I reach Gudvangen and catch an early bus to Voss. This is the wildest part of the trip driving up 1 lane twisty roads on a bus with no shoulder on the road. We stop at a hotel along the way and enjoy the view from there. We arrive at Voss and catch the train to Bergen at 17:22. I arrive in Bergen at 16:30, there are 11 trains going each way between Bergen and Oslo on single track! One gentleman is very unhappy because after Myrdal he got on the train to Bergen instead of Oslo. I did some more shopping and then back to hotel.
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Friday, June 3, 1994: Stavanger
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Breakfast at 07:00 and catch Hydrofoil at 08:00 to Stavanger. It is foggy on the way but the ride is very smooth. It runs at about 36 knots or about 55 MPH. This boat has 243 seats and dual 2775 HP motors. We are only about 1/4 full. Coming into Stavanger 4 hours later I see much heavy construction. Stavanger is the Oil capital of Norway. I walk 1/4 mile to Hotel Havel and I am assigned room 303. I went out on the town a little later, the town is full of stores on windy cobble stone streets. I visited the Maritime museum which had many interesting display's including an old country store complete with NCR cash register. I went down by the harbor and then to Old Stavanger which is well preserved. I also went past market square and down to the commercial area of town.
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Saturday, June 4, 1994: Stavanger to Oslo
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It war rainy in the morning but I go over to Old Stavanger again and market sq. I go to the railroad station and the train leaves for Oslo at 12:06. As we go south there are many farms with stone fences, this is one of the few farming areas in the country as only 3% of the land is usable. People take there pet's with them when they travel, there is a little dog next to me as a matter of fact. I have seen pets on boats bus's and trains. We get near the ocean for a while and see several camp sites. The land is all granite. Our train has an engine, a baggage car, 2 first class cars, a combo playroom/coach car, 2 smoking cars and 2 non smoking coach cars. They have a cart that goes through once an hour selling drinks and sandwiches. The train takes about 8 hours to travel the 400 km to Oslo, I arrive at about 22:00. I walk to hotel and later walk around downtown where it is very lively and people are having a good time. There is a guy doing Paul Simon imitations until a wedding party of girls with the bride pounding a drum marches through.
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Sunday, June 5, 1994: Oslo
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I bought an Oslo card at the hotel which gives me free access to local transportation and museums. I take city bus to Vigeland Sculpture park where over 600 statues are on display all created by one man. After spending an hour there, I walked several blocks and took a bus to Bygd0y Island where several museums are located at. I first went the Folk Museum where many old buildings are preserved. This includes Farm houses, Warehouses, Stables, and a Stave Church. They also had an Soumi exhibit. I then walked down to the Viking Ship Museum Where I meet some fellow passengers that were on the Lofoton. It turns out they will also be on the Simorov to St. Petersburg. They had several old Viking ships on display that were used as funeral ships. I next walked down to the Polar Museum which houses the Arctic Exploring ship Flam. This ship built in the 1890 is in find shape and you can walk on board and also look at many displays, this is a excellent museum. I walked across the street to the Kon Tiki museum where they have the Kon Tiki and RA II on display. I then took the bus back downtown and visited the Arm Forces museum located in Akershus fortress. I went back to the hotel and then went to the Underground station to see if I could make it to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump while the observation deck was still open. Even though it is called the Underground it is above ground outside of downtown, it looks like a regular railroad track. They do not have a conductor, it is on the honor system, evidently the have inspectors and you will bet a huge fine if you do not have a ticket. I made it to the Ski jump to find that they are open 1 hour later then I thought. I took the elevator to the top and had a good view of Oslo. I then returned to the hotel.
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Monday, June 6, 1994: Oslo to Helsinki
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After breakfast I take the SAS bus to the airport. My plane leaves at 9 AM and arrives at Helsinki at 11:15 with 1 hour lost on time zone change. I could see the gulf of Finland during the flight. I take a Finnair bus downtown to the rail station where I store my luggage in a locker. I walked down to market sq. and over to marine terminal where I found out that the ship was delayed. I then took a excursion trip around the harbor that went around many of the islands and ships in the harbor. When we returned my cruise ship Simonov was in port. I walked back to the rail station about 1/2 mile got my bags and took a cab back to the terminal. At 16:00 I get in line and by 17:00 I am on board after going through passport check . They have a steward show me my cabin #2721. The ship was built in Poland about 1982. I have a 4 bunk cabin to myself. There is a meeting in English at 17:30 about our excursions in Club Madonna. The ship leaves at 17:30 also. Dinner is at 18:00 and I had to pay for water. I went down to the Duty free store and bought some water for the trip. Late I purchase 2 tours in St. Petersburg and watch a show our Russian crew is putting on in Club Palace. About 23:00 I go on deck and the sea is absolutely calm and the sun is setting and there are ships and islands, it is beautiful.
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Tuesday, June 7, 1994: St Petersberg Russia
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We arrive at 9 AM but it takes a long time to get through immigration. They look up everyone in a book. I took a cab downtown to the Battle Ship Aurora, it cost $7. I exchanged some dollars for rubles and I buy some military stuff. It is raining and it continues to rain all day long, I am told they only have 40 clear days a year. I went on board the Aurora evidently when the ticket man was not around. They several displays below deck with many old pictures. There were many new navy personnel on board, evidently new recruits including some women who would work only on shore. I next walked over to the Peter and Paul Fortress and I toured the Church and the Dungeons, they even shut off the lights for me in the Dungeon. In the Dungeon it was dirty and dark and they had plaques of prisoners who were torched in the cells. In the Cathedral are the casks where most of the czars are buried. I walked across the bridge and to the naval museum to find it closed. I crossed over to the mainland and continued down Nevsky Prospect. The car traffic was terrible, I am glad I am walking. I check out the stores along Nevsky Prospect. I stop at the Church of the Resurrection and take some pictures. They are working on restoring it, they are doing a lot of work trying to clean things up for the Goodwill games. The Russian museum was closed so I took a cab for $7 back to the ship at 17:30. I quickly ate lunch and was out to the folklore show at 18:15. The Folklore show was excellent they were very athletic and graceful. We arrive back at the ship at 22:00. When we come and go we go through immigration each time, it does not take long now.
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Wednesday, June 8, 1994: St Petersberg
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| At 09:15 we leave via bus for Pavlovsk Palace. On the way out of town we pass Monument 'Heroes to the Defense of Leningrad' next we make an unscheduled stop at 'Pushkin' officially known as Tsarskoe Selo or Czars Village. It is very beautiful, on our bus we had a French group who wanted to tour the garden, I went along. Next we continue to Pavlovsk Palace a few miles south. It much more reserved on the outside but still very beautiful on the inside, the whole palace has parka floors and most of the furniture and paintings are French. This palace was completely destroyed during W.W.II and rebuilt, many of the original furnishings we saved and restored. The ceiling were very unusual you could not tell where the molding stops and the painting begins, the ceilings give an illusion of height. Catherine the great would by entire collections from artists in French and have them brought in and displayed. We then had lunch in the park and then we continued on to Yusupov Palace located in the center of Ts Petersburg. The palace does not stand out from the outside but is very beautiful on the inside. It was owned by the richest family in Russia before the revolution of 1917. This palace has many fine rooms including a concert hall and a private theater, it very nice. The big deal about this palace was the murder of Grigory Rasputin which occurred in the basement. Evidently Rasputin a common man had became a cleric and had great influence on the czars that the Yusupov family wanted to stop so the poisoned him, this did not kill him so they shot him 5 times and he still did not die so they threw him into the river under the ice and he finally died of drowning. We also stopped by the church of the Resurrection again on the way back to the ship, We also go past a submarine that is docked in the center of the city, I believe it to be a Victor II type. Traffic was very bad and drivers were very unfriendly. The weather today was very nice with blue sky's all day. On all of our bus trips we have a guide, a driver, and a security guard. We get back to boat at 17:30 and I then visited the Commodore a hotel boat and I cash 2 travelers checks, I return to our ship and since I have nothing planned it should be a peaceful evening. Suddenly two tickets to the circus become available and I buy one of them at 18:00. I have to eat dinner and then go to the bus at 18:15. When we get there we find it only about 1/3 full. Evidently now only foreigners and rich Russians can afford to go to the circus, when I went to buy an ice cream bar only foreign brands were there, I had an bounty. The show was full of animal acts and was rather short, It was very similar to the Moscow Circus I saw last year and there were 2 acts I recognized from that circus. The gentleman next to me was a chiropractor and he liked the lady contortionist. |
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