On to Kristiansand (2nd Norway stop)

I don't want to leave you with the impression that our time in Oslo was disappointing. It was far from that - I just wanted to see a lot more. That only means that maybe some day we'll go back and just explore a little longer! We had great fun - especially running through the rain and getting soaked!

We got to see a lot of lovely things in Oslo - and I expected Kristiansand to be similar.  But of course - it was not!

Kristiansand is a top vacation and hiking spot for Norwegians. It has a gigantic zoo and amusement park (Scandinavians love amusement parks I think!).

It has an old town, and a new downtown, shops and quaint village appeal, quite a few outdoor mall-type museums, coastal walk, hiking trails, flower gardens, nature parks, and festivals.

Reading about this town makes it sound very appealing but in fact, it was a quiet sort of place that we just walked around and enjoyed.

I sort of wanted to go to the zoo - we decided to just do a walking tour and hoped that we might find it, although the map made it look quite far.

When we got off the ship we walked along the village coastal walk, which went all around the outer borders of the village.

We wandered out by the Canon Museum but didn't go in. It was a strange sort of museum, built by the Germans in 1941-1944 during World War II.

Canons look over the water as a way to lure you inside (so it seemed) but we wanted to keep walking.

We saw some unusual shops, one of which sold all the large and lovely equipment for making your own home brew!

We eventually ventured in to the center of town to view the famous Cathedral. 

The Cathedral was fascinating but we didn't get to go inside to look around, there was something going on, so we just wandered around it. 

This Cathedral is built in a cruciform pattern, meaning it is in the shape of a cross. 

This buidling is the third rendition of this Cathedral since 1645 when it was first consecrated. The first two burned down, the third was completed in 1880, and is made of concrete and brick. During World War II the German army dropped an artillery shell that damaged the upper portion of the tower, which has since been repaired. This building seats 1300 people, one of the largest churches in Norway. 

We walked all around this area, the city streets were charming. You can see the Cathedral from almost everyplace.  

When we finally felt we had seen enough  village streets we decided to walk out of town to see a botanic garden.  We had also hoped to find the zoo, and a cultural museum. We did find the museum but nothing was in English - this is a Norwegian tourist spot, not really intended for international guests, though they were very nice to us.

The botanic garden was small but nice but we never made it to the zoo. 

We had been instructed to be back to the ship early so didn't have as much time in this town.  We decided to head back since it was about a 5 mile walk. 

We arrived back in the harbor area earlier than we needed to be, so stopped at the local Shores area. This was so cute, people were just sitting around, watching the swans and other people, eating, drinking beer, just enjoying the sunshine. 

Also, many folks from our ship (which you can see in the distant background) were sitting at the coffee shop using the free wifi).

What was fascinating about this area was the transportation!  All sorts of people were driving in to town in their boat. There was two-way traffic, and so many people seemed to know one another. 

They would wave and yell as they passed, and then park down the waterway a bit and get out and shop! What an interesting way of life - not surprising though, as this part of the world is very often frozen 2/3 of the year! 

One thing we kept seeing here in Norway, as well as in Denmark, was the amount of construction, and of course, Steve often had to stop and watch them a bit. Especially when he would see the tower cranes - they were everywhere! (see the picture above for that!)

to Lumier's

I sort of wish we had another day in Oslo. The day started off completely wet - and I had really wanted to see the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo - it's a large park of over 200 sculptures of bronze, granite, and wrought iron, all made by one artist.

Our bus arrived at the park just as the rains began falling very heavily. We had gotten soaked earlier before getting on the bus, and just didn't really want to get back out in the rain again - it was a bit on the chilly side and I had forgotten our rain coats that day.

Instead of the sculpture park we opted for the Viking Museum, and then the Kon-Tiki Museum, which were both very good, and which I had also wanted to see, but I still regret missing the Sculpture Park. We finished our tour of Oslo on the lovely Oslo Hop On/Hop Off bus.

We went back to the ship a little early and had to shower and clean up - tonight we would eat at Lumier's - the restaurant that is all about Beauty and the Beast. 

We were welcomed to Lumier's by a violinist, playing the music from the Beauty and the Beast film.

Looking to the right of the entrance, there is a winding staircase going up to the next level on the ship. This statue of Steamboat Willie stands just in front of it. 

The dining room of Lumier's is lovely. It's an elegant French-themed restaurant, and and cut-out of Belle and Beast great us, dancing, as we enter.

Photo of us taken by the ship photographer

Oslo's Kon Tiki

One of the museums I wanted to visit was the Kon Tiki Museum.  I had remembered reading a book about Kon Tiki when I was in the 6th or 7th grade and I thought it was fascinating. I had some of my details mixed up about it, but that's not surprising, I used to read everything in the school library and sometimes more than one book at a time.  The book I read then, I remember being sort of old looking - and I guess it was, because when I looked it up just recently I see that it was first published in 1948! and it was a best seller - having sold out the first printing in only 15 days.

Kon Tiki is the story of Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian anthropologist who had the idea that South American people could have originally settled Polynesia. He came up with this idea after observing the similarities of Polynesian plants to those in South America, as well as local customs and stories. He was convinced that it was possible to build a rudimentary raft and sail across the ocean using only the trade winds and the tides, and he set out to prove it. He got a few private investors and donations of materials from the US Army, hired five people to join him on the voyage, and he "set sail" on this rudimentary vessel, which he built completely from balsa wood and other rough materials.

The raft was named Kon-Tiki after the Incan sun god. The voyage was a success - and took them 101 days to complete.

It's a great story - and seeing the museum was better than it sounded.  There is a 1950's documentary of the voyage that won an Oscar in 1951.

The recreation of the vessel now

in the museum

original photo of the raft, after setting sail 

Map of the voyage and picturing the trade winds

The Viking Museum

Oslo is a city of museums. More than 50 in this tiny city, and many of them are quite small. I had read about a few that sounded really fun, so we found those on the map and figured out where to get off our bus. The HoHo bus stops at all the best sights.

Our first stop was the Viking Museum. What a place! it was very tiny, but has some of the oldest  artifacts, from the Viking era. All the ships in this museum were uncovered in various burial mounds in Norway. Three Viking ships and their artifacts are the only things found in this museum, which is partly owned by Oslo University.  It was a small enough museum that you could read the signs but not feel like you were going to miss anything.

The best preserved ship is called the Oseberg ship, and dates to around 800 AD. It was found in a burial mound in Oseberg, Norway in 1904! The ship is made almost entirely of oak, and has 15 oar holes on each side, which means that it took 30 rowers to drive this ship. The carvings in the wood close up are amazing!

Look at the carvings and detail!

There were three women buried in this burial mound, one woman who was in her eighties. It is unclear who the women were. They had been placed carefully in the ship, in a tent in the center of the ship, as a final resting place. Other bones on the ship show that the following were also buried with the women; 13 horses, 4 dogs, and 2 oxen.  

Photo from 1904 of the excavation

Five posts with five different animal heads carved in to each were found among the artifacts. They are made from maple and all about the same size. It is unclear what they were used for, but each post has a slot at the lower end of the post, indicating they could be mounted on something. They are each encased in their own glass display box. I only took photos of two of them.

Although grave robbers had already found the grave and removed some items, many artifacts remained and were discovered in the 1904 dig. Among these items were four sleighs, ornately carved and decorated (complete with wooden wheels); three beds, and quite a few large chests. 

There were a lot of cases that held small hand tools, and textiles such as clothing and shoes. It really was fascinating, this is the best preserved artifacts of the viking era anyplace in the world! We loved this place, and once we had seen all three ships and their contents, read a few signs, and visited the WC, we headed back out to the bus stop and figure out our next fun stop. 

First Port of call - Oslo

We had no plans for excursions - we had decided to see the city of Oslo on our own. The ship had docked right next to Akerhaus fortress.

The first thing we wanted to do was to find where to buy the Oslo card. This fort was built to protect the city in 1290. Since then it has been many things, including a prison around the 18th century, and today, an open-air museum.

We immediately saw our beloved HoHo bus and got our tickets. We hoped to get an Oslo card (like we had in Copenhagen) but that was not meant to be. We were never able to find the Welcome office, so we just rode the bus and listened about the city.

Oslo Opera and Ballet House

It's so old yet so modern. The Opera house is a special sight to see, as we rode past it the narrator told of its architecture and history. You can walk on the roof all the way up. It is the home of the Oslo opera and ballet.

The city streets are busy. We drove past many areas of outdoor eateries. We also passed the Royal Palace.

the Royal Palace

street leading up to the Royal Palace

 

Visiting Oslo

Early in the morning Steve jumped up and just had to go outside and see where we were. I stayed asleep.

Steve came rushing back to tell me how gorgeous the fjords are.  He had gotten up early enough to watch the ship going through the fjords and wanted me to see it. I got up and went out with him, but by the time I got outside, the ship had passed the most spectacular views. It was still gorgeous but the cliffs were not so close to the ship as they had been, as we were coming closer to the Oslo port.

There are 70 miles of fjords to pass through once a ship leaves the North Sea. If you look at this map, you can see where Copenhagen is, and how far we traveled.

Oslo's location at the end of the steep fjords makes it very guarded.  On the globe, Oslo is at 59.91 degrees latitude. Even in July, that latitude means it's just a little chilly outside, even though the sun is up a long time.

Since I slept through narrowest entry of the fjords, I had to get photos of them elsewhere,  so I "borrowed" these from the Disney cruise blog. Steve's early-bird qualities paid off this day, he got to see this incredible view with his own eyes, from the deck of the ship.

Oslo is the oldest of all the Scandinavian capitals, having been founded in 1049. It was founded in the 11th century.  It's location is deep inside a 70 mile fjord, making it one of the safest of all the medieval capitals.

Today Oslo is the capital of Norway, and the country's largest city, with 580,000 inhabitants.

By the time I got outside, I could see the beautiful green lands of small islands, tiny houses on some of the islands with small boats, and the wake of the ship. I also noticed how low the sky felt - it was lovely. And so green.

Norway is not a place you want to visit only once. It has a feel of magic to it,

The port of Oslo is surrounded by mountains. We were looking forward to a wonderful day exploring it.

Over night -cruising to Oslo

When everyone was boarded the ship left the docks. There was a party on board, which we missed because we were busing exploring. We would cruise all night from Copenhagen to Oslo, and by morning we'd be there, ready to see Norway.

Tonight was our first experience in the restaurants.

This was the first time  meeting our new table-mates. We would eat with the same people for the entire 12 days unless of course, we at someplace else. But once we met the three couples we all agreed that someone had some inside knowledge on us!! We had far too much in common!  Gary, one of the guys at the table, said they must have used an algorithm; we were all relatively the same age, married a long time, had kids, celebrating something, and our interests were more than well matched.

Our Keys to the World held our our information. Our ID and passport information was on them, it was the room key that opened our door, we used them if we wanted to purchase photos. And our transfer information for the end of the cruise was on them, too.

The dates of our cruise as well as our dinner rotations, were all on the card. The CLA you see on the card indicate the order we would eat in which restaurants. First night was Carioca's (C), the next night, Lumiere's (L), and the last night Animator's Pallett (A). The hardest part was figuring out where we had eaten the night before!! We would do that rotation four times by the end of our cruise!

Our first night we ate at Carioca's, a restaurant with a Mexican theme. Tonight was about just getting to know how it all worked. Our two servers traveled with us each night, and served us, one responsible for meals and the other for drinks. After the first couple of nights, they didn't even have to ask what we wanted to start with.  

Disney is fantastic for people who have food issues. For me, our server gave me a menu each night for the following night, so I could order my meal. They knew I had serious allergies, and didn't want me to use my Epi-pen. And i would have!  Carioca's had a ton of coriander and cilantro!!  

The theme was nice, but the atmosphere and company were wonderful. Several courses of great food each evening, to our specifications. Now THIS is a vacation!

I had forgotten to take pictures so these came from the Disney travel blog, of Carioca's.

The ship! the ship!

Drop-off at our ship was uneventful. The Uber driver just followed the other taxis and let us off at baggage drop-off. 

We already had our Disney bag tags, so left our bags at the front of the ship, and walked down the entry. So simple, so Disney. 

Mickey and Minnie greeted us at the doors, but I forgot to get pictures. This is one provided by Disney.

Inside was highly organized chaos. It was easy to figure out where to go, and the guides were helpful and friendly.  I love Disney for that.

We found our designated line and received our boarding documents after passports were collected. Disney managed all of our port arrivals making debarkation at each port very simple.

When our rooms were ready they let us in by groups. Our bags were delivered later. Our room was larger than I expected, and was actually quite comfortable for the 12 days we lived there. We elected to have no window - I was worried about Steve getting sea sick. That ended up being a good choice.

Once on board we explored every floor of the ship - 9 in all except for 10 that was for Crew only. We even visited the gym and spa, and found the escape plan ahead of our required safety meeting. There was also a deck for running laps - too bad I wasn't motivated during our vacation.

We missed the initial "Bon Voyage" party, and just enjoyed the ship and the view. Getting on board took us literally all day. 

Leaving Copenhagen for Magic

We had seen a lot of lovely things in our three days in Denmark (and Sweden) - many sights I didn't even talk about. For example, we got to see the original Little Mermaid statue, both from the water and from land behind her. 

Someone had told me - and I had also read, that the statue was a let-down, very anti-climatic. But I did not feel that way. She's lovely, and the stories about her over the last 100 years are quite entertaining. 

The Little Mermaid is about the size of a real woman. She actually got to visit China at the World Expo back in 2009 - Denmark shipped the statue to China to represent Denmark, and Michelle got to see her up close while they were both there!  

The Little Mermaid represents so many things. She was placed in the harbor after a fan had seen the ballet by Hans Christian Anderson at the Royal Theatre.  Carl Jacobsen, the Danish brewer who owned Carlsberg brewery, wanted to put up a monument to the memorable mermaid, immortalizing her, and in many ways, her author. The mermaid image differs from the story slightly, in that the mermaid in the original story was a one-finned mermaid, while this bronze statue in her honor is dual-finned. 

The statue has been on display since 1913. She was bombed once during the second world war but after her restoration, sat quietly observing the canal until the 1960's. On April 24, 1964, the statue's head was sawn off by vandals, and was never recovered. In 1984 her arm was hacked off, and in 1990 another attempt was made to remove her head, leaving it with an 18" cut, but this time not completed. Several other instances of vandalism have damaged the statue since the 1960's, each time she was fully restored.  Today she is the object of many political statements. She is often "dressed" in clothing items, hats, holding flags or signs, depicting candidates or issues. 

There are 13 undamaged copies of this mermaid made by the original artist, all over the world, including one in Solvang, California and another in Kimballton, Iowa!! I'm pretty sure Iowa was never close enough to the sea for a mermaid. Yet they managed to obtain a mermaid.

We loved our canal rides, our meals, the colorful buildings and the clean water and air. We are happy that we decided to see a tiny bit of Scandinavia, and I think we would like to go back - it was one of the pleasantest cities we've ever visited. 

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We left our hotel thinking about everything we'd already seen and done.  As far as we were concerned, we could go home, we'd already had a wonderful trip - yet it hadn't even started. 

Next we will board Disney Magic... and start an entirely new and memorable adventure.

Swedish day trip (day 2) comes to an end

The main square in Malmo is a large open spot that in the afternoon, vendors come together and set up tents, to sell trinkets, fish, fruit, and other things people must buy. This is where all the streets seem to connect.

 There aren't really public toilets anyplace in Malmo, and shops won't let you use theirs, nor will the city's welcome center! Of course, when you can't find a toilet, that's when you need one.  Finally near the park, we saw a Public Toilet sign with a price next to it. I paid $3.50 to use (a very clean) public toilet that required ID!!  They were completely individual but tiny rooms, that were cleaned them after each use.

There isn't much to do in this town really, it's a town of shops and restaurants, but they do have a canal ride, like the one in Copenhagen. It was nice to see the outlying areas of this city and hear a little narrative of the areas. Sweden is lovely, though not as friendly as the city of Copenhagen is. Still, it's rather modern. 

After spending the day wandering around, doing very little, we decided we should eat before we went back to Copenhagen. We had seen a little Irish Pub called Paddy's. It was probably the nicest part of the day. The seating area opened out into the alley, and it was nice.  The weather was lovely, the food was good.

We had done so many things the day before that this day seemed a bit of a let-down. There just isn't as much to do as compared to Copenhagen. Since I don't really care much for shopping, we headed back toward the train station.  

We fell asleep on the ride back - 20 minutes goes fast when you snooze, but we made it. Tomorrow we would head off to our ship.