Home from Scandinavia

It's time to reflect a bit on our July in Scandinavia.  It's too early to talk in superlatives except I thought I'd be able to say it was our most expensive trip ever.  We don't really keep records, but the total for this trip seemed about the same as for other similar length European trips.  Happy surprise!!  About half of our tour was on our own and half with an organized tour.  The organized portion was low stress, we covered a lot of ground, and we enjoyed our American traveling companions.   However the independent portion was more rewarding. There is a sense of accomplishment finding your own things to do and see, you can linger at attractions that are of special interest, and more importantly the opportunities to interact with the "real people" are much greater.  The Finns, Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians were all super friendly and helpful.  They were a joy to talk with, share a glass of wine with, and sweat in a sauna with.  Being passionate about sailing and skiing, I could get used to spending a lot more time in the land of the Vikings!

There were a few challenges:  The weather was unusually hot and air conditioning scarce.  Fortunately we always had good shower facilities.  Carol encountered a pick pocket in the Copenhagen main train station who didn't get much for the risk he took.  It was still a very unpleasant experience for her.  Lastly near the end of our trip she fell on some steps,  had to go to an emergency clinic, and left with 12 stitches.  She is feeling much better now and has the stitches removed tomorrow.

Several Highlights from our trip stand out:

Trip up the Troll Fiord on the Hurtigruten Ferry

Norway in a Nut Shell Tour

Slottets Bed & Breakfast in Roskilde DK our hosts Fin and Helge

The "Free Walking Tour" in Copenhagen conducted by the incredible Simon.  The most amazing thing about this tour were the number of Danes walking right along with us and learning a few new things about their city.

You are welcome to view a large collection of photos from our trip on Picasa Web albums.  Unfortunately Picasa keeps scrambling my photos, so the order may be a little confusing. Click on the link below:

Scandinavian Trip Photos

Copenhagen

Copenhagen started terrible but ended pretty good.

Carols backpack was picked in the train station this morning.   The thief got an empty travel wallet and an old kindle.  We deactivated the Kindle so he got nothing,  but being robbed is a terrible experience. 

It is still miserably hot and Copenhagen belongs to maniac cyclists.   One highlight was seeing a particularly obnoxious bike rider pulled over by the police.   A group of us pedestrians cheered!

The day turned remarkably better with dinner.   We decoded the excellent bus system and made our way to a Rick Steves pick featuring traditional Danish Cusine.  We had dinner outside by the water with a nice cool breeze.

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Oslo

We are in Oslo waiting for a cab to take us to the ferry terminal.   Overnight ferry to Copenhagen.   I'm taking advantage of the blazing fast Internet at the City Box to upload some pictures.

We have had a great time visiting Sweden,  Finland,  and Norway.   Findland and Norway was with a Grand Circle tour, and now we are back on our own.  The tour included The Hurtigruten ferry down the coast of Norway and the Nutshell tour from Bergen to Oslo.

Follow this link for an unorganized collection of our photos.

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Scandinavian Adventure

Here's a test of blogging with an Android tablet

This is the route we will be taking on our trip to Scandinavia in July.  We've just acquired an Android Tablet which will accept a micro-sd card from our camera.  So we should be able to update this blog as we travel next month.