Last Day in Norway

We set out this morning to ride the funicular to the top of Mount Floyen to take in the wonderrful views of the Bergen area. According to our map, we expected to find the boarding point just up the steps from the restaurant where we had enjoyed a great dinner the previous evening. Well, we started up and continued up and could not find evidence of the funicular anywhere. It turned out that the car goes underground for the first part of the rise up the mountain. We did manage to find a station along the route and got to the top of the mountain before it started raining. The views were magnificent, and Steveo took a lot of pictures. We were a lot more efficient getting back to Bergen center and were surprised that the station was right where we started climbing the stairs.

We strolled through the city for our last afternoon of vacation and stopped at a department store to use the ladies room. While Sarah was indisposed, Steveo spotted two girls signing at the cafe and urged me to talk to them. As it turned out, one was deaf and the other has deaf parents, so they both sign Norwegian sign language. One of the girls texted her boyfriend to join us as he knew some ASL. We spent a wonderful few hours learning about high school in Norway. We finally found the answers to our questions about the "red pants". We had been seeing young people wearing them all over the city and assumed that they were the current rage. We learned, however, that high school seniors wear them for three weeks before May 17, which is their national holiday. They also party for those three weeks and perform a variety of silly stunts. One is to swim outside before May 1. Red pants are the most common and are worn by students taking a general course of study. Students who are in a business track wear blue, engineering students wear black, and green is for students in agricultural studies. On May 17 the seniors take off the red pants and put on their holiday best clothes. They then have one week to study and then their final exams. This tradition is called: Russefeiring. The students are very serious about it, even though they spend their nights riding in a party bus and going to bars.

Sarah enjoyed signing with the two girls and with Martin. They exchanged Facebook information and told us that they do all of their school work on Facebook and use no hard copy books or papers. This is part of the drive to be more ecological. 

Our last meal was a traditional Norwegian dinner....fish, chicken, meatballs, potatos and carrots. We are sad to leave, but excited for Sarah's new beginning......

Art and Food in Bergen

We certainly are a family that marches to the beat of our own drummer!  

After breakfast, we left the hotel just in time to see a marching band playing Norwegian music marching by.  Naturally, we decided to follow them past the hotel and through a small park.  Someone also following them explained that they were the Naval Band, practicing for Norway's national holiday coming up on Friday.  

After we got tired of keeping up with the band, we headed further into Bergen, and came across a small market.  There was an assortment of fish and meats being sold, and across the street there were tables of handmade items also being sold.  We looked around, picked out what we wanted, and went on our way (don't worry, no fish!).

Onko tuo taytetty poro myynnissa?

I went into a sshopping mall and poked around on all six floors while my parents went to four art museums: contemporary, design, Norwegian, and European.  The Norwegian Museum surprisingly had some cutlery from Connecticut on display.

The museum collections included a lot of work by Munch. A special exhibit was dedicated to his life and changes in his work over time. There were some happy and lighter times for this artist, and the works from those years was refreshing after all of the sickness, worry and despair portrayed in the majority of his work. (Lisa)

Before my parents went into the last museum, we all reconvened to check in and have lunch, then returned to the museum complex.  On our way to the fourth museum (I sat outside people-watching while they went in) we had to stop and take a picture of the view.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped and made dinner reservations at a highly rated Trip Advisor restaurant, Escalon.  Then we rested until it was time to eat.

Dinner was delicious! We ordered a fixed tapas menu made for a group, and shared ten dishes that were a variety of meats, fishes, and starters.  We ate shrimp, chicken, meatballs, salmon, tomatoes, olives, bread, and more.  Escalon definitely lived up to its reputation!

Today is our last day in Bergen, and we plan to make the most of it. We return to Boston tomorrow.

The Bergen Railway

I am taking over for Sarah for today's post.....she slept a bit late and is hurrying to finish her breakfast before we set out for our day in Bergen, Norway.

Before leaving Oslo yesterday, Sarah and I did some errands that took us around the city on a scavenger hunt. We bought some snacks for the 7 hour train ride to Bergen, got a second electrical adapter to cut down the fighting over the one we had, and got some Norwegian Krone.

I think the train ride to Bergen was one of the most amazing experiences on this trip. All the tour books had described it as the the best train ride in Europe, but skeptical me couldn't believe that scenery could hold my attention for 7 hours. We started out going along fjords with snow covered mountains in the background, and it was all very beautiful. Eventually, we stopped in a small town where it was snowing.  

I figured that it was pretty rare at this time of the year for Norway but then realized that the train was going up and up and up and up and up to 3,500 feet where it looked like mid-January.  We traveled through mountaintop villages where the snow never melts.

Is this Maj?????

Winter was bearable from the inside of the train, but I was happy to reach Bergen where it was 50 degrees and only raining.

After finding our hotel, we had a great dinner at a pub... (Steveo and I were the only ones over 30) the beer, smoked salmon, smoked sausages, and meatballs were all delicious.  

We are off to the art museum as soon as Steveo finishes his 5 herring breakfast.

"Bostonians... Oslonians?"

Today was a much easier day in terms of hustling (my mom's catchphrase) and walking compared to the other days since we've landed in Scandinavia. We woke up at the crack of dawn (not really, but it sure felt like it) and headed over to Central Station to catch the train going to Olso, Norway.  The ride was about six hours, but the views along the way were gorgeous: rolling hills and farms on one side, the fjord ("a narrow inlet of sea between two cliffs" -Wikipedia) and its gentle waves on the other.  Very relaxing.  I was able to rest my weary feet and finish three books along the way.  What a treat :D

Olso is cold! After dropping our bags at yet another conveniently located hotel one block away from the promenade and the fjord, we bundled up and headed over to the Nasjonalgalleriet (National Gallery), which "houses Norway's greatest and largest collection of art" (Frommer's).  One of the most prominent works of art located there is Edvard Munch's 1893 The Scream.  This era of expressionist art is my mom's favorite, so she enjoyed seeing this exhibit.  Unfortunately, there were only two exhibits open today, so we didn't stay long.

After the "museum of the day," we explored more of Oslo on foot.  Finally, after what seemed like hours (just kidding!) of walking and wondering missa kaikki ihmiset ovat, I decided I needed a good old-fashioned American meal.I was getting tired of bread and cheese all day every day and needed a break. We stopped at a TGI Fridays and ordered drinks all around, chips and salsa, and a delicious burger for me with baconskiver (bacon slices).  It was delicious and just what I needed. We headed back to the hotel, from where I am now blogging while my parents are out on a dinner date (cue the aawwwwwwws).

Check out the Nobel Peace Center behind us!

Tomorrow we board another train headed to Bergen- our last stop on this trip! 

Seeing the sites in Sweden

Sweden is packed with fun!  After a 45 minute hike (with all our bags, mind you) from the port to downtown Stockholm, we finally found our hotel, dropped our bags off, and immediately went out in search for lunch.  We found a food emporium and enjoyed a variety of Swedish (Sweetish!) treats. I napped after lunch (my mom is running me ragged!) while my parents went for a walk in the old city.

Dad found a great restaurant for dinner, and we were eating yet again. I tried steak tartare and wasn't a fan,but dessert was delicious. We all needed some sleep, so we headed back to the hotel right after dinner. We walked past a lovely fountain surrounded by cherry trees on our way back.

Mom and I headed out early this morning to do some shopping. Seeing how stylish the women look here makes me think I need a new wardrobe. I made a little progress on that, and then we met Dad for lunch at another great food hall. After tasting too many desserts, we hit the museum circuit. 

The Vassa Museum is on Djurgarden island, a short walk from our hotel. The museum houses the Vassa  ship, which sank on its maiden voyage out of Stockholm  in 1628. A crew raised it 333 years later and has restored much of it. The restoration process is yielding a lot of information about wood, chemicals and oxynidation. 

Just down the road from the Vassa Museum is the ABBA museum that opened just 4 days ago. We had a lot fun learning about the group's rise in popularity and singing Mama Mia hits!

Haluaisitko tanssia kanssani?

We are all wiped and looking forward to a restful train ride to Oslo tomorrow, but not before getting more food for dinner!

Good Morning, Sweden!

I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat, everybody look at me cause I'm sailing on a boat

No really, we're now on board the Silja Serenade, waiting to pull into port in Stockholm, Sweden.  

Yesterday was a day full of exploring Helsinki on foot.  After another delicious breakfast, we walked to a nearby park and climbed to the top of a big hill for some great views of the town and the Baltic Sea.  My mom and I then walked to the Design Museum and learned about the history of Finnish design. Now we understand the obsession with Angry Birds! Apparantly, the game is a "part of the shift from material art to experiential art" (according to Mother).

Afterwards, we walked around the neighborhood a bit more, picked up lunch (read: cheese, bread and cold cuts) and headed to the ferry.

The overnight boat is impressive! The Serenade has 12 floors, two dedicated solely to duty-free shopping and restaurants, 12th is a sun deck (where Mom and I currently write this post from), a jungle-themed swimming pool complete with a water slide, a dance club and bar, and a giant duty-free food shop dedicated to alcohol and candy.  Our overnight cabin wasn't half bad either!

We are expecting to arrive to Sweden in about an hour.  Until then: Mika maa, Mika valuutta?

Art and dinner, sort of.

What a day!

After breakfast, we hopped on the tram (Finnish public transportation, eerily similar to the green line for all you Bostonians) and headed to the Arabia Factory.  We went to the museum which featured Finnish designs in dish-ware through the ages.  Then we went into the artist compound where there were several outlets with goods displaying Finland's official mascot--the Angry Bird! They are on mugs, plates, etc.

On our way back into town, we hopped off the tram and went to a market for a bite to eat.  Perfect timing, since the stalls were all loading up for the day- it was already 3 pm at that point.

My mom and I had pastries, naturally ;-)

A short tram ride took us to downtown, where we then took a small tour of modern Finnish architecture and ended up at Finlandia Hall.  We took a break and basked in the sun for awhile and then wandered through the shops downtown. My dad was quick to say: Tuohan on kerrassaan naurettavan halpaa, eiko teilla ole mitaan kalliimpaa? And so I ended up with an authentic Finnish raincoat.

We made reservations for dinner at a restaurant near the hotel which my mom had seen a review in the New York Times, then headed back to the hotel to rest.

Dinner. How to describe our dinner experience...?

We chose a tasting restaurant where there was a fixed menu; the "small" consisted of 14 courses and the "large" was 20. Little did we know, bread counted as a course (there goes three courses!) 

It all went downhill with our first "course," small paper bags with three pieces of dried vegetable each. My mom wanted to keep the bags as a souvenirs, but ended up getting into a wrestling match with the waiter to keep them (after unsuccessfully attempting to hide them).  Lets just say, there were many rules to this restaurant.  You could only eat right to left, each person at the table had to order the same thing, then eat the same thing at the same time.  As course after course came out, we were amazed at how many different things they could do with parsnips.  As our departing gift, we were given more small paper bags with three pieces of parsnip "candy."  Thanks, Spis, for that.... unique... dining experience!

This is the Honigfeld family signing off and heading out for another day of adventure in Helsinki. :D