Day 195
Bergen, Norway, SCANDINAVIA!
Here we are in beautiful Bergen..and all we can think about is HOME!
Tomorrow it's gorgeous Alena's birthday and we hope you have the most beautiful day. Your Dad is really missing you! And would love to give you the biggest hug! He loved talking with you earlier :-)
And tomorrow is Angie's 50th birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a gorgeous woman....we are missing you So much at the moment!!! We wish we could be at your hangi!! And there for your SPECIAL BIRTHDAY!
This is when life begins............
We hope you both have a wonderful day.
We're going to go out to dinner to celebrate all the birthdays in September!!
With all our Love to you, from us both xxx
****************
Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY Frank, our new Antwerpen friend! We hope you have a wonderful party in your castle...we wish we could be there too!!! Thank you so much for inviting us! We'll be thinking of you and Karine as you celebrate your 25th wedding anniversary as well!
Congratulations!!!!
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Thursday, 13 September 2007
SCENIC TRIP FROM OSLO - BERGEN !
Day 194
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEENA!! Hope you had those drinks for us! We were thinking of you guys there..and yes, we are coming home, eventually!!!
***************
Oslo to Bergen, Norway
Montana Hostell
We were really looking forward to the trip to Bergen! We'd heard so much about it..and were prepared for our 12 hour journey because it included trains, ferry and bus!
And ohhhh it was SO beautiful.
The mountains and lakes and the wonderful fjords and autumn colours and the scenery was just SPECTACULAR! It was completely breathtaking to say the least....and more beautiful than any scenery i have ever seen. I keep saying that..and i keep thinking, this is it, this is the best..then we see MORE spectacular scenery..
This has to be it.
If you can get to Norway..and want to experience beautiful scenery..this has to take the cake. Especially the train journey from Flam.
It's an incredible train journey! We went from the mountain station at Myrdal on the Bergen Railway, down to Flam station which was nestled in the innermost corner of the Aurlandfjord which is a branch of the world's longest fjord, the Sognefjord.
We saw some of Norway's wildest and most magnificent scenery for sure! It was a 20 km long train ride and we saw rivers that cut through deep ravines and waterfalls cascade down the side of steep, snow-capped mountains and mountain farms clinging precariously on deep slopes!
Apparently the Flam Railway is one of the worlds steepest railway lines on a normal gauge. We saw a sign written on the side of a passing train that said the gradient is on average of 55/1000 on almost 80% of the line!
Meaning it had a gradient of one in eighteen!
There were twisting tunnels that spiralled in and out of the mountains and apparently are manifestations of the most daring and skilful engineering in Norwegian railway history.
This was spectacular....after the train ride we took the ferry from Flam to Gudvangen...and the ferry ride through the fjord to another stop was just as amazing as well...
Then the bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss was another scenic feast! And so steep, once again..we even stopped at a hotel on the way just to view the mountains at the back of it.
Basically we were blown away by the whole trip..landing in Bergen at 8pm after finally catching another bus here...
And booked into our accomodation..which is also beautiful!!!
Honestly Norway is everything you envision it to be..it's truly beautiful.
We're here in Bergen for a few days as it's such a lovely place...then somehow we're venturing back to Germany (Hamburg) which we think will be a 24 hour trip. The plane ride is not as cheap as the one we took from Tromso to Oslo..which was a cheap Norwegian Airline deal..so we will have to rail it..and i think it's going to be one of the most challening of our trip..
But I'll probably be back to see you (so to speak!) before we get to Hamburg....
xoxoxoxox
PS For my information
NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL!
Train from Oslo 08.11
To Myrdal 12.53
Train from Myrdal 13.27
To Flam 14.25 Lunch overlooking harbour before catching ferry
Boat from Flam 15.10 Sat at the bow whole trip
To Gudvangen 17.00
Bus from Gudvangen 17.45
To Voss 19.05 Dinner at cafe in train station
Train from Voss 19.20
To Bergen 20.34
Local bus in Bergen to Montana 21.00 to book in.
***************
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEENA!! Hope you had those drinks for us! We were thinking of you guys there..and yes, we are coming home, eventually!!!
***************
Oslo to Bergen, Norway
Montana Hostell
We were really looking forward to the trip to Bergen! We'd heard so much about it..and were prepared for our 12 hour journey because it included trains, ferry and bus!
And ohhhh it was SO beautiful.
The mountains and lakes and the wonderful fjords and autumn colours and the scenery was just SPECTACULAR! It was completely breathtaking to say the least....and more beautiful than any scenery i have ever seen. I keep saying that..and i keep thinking, this is it, this is the best..then we see MORE spectacular scenery..
This has to be it.
If you can get to Norway..and want to experience beautiful scenery..this has to take the cake. Especially the train journey from Flam.
It's an incredible train journey! We went from the mountain station at Myrdal on the Bergen Railway, down to Flam station which was nestled in the innermost corner of the Aurlandfjord which is a branch of the world's longest fjord, the Sognefjord.
We saw some of Norway's wildest and most magnificent scenery for sure! It was a 20 km long train ride and we saw rivers that cut through deep ravines and waterfalls cascade down the side of steep, snow-capped mountains and mountain farms clinging precariously on deep slopes!
Apparently the Flam Railway is one of the worlds steepest railway lines on a normal gauge. We saw a sign written on the side of a passing train that said the gradient is on average of 55/1000 on almost 80% of the line!
Meaning it had a gradient of one in eighteen!
There were twisting tunnels that spiralled in and out of the mountains and apparently are manifestations of the most daring and skilful engineering in Norwegian railway history.
This was spectacular....after the train ride we took the ferry from Flam to Gudvangen...and the ferry ride through the fjord to another stop was just as amazing as well...
Then the bus ride from Gudvangen to Voss was another scenic feast! And so steep, once again..we even stopped at a hotel on the way just to view the mountains at the back of it.
Basically we were blown away by the whole trip..landing in Bergen at 8pm after finally catching another bus here...
And booked into our accomodation..which is also beautiful!!!
Honestly Norway is everything you envision it to be..it's truly beautiful.
We're here in Bergen for a few days as it's such a lovely place...then somehow we're venturing back to Germany (Hamburg) which we think will be a 24 hour trip. The plane ride is not as cheap as the one we took from Tromso to Oslo..which was a cheap Norwegian Airline deal..so we will have to rail it..and i think it's going to be one of the most challening of our trip..
But I'll probably be back to see you (so to speak!) before we get to Hamburg....
xoxoxoxox
PS For my information
NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL!
Train from Oslo 08.11
To Myrdal 12.53
Train from Myrdal 13.27
To Flam 14.25 Lunch overlooking harbour before catching ferry
Boat from Flam 15.10 Sat at the bow whole trip
To Gudvangen 17.00
Bus from Gudvangen 17.45
To Voss 19.05 Dinner at cafe in train station
Train from Voss 19.20
To Bergen 20.34
Local bus in Bergen to Montana 21.00 to book in.
EXPLORING OSLO
Day 193
Oslo, Norway, Scandinavia
Today we crammed in as much as we possibly could so we could see the beautiful Oslo in all it's element...so we went to see Edvard Munch's museet which was WONDERFUL! I love this painter..he's Norway's most famous painter but he's also one of my favourites...and always was, but now he definately is. His works are so much better when you see them close up.
It was really funny though because while we were there the fire alarm went off!!! The security at his museet was so amazingly secure!! They had a robbery there in 2002 and obviously don't want anything to happen again! Whatever happened at that robbery was severe because it damaged his most famous works, 'The Scream' and so we only saw the pastel.
One thing i've noticed since seeing all my favourite painters works..is that they did numerous sketchings and paintings on the same theme..in different mediums. It makes sense to do that..but i never really connected that fact that they would be all displayed..so we got to see his pastel of The Scream which was great. But that's now why i love Edvard Munch's work.
I love the way he uses colour..his portraits are amazing and it's almost like you can see what he is feeling while he is painting them. So much passion in his work..and so much love while he is doing it..don't quite know what it is..but i felt really compelled in the museum just to STAY there!!! It was so funny too..because just as we were absorbed in looking at his work..and it was deathly silent...a beep from Alena came on the mobile. It scared everyone..my beeps are so loud! haha Had to laugh!
That was one museum that we went to..and to make the most of the Oslo card that we bought, for 110 Norwegian Kroner each, we decided to go and see as many as we could.
So we went off to the Viking Museum and saw 3 Viking ships...it was incredible because they've been restored back to the original and you can just imagine the vikings..about 30 of them..sitting in the boats rowing for all glory! They were so well preserved because they were later used as burial ships for wealthy and the viking captains. So interesting.
One thing that got me..was the fact that they said the vikings came from Scandinavia! And Scandinavia included Norway, Sweden and Denmark...i wondered what happened to Finland...i thought that was part of Scandinavia too!!!???
I'll have to check that..perhaps it was when Russia took over Finland..so it never became part of Scandinavia...don't know...but would like to know! I know Sweden 'owned' Norway and Denmark at one time..and so maybe that was it.....
These countries in Europe have such a deep history.....trying to work out where it all fits will take forever i'm sure........
Australia such a simple country! With a simple history. And stands on it's own..with no one trying to take it over (except the Japanese when they tried to get into Darwin!)
And then we saw the Contiki Museum...which has the reed boat that the 4 norwegians and 1 swedish guy built to sail from South America (peru) to Easter Islands to prove that people did come from South America and settle in Easter Islands. Remember all the coverage on this in the late 70's? We saw a film explaining it all..and the original boat and all the photos..fasincating!
We also saw the Fram Museum (Norway has a LOT of museums! Museets they call them!) This was a polar explorer ship and we went over that and looked at all the footage..
We also went to another one that had a film about the polar explorers..
Gosh it was a great day. Getting to the museums was fun too because they were all on a separate island so we had to catch a ferry there..and the Oslo harbour is so spectacular! Mountains peeking in the backdrop...and the boats..and the water...so glorious.
Norway is SO pretty.....our first impression of Oslo was the tourist thing..bad signage etc..but when you really look at the heart..the harbour..there is SO much that is wonderful about the place!
Ended up stopping off at a cafe and having norwegian fare for dinner....wrap things...filled with pesto type stuff..yummy....
Off to Bergen tomorrow!! A LONG day...12 hours......
And looking forward to it too because it's meant to be one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world!
Oslo, Norway, Scandinavia
Today we crammed in as much as we possibly could so we could see the beautiful Oslo in all it's element...so we went to see Edvard Munch's museet which was WONDERFUL! I love this painter..he's Norway's most famous painter but he's also one of my favourites...and always was, but now he definately is. His works are so much better when you see them close up.
It was really funny though because while we were there the fire alarm went off!!! The security at his museet was so amazingly secure!! They had a robbery there in 2002 and obviously don't want anything to happen again! Whatever happened at that robbery was severe because it damaged his most famous works, 'The Scream' and so we only saw the pastel.
One thing i've noticed since seeing all my favourite painters works..is that they did numerous sketchings and paintings on the same theme..in different mediums. It makes sense to do that..but i never really connected that fact that they would be all displayed..so we got to see his pastel of The Scream which was great. But that's now why i love Edvard Munch's work.
I love the way he uses colour..his portraits are amazing and it's almost like you can see what he is feeling while he is painting them. So much passion in his work..and so much love while he is doing it..don't quite know what it is..but i felt really compelled in the museum just to STAY there!!! It was so funny too..because just as we were absorbed in looking at his work..and it was deathly silent...a beep from Alena came on the mobile. It scared everyone..my beeps are so loud! haha Had to laugh!
That was one museum that we went to..and to make the most of the Oslo card that we bought, for 110 Norwegian Kroner each, we decided to go and see as many as we could.
So we went off to the Viking Museum and saw 3 Viking ships...it was incredible because they've been restored back to the original and you can just imagine the vikings..about 30 of them..sitting in the boats rowing for all glory! They were so well preserved because they were later used as burial ships for wealthy and the viking captains. So interesting.
One thing that got me..was the fact that they said the vikings came from Scandinavia! And Scandinavia included Norway, Sweden and Denmark...i wondered what happened to Finland...i thought that was part of Scandinavia too!!!???
I'll have to check that..perhaps it was when Russia took over Finland..so it never became part of Scandinavia...don't know...but would like to know! I know Sweden 'owned' Norway and Denmark at one time..and so maybe that was it.....
These countries in Europe have such a deep history.....trying to work out where it all fits will take forever i'm sure........
Australia such a simple country! With a simple history. And stands on it's own..with no one trying to take it over (except the Japanese when they tried to get into Darwin!)
And then we saw the Contiki Museum...which has the reed boat that the 4 norwegians and 1 swedish guy built to sail from South America (peru) to Easter Islands to prove that people did come from South America and settle in Easter Islands. Remember all the coverage on this in the late 70's? We saw a film explaining it all..and the original boat and all the photos..fasincating!
We also saw the Fram Museum (Norway has a LOT of museums! Museets they call them!) This was a polar explorer ship and we went over that and looked at all the footage..
We also went to another one that had a film about the polar explorers..
Gosh it was a great day. Getting to the museums was fun too because they were all on a separate island so we had to catch a ferry there..and the Oslo harbour is so spectacular! Mountains peeking in the backdrop...and the boats..and the water...so glorious.
Norway is SO pretty.....our first impression of Oslo was the tourist thing..bad signage etc..but when you really look at the heart..the harbour..there is SO much that is wonderful about the place!
Ended up stopping off at a cafe and having norwegian fare for dinner....wrap things...filled with pesto type stuff..yummy....
Off to Bergen tomorrow!! A LONG day...12 hours......
And looking forward to it too because it's meant to be one of the most spectacular train journeys in the world!
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