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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.

We eat dinner in the closest restaurant tonight to avoid the rain and have duck and halibut.

We visit with new travel friends and turn in for the night.

Northern Lights Tour Day 13

Day 13, Feb 10, 2025, To Svolvaer, Norway

Another morning arising at 7:00 AM. Go to the breakfast buffet and fill up. We load our luggage and board the bus at 9:00 AM. The weather is dreary this morning and we drive around a fjord. Even in the dreary weather, the mountain scenery is spectacular. Shooting through rain soaked windows is difficult but our cameras insist! We pass through small enclaves of picturesque towns. There are a lot of one way bridges which forces us to stop a lot.

We stop at a Kafe for lunch and rest break. The scenery around the Kafe is interesting and I take a walk. My camera thanks me! I even see what appears to be a tipped over outhouse? What’s up with that? There is an electric charging station in front of the Kafe. We are told that over half of all the cars purchased are now electric!

We experience light rain all day but our parkas and hoods protect us. There are fish drying racks everywhere. This area is famous for “Lutefisk”, mostly Cod that is dried and stored. Then it is reconstituted and put into soups and stews.

Today we are traveling to Svolvaer by way of Evenes. We come across Henningsvaer, a part of Evenes. Evenes is a fishing village with a soccer stadium. We hike up a very picturesque trail overlooking the stadium. We find unique angles of a small lighthouse behind a hill from the stadium.

It is unlikely to have a chance of seeing Northern Lights tonight due to the weather. We walk around the town of Moloen on the way back to the bus and have a brief stop for a drink. I find another IPA and all is well!

We are in another Scandic Hotel tonight, apparently a favorite hotel chain of the Tour we are on. The rooms are a bit cramped as a rule but they are comfortable. Add to that the breakfast buffets and there you have a popular package.

We all meet at a pub a few blocks away for drinks and jokes. We have effectively taken over this pub as we are 25 people and the pub holds about 30. There are a few patrons in the pub but all but one leaves. The one left is a genial man who sits and observes us. Upon buying drinks for Elee and I, I also buy the man a drink from our group and everyone cheers! People take turns telling bad jokes and we all laugh.

Then we go our separate ways for dinner. We meet up with new friends John and Di and go to a fish restaurant, ‘Bacalao’. Here we order their signature dish, “Bacalao”, which is a stew featuring dried, salted Cod that has been reconstituted. This is similar to a famous Norwegian fish, called “Lutefisk”. If you look it up, it sounds unappealing but we found it amazingly good!

It has been a tiring day, so we turn in. Elee is nursing a sore ankle after taking a light fall in the crowded pub.

Northern Lights Tour Day 12

Day 12, Feb 09, 2025, Travel to Narvik, Norway

We get up at 7:00 AM and go down to breakfast. The typical breakfast buffet is, once again, very good! Then we go back to the room and pack up our bags. We head for the bus at 9:30. Today we make the drive to Narvik. It will be a three and one half hour drive. We stop at Go2s for pizza and beer. We underestimate the size of the pizzas and can only finish half of it between the two of us! They have a local IPA and I indulge. After all, it’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere! We end up taking half the pizza with us back on the bus!

The scenery is breathtaking! Watching the river ice is intriguing, sometimes frozen, sometimes not. Driving along fjords gives a scenic view that is mesmerizing. Viktor drives down one side of a fjord and then back along the other. We have lost count of the tunnels we go through.

Norway has over 1000 road tunnels, the longest is twenty four kilometers long! Very few tunnels have any guardrails and the walls are rough hewn rock! I can’t imagine the mess if you left your lane and came in contact with the side! We are told that some tunnels even cross and have roundabouts in them, but we haven’t encountered one of those. We do see a couple random emergency lay-bys for safety.

I mistakenly thought the architecture in Norway would be unique. We do see some grass roofs but photographing them is near impossible from the moving bus. I will keep trying. Most buildings are wood frame houses and barns throughout the countryside. Buildings in the cities are typical, with the occasional uniquely designed library or museum.

Narvik is an interesting city. We visit the Red Cross War Museum next to our hotel for the night. Having never been interested in history as a child (not classes I excelled in), I find it more interesting as an adult. I feel educated about Norway’s involvement in WWII. It seems that Norway was rich in iron ore and steel and was much sought after by Germany. Not to mention the protection all the fjords gave to the military ships!

After spending hours in the museum, we check in to our room and then take a walk around town. The weather is wet and snowy. But it’s not so severe that it stops us from our hike. There is a bar on the top (16th) floor of our hotel that opens at 6:00 PM. So guess where we find ourselves at 6? We find most of our tour group there and we queue up for drinks and tapas.