Norway is Wonderful

Well, much to my surprise, I am thoroughly enchanted by Norway. Oslo was a wonderful city, full of life and art. The city is very clean, and has a new scupture every three or four feet it seems. We did the 'Hop on, Hop off' tour which allowed me to cruise through the whole city and get an overview. Of course we were rushed, this is the whirlwind tour, but I had time to visit the Folk Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum (Old Thor H was one of my heros when I was a younger gal...I loved the back to nature, living in the wilderness naked with a pointy stick and a fishing line idea...) and the wonderful wonderful sculpture park in Frogner-Park. As the tour guide said, if you haven't been to Frogner-Park, you haven't been to Oslo. The park is immense, with hundreds of life size sculptures in it. It is the lifework of Gustav Vigeland, Norway's most famous sculptor. The works are in bronze, granite and iron and are excellent. There is a beautiful fountain surrounded by rose gardens, and a VERY phallic monolith composed of 121 figures all carved from a single piece of stone...I believe it to be granite. I could have spent at least a full day there, maybe more. If I was to re-do the trip, I most certainly would have booked at least one more full day in Oslo.
(There you go, Jami, a paragraph.XXOO)
But, we were off to the next adventure, we went by train to Myrdal, and then by cog railway to Flåm. It is a most beautiful trip, with high mountains and crashing waterfalls all along the way. Getting on and off trains is a bit of a challenge, as my traveling companions are carrying their full load of luggage (thank you Annica for letting me stash my 'stuff' till I get back to Stockholm). But once on board, all goes smoothly. At Flåm we boarded a ferry and cruised across a crystal clear fjord to Balestrand, a precious little town on the edge of the water. We stayed at a lovely hotel, Kvikne's, which has been there forever. I went up to the 'English' church, an Anglican outpost in the land of the Lutherans, for evening services. The tiny church is very beautiful, with 9 stained glass windows and a beautiful view. The pastor used the Mary-Martha text to talk about the importance of women in the world and in religion...nice choice, I must say. Then these three young people came by. Cristina, David and John (?) I think their names were. They have been traveling the world, 'singing for peace' for several years now. Nice gig, done on faith. They played and sang several very nice tunes, mostly using the Psalms as text, with a rewritten Ave Maria as a cap. It was very well done, and a nice surprise. I gave them a donation for their next cheese and bread stop...and they gave me a CD. I look forward to playing it when I get home.
Next morning, up to the end of the fjord by boat, to visit the glacier, then to a glacier museum with lots of info on global warming. The water is clear green, due to runoff from the glacier. During the winter, the green color goes away. The glacier has lost 73 meters this year, but the locals say it comes and goes historically, but is really going faster than usual recently. Back to Balestrand, then by boat to Bergen.
It is morning in Bergen now, and pouring rain. I'm resting up at the hotel, watching the people and the rain, but plan to go to a Grieg in Bergen Summer Festival concert tonight. Then, at break of day, we catch a train back to Oslo, then an overnight voyage to Copenhagen. The sprint goes on!!
Having a wonderful time.....will write more soon!

CanineGranny goes to Sweden

The trip to Sweden so far has been super. Thanks in large part to our hostess Annica, we've gone everywhere and done everything. The weather has been clear and mostly warm, with a bit of rain for a day or so. I feel badly for the smoke filled 110 degree heat sufferers in Sacramento. Really I do. The dog shows in Stockholm were super, we got to see 100s of papillons from all over the world. I toured around at the World show and had a chance to see the Obedience Championships, Freestyle (dancing with your dog) and lots of breeds I had not seen before. Much fun. Touring the old town Stockholm is amazing...clear Baltic sea water everywhere surrounding the islands on which the city is built, lots of stone buildings that date from centuries ago. Guess the Swedes were busy being a world power when Columbus discovered America! We went to the Vasa Museum, which houses a HUGE wooden ship, launched in 1628. Unfortunately, it sank like a stone out in the Bay on its maiden voyage...too topheavy and too many low lying open gunports. But, the good news is that after 333 years, it was raised by the Swedes and a multi-year archiolgical project restored it. It was amazing. A real picture into life in Sweden centuries ago. Next was Skansen, a very nice park where they have moved a hundred or so buildings from all over the country and recreated 'Old Stockholm'. They also have an animal park with Nordic animals, so I got to see bears, foxes, reindeer, seals, etc up close. Very nice. Then we were off on a road trip to Lake Siljan, sort of a Tahoe setting. It was created by a meteor long ago, and is very blue and beautiful. We toured the area, Darlana, and went to a concert in Darhalla. Darhalla is a concert hall that has been built at the bottom of a limestone quarry. There is a lake at the bottom, and they have a state of the art concert venue built which holds 5000 people. We saw Robert Wells, who is a concert pianist who went to the rock and roll world to make his fortune. Sort of a Philharmonic meets Manheim Steamroller effect. Very entertaining, and the sellout crowd was INTO it. The best part was the comedian who (of course) spoke Swedish. Apparently, he was a laugh riot....it was fun watching his gestures, facial expressions and trying to guess what was going on. I know one bit was about his grabbing a hot cup of coffee at Waynes (sort of Starbucks) and being conflicted about screaming and dropping it or holding on to it so as to impress the young gals who were watching. Visited St. Olof's church. Amazing. Filled with medieval artifacts and painting, lovely arched ceilings. Of course, I couldn't help but think of Rose from Golden Girls and what all happened to her in St. Olofs... We drove out to visit some friends of Annica's who have a lovely papillon kennel. Sílenzio has been breeding for 35 years+ and has some beautiful dogs. She was very gracious and charming to us, and I had to try hard to keep repeating my 'no more dogs' mantra. Now we're getting set to head out to take the train to Norway, without Annica's guiding hand. Should be fun. A week in Norway, 2 days in Copenhagen, then I go alone to Finland, and return to Stockholm. I'll try to keep you posted as I go. (Sorry for no pictures...I can't figure out how to post them, but will when I get back to Sac in late July. Meanwhile, go look online!)

Ja, Iäm Inga from Sveden....

Hi there to all. I'm off on my Scandinavian vacation and loving life so far. This is a beautiful place, lots of trees and water, and very nice people, most of whom speak excellent English so take good care of monolinguals such as I. I'm visiting with my friend Annica, whom I met through our common dog interest, our papillons. So, the excuse for this visit is the Swedish National Papillon competition and the World Dog Show. We've been up to our hips in great looking dogs, the National was at the polo grounds, and the World at the Expo center. Over 20,000 dogs entered, so there is a lot to see. Hopefully when I get home on the 22nd or so, I'll be able to post pics of all the good stuff, but for now, just trust that I am having a great time!