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Posts tagged ‘munch’

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.