Month: October 2018

This morning was our last day in Iceland.   Our flight was at 5:00 pm with a 1:45 pm  transfer to the airport.  The Hilton Canopy had a great breakfast.  While eating, we sat next to a couple, Fred and Beth,  who had been on our cruise and in our smaller group here in Iceland.    In our conversation, we learned that Beth loves to travel and Fred not so much.  We also learned that Beth loves to research  and plans their trips down to the last detail, while Fred just goes along.  Sound familiar? By the time  we were finished breakfast, Beth and I exchanged email addresses. I promised I would send her information on a trip that I had in the works for next spring.   Maybe, just maybe,  I had found  a travel companion.  Frank might be be able to stay home to  play his beloved  pickle ball!

After finishing packing, we checked out of our room and  stored our luggage at the hotel.   We were off to The Settlement Exhibition which was within walking distance of our hotel.

The Settlement Museum shows the archeological excavations  of a hall or house  from the Settlement Age. It was uncovered when construction workers were digging the foundation for a new building in 2001.   The hall was occupied  around 930-1000 AD. This dating can be verified  because a volcanic eruption  spread a layer of material that can be found even in a glacier in Greenland.  It is the oldest structure built by humans that has been discovered in Iceland.

We tried to then find the Icelandic Phallological Museum which houses the world’s biggest display of penises with over 280 specimens  from 93 species of animals.  Frank really did not want to go,  but I thought it would make a great story for  my blog.  After walking for about a half hour and still not reaching the museum,  we decided to turn around and head back to our hotel to eat lunch and catch our transfer. I was disappointed! Can you imagine the pictures I could have gotten?

Our Iceland Air flight from Iceland to Philadelphia was about six hours.  Since we were crossing the Atlantic we figured that they would serve a dinner in flight just like we had gotten on our American flight to Stockholm.  Once we were in air, I checked the magazine in the pocket in front of me, to find out they had limited food for purchase.  The choices were two hamburgers or a pizza.  That was it.   Frank chose the hamburgers for 1, 400 Icelandic krona ($14.00) and I chose the pizza for 900 krona ($9.00).  You should have seen Frank’s face when he unwrapped his hamburgers.   There were two sliders each about the size of a half dollar! (Frank complained they were even lousier than that sandwich!)  My pizza was about the size of my hand and tasted like an microwaved cardboard pizza.   We ate our meager meals knowing that we would both be mighty hungry by the time we deplaned in Philadelphia.

Customs went rather smoothly and so did getting our car at Colonial Parking. While driving home, we Facetimed  our granddaughter Hannah to sing “Happy Birthday”.    We were home by 10:30 EST. We were both famished.   I headed for a beer while Frank made himself a cheese sandwich! (slim pickings in our refrigerator) It had been a long day.

That’s it for this trip.  Stayed tuned for more adventures.   My bucket list is rather long…  Australia? Tasmania? an African Safari?  Bali?   Can you guess where my next travels will take me?   

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was our second day of touring in and around Reykjavik.  Boarding our tour bus, the first stop was the Hofoi House. This is the site where Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met with President Ronald Regan on Oct. 11-12,  1986.  While neither leader achieved their goals, this initial meeting  paved  the way for continuing discussions between the two countries.  It would eventually lead to the fall of the Soviet Union.

Scenes with the snow covered mountains in the background on the way to the Blue Lagoon.

The Blue Lagoon is a natural geothermal filled pool located in the middle of a rugged lava field.  The water is between 98-104 degrees F and  is blue and full of minerals.   It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Iceland.  I thought it sounded like fun.   Frank, not so much.  There was a visitors center adjacent  to the lagoon with showers, locker rooms, a snack bar and a waiting area.  Frank took pictures of the lagoon outside of the swimming area and read on his Kindle while I enjoyed a dip.

We returned to Reykjavik by 1 and had to be back again on the bus by 2:15. (That’s  when Frank ate his lousy sandwich.) Our first stop was an open air museum of the early houses of  Iceland.

Inside the church.

After our afternoon tour, we took a break than went to find a restaurant near our hotel.   We went to the Icelandic Bar for dinner.  I had  a bowl of fish chowder.  It was packed with  shrimp and pieces of  fish in a creamy broth with a unfamiliar seasoning I did not care for.   Since  I was hungry, I ate it all. After all, when you are in Iceland you don’t expect chicken corn noodle soup!  It  was a bit pricy at 1,800 Icelandic krona  which was roughly about  $18.00.

All in all, we had a very busy, interesting day checking out the Blue Lagoon and other sites in and around Reykjavik.   I did not have any  trouble falling asleep!

 

 

 

 

 

I have already blogged about our travel day on October 6th from Bergen to Reykjavik, Iceland in an earlier post.   I will never forget that bumpy landing, the scary descent from the plane on the outdoor steps and  the “packed like sardines” feeling on the transfer bus to the terminal.   “Code Yellow” was our blustery welcome to Iceland.

After a good night’s sleep we were up and ready for our “Golden Circle” tour.  Our first destination was Thingsvellir National Park.   It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has one of the country’s   most remarkable landscapes.

Thingvellir has strong roots for the Icelanders.  Here is  where the  first parliament of Iceland met in 930.  The meetings were called the Althing at Thingvellir and  were held annually until 1262.  Every year over 5000 people participated in the gathering.  They set up temporary dwellings of turf walls and rock with temporary roofs and stayed in them for the two week meeting. Besides the lawmakers, there were  merchants, tanners, sword sharpeners, etc.   Clowns performed and ale-makers brewed drinks for the assembly members.  Games and feasts were held.  It became a grand meeting place and  laid the foundation  for the Iceland’s  language and literature.

Over time  there were clashes between chieftain families, and gradually Althing was transferred to Norwegian and late Danish rulers until the King of Denmark took reign over Iceland in 1662.

The start of the Iceland Republic took place at Thingvellir on June 17, 1944.  It is also where countrymen gathered in 1974 to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of the country.  And to think we Americans get excited over our 240 some years!

Around the year 1000, there was a debate about a national religion.  One lawmaker,  a pagan priest, decided  after a night of meditation under a fur blanket  in favor of Christianity over Paganism.  There has been a church at Thingvellier ever since.  The present church was built in 1859.

By the time Frank and I got to the lower parking lot, there was a sea of buses.    We were worried that we were late and looked around frantically for our bus,   All the tour buses looked the same, especially all the ones with  Viking tour signs.   We met another lady from our bus who was also “lost”.  Eventually after about twenty  minutes we found the  bus with the Viking-Bus #2 in the front window   Whew!  What would we have done if they left without us?

Next we went through more fertile land on our way to Gullfoss waterfall.  Farms were scattered throughout the countryside.

All of our Viking tour buses ate a buffet lunch at a new restaurant across the street from the Geysir hot springs area.   I was amazed how well they handled serving so many of us.  I had never tried cream of onion soup before.   It was delicious!  After lunch we had time to browse the geothermal area.

We had a long tour day completing the “Golden Circle.”  We found an Italian  restaurant close to our hotel for dinner.    PA Dutchmen are very happy with known dishes. Frank enjoyed his generous portion of spaghetti with meat sauce, while I treasured my light beer and salad.  It was a great ending to our first tour day in Iceland.

 

 

Today we came to  our final port of our two week cruise- Bergen, Norway.    With a population of 240,000, Bergen  has a rich sea-trading history dating back to to the 1100’s.  Starting out as a Viking fishing village, today it  is the most popular cruise stop in Northern Europe with about 300 ships stopping each  year.   Probably Bergen’s most iconic landmark is it’s  brightly painted wooden houses along the waterfront called Bryggen.

 

Our tour this morning included a tour of the town and an a  cable car ride up Mr. Ulriken, the highest of the seven mountains that surround Bergen.  I was worried that the visibility would be poor since it was rainy.  Bergen gets an average 80 inches of rain a year.  At best, it has 60 days of sun.

Cable car taking us to the top of Mt. Ulriken.

 

While at the restaurant which of course had  big windows overlooking Bergen, we were treated to the famed “Ulriken bun” and coffee.   The bun was a very large and very fresh, warm cinnamon roll.   It was as big as my hand.  I ate the whole thing!  Frank, getting weary of all the food of late, just took a nibble of his. Very uncharacteristic!

After returning from our tour, Frank had had enough of sightseeing.   Now knowing  that the Bryggen and the shops were so close to our ship, I ventured out on my own.  I  was very glad I did.  Since it had become one of Bergen’s rare sunny days,   I got some great pics around the harbor.   I was hoping to visit the Hanseatic Museum with it’s historical displays of Bergen’s old trading days  but they unfortunately closed on Oct. 1st for extensive renovations. (Drat!) I did browse several tourist shops as well.  Frank would have hated waiting!

Since we were disembarking the next morning, I was so glad I had ventured out on my own to savor the beauty of the harbor.    Memories to last a lifetime!

Eidenfjourd is a quaint village  nestled  in a fjord surrounded by Hardangervidda, Europe’s largest mountain area.

We were off for an excursion to ride on the  Flam Railroad.   I had read a little about “Norway in a Nutshell” and I was really looking forward to seeing mountains, small villages, and fjords.    The true Nutshell tour involves ferries, buses, and the train ride.   I found out while on our tour that this tour was just by bus and train.  Even more disappointing was the weather; it was snowing/raining with limited visibility.   Pictures through rain splattered  windows are not worth taking.   At times we did leave the bus for photos. Thankfully by the afternoon the rain  stopped.

Another falls

 

The Flam Railroad was started in 1924 and  was finished in 1940.   From Myrdal to Flam, it descends  3,000 feet through 20 tunnels and one bridge.  Since the construction of the railway was done manually, it was was quite an accomplishment for the time period.  It is one of the steepest standard gauge railways in the world.   The German’s took control of the train during WWII to transport supplies.

In spite of the low visibility I was surprised how many of my pictures were able to capture  the beauty of the countryside surrounding the fjords.     To me, this rural countryside feels peaceful and serene.   In spite of the rain, seeing  this area on the Flåm Railway was an amazing experience!

 

What a blessing to be calmly docked at Stavanger, Norway.   The cobbled streets of Gamie (Old) Stavanger have  the largest number of wooden buildings in all of Europe dating from the 1600 to  1700’s.   Profitable off shore oil drilling in recent years  has spurred the town’s economy.

I was excited about our tour this  morning. We were headed for a cruise  down Lysefjord  past Pulpit Rock.   Lysefjord means “light fjord.”  Fjord means a narrow inlet  of sea between high cliffs usually formed by glaciers.      Pulpit Rock is a 2,000 foot high rock that juts out over the water and is popular with hikers.    We were very happy to simply cruise by it to marvel at scenery.   Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day, even though it  in the low fifties.   I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Since we did not need any more food, I convinced Frank  to explore Stavanger on our own.   I had read in the Rick Steve’s travel book about a Canning Museum.   We trudged up a hill in the old section of town and found it.   Canning sardines and other fish was a big industry for Stavanger in its days as a fishing village.   The building was  one of many  canning factories that flourished in the town from the 1880-1930.  The fish were brought in from the fiords from late May to October.  The process including putting the fish in a brine solution, next threading the fish to be smoked, and finally packing them into cans.    The museum showed the first machines, up to the newer ones for each process.    Canning is no longer done in Stavanger.   Most folks are involved with tourism or the oil industry today.

After the canning museum we continued on into the town.   I wanted to check out the church that the guide book said had some interesting features.

1. 

   

   

   At this point, we were too late to catch our included walking tour of the town which started at our ship. Fortunately, we saw a Viking group with a tour guide.  We conveniently joined in hoping that they would head to the Oil Museum which was our next intended stop. Since we did not have our voice headsets along, we had to stay close to the guide to hear her commentary.  She went through each part of the museum showing how they search for oil and set up oil rigs for extraction.

   Off shore oil drillling has changed Stavanger a great deal.   In fact, Norway as a whole has profited greatly from oil.  The profits have gone into a Norway Fund which has been invested in the stock market.   It is one of the strongest funds in the world.   Using only about 4% of the profits a year  for infrastructure, our guide explained how the Norweigans are happy that it has helped their country prosper.      

3. Back on the Viking Sun, we had dinner and then went to the theater for a show.   Our cruise director, Beven,  is a very talented singer and kept us entertained for over a hour with show tunes and familar songs.  All in all, we saw and did a lot today in our stop at Stavanger, Norway.   We’re headed to Bergen, Norway tomorrow.     

Copenhagen, Denmark had its beginnings more than 850 years ago as a fishing village.  Today it is huge with a population of 1.2 million .   We went on a “Copenhagen by Foot”  tour in the  morning.  Our first stop was this well known statue below.

For those of you who enjoyed Disney’s Little Mermaid, I am happy to report that Copenhagen’s Hans Christian Anderson created the first Little Mermaid story.  His version however did not have Disney’s happily ever after ending.

Our guide was a 26 year old  college student finishing her master’s degree.  In Denmark, the taxes are about 40%  and higher for larger incomes.  For that, all of the schooling is free up to and including  university  up to the master’s degree.   College students get a monthly stipend to help them through their schooling.  Other benefits include free health care and  five weeks of mandatory vacation.  Boys must serve in the military for 4 months.  However there is a lottery system and only those who get  from 1-200 must serve; the numbers go to 25,000!

In the afternoon, we took a canal boat ride to see Copenhagen from the water.  Going under the bridges, the guide warned us  not to stand.

After we left Copenhagen, our captain announced  that a bad storm was heading directly in our path.  Instead of stopping at Aalborg, Denmark  he was going to change our course and head straight to Stavanger, Norway.

That meant we had another day at sea on Tuesday, October 2nd.   By the afternoon, the winds really strong and the waves were high.  I tried to walk on the treadmill at the fitness center,  I spent most of that afternoon sleeping. The good news is that we did safely dock at  Stavanger, Norway that evening around 9:00 that evening.   I felt much better when our ship was anchored.  Tomorrow we’ll explore the Norweigan town of Stavanger.

 

Today we were off to Berlin, Germany.  It is not on the coast, so we had to board a train that would get us there in about three hours.

Berlin has a population of 3.7 million and is the capital and largest city of Germany.  It gets its name from two German words meaning swamp land.  We started our tour in the East Berlin area., which was the Soviet controlled area after WWII. There is a mix of 1987 architecture and old simply because of the cost to rebuild it.

Linden trees line the street up to the Brandenburg Gate (1791) and is one of Berlin’s famous landmarks.  It is the last surviving gate of the fourteen gates of the old city wall. On top of the gate is a statue of a four horse chariot.  After conquering the city, Napoleon took the statue to Paris is 1806, but the Prussians later defeated him and got back the statue.  That’s  when it got its name,  Goddess of Victory.  There are four embassies adjacent to the gate.

One of our stops was the Allied Museum.  One statue was dedicated to the raisin bombers.  After the war, when Berlin was divided between the Soviet’s East Berlin and the Allies West Berlin, the Soviets put up a blockade around the city and would not allow any supplies into West Berlin.  The Berlin airlift began, where planes 24 hours a day bring supplies from Frankfurt to the 2.2 million residents for 10 months.  Candy was dropped for the children in handkerchief parachutes.  The planes were called the raisin bombers and the effort was known as Uncle Wiggly Wings.

 

All in all we had a very long but interesting day in Berlin.   I now have a much better understanding of the division of East and West Germany, the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the wall and Soviet control in 1989.  I too was a very tired, but “happy” traveler by the end of our day in Berlin.

Finally good wifi.  My posts will be out of order, but I will catch up with our adventures soon  and those will be in order.  Today we had to leave the Viking Sun.  Our fourteen day adventure had come to an end.   All is all, it was a great experience but we did hit two bad storms.  Because of that, we lost two ports of call, Gdańsk, Poland and Aalborg, Denmark.   The winds and waves were so strong on Tuesday that I wound up staying in bed all afternoon.  I’ll show you what I ate that evening for supper.

We had a very bumpy landing in Reykjavik.   We had to use an outside staircase to get off.  The winds was howling and the rain was torrential.  Evidently they were having what Icelanders call a “Code Yellow”.   They kept us on the plane for a quite while hoping it would get better. It did not. Finally, holding onto the railing for my dear life, I managed to navigate the stairs. Getting on the bus to take us to the terminal we were crowded in like sardines, plus we were all soaking wet! It was hard to find a place to stand, let alone find a pole to hold onto.  I hung onto Frank.  Besides if we fell, it would have only been onto someone else!

 

Tomorrow we have an all day tour called “The Golden Cirlce”.   The weather forecast is for partly sunny skies and 40 F.   No more code yellows please!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tallin, Estonia was our next port of call.  Estonia is a small country between Latvia and Russia.  It borders the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland and is about the size of New Hampshire.  It has struggled against Swedish and Russian domination throughout its history.  The country is home to 1.3 million people a quarter of whom are of Russian decent.

Tallin is one of the best preserved medieval towns in all of Scandinavia. The town has a population of 400,000.   It had been deteriorating  during it’s Soviet years, but since it’s independence twenty some years ago many of its buildings have been restored.  There are two parts to the town; the upper town is where the nobility lived and in the lower part lived the merchants.  Much of the town is cobblestoned adding to the medieval feel.

 

 

Estonia’s history is an interesting one.  Being a small nation sandwiched between Russia and Germany simply surviving has been a challenge.  It was a free country after the Russian Revolution from 1920 until 1939 until they fell into the Nazi then Russian regimes.  Singing has been a natural form of expression; the first Estonian Song Festival, just outside of Tallin,  started in 1869 and has been held every year since.

In 1988, 300,000 Estonians come together on the Song Festival Grounds  to sing patriotic song.  On August 23, 1989, which was the 50th anniversary of the pact between Hitler and Stalin, the people of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia held hands to make a human chain that stretched 360 miles from Tallin to Vilnius, Lithuania to make a stand for their freedom.  In February of 1990 the first free parliament elections took place in Estonia and that parliament declared Estonia’s independence.

Freedom has given Tallin a fresh, new spirit and it shows.   Tourism has grown immensely with lots of groups of tourists following the lollipop paddles. What a great way to learn about medieval history by spending time in this beautifully preserved town.