. Germany decided to come and use this town as a trading port after this happened, and they stayed for a couple of hundred years.

There were 200 German men here, and they weren’t allowed to bring women with them, as this would mean that they’d eventually settle here and keep money in Norway instead of sending it back to Germany. The men would go back to Germany to marry.
While they were here, they weren’t allowed to “date” Norwegian women either, for the same monetary reason. They were fined a barrel of beer to be given to the rest of the men if they were caught seeing a Norwegian lady.

“Beer was very expensive, so it would have been a very unhappy day for him, but a very happy day for the rest of them!”

In 1702 the buildings of the old harbour were built, which are these colourful ones. This shot is of an alley, where I brought a picture of the buildings. I love them. Unfortunately, they’re slowly sinking, as they are built on reclaimed land from the fjord.

They are slowly being rebuilt. Because they’re UNESCO protected, the restoration has to be done by hand, using the old tools that the original buildings were built by. This takes each building around 6 years.

Look at how crooked the door of the building next door is! This one will probably be next…

Our guide was talking about how when they take tours up into the hills above the town, they have to count the men twice to make sure they’re all accounted for.

There’s a beautiful woman who comes out and dances, enticing the men away with her. She’s so gorgeous and seductive, men don’t seem to notice that she’s actually a troll, with the tail of a cow. Every time she dances, a man or two goes missing.

“Every time I take people there, I have a woman look sideways and then she says, “ (sigh) Mine’s still here…””

The guide was talking about how fit and healthy the Norwegians are, and how it’s crazy to think that anyone else can keep up with them. “These people have the blood of Vikings. They start hiking when they wear diapers and they don’t stop until they are wearing them again!”

These white houses were built in the 1750s. This is how the city used to look.

“Norwegians only have one rule. That is to follow all the rules!”

I was taken by Bergen. It’s a very pretty place.

Such a lovely side-street!

Statue of Ibsen. How funny. I’m guessing the sculptor wasn’t a fan of his plays?

After our city tour, I was determined to walk back to the old harbour were, because I saw a print I wanted to buy. As soon as I reached my room, I dumped my bags and set off.
Of course it started to rain as soon as I left.

As I walked, I saw this sculpture in a park near the library. The guide had told us about it.

It was of King Olaf Kyrre, who reigned in the 11th century. The sculpture, made of stainless steel, is of the king riding on his horse. When the sculpture was finished, the people of Bergen hated it. They kept it hidden in a building for 20 years, until the sculptor took the city to court to force them to display it outside. Apparently, he was the first king who could read, so the library is now his home.

It’s lucky hotel rooms have hair dryers. One thing about flared jeans I’d forgotten about since the 70’s was that when they get wet, they really soak up the rain and puddles. It took about an hour of blow drying to get them almost dry again.
But I’m happy. I bought my print of the beautiful Old Harbour buildings, Mum’s birthday present and a Norwegian Christmas tree decoration, so it was worth it.

Dad joke of the day: