Or Planes, Trains, and Automobiles along with Boats, Busses, Cable Cars Monorails, and Submarines.
All told I traveled on 8 Airplanes, 9 Boats, 11 Trains, 15 Busses, 5 Taxies 2 Cable Cars, 1 monorail. I traveled in 5 European Country's, Norway, Finland, Russia, Estonia, and The Netherlands.
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Wednesday, May 25, 1994: Minneapolis to Amsterdam
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I left for the airport at 12:15 after 1/2 work and lunch. I board an Airbus 320 for Chicago. It leaves at 13:45 and arrives in Chicago at 15:00. KLM is there to lead us through the Maze of Ohare airport. We end up taking a monorail to the International Terminal. I board the KLM flight at 15:50 and we leave at 16:30 on a 747-300, We are full. We fly over Lake Michigan, over Detroit and we follow the St. Lawrence Seaway. Our location, speed, temperature was displayed over overhead TV screens. We flew across the Atlantic at 35,000 feet at 700 MPH. The seats were not very comfortable. We got to watch a news program and a movie 'Sisters like us'.
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Thursday, May 26, 1994: Amsterdam to Kirkenes Norway
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We arrive in Amsterdam at 7:00. At 9:00 I board a KLM 737-300 for Oslo. We arrive in Oslo at 11:00 and we exit via roll up stairs, I go through Immigration and then take a SAS bus downtown. I walk down Karl Johans Gate and check out the street vendors and where my hotel is for later in the trip. I went to the Alker Fortress and the Resistance Museum. Took SAS bus back to airport at 13:45 and boarded an SAS MD80 at 15:00 for Kirkenes via Troms0. We arrive in Troms0 at 15:00. Troms0 has much snow on mountains and the trees have no leaves yet. We leave for Kirkenes and arrive at 18:30. Many frozen lakes and trees with no leaves. Took SAS bus into town about 7 miles, very rocky Arrive at Rica hotel at 19:00. I went for a walk downtown. I noticed green grass. I returned to hotel and got some sleep.
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Friday, May 27, 1994: Hurtigruten
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Wake up at 7:30 . It has snowed overnight a little. Had breakfast and ordered a cab to the Coastal Steamer, it is 1/2 hour late. Mean while I listen to a Russian Radio station at 170 kz long wave. Got on boat at 11:00 and had to wait for cabin. I registered for my table setting, I had the second sitting. Breakfast at 9:15, Lunch at 13:45 and Dinner at 19:45, This schedule changes quite a bit depending on tours and other reasons. I meet Paul and Judith for lunch (English and Australian) we had Cod Tongue, Lutefisk, and Octopus. We meet our tour guide and I am assigned Cabin 227 on the second deck. I have a window in my cabin, and next to a stairways to the 3rd deck and I am under the dinning room. I have a bed, a closet, sink, and a porthole. I toured the ship, There are 2 observation decks forward one smoking and one non smoking both enclosed. There are 2 observation decks to the rear both open. Many people left the ship at Kirkenes and only a few joined. We stop at Vads0 for 40 Min. and then continue to Vard0 where we have time for a walking tour to the fortress. It was built to deter the Russians. It is the coldest place on mainland Norway with a average July temperature of 48% . Snow squalls pass by at times. Back on board we have dinner which includes Reindeer. At 21:45 we have a tour meeting explaining our stops and tours, he also explains why Norway must continue to hunt whales. We stop briefly at Batsfjord.
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Saturday, May 28,1994: Hurtigruten
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We see the Midnight Sun at 00:04 and a North bound Steamer at 00:12 I went to bed. We round the most northern part of Norway at night and pass close to North Cape. At 9:45 we had breakfast and then we took a short walk in Hav0ysund, not much here. At 12:00 we arrive in Hammerfest population 9,000. It was totally destroyed during the War. We walk to church and then to Polar Bear Society and visited the museum. I then went shopping, we leave at 13:15. We had a great lunch with meatballs. We stop later at Ousfjord where we pickup a Wedding party of girls someone is getting Married) they had signs on there necks (one last party before getting Married). At 23:45 we arrive in Troms0.
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Sunday, May 29,1994: Hurtigruten
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We had an excursion via Cable car overlooking Troms0. It is quite a view up here. We see the Midnight Sun again. The Sun is getting lower as we go south. The Wedding party gets off and goes into town, quite a lot of night life here, this is a University town. About 30,000 population. We leave at 01:30. While we were by the North Cape we managed to pick up a group of French people. So announcements are now in Norsk, English, German, and French. at 8:00 we stop in Harstad and pass another Steamer north bound, we will pass all other 10 Steamers on our way south. We stop at Ris0yhamn and Sortland in the morning and we then had lunch which include Salmon and Reindeer. We then stopped at Stokmarknes were we visited the Hurtigruten Museum. We then detour into Troll Fjord and we manage to squeeze by a small sailing ship. We had a local Lofoton band on board and they played many songs
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Monday, May 30, 1994: Hurtigruten
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We stop at Bodo, Ornes, and Nesna during the night. We also pass the Arctic Circle and they have a Globe Marker on an island to mark the spot. In the morning we stop at Sandnessj0eno and I went shopping, everything is very expensive. I bought a fishing bag there. After we leave port we reach the 7 Sisters, it is rainy and cloudy. after lunch we stop at Br0nn0ysund for a few min. and visit a Fishing and Farming Museum complete with an NCR cash register. next we pass Torghatten (Hole in the Mountain) it is still cloudy but we can see the hole. Later we had a tour of the bridge and got to see how automated it was with Radar and Computerized Maps. The ship has 4 Watch officers and 2 Engine officers. They spend 12 hours on and 12 hours off and they do 2 trips in a row and have 2 trips off. The crew is 28 off season and 36 in the Summer. The seas become heavy and the night is unpleasant.
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Tuesday, May 31, 1994: Hurtigruten
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The seas calm after 01:30 and we continue to head for Trondheim. We arrive about 08:00 and I went on city tour which included going to high point and overlooking the town. We next visited the Nidarosdomen Cathedral which was very old and very dark. After we leave Trondheim we are again in open seas and it is rough again. Later we reach Kristiansund and because of extra cargo we will stay a little longer. They organized a walking tour to a modern church and an old ship yard and ship museum. We leave Apr. 1.5 hours behind schedule. I then have lunch. Our guide asks if anyone has a train connection in Bergen to Oslo because we will miss the connection. We are in heavy seas and dinner will be delayed due to bad weather. I missed dinner, It would have been hard to hold anything down anyway.
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Wednesday, June 1 1994: Arrive Bergen
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The seas calm for a while and pickup again as we leave the shelter of small islands. During the night many people got sick. We are told to be out of our cabin by 11 AM. We arrive in Bergen at 15:30 instead of 14:00 as scheduled. I take a taxibus to Hotel Strand the driver does not drive slow with his articulated bus. My room as a view of the inside courtyard / loading dock and garbage dump. Since we got in late I can not go to any museums. I get cash from a cash machine and head for the Gallera shopping mall. The mall looks like a US mall and is full of Fashion stores and cowboy stores, It is hard to buy Norwegian here the stores are full of goods with US brands made in China. I then bought a ticket up the Fl0ibanen overlooking Bergen, the train broke down and they used the Cellular Telephone to have the ticket agent reset the breaker. I also went shopping along the Hanseatic Quay and bought some things. I also bought tickets for the Hydrofoil to Stavanger and the Norway in a Nutshell tour via Myrdal-Flam cog railroad.
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Thursday, June 2 1994: Norway in a Nut Shell
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| At 07:00 I had breakfast and then cashed some travelers checks at 08:15 when the bank opened. I then went to the Rail Station and boarded the Bergen Myrdal train. On our journey eastward we go along fjords and then rivers, there are Salmon fish farms in the fjords. There are many waterfalls and it is pretty scenic. We gain altitude and are moving right along and on schedule when we suddenly stop, it seems we have sheep under the train. After we stop we has a lamb under our car. After we get this cleared and no sheep got hurt we continued on. We go through many tunnels with one of them over 5 miles long. We reach Myrdal and switch trains to the cog railroad. It is on a steep grade and we are on the brakes the whole way down. Our train is electric and we go through several tunnels on the way down including one we do a figure 8 in. We reach Fram and have lunch and then boarded a boat for Gudvangen. The trip through the Sognefjord was incredible with waterfalls coming down the vertical walls on all sides. We can see dozens of waterfalls at a time. |
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