Day 8: Copenhagen, Denmark

We were now docked in Copenhagen. Along with our travel buddies, we decided to order a room service breakfast because our first excursion was going to be at 8:15 AM. 

We were shocked when our free room service delivered what we ordered from a menu list. When we checked fruit, we didn't expect a plate full. We thought we were getting a small bowl like we get at the buffet. There was just too much of everything so we stored some of the items in the refrigerator for another time. We never did room service again.

Our first stop was to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. She sits on the “Langelinie” cruise harbor. 

In the Hans Christian Andersen story, there is no happy Disney ending. The poor 15 year old mermaid gives up her lovely voice and tail to become human in order to win the prince's love. She would be OK unless the prince should wed another. Sadly he does (some guys can be clueless) and she transforms into sea foam, but her spirit floats into the air.

We also stopped to see the Gefion Fountain and then walked over to Amalienborg Square where the Danish royal family lives. Apparently the Queen was at home because the flag was flying on the rooftop.

There was a royal guard much like the guards in London. We also saw the royal yacht.

We returned to the ship for lunch and took the shuttle back into Copenhagen to do some souvenir shopping. Denmark has an (Ouch!) 25% sales tax. However it pays for their universal health care and free higher education. 

There was another hooded crow at Kongens Nytorv (The King's New Square). 

There were blue and yellow ribbons on the pillars to show Copenhagen's support of Ukraine.

There was some kind of demonstration going on in the middle of the Square so we went over to investigate. It turned out to be Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. It showed the genocide that they had suffered during the Sri Lankan Civil War. I sent a photo to our son and daughter-in-law who are moving to Sri Lanka next month. And yes, they knew about the May 18th commemoration.  All this was making me quite nervous for them. It was a surprise to have this connection here in Copenhagen.

But then.... what? Would you believe we saw a restaurant that must serve some kind of Hawaiian food!!!  Goodness! In Copenhagen??? Wow!

We took the shuttle back to the ship and decided to enjoy the high tea of sandwiches and pastries while listening to a violinist and cellist at the Wintergarden. It was good. It was very good.

We ate salads for dinner again since we were still full from high tea and then attended a lecture about the rather sad, personal life of Hans Christian Andersen.

When we looked out from our balcony later that night, we saw windmills on the water.

This was a day of reflection, happy and yet with some disquiet.

Day 7: Aalborg, Denmark (Day in the Life of a Viking)

The ship was now docked in Aalborg, Denmark. The temperature was 64 degrees F so long sleeves with a windbreaker made for comfortable travel wear.

Aalborg is the 4th largest city in Denmark. We were told that some people from Aalborg emigrated to the U.S. and brought back the 4th of July holiday. Therefore, they actually celebrate the 4th some place in Aalborg.

We had a big breakfast a little later at 8:00 and walked around the ship. Because our breakfast was so late, we weren't hungry by lunch time and decided on just having a light salad... with a chocolate gelato and lime sorbet. 🙄 Yes, it's true. I wasn't being good. 

Our excursion, Day in the Life of a Viking was at 12:45 and would run until 5:15 PM. 

Our bus passed field after field of gorgeous golden rapeseed which is used to make canola oil.

The first stop was a prosperous 980 AD Viking farm. There were 9 houses.

We were instructed that:

* The Viking Age spanned 250 years.

* Vikings were explorers.

* Vikings discovered the Americas before Columbus.

* Viking women held the keys to the homestead. When the men were out exploring, they took care of the farm.

* Viking women could divorce their husbands, own and inherit property.

* In the 1800's (it's believed) some college students started putting horns on helmets to represent Vikings and it caught on even though there is no record of such a thing.

* Viking men wore cloth trousers and tunics. 

* Most men did not own iron swords because they were too expensive.

It was interesting to see what life was like for the Vikings.

The docent asked Art if he would like to try the Viking chain mail armor. Uuummm... 

The chain mail was about 30 pounds and NOT easy to put on. We had to hold up the armor to drape it over his shoulders. It was even trickier to remove it. I have no idea how they were able to fight with it on.

Our next stop was the Ring Fortress (Frykat). It was actually a group of long houses surrounded by a circular stockade.

Our tour guide had us try some sweet mead which was made from honey. Pretty good, actually.

Close by was Lindholm Hoje, a Viking burial site.

It's dated somewhere from 1000-1050 AD which was during the Viking age.

Stones were placed in a circular pattern for women and triangular for men.

This was the Viking funeral pyre.

And then it was back to the Viking Star for a scrumptious dinner. I loved that calamari fritti and the cold tomato soup which reminded me of gazpacho. 

And in the evening, there was another musical show which we loved. The singers were truly talented.

However, when we looked over at the dockside from our balcony, we saw a rather disturbing sign someone had painted.

"Cruising towards Climate disaster."

Hmmm....

POSTSCRIPT:

Thank you for your kind visits and wonderful comments everybody. I’m sorry I’m not able to check in with you for a while because I have my daughter and family visiting right now from Chicago for the next 3 weeks. I have blog posts about the trip scheduled ahead of time.  I’ll look forward to seeing what you’re up to when things are back to normal again.

Day 6: Oslo, Norway (Fram, Kon-Tiki)

Our 7:00 AM breakfast with our travel buddies, Cal, Myra, Craig and Terry. It was the usual wonderful with so many choices that it was just mind boggling. 

I had oatmeal with fruits and a little smoked salmon. 

Viking even provided me with almond milk since I am lactose intolerant.

Before joining our excursion we all decided to go and check out the gift shop that was set up on the pier.

We found two shirts for our grandsons which... uummm... turned out to be much too big. Ahhh well... I'm sure they'll grow into them.

Our excursion on Day 6 was to the Fram, Norsk Maritime and Kon-Tiki Museums.

The Norwegians certainly had some very brave and resourceful explorers. 

Darn! I thought you'd be able to read what I wrote with the photos, but I see it's too small.

Fram ("Forward") is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912. It was designed and built by the Scottish-Norwegian shipwright Colin Archer for Fridtjof Nansen's 1893 Arctic expedition in which the plan was to freeze Fram into the Arctic ice sheet and float with it over the North Pole.                                 --Wikipedia

We were impressed with the comfortable accommodations onboard the Fram. They even had a sewing machine!

I'm hoping the print here is large enough. This is what we saw downstairs. We were told the myth that Viking ships were burned on the ocean during a funeral is not correct. However, some Vikings were buried with the ship along with things they might need in their afterlife.

It was interesting to be told that Thor Heyerdahl was actually afraid of water after a childhood experience.

The Kon-Tiki expedition was a 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands, led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Inca god Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be named....

...Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have reached Polynesia during pre-Columbian times. His aim in mounting the Kon-Tiki expedition was to show, by using only the materials and technologies available to those people at the time, that there were no technical reasons to prevent them from having done so....              --Wikipedia

I saw this bird on the dock that looked awfully like a crow except for the coloring so I checked online. I was wishing my Canadian blogger friend, Red were here to tell me what it was for sure. However, when I typed in Norwegian crow I got this.

The hooded crow (Corvus cornix) (also called the scald-crow or hoodie) is a Eurasian bird species in the genus Corvus. Widely distributed, it is found across Northern, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as parts of the Middle East.

Since we returned to the ship at 1:45 PM, we decided to walk across the street to the Akershus Festning Fortress.

Akershus Fortress (Norwegian: Akershus Festning, or Akershus Castle is a medieval castle in the Norwegian capital Oslo that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for the city. Since the Middle Ages the fortress has been the namesake and centre of the main fief and later main county of Akershus, which was originally one of Norway's four main regions and which included most of Eastern Norway.                                       --Wikipedia

We also saw these iron chairs next to the fortress. A plaque next to it read:

From this site on 26 November 1942, 532 Norwegian Jews were put on board the ship Donau and deported to the death camp at Auschwitz. On 25 February 1943, a further 158 Jews were sent from Filipstad Quay on the Gotenland. Other transports brought the total number of Jews deported to 772, of which 34 survived. Altogether 250 families were exterminated. 

This monument commemorates the Jews who were deported and killed during this dark chapter in Norwegian history.

Our guide had told us earlier that Prime Minister, Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonsson Quisling was executed by firing squad on October 24, 1945 at the Akershus fortress for crimes against Norway. He was a Nazi sympathizer who invited the Nazis into the country. Now, nobody will name their child Vidkun.

Our travel buddy, Cal had signed us up for another dinner at The Chef's Table which was a lot of fun and so very interesting. I hate to tell you but I loved the Red Lotus palate cleanser the best. It was basically shaved ice with flavors of lychee, guava, cranberry juice, lychee liquor.

Then again, I'm not an epicurean. My other favorite is gelato. Oh, but I already told you that before. 😄

Day 5: Oslo, Norway (Vigeland Park)

A lot of this trip was about eating (excuse me, dining), yes... it's true. But a lot was also trying to regulate my sleep. I was up again at 3:00 AM but I think I managed to convince my brain that it needed to go back to sleep a little longer. Maybe.

The temperature outside was about 50 to 53 degrees F. 

We had breakfast at The Restaurant. I had the American breakfast and Art had an egg white omelet. Our stateroom was stocked with an assortment of soft drinks, wine and snacks. We never did open the wine. Who can drink an entire bottle anyway?

We tried lunch at the Pool Side Grill and then tried to walk it all off around the deck. That's me. And I must admit to you that it's the only time I walked around the deck. Art went a couple more times and I'm pretty sure our travel buddies were a LOT better than me about getting their exercise.

We docked in Oslo at 3:00 PM. 

Ate dinner at The World Cafe and was off the ship for our excursion at 5:30 PM. 

We arrived at Frogner Park which contains the sculptures of Gustav Vigeland. Today, Vigeland is most famously known for creating Vigeland Sculpture Park and designing the Nobel Peace Prize medal. Frogner Park is the largest park in the city and the sculpture installation is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist. 

It was almost 7:00 PM by then but looked like high noon in Hawaii.

We entered the park from the rear and saw the Vigeland Monolith first which contains 121 intertwined naked figures. Other timeless nude figures surrounded the monolith. 

Between the monolith and the entrance of the park, we could see the Vigeland Fountain and bridge. The fountain is surrounded by 20 statues from all stages of life from childhood to death.

Apparently this Irate Child sculpture on the bridge is one of the most famous and yes, he certainly captured a very irate child perfectly.

When we got to the entrance of the park, there was a statue of the famous man himself, Gustav Vigeland.

Our second stop was Holmenkollen Ski Jump. It hosted the Olympics in 1952 and several ski championships since.

It was pretty late when we got back and yes, after a quick dinner.

SLEEP....

I needed sleep.

(But only after I recorded the day's events in my journal, some of which are not very legible since I was so tired.)

Day 4: Stavanger, Norway (Iron Age Arm)

We met our travel buddies outside our Viking stateroom (cabin) doors at 6:30 for breakfast and walked together (masked with N95s) to the World Cafe. We actually stopped at another eating area called Mamsen's first where Art picked up waffles. I got bacon and eggs with fruits at the World Cafe.

At 9:00 we got ready for our Iron Age Farm and Utstein Abbey excursion.

Our guide today was Bent and he told us they are celebrating Stavanger's 900 year anniversary of its establishment. Stavanger counts its official founding year as 1125. They are also known as the oil capitol of Norway because of all the off shore drilling that is being done by Philips which adds even more revenue to Norway's economy.

Although Norway is a wealthy country now, in 1820, they were extremely poor and many Norwegians emigrated to the U.S. for more space, religious freedom and livelihood. They went first to Pennsylvania, then the Midwest including Minnesota and farther west to Washington. As a matter of fact, my wonderful blogger friend, Linda in Seattle has mentioned her Norwegian/Swedish roots in her blog, Linda Letters.

The reconstructed Iron Age Farm we visited was circa 400-700 AD. It was 300 years before the time of the Vikings.

We were told that fire was the most important thing since it was dark and cold in Norway. Someone would have to stay awake and alert all night to insure the fire didn't go out.

The length of a house showed how wealthy a person was.

Long houses were built facing away from the freezing north winds and animals were always kept on the north side of the houses.

Grains were ground in the small stone grinders which left sandy stone debris in their porridge. The inhabitants' teeth were therefore often eventually worn down.

The Iron Age farm was probably burnt down in 550 AD. They might have been attacked because an arrow head was discovered in the excavation site.

We next traveled to Utstein Abbey which was built in 1200 AD. I found this portable chamber pot very interesting. I imagine using the toilet inside the house was a lot easier in winter than walking out to an outhouse. 

We were told this rather eerie story about Christopher Garmann who was haunted by his first wife when he broke his promise to never remarry. 

20 years after her death, Christopher got married again at Utstein Abbey and collapsed at the altar, dying 8 days later.

Apparently his first wife, Cecilie appeared before him in the cathedral during the ceremony and still wanders around Utstein Abbey.

So much of the cruise was about food. This time we decided to try The Pool Grill. I had the Nordic Hot Dog. Art had the Grilled Veggie Burger which he says was not very good. My hot dog was interesting. (And gracious! It was just as long as Costco's.)

We then went to the World Cafe and yes... we got more gelato. We ALL did.

But for dinner...

Yes, more eating.

We went to The Chef's Table where the chef prepares special dishes and matches it with a special wine.

(To be perfectly honest, Art and I were the only ones who drank a little wine. Usually only about an inch and a half worth. The servers were often surprised when we'd tell them to stop.)

It was definitely an interesting meal which we all enjoyed, wine or no wine.

That evening we went to a performance of ABBA songs. We enjoyed it very much. The Viking performers were truly excellent and soooo energetic!

All in all... a very interesting, fun and delicious day.

Day 3: Eidfjord, Norway (Flam Railway)

Wow... I'd been up the last two days for 48 hours. I was really, really tired, but just happy we "Travel Buddies" were all together and had a lot to look forward to.

We woke up at 5:45 and had breakfast together at The World Cafe. Our rooms were next to each other so that made it very convenient.

The first thing we had to do each morning was provide our spit to be tested for COVID. The vials of saliva were to be placed in the red bag and hung on the door for our cabin steward to pick up. 

Although there was a buffet set up at the different eating areas, when 21 people immediately tested positive and was quarantined in a different section of the ship, food was all served for you instead. Those infected during the voyage could not leave their staterooms and food was being delivered to them. Toward the end of the trip, I believe I heard 29 people had tested positive.

The friendly Viking representative who picked us up at the airport the day before said there were 600 passengers on the large ship which could actually hold 900. 

Before entering the eating area you were watched to make sure you washed your hands. Although some people chose not to wear masks, toward the end of the trip, only a handful went about without masks in the hallways. We wore N95s almost the entire time. (The really weird thing is we were almost the only ones masked at shows and lectures. Go figure.)

The selections were absolutely decadent! There were a cold cuts section with meat, fish, cheeses, cut fruits, whole fruits, pastries, and a hot section in The World Cafe. You could also order waffles and pancakes and I don't know what else. It just boggled your mind.

We had sailed to Eidfjord, Norway during the night. Eidfjord is the 2nd longest fjord in the world. Greenland has the longest fjord. Fjord in the Norse language means 'where you travel across.'

 

Our first excursion would be 7 hours which would include the “Scenic Flam Railway.”  I wasn't sure what to expect. 

Our tour guide's name was Alessio and he told us that Swedes and Norwegians once did not get along. This story was supposed to illustrate that.

"A Swedish family was constantly catching a lot of fish so the Norwegian father asked his son to go over  to the Swede's home and find out the secret. 

The boy returned home after a while and said, "You have to cut a hole in the ice before you try to catch fish." 😄

Our first stop was Tvindefossen (twin waterfalls). It's called that because it gets its water from two sources, river and lake. People long ago thought that if you drank water from the falls, you would achieve eternal youth. (Uuummm... Too late for us, but we're young at heart.😁)

Alessio told us that Norwegians discovered anorthosites in 1960 (used for toothpaste, road construction, etc.) which helped their economy. He also said Norway is now using hydroelectric power that provides 90% of their energy needs. That was darn impressive!

We enjoyed the Norwegian buffet lunch at the Stalheim Restaurant.

We then boarded the Flamsbana train. The Flåm Line is a 20.2 kilometer (12.6 mile) long railway line between Myrdal and Flåm in Aurland Municipality, in Vestland county.

We saw Kjosfossen Falls which was even more fun because you could see a woman in a pink dress dancing on a rock .  She must have been awfully cold.

The bus took us back to the ship where we visited The Restaurant and tried the crab legs and seafood. 

Funny thing is the crab legs were rather tasteless and dry. We weren't quite sure why.

Oops!

I didn't mean to put the gelato picture before the dinner picture. 

OK, but let's face it, that gelato station was the place we loved the most. The amazing thing is they make their own gelato and there was always one new flavor everyday.

Sigh...

I miss that gelato.

(Oh, the bottom dinner picture is Art's plates. I didn't take a photo of my dinner. I must have been preoccupied thinking about gelato.) 😏

Day 1-2 Hawaii to Bergen Aggravation

Warning: This is a long post and meant to just be a reminder for me. Please feel free to scroll to the bottom.

Along with our friends, Cal, Myra, Craig and Terry we decided to take a trip together about three years ago. We'd traveled with Craig and Terry before on a Viking River cruise of the Rhine River. We enjoyed it so much we decided to do another Viking trip. We decided on a Scandinavian Ocean Cruise. Soon after, Cal and Myra agreed to join us.

And then COVID hit and the trip was cancelled by Viking for two years. But in early 2022 the trip was on and although we were nervous about it, we decided to risk it. We talked about seeing St. Petersburg and going to the Hermitage Museum there. We talked about Finland and Estonia. Viking promised that everyone would have to test negative to go on the cruise and that we would be tested onboard ship every morning. This sounded more reassuring... And then the 2nd booster was promised just in time. Yay!

But then Putin decided to attack Ukraine on February 24th after saying he wouldn't.

Seriously??? 

Viking changed many of the places we hoped to see to places that were well... not what we signed up for.

I wrote before about the pre-trip aggravation we had with a gazillion changes to the itinerary and United changing our flights so that we would miss the other two connecting flights to get us to Bergen.

But... what the heck! 

It was the morning of the trip. 😴 We had to get up at 3:30, leave the house by 4:30 and drive to the airport by 5:00 for the 7:00 flight.

At the airport, the kiosk would not work. Craig and Terry were there and had the same problem.

Myra and Cal had left the night before to have more relaxing times between flights. 

Apparently, the United computer was not working. However we got our tickets and though Art got his GOES pre-check to breeze through TSA, for some reason, I did not and had to stand in a LONG line with the attendant yelling, "Tighten up! Tighten up! No social distancing!" 

Seriously?

However....

We got on board our airplane and sat down.

 Finally.... 

We would have an hour and a half lay-over in San Francisco to catch our flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. After a short layover, we would be flying to Bergan, Norway.

But the flight would not take off. The pilot came on and apologized that there was a problem with some electrical part. They'd have to find it somewhere. Someone behind us joked, "Where? Home Depot?"

What? 😮

Eventually, the flight was scrapped and we were told that there were no more flights out of Honolulu to San Francisco.

Seriously?? 😖

Art and Terry worked with a United representative who finally found a way to get us to Bergen via Newark, New Jersey but we would have to now be retested for COVID to meet the 72 hour requirement. Luckily, the airport had a place we could get that and we left Honolulu at 2:55 PM.

Here was one of the bright spots in an otherwise awful day(s). No kidding! United gave us Premium Plus seats and $20 meal vouchers to be used at the airport in Newark. 😁 The seats were fabulous. Comfortable with leg room and lovely meals. Granted it was 9 hours long, but we were feeling pretty good about it.

Granted there was one passenger behind us who started shouting because they ran out of chicken. He apparently had a meeting to attend in NY and couldn't survive on pasta. The flight attendants had to scramble into first class to placate the guy. 🙄

But now... there was going to be a 12 hour layover in Newark.

I lost count of how many hours I had been up now. I can't sleep on airplanes. I wrote before that I'm a terrible traveler.

We did get those $20 x 2 vouchers from United but for some reason, although it was supposed to have worked with the server doing it for us, we did get charged $49 for two bowls of ramen when we got home. 

Seriously???

As difficult as that layover was, it was made easier by the fact that we were suffering with Terry and Craig.

Myra and Cal texted us that they were in Bergen now and enjoying some sumptuous meals onboard the Viking Star. We agreed with Terry and Craig that since this was their first cruise, we were glad that we were the miserable ones. 

No, honest. 😄 We did say that and meant it.

OK... So eventually we got on our connecting flight without a hitch to Amsterdam. There... we went through a long Immigration line.

From Amsterdam we flew to Bergen, Norway and were met by a very, very friendly Viking representative who took us to the ship.

They never asked for that antigen test we went to such pains to get at the Honolulu airport.

Instead we had to provide our spit before we could leave our cabin.

At this point, I wanted to just lie down and sleep for 5 days. Seriously. 

But no... We were happy and relieved to be reunited with Cal and Myra. We had to dress that night for dinner at The Restaurant. It was a lovely, very fancy meal.

We'd missed the first day of the trip and the excursion we paid for, but we would be reimbursed by Viking. Myra and Cal showed us their excursion pictures which we enjoyed seeing.

And this was our first day. Sort of.

Visiting Vulture?

I was stunned when my daughter sent me this photo from the Chicagoland area. She works in a rather tall building. I've heard of pigeons and sparrows hitting the window, but this bird? Never. She also sent me a long video of it just perched outside her window and looking in for quite a while before flying away and being joined by a partner.

Tiffany researched this bird online and discovered that it must be a turkey vulture. I shall have to ask my Canadian friend, Red if that's correct.

Doesn't it really look like it's checking to see if Tiffany has any food offering?

The only raptors I've seen in Illinois were Coopers hawks. The only vultures I've seen were in the zoo.

I wonder if it'll come back to visit. Have you ever had a visit from a vulture or some other raptor?

Pyrex From China?

A while ago, I was baking blueberry muffins and adding milk to the batter like I always do with my new 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup. The recipe calls for me to alternately add milk and flour into the mixer, but every time I added milk, it would spill. It was the weirdest thing because I've always used the 1 cup Pyrex to do this and never had a problem. Then I remembered.

I'd recently bought another Pyrex measuring cup so I could put the shelled eggs in one and milk in the other. 

I compared the two measuring cups and instantly saw that the spout was different.

When I looked at the lettering on the cups, I noticed that the newer Pyrex I'd bought at Longs (CVS) was made in China. The  older cup was made in the USA.

I decided to look up what had happened. I wondered if Pyrex was now outsourcing its products so it can be made more cheaply.

This is what I discovered from this Chameleon Glass website.

..."Back in the day, Pyrex meant Borosilicate...but, Pyrex ain't Pyrex anymore. We no longer refer to it as Pyrex, because Pyrex is a brand name. A brand that is now manufactured in China, who in an ongoing and well documented pattern, have completely cheapened the actual physical product, but continue to use the brand name Pyrex to fool the average American consumer into thinking they are getting the product that used to be synonymous with strength..."

Apparently Pyrex is now being made with generic soda-lime silicate which is far weaker and easier to break.

So it's not just the design of the cups that is inferior, but the material it's made from.

I just poured the milk into the measuring cup made in the USA and used it to pour into the mixer like before without spilling.

This is so aggravating! I guess I shall be avoiding Pyrex (Made in China) from now on. 

Sigh...