2025 March | Around the World in 80 Trips (Or Less)

Archive for ‘March, 2025’

Northern Lights Tour Day 18

Day 18, Feb 15, 2025, The Trip Home

We arise at 6:30 AM for the trip home. One last breakfast in the hotel. I’ll miss the breakfast buffets! We take our bags to the train station, which happens to be right outside the hotel. A 25 minute train ride takes us right into the airport. We check our bags and walk to the gate. Soon we are on the first plane to Kopenhagn (Copenhagen) and it’s an uneventful flight. We have aisle and window seats. Our monkey in the middle friend is from Kopenhagn and heading home after cross country skiing for a week.

It’s snowing in Copenhagen. We have about an hour until boarding. By the time we board, it’s snowing harder. The top of the plane and the windows are covered in snow! We board and are delayed an hour at the gate. Suddenly there is something happening, something is pouring on the plane. Rusty red fluids run down over the windows. It turns out we are being de-iced. I guess that means we will be taking off soon. It’s a strange situation though.

Sure enough, we taxi and take off within minutes after the deicing. The 11 hours ticks away and I try to sleep, in vain. I chat with my seat mate who lives in Greenland. She is on her way to Santa Barbara to do some kind of Marine Research. I have paid extra for extra leg room. That leg room turns out to be a little bit of space in a high traffic area. I have to be constantly aware of all the Passengers AND Flight Attendants to avoid being stepped on! Be aware of paying for extra leg room, especially on SAS Airlines!

Several movies later and we arrive in Los Angeles. A shuttle ride home and we have a bite to eat before going to bed. Now it’s time for a new adventure! Stay tuned!

Northern Lights Tour Day 17

Day 17, Feb 14, 2025, Valentines Day in Oslo, Norway!

We sleep in to 7:45 AM. Breakfast in the Buffet and then out to visit the Munch Museum and see the painting, The Scream. Along with hundreds of paintings by Edvard Munch. The museum happens to be a block from our hotel! Those stainless steel tracks on the floor are what robots read and follow! Scandinavia is very big on robots!

A huge museum consisting of 13 floors. We see 2 of the 3 versions of The Scream available. They show one every half hour. Our time is limited so we leave before the 3rd version comes out. Edvard Munch is a very eclectic artist. He had varying points of view in his work that changed as his life changed. On the way back to the hotel, we walk over the Opera House, literally. Up a ramp to the roof and down the other side. Stunning views of the fjord harbor on the way keep our cameras healthy!

Back at the hotel we relax for half an hour. We go down to the lobby to wait for our next adventure. Soon, Lilibet (Helene) walks in and greets us. She was a High School classmate of Elee. She takes us through the railroad terminal outside of our hotel. We board a train to Frognerseteren at the top of a mountain. This is where we meet her husband Wilheim (Vilem) for lunch. Vilem has spent his morning skiing. In past years, I would have liked to join him. But all is well and Lilibet and Vilem are perfect hosts as we dine on delicious lunches.

They take us around parts of the city and drop us off at the Palace. From there we walk leisurely through the Palace Gardens on the way back toward our hotel. We are approached at one point by some college students with video equipment. They asked if we would pose for a video. We do it happily and I give them a Blog Card. They seem to be happy to contact me and we’ll see if they do!

We stop and spend time in a French Cafe for a glass of wine and go back to our hotel. We watch some TV. Then we head out to the train station where we familiarize ourselves with our route in the morning. We go into a gastropub for dinner where a local motorcycle club mostly fills the room!

Back in the hotel, we finalize our luggage for the morning and turn in. See you tomorrow!

Northern Lights Tour Day 16

Day 16, Feb 13, 2025, Oslo, Norway

We sleep in to 8:00 AM today. Down at the breakfast buffet, something is missing. Where are the Black Currants to put in my Yogurt? They must be here someplace. But, alas, they are nowhere to be found! Oh well, there’s some dried fruits to toss in so I settle for that. The coffee machine is one of the best though. Only a couple days left to get good European coffee so I enjoy 2 cups!

We board the bus at 10:00 AM. Mikael sits to the back of the bus as we have a local Tour Guide today. The local Guide speaks very good English and has a great sense of humor. She guides us around the city and describes everything we see.

She takes us to a park, Frognerparken Vigelandsparken, where a famous artist, Gustav Vigeland, carved thousands of sculptures, mostly of naked subjects. We are told that he never explained his subjects as he was telling a more esoteric story. He was basically unknown to the outside world because he refused to allow his sculptures to be outside of this specific park.

Then she takes us up a hill to a ski jump. It’s very impressive. Too bad we didn’t have enough time to ride the simulator at the top.

She shows us a beautiful building which started as an apartment building. What a grand place to live! But, like governments will, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took over the apartment building as their offices. Beautiful building.

We visit the Natural History Museum and see some interesting Viking memorabilia. Viking history is very violent yet interesting.

Then we stroll through the city leisurely and stop at Olivia’s Bar and have lunch. Comical trolls greet our cameras on the sidewalks. The waitress in Olivias Bar, Rikke, is amicable. It turns out that she was in the Norwegian Marines and worked with dogs. She was impressed with our story of dogsledding a week earlier.

We arrive at the Thon Hotel Opera around 4:00 PM and take a nap. On the way in, there is an interesting statue sitting on a bench and we just know he wants to chat! Inside, we find a naked lady hugging the Invisible Man! At 6:30 PM, we join our group for a farewell dinner and wish each other well. This is the end of the Tour for most. I’m sure we’ll stay in touch with some of the group. Hugs abound as we all bid farewell!

Then it’s off to our room for the evening. Finding English speaking TV is a challenge in the evenings. We settle on a Portugal/Romania soccer game where we don’t need sound. Romania seems to dominate the first half. But Portugal comes back to tie in the second half. It’s a 1-1 Match and it goes into Overtime. Alas, it’s almost Midnight and we can’t stay awake to see the end.

Off goes the TV and we go to sleep.

Northern Lights Tour Day 15

Day 15, Feb 12, 2025, To Oslo

Today we arise at 7:00 AM again and have breakfast. We organize our luggage for the airport as we will fly to Oslo this afternoon. The it is on the bus at 9:00 AM.

The drive today is very scenic with clouds, blue skies, mountains and fjords. Our cameras are happy once again! Mikael has Viktor make a few photo stops and a lunch stop. We see a couple of interesting logos on jackets at the lunch stop!

We arrive at the airport at 1:30. The plane is scheduled to leave at 3:40 and arrive Oslo at 5:30. The flight is uneventful. I get lucky and am the ‘Monkey-In-The-Middle’ between Elee and our new friend Di. It is a relatively short flight and I tolerate it well. It takes almost an hour to collect our luggage. After collecting the luggage, we drive to the hotel and get there about 7 PM.

We go looking for a simple dinner and can’t find it. I ask directions from a couple locals and they are very helpful. They suggest a restaurant, “BarCode Street Food Market”, only a couple blocks away. We find it and are impressed. There are a dozen or more different restaurants in an indoor venue, including a bar. We order from a noodle restaurant and get some wine at the bar. As we eat, a karaoke stage starts up and we are serenaded by very bad singing! But, hey, it’s entertainment, right?

We walk back to the hotel and turn in for the night. We actually find some show on TV to watch to fall asleep to.

I have been carrying a bottle of wine in my suitcase for several days now and pour a glass. All is good!

Northern Lights Tour Day 14

Day 14, Feb 11, 2025, Lofoten Islands

Today we board the bus without luggage as we will return here tonight. We are off to see more of the Lofoten Islands and possibly another WWII museum. It is raining lightly. We travel to “A” (yes, that’s the name!) at the end of the road after driving through another tunnel in the Lofoten Islands. We see bridges, islands and fish farms. The tunnel at the end opens to a parking lot. There is a Kafe here and rest rooms. We stop for pics and a comfort stop.

Then we drive back to Reine where we stop briefly for a photo stop at a large waterfall. Shortly after we stop for lunch at another Kafe. There is a marina here on the edge of this fjord. It is very picturesque and our cameras are happy! Fish and Chips and another local IPA and we’re good to go!

While we are stopped, a rock slide falls near the road we need to drive on. The road is closed. We are stuck. So everyone walks around the picturesque town with their cell phones, the only cameras that this group knows. Still a mystery to me that people travel around the world with only a cell phone camera. But we find some grass roofs!

The authorities send up drones to assess the damage. Apparently, the slide fell near the road but didn’t block it. Good News! One hour later the road opened. We drive away and shortly come to a surf beach where we stop for photos. Fun surf. There is a surf rental shop nearby. Not exactly a choice in the winter!

Viktor drives us back to the hotel. Some of the group goes to a (new to us) WWII Museum and then to a sauna. I opt to go back to the hotel, having learned enough at the last museum. Saunas are not my thing either. The rain obscures photo taking through the windows so we just watch the landscape in the rain.