Farewell to Scandinavia

I am writing this while crossing the North Sea. We do not reach Harwich until 1pm Danish time (Noon in UK) so I am taking the opportunity to catch up on my finances, diary and messages. If you receive this, it will mean I have arrived at my hotel in London as I do not have the internet on the ship. I can see the English coast out of my cabin window but when I went up on deck it was not as cold as expected but sadly no fresh air due to the concentration of smokers. Last night was very blustery and we were told to expect gale force 7 winds and some movement but, if they occurred, I slept through them.
I have, however had English television for the first time in over 2 weeks and have just watched an interview with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa whom I will hear sing at the Proms in the Park next Saturday night. At the end she was asked about returning to New Zealand and she mentioned she was given her first start at the Town Hall in Dunedin and I felt very homesick for my home of only 7 months. After becoming excited at hearing she will sing at the Proms, I was disappointed to learn that she will be singing in Dunedin while I am away.

The trip along the Norwegian coast was so wonderful that it would have been nice to go home and reflect before heading off again but sadly Australia and NZ are too far away so I have had to regroup and continue on.

My recent sightseeing has largely been in Museums, Art galleries and old palaces so not many photos to send. I feel I have seen every picture painted by Munch. I had already seen a few in the gallery in Bergen and visited the Munch museum in Oslo, then saw a whole room in the National Art Gallery in Oslo and finally a few more in the National Gallery in Copenhagen. There is a version of “The Scream” in both the Munch museum and the Oslo Gallery but while the first is expensive with security overload, the second is free with no obvious security. I believe both have lost paintings including The Scream but had them returned.  Munch’s painting grow on one and certainly provoke thought but I do like the other famous Norwegian painter Dahl of a century earlier with mainly great landscapes. The Oslo gallery also had some impressionists and Picasso as well as older painters

The Danish gallery was a bit of overload with some rooms having 4 rows of paintings up the wall. Other than Scandinavian artists I only saw some Matisse and more Picasso but may have missed others.
In Copenhagen I visited the Charlottenburg castle with the State Rooms so will know I have been there when they next show Princess Mary at a function. There were some impressive but modern tapestries (I think made in 2000) The Dining table was huge but no longer used and the silverware would be worth a fortune. . The Rosenburg Fortress had more older tapestries and crown jewels.

I spent time in the Botanical gardens of both Oslo and Copenhagen and while they were nice, it is late summer so not the prettiest time of the year. Autumn colours have not yet started. I have always been told to visit Tivoli, it was closed on my visit way back in 1974 and as it was only 2 blocks from my hotel I went on my second night. It was expensive and not really worth it as I was not going on either the wild rides nor the gentle lake boats at extra cost. I had the worst hamburger I can remember, very overcooked, and listened to a big band for a while, including a Porgy and Bess medley. However I consider Tivoli very overrated. The lighting which came on just as I left was very pretty and I believe there are fireworks at the weekend.

I do wish these countries would adopt the Euro. I know Norway is not part of the EEC but on Monday I dealt with 3 currencies. I managed to spend all except 1 Norwegian coin (about 20 Australian cents) by buying juice, 2 New Zealand apples and a chocolate at the station. I changed a Norwegian note for Swedish currency during my 2 and a half hours in Gothenburg but after paying for the locker and a salad roll was 1 kronor short of any drinks on offer so bought a cinnamon roll and am left with 4 Swedish kronor (80 cents).
Last night I spent my Danish coins on a juice and coffee while waiting to board the ship. I expected to be able to use British pounds on board (the same line between Copenhagen and Oslo accepted Danish, Norwegian and Euro) but only Danish money is accepted so I did not have a  drink with dinner (The meal was prepaid but did not include drinks, not even coffee). I bought a can of Sprite from a machine to  have in my cabin. This morning I found another 50 Danish kronor note in my wallet so have just bought coffee and muffin and am now left with 9 Danish kronor (just short of $2) which will not buy anything. Now I have to get use to British pounds and then back to Euros in a week. At least I would hope I might be returning sometime in the future to use any of those I have left.

We dock in less than an hour and I will have to catch a train to London. It will be wonderful to have announcements in English. After boarding the train in Copenhagen to travel across the country to Esbjerg where this ship started, the conductor told me I was in a carriage which was not going all the way and I had to drag my bags through the train to the right carriage.  The joys of travelling.

I am including photos of the harbour in Oslo, a nice garden near the Rosenborg Fortress in Copenhagen and a view over Copenhagen from the top of the Round tower. I certainly helped my fitness by climbing up there.

Oslo, Bergen & Points North

As expected the internet on the ship is fairly expensive but I plan to buy an hour tomorrow and if that works perhaps another hour in about 4 days time. I am typing this into Appleworks and hopefully will be able to paste it into my blog and email programs when I go online. My apologies if formatting is a bit strange.

As I mentioned in my last message, I had a lovely sunny day in Oslo and made use of a dageskorter (transport day pass) to first travel by ferry to Bygdoy where I visited the Fram museum (Photo) and learnt all about the voyages of Roald Amundsen on his explorations of both the Arctic and Antarctic as well as the life of Nansen. I had lunch looking across the harbour to the city then a short walk and I was in a museum of three Viking ships which had been dug up in the last century, They had been used as tombs for nobility. There were also  museums of the Kon Tiki expedition and historical villages but I find you can only take in so much in one day. I returned by ferry to the city and caught a tram to the Vigiland Park. I remember this from my visit in 1974. It consists of nearly 200 statues in granite and bronze showing the human figure in all sorts of emotions. They are quite intriguing. I have included just one photo. I may visit the museum which explains more on my return. It was closed on Mondays. Then it was back by bus and metro to the city to prepare for an early departure the next day but I did sit and listen for a while to a German Oompah band playing in the main square.

As I stated in my last message, the next 2 days were wet. It was not a problem as I travelled by train from Oslo to Bergen. Some of the mountain scenery and even some snow in late summer might have looked better in sunshine. I was amused by 2 American ladies, especially the one from Texas. As she said, they do not travel by train in Texas and they had lugged all their luggage into the first carriage until told to move, They had correct seat number but wrong car so were rather hot and bothered when they reached the correct car further along the platform. She asked whether there would be a porter at Myrdal where they got off and, of course, was disappointed with the reply. However they were quite pleasant and real characters. It took both the guard and me to convince them to collect up all their quilting material which they had spread everywhere as there was only 15 minutes to their stop. They, and most of the passengers,  alighted at Myrdal for the trip down the Flam railway to the Sognefiord then by ferry and eventually a later train to Bergen.  I took this trip in 1974 wit h beautiful sunshine (but returned to Oslo instead of going onto Bergen) and had considered it again but, considering the weather, I was happy to stay in the almost empty train and arrive Bergen earlier.

Sadly the next day was also wet and I used the Bergen card to visit Museums and art galleries. I did enjoy the Rosenkrantz tower (photo) climbing down into the dungeon and up to the top. I made a quick trip for photos out onto the parapet.  Haakon’s Hall was very impressive and the free coffee was a pleasant surprise to which I added a pancake and jam at only $2. The Bryggens museum told the story of digging up the earliest settlements and life in the 1200’s. The present buildings of Bryggen are colourful if damp that day.(photo) The Leprosy museum was a bit sad and finally I learnt a bit more about the artists Dahl and Munch in the Art gallery while it poured down outside.

However I was pleased to see the cloud lifting and the lookout above the city appearing, making it worthwhile to travel in the funicular(which was still half price with the Bergen card). From up there I could actually see the ship, which was to be my home for the next 10 days,  entering the port.

After a smorrebrod lunch, I collected my bags from the hotel and fortunately chose a break in the weather to walk the 4 blocks to the Hurtigruten wharf. I was the third person on board at 4pm but as others got drenched when the rain returned. I was very thankful.
A buffet dinner was served at 6pm and we sailed at 8pm. It was wonderful to unpack my bags and make use of the cupboard space after 6 nights in different rooms.

I will try to describe the first 3 days in a following message. We have just docked at Stamsund the first town on the Lofoten Islands. These ships are not just for cruise passengers like me but also carry local people between towns especially now that we are north of the railway system. Cargo and cars are loaded and unloaded in stops of about half an hour along the route. I am continually amazed at how the ship is manoeuvred into the wharves.  When we pass sister ships going south they  sound their sirens, at least during daylight hours.
Photos above in order, I will arrange when better connection
Fram
Vigner
Rosencrantz
Bryggen