Oslo, Norway

 Our last stop was Oslo, the capital of and largest city in Norway. There is a lot to see and do in Oslo, so I'll start by naming all of things we did not see and do: the train station, the Parliament building, the Opera House, Frogner Park and Vigeland Sculpture Park, Holmenkollen National Ski Arena, or take a ferry to Byddoy peninsula to see the Norwegian Folk Museum and/or Viking Ship Museum, Fram Polar Ship Museum, or Kon Tiki Museum. The Folk Museum, Viking Ship Museum, and Sculpture Park would have been at the top of our list if we had a second day in Oslo.

What we did see was Munch's The Scream at the National Gallery (no photography was allowed, but this was one of four versions of this piece in the world); Karl Johans Gate (Oslo's Champs-Elysses); the Royal Palace and Slottsparken, a tree-filled palace park; as well as great views of the Akershus fortress and City Hall from the ship. It was a simple final day of touring before the daily rain hit and we migrated back to our ship.

Karl Johans Gate.

Royal Palace.

Royal guard.

Akershus Fortress.

Oslo City Hall. 

Last, but not least, while in Oslo, we were only 15 minutes from the marriage site of Ingebrgt and Sigrid, Matt's great-great grandfather and grandmother (Sogn, Norway). Seeing foreign castles, museums, and parks are nice, but family history coming alive is, hands down, one of the coolest parts of traveling Europe, and touring Norway certainly provided that for us.

Stavanger, Norway

Stavanger was our third consecutive stop in Norway. Located at the entrance of Gandsfjord, Stavanger has been a leading commercial and industrial city since the end of the 18th century, but it's most recent claim to fame is being the most important oil center of Norway. Oil production apparently began in the early 70s and brought approximately 10,000 new jobs. The areas of Stavanger we saw appeared to be thriving. The kids and I (Ashley) toured around the city for the day, seeing the Norwegian Petroleum Museum exterior and adjacent oil-themed playground, Gamle Stavanger (Old Town), the Stavanger Domkirke (Cathedral), and Breiavatnet Lake.

Norwegian Petroleum Museum.

Colorful Old Town...

Stavanger Cathedral. 

Anders and an alligator in front of Breiavatnet Lake.

Cruise ship port. 

On the geneology front: While in Stavanger, we were about 2.5 hours from the marriage site of Matt's great-great grandparents Lars and Inger (Hjelmeland, Norway). 

Pulpit Rock

Our third port of call was Stavanger, Norway. While the kids and I (Ashley) explored the city itself, Matt embarked on a day-long journey to a place called Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock. He left early in the morning by ferry from Fiskepiren in Stavanger to Tau, and then took a bus from Tau to Preikestolhytta (base camp). The hike up to Pulpit rock was supposed to take about 2 hours each way, but knowing his time was limited, Matt hiked hard and reached the top within 1 hour and 5 minutes. The pictures speak for themselves. Simply stunning. After a quick local IPA beer and snack at base camp, he reversed his journey: bus from Preikestolhytta to Tau, and ferry from Tau to Fiskepiren and made it back to the cruise ship by late afternoon to sail on to Oslo.

A view of Pulpit Rock as you approach.  It stand 1,982 feet above the water.

About two-thirds through the hike you can just begin to see the fjord.

View from the tip of the rock, overlooking the Lysefjord.

Matt on the rock.

Eidfjord, Norway

On Saturday morning, we cruised into Eidfjord, built about 8,000 years ago during the last ice age. Not a bad view to enjoy over breakfast!

From the port, we took a minibus tour to the Fossli Hotel for views of the Voringsfossen waterfall and surrounding valley. The road to the top of the Mabodalen Valley was actually constructed so that horses could carry building materials for the hotel; prior to the 1880s, there was only a walking track up to the waterfall. The waterfall is one of the most famous in Norway, though not the highest. And of course there was hot chocolate and a troll at the top, so we were all happy.

Måbødalen Valley- the waterfall is just to the left of the frame. 

We had planned to either hike along the Eio river to see a lake and beach or hike to some viking graves, an old church, and the workshop of a famous fiddlemaker named Anders in Eidfjord, but a bout of carsickness for our Anders on the way up to the falls left us all wanting to call it a day after returning to the port.

As a side note, while in Eidfjord, we were no more than 2.5 hours from the birthplace of Mat's great-great grandfather, Oscar (Skaanevik, Norway), and his great-great grandmother, Inger (Suldal, Norway).

Next up, Stavanger!

Bergen, Norway

At the end of August, we took our last big trip as a family of four: a seven-day cruise around Norway- the 32nd (Matt and Ashley), 15th (Hazel), and 10th (Anders) country we've visited so far. We departed from Hamburg, Germany and had one day at sea before arriving in Bergen, Norway. The Costa Mediterranea ship was massive and decorated very lavishly- all of the mirrors, colors, and lights was sort of sensory overload. 

Bergen, a former capital of Norway, was the residence of the kings of Norway and grew to be the largest city in Norway due to it's fishing industry. Today, it is the second largest city in Norway (Oslo is the largest) and still thrives. It is tucked between seven mountains and the North sea and rains 270 days a year. As we approached the port of Bergen, the coast, rocky and green,  was scattered with small, colorful houses.

 We had high expectations for this trip, and Bergen met or exceeded every one. We docked near the 16th century Rosenkratz Tower (see Hazel out front dressed as Anna) and Hakon's Hall.

A short walk along the water, lined with beautiful old ships, led us to Bryggen (the wharf lined with colorful houses in a row). 

 We passed through the 300+ year-old fish market (fisketorget) before stopping at the Tourist Information center to pick up Bergen passes. These ended up not really saving us money because Hakon's Hall was closed before we could get to it, but I guess it was convenient not to hassle with bus fare (covered by the passes) later in the morning.

Nearly all parts of the city center we saw were unique and beautiful, even the water drains and buildings housing McDonald's and Starubucks.

Starbucks is on the far right.

I wonder how expensive McDonald's is in Norway.

Norwegian city planners seem to really like these man-made lakes. 

Our first order of business was visiting Fantoft Stave Church on the outskirts of Bergen in an area known as "Paradis". It was originally built in Sogn, Norway in 1150, moved to Fantoft, Norway in 1883, and burnt down in 1992. It was rebuilt here exactly as it was before the fire. While the rest of Europe switched from wood to stone churches much sooner, Norway continued to build these wooden "stave" churches without using a single nail or screw. Apparently there used to be at least 800 of these typical wooden churches in Norway, and today there are about 30 remaining. The vaulted ceilings are shaped like upside-down Viking ship hulls and oddly enough the ornamentation on the exterior reminded us of temples we saw in Japan and Thailand. In fact, it felt a bit like being back in peaceful Japan at a wooden, religious building located in the woods. 

Thanks to a really thorough geneology book on Matt's mother's side of the family, we were able to keep track of how far we were from the homes, wedding sites, and birth places of Matt's Norwegian ancestors at each of our stops. It was pretty special to note that Matt's great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother (Ingebrgt and Sigrid) were married in Sogn in 1870 just before leaving for America. (the same city where this church was originally built seven hundred years earlier; located 14 minutes north of Oslo). Additionally, the stone cross outside of the stave church was originally from Sola, Norway, located in Rogaland, a region where several of Matt's great-grandmother's siblings were born.

We had a picnic lunch at our bus stop (bread, normal cheese, and Norwegian brown cheese, which I could barely eat because it was so strong/tart/strange. And I've never met a cheese I didn't like. Upon returning to the Bergen central bus station, we made our way to the Floibanen  funicular and took a train ride up the side of Mt. Floyen for views of the city and surrounding fjords. Well worth the trip up.

Not only were there really pretty views, but a troll wonderland of sorts. We could have spent an entire day hiking around up here, but we only had time for some playtime and an ice cream/hot chocolate treat.

I picked the most Norwegian looking ice cream I could find for Matt...

It was actually an ice cream ship! 

We did some final souvenir shopping (retail shops and cafes fill the picturesque old buildings) and exploring the Bryggen by entering a narrow passage way from the water front. 

Our last stop was going to be Hakon's hall, but alas, it had closed about an hour earlier. The main draw of seeing this royal banqueting hall for us was to let Hazel pretend she was in Elsa's coronation room, but it was fine to miss it. Our first day in Bergen was simply awesome. I would go back in a heart beat.