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Up at 5 AM and checked in at the airport by 6. I was surprised at how busy the Oslo airport was at this time of the day. Our flights were reversed, flying back to London/Gatwick then transferring to the 787 flight back to Seattle. Both planes were almost full but all went well and we landed on time in warm weather and sunshine in Seattle.

We have had global entry for some time and again we were through immigration in 5 minutes, only to have to wait 15 minutes for luggage to appear. Oh, well there are worse problems to have.

We “Lyfted” our way back to the ferry terminal where we were met by son, Scott, and wife, Jessica, who had arrived from their home in New Zealand 5 days ago and were spending the day in Seattle updating their passports. We had lunch on the waterfront before boarding the new (walk on) fast ferry back directly to Kingston, which is only 10 minutes from our home. Scott and Jessica had parked our car in Kingston when they used the new ferry to come into the city. We were home safely from another adventure. Time to start the 4th of July celebration on Miller Bay!

Epilogue:

• The Arctic is another beautiful spot on the planet. However, if you are going there hoping to see polar bears you are better off going to Churchill, Manitoba in the autumn where you will see many more and they will be seriously closer than any of the few we saw in Svalbard.
• Yes, National Geographic expeditions are not cheap, but the quality is worth the cost. The food and the staff make it a memorable experience.
• If you want to see both the Arctic and Antarctica regions of the world I suggest you go to the Arctic first. Having been to Antarctica first I found the Arctic region to not be as breathtaking  and exciting. The isolation in Antarctica is greater, the icebergs are larger and more numerous and the immense number of penguins surpasses the wild life you see in the Arctic.
• Norway, itself, is worth a visit even if you do not go north to the Arctic. It is visually beautiful, clean and inviting. And virtually everyone we met spoke English so it is an easy country to visit.

 

Parting Quote of the Day:

“Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” – Jamie Lyn Beatty

 

 

 

A quiet leisurely morning as our boat does not leave for Flåm (pronounced “floom”) until 11:55AM. Mother Nature must know we are heading home as it is raining off and on this morning, sometimes fairly heavy for a few minutes before stopping. There were even a few bolts of lightning to spice up the morning.

Luckily it was not raining when we waited dockside for the boat to appear. I was surprised to see how many people got off and how few got on for the next leg of the trip which took 1.5 hours. The fjord got narrower as we approached Flåm with some dramatic vistas and waterfalls to see.

Flam was really bustling with tours. There were a lot of tourists from India and Asia. We had a 2 hour layover before our next leg of the journey, a ride on the famous Flam Railway, considered to be one of the premiere train rides in the world. We chose to have our main meal there as this would be the last place where food options were many. We chose a Rick Steve’s suggestion and ended up in a cafe where the pizza looked good.Unfortunately it was big enough to feed a family of four and we reluctantly had to leave half.

After lunch we passed the time by going through a local railway museum which had some very good pictures and descriptions (in English) about how and when the Flam Railway was built in the early 1900’s. It is somewhat an engineering marvel, going 16 km from sea level to almost 900 meters in elevation, requiring 20 tunnels to be hand dug through the stone and reaching an 18% grade in some places. And it was built in three years! Try that today.

The ride from Flam to Myrdal takes about one hour and goes through some really breathtaking scenery. I can see why it is considered one of the top train rides in the world. That is as far as the train goes.

We then had to wait about 55 minutes to catch the regular train from Myrdal to Oslo. Unfortunately this portion of the trip takes 5 hours, but we had prepared for the journey by buying some of those good Norwegian pastries in the local bakery in Flam.

We arrived in Oslo on time at 11PM and were able to catch the fast train (which leaves every 10 minutes) from the rail station back to the airport and our hotel for the night.

It was at the airport hotel that we ran into the first snag of the day. It was 11:30 PM and there were at least 10 people waiting to check into the hotel. Where did they all come from at this time of the night?  To make matters worse there were only two staff members handling the check-ins. It was painfully slow, taking 25 minutes to get a room key and our luggage that had been kept in storage.

We have a 7:20AM flight in the morning so it was brush your teeth and fall into bed!

Across the fjord from Balestrand is the small village of Vik, where there is one of the remaining 28 original stave churches in Norway. It was our goal to visit that church today. Rick Steves says it is his favorite stave church and if Rick says so it must be worth seeing.

It was another sunny day so rain gear was left in the hotel room.  To get to Vik we had to catch the 7:50 AM ferry.  Fifteen minutes later we were dockside in the Vik, which has a population of 2,722, dwarfing Balestrand. It turns out there were 5 other people who got off the boat with us and we learned we all were from the US and headed to see the church. There was no traffic on this Saturday morning and we simply walked down the main road leading out-of-town for about a mile to reach the 12th century church which stood on a small grassy knoll overlooking the valley.

The stave church, known as the Hopperstad church, named for its location, is thought to date to about 1130; carbon dating of the wood show the trees used for construction date from 1034 to 1116. It is an amazing sight and I was awed.  Beautifully carved panels adorn the inside. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, the church was restored (1884-1891). I was surprised to learn it is considered to have been a Catholic church early on. We spent over an hour talking to the local church “guardian” who pointed out things about the church and answered our questions. This is a definite “must see” if you are in the area.

Some more parting shots of Hopperstad.

 

We walked back to town and found a place to have a snack while waiting for the return ferry to Balestrand. Surprisingly it was about 10:30 on a Saturday morning but  hardly anything was open yet. After asking a local we did find a small cheese shop where we had tea and cookies while keeping an eye on the clock as we had to make sure we caught the ferry as there are only two crossings each day.

We had a free afternoon but not wanting to waste a moment I found an adventure to pursue. A local resident offers a high-speed boat tour of the surrounding fjord that sounded intriguing. Yvonne passed, choosing to relax, but I donned the provided survivor suit and life vest and joined a family from the east coast for the 75 minute tour of the fjord, at speeds that topped 40 mph because of the 600 hp motors on the back of the boat.  We stopped at several spots along the way where Lars, the boat owner/operator told us about the area. His family has lived and farmed this area for hundreds of years so we got some great insight about living here. It was a fun excursion.

There was still some time before dinner and I wanted to try to find the location of the Viking burial mounds that were near here as well as visit the distinctive St. Olaf’s church on the edge of town. I did both before some raindrops hastened my steps back to the hotel. The rain was very short-lived and the evening cocktail hour before dinner was again held on the deck overlooking the fjord.

There was another piano “concert” after dinner that we enjoyed before retiring (it was a 12,000+ step day) and getting ready to move on tomorrow morning to complete the “Nutshell” trip.

Our journey on the Sognefjord begins this morning. It was an easy 10 minute walk from our hotel to the waterfront terminal where the high-speed catamaran leaves at 8AM. It is open seating and I did not know how crowded it would be during tourist season so I made sure we were in line well before the 8 AM departure. The crowd was less than I feared and we got optimal window seats on the upper deck to watch what the trip presented.

The Sognefjord is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway.  It is 117 miles long and has a maximum depth of 4,291 feet! Over 60 miles has a depth of 3,000 feet or more. The average width of the main branch is 3.1 miles.  It is a big body of water! The mountains that surround the fjord have an elevation as much as 3,300 feet. Sognefjord takes its name from the Norwegian district of Sogn, where it is located.

This part of Norway is not heavily populated but the boat did make several stops at small docks to pick up or leave people, as this is the main mode of transportation in this part of the country. Four hours later we were at our destination, the small village of Balestrand where we will be spending two nights before continuing our “Nutshell” trip.

Balestrand had a 2013 population of about 819. What makes it surprising is it’s main attraction, the famous large (now 195 rooms) Kviknes hotel which was first completed in 1913 as a 25 room destination for tourists and artists who flocked to the area to paint the beautiful scenery of the region. The 1960’s modernistic (I.e. Holiday Inn) addition of 165 rooms has destroyed (in my opinion) the classic character of the original hotel. Luckily they did retain and use the original hotel with its lovely dining room and public rooms/bar which are handsomely decorated with historical furniture and paintings. Only the sleeping rooms were a disappointment to me.

Our room was not yet available when we arrived so we wandered the waterfront and ate lunch at a small, family owned restaurant that was decorated with scads of family pictures on the wall. I felt like I was in my grandmother’s home; it was that folksy.

About the only other attraction in the village was a small aquarium which we chose to visit. It was surprisingly informative, featuring the sea life of the area. They handed out large English language guidebooks that explained what we were seeing in the various tanks. Children from all over Norway come here yearly for a few days to study the sea and what it offers.

We were asked to make reservations for their well-regarded (by Rick Steves) buffet dinner. To pass the time we sat outside with a cocktail and enjoyed the late afternoon sun and surroundings. As would be expected the buffet focuses much on seafood of all types, although there were dishes for carnivores and salad lovers. The only shortcoming I saw was in the dessert offerings, but I managed.

There is an daily after-dinner piano offering in the vintage bar, hosted by a classical pianist (Age Kristoffersen) who studied under Leonard Bernstein and still does concerts around the world. His 45 minute set focused mostly on popular songs that we all can recognize, although he did sneak a couple of Grieg classical pieces into his set.

In a word Bergen is simply “lovely”! It is not large; it is walkable; it is pedestrian friendly; it has a vibrant waterfront; it is clean; it is charming in every sense.

We like to take walking or food tours and I signed us up for a small group 2.5 hour walking tour of the central part of Bergen which started at the decent hour of 10 AM. The day was bright and sunny which we later learned is not the usual norm for Bergen. During our walking tour we learned that Bergen does get a lot of rain, getting an average of 77 inches/year (Seattle averages 37.5 inches/year, Chicago averages 35.8 inches/year) and it rains an average of 231 days per year!  It looks like we are very lucky to be here now, under these beautiful bright skies.

Bergen dates back to the year 1070 and currently has a population of 280,00 in the city, 420,000 in the larger metropolitan area.

I have already mentioned that Norway was expensive. Our tour guide, Martin, said the average salary for a Norwegian is almost $78,000 (US median is $62,000), thus explaining why prices are higher here. We learned a lot of other facts about Norway. Norway is very energy conscious. I was surprised to learn that 50% of the vehicles are all electric or hybrid and they plan to ban non-electric vehicles By 2025. They offer huge incentives to people to purchase all electric vehicles. I even saw a Tesla Model S taxicab on the streets. Utility power costs 5 cents /kWh in Norway (US average is 12cents/kWh). Martin showed us the major buildings in the downtown area and talked about some of the famous Norwegian people from the area like the composer, Edvard Grieg and playwright, Henrik Ibsen.

The major tourist attractions in Bergen are the waterfront buildings that were originally built in the 14th century by the German Hanseatic League. The German Kontor (as it was referred to) was established in Bergen in 1360 and remained for 400 years (appr. 1360-1754). It achieved an almost complete monopoly in the trade of stockfish and fish oil. The Kontor had its own area, Bryggen, in the city center, which remains as the iconic picture we all have seen.  Bryggen has burned down several times but was rebuilt in the same style. Today’s houses date back to 1702, and are part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List. We walked through the area as Martin explained what occurred there and how the German men (no women) lived and worked. Today the first floor of the buildings are occupied by shops and restaurants and the second floor (where the workers originally lived) are often offices for small businesses. Needless to say the place is jammed with tourists, especially when the numerous cruise ships are in town. Martin suggested we come back to explore it in more detail after 3 PM when the cruise tourists leave.

For those of you who are into physical challenges they have one here in Bergen that involves climbing/hiking the 7 mountains ( ~1000 foot elevation) that surround the city- in ONE day!  It gets you a commemorative tee shirt and makes you the envy of the community! Martin proudly showed us the one he has recently earned.

When our walking tour ended we were not quite hungry for lunch yet so we decided to do another of our favorite travel excursions-taking a “hop on-hop off” bus tour of the city. The one in Bergen is only an hour long and included a ticket to the funicular which we had planned to take anyway once the crowds left.  We got to see parts of the city we had not covered on the walking tour and the narrative given on the trip brought new insight into the area for us.

By the time we finished lunch the funicular line (first opened in 1918) was non-existent and we rode to the top of the nearby Mt. Floyen (320 meters, 1,050 feet). It is a marvelous area with a great viewpoint overlooking the city, the harbor and surrounding area. There are numerous hiking trails of varying length, mountain bike rental/trails, a lake with canoes to rent, a zip line, children’s playground and even several restaurants. It was easy to see why it is is so popular with the locals as well as tourists.

We did a bit of souvenir shopping on the way back to our hotel where the line was already forming for the Foo Fighters concert. The gates opened at 5 PM with the concert slated to begin at 8:30. Get this- there are no seats in the amphitheater; you stand the entire time!  It obviously was aimed at a younger crowd but we did see more than one grey hair approaching the venue.

After the big lunch we had we again chose to simply “graze” at the hotel dinner buffet as we listened a bit to the warm up acts for the concert. It was still early in the evening and I recalled a food truck on the harbor that served waffles with fresh fruit and like the Greek sirens of Greek Mythology the food truck called to me and I had to beckon its call! The bad news is we chose to simply share (rather than each buying one as they did look large) a marvelous waffle loaded with fresh strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. It was divine and worth every penny!

Back in our room at the hotel we did open our window to listen to a few songs by the Foo Fighters, but they are not my music genre choice. Surprisingly by 11 PM the concert was over and the crowds quickly dispersed back into the city.

Tomorrow we leave at 8AM on a boat that will take us on the Sognefjord as we venture inland to our next destination, Balestrand.

What is “Norway in a Nutshell”? It is a very popular circular tour from Oslo that uses trains and boats to travel the famed Sognesfjord, the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. The trip can be done in a single day if you have the energy but it is recommended that you take 3-5 days to stop and “smell the roses” along the way. We are retired and I like “smelling the roses” so we chose the 5 day trip that included two night stays in both Bergen and Balestrand. A travel agency called Fjord Travel Norway does a great job of packaging the tour and making the reservations for the three train rides, the two hotels and the two boat rides that make up the trip.

The first leg of the trip was a 7 hour train ride from Oslo to Bergen. It had a leisurely noon departure from the central Oslo train station. We had stayed at the airport hotel last night and had to get back into the city. When we originally arrived in Oslo we had taken an expensive $100 cab to Oslo because we had all our Arctic luggage. Today we arranged with the airport hotel to hold our three pieces of luggage as we were planning to “rough it” by taking only a small carry on sized suitcase on this adventure. I did not want to worry about how to handle big pieces of luggage on trains and boats. As it turned out it worked out wonderfully!  So with minimal luggage we were able to take the airport express train to the main Oslo train station. It runs every 10 minutes and takes 20 minutes to get there (versus 40 minutes when driving). And the best part is the senior fare was $10 each! It was slick!

We planned to get to the Oslo train station about an hour before departure so we could figure out where the train to Bergen left from, how soon you can board, and most importantly buy some food from the many great food vendors at the station to take with us for the 7 hour trip. We loaded up with freshly made sandwiches and some of great pastries before boarding our noon train where we had reserved seats.As with most European trains the Norwegian trains are wonderful- new, modern and quiet with large windows to watch the world go by.

The route from Oslo to Bergen, built between 1875 and 1909,  covers 308 miles through some of Europe’s most inhospitable terrain. It rises to an elevation of 1237meters (4,058 feet) and goes through 178 tunnels. The time and scenery flew by, going from forest to eventually rising above tree line before descending to the seaside city of Bergen. It was 7 PM when we arrived (on time) and since our hotel was about a mile away we chose to take a cab rather than walk, although we later learned Bergen is a very walkable city.

Our hotel was a block from the iconic Bergen waterfront, pictures of which everyone has seen. In the category of “it’s a small world” as we checked in the staff apologized profusely about a rock concert that was going to be held right behind the hotel that featured “The Foo Fighters”, a famous grunge band from SEATTLE, our home town! We laughed heartily and accepted the foam ear plugs they were providing to all the guests. We were not overly concerned.

As part of the hotel package both breakfast and dinner were provided so we simply had a light meal at their evening buffet before retiring to our room for the night.

 

 

We woke up to cloudy weather and 9 degrees C. outside with calm winds. Today we disembark our ship and return by charter to Oslo. Luggage was gone off the ship by 7 AM and we left the ship after breakfast at 8:30. Our flight does not leave until 1:30 so Lindblad had planned for some additional touring in Svalbard before heading to the airport.

The first stop was at Camp Barentz, where dogsled animals are raised, trained and housed. We were given some information about the dogs who prefer living outdoors year round because they tend to overheat. The dogs were a friendly bunch and loved to be petted, which some people did. On the site was also a replica of the cabin used by the 16th century explorer, Willem Barentz who hunted here. As you would expect it is minimalistic in its furnishings. The last part of the tour was to see a brief slide show presentation on polar bears as we ate waffles with lingonberry jelly or brown cheese. Coffee or tea was also available.

From there we returned the short distance to town and were taken to the Svalbard museum, which focuses on the history and wildlife of the area. There are many artifacts and stuffed animals of the wildlife that live here. Most of the exhibits have English signage so we were able to understand what we were seeing. It is extremely well done and well worth a visit.

It was now 11:15 and time to get to the airport. This turned out to be the worst part of the morning as two charter flights were trying to check in at the same time. It took one hour to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. I guess it does not matter much as we would have still had to wait for departure even if we had checked in quickly. I doubt if there are many commercial flights to Svalbard. The only thing I saw during my time at the airport were these charter flights bringing people to/from the expedition ships.

The flight left about 20 minutes late but we arrived pretty much on time. We had to recheck through immigration (even though Svalbard belongs to Norway) but it went quickly and smoothly this time. Our airport hotel (Radisson Blu) and final dinner was supposedly only 280 steps away. We tried counting to verify that but lost count on the way. Anyway it was quite close and the airport provides free luggage carts which you can leave at the hotel, even taking them to your room. Keys and check-in was prearranged (a nice advantage of being on a tour) so we were in our rooms quickly to rest and prepare for dinner. Dinner was listed as a buffet which I was leery of since it was at a big hotel but ended up pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of the offerings.

We bid farewell to our fellow travelers. Steve was headed back to Seattle and work; Zoe and Julie were headed to Paris where they had tickets to see the quarter-finals of the Women’s Soccer World Cup (USA versus France, no less) then on to Bilbao, Spain for another two week Spanish immersion course (they did one last year) and Yvonne and I are headed for a 5 day “Norway in a Nutshell” tour of the fjords. More on that tomorrow.

 

 

Party cloudy and 47 degrees- a heat wave!  The expedition leader has instructed the captain to head up the west side of Spitsbergen as far north as the ice will allow. We might have a chance to reach 80 degrees North. We had just sat down for breakfast at 8AM when we got the world that bowhead whales were sighted, a rare event in this area. We abandoned our freshly poured coffee and headed for the bridge. The good news we were able to spot one off the bow. The bad news is they were a long way off and I had to take the word of the staff that it was a bowhead whale.  Photography with my camera was impossible but luckily Julie was able to capture a few shots of a fluke as it dove.  Bowhead whales live year round on the edge of the sea ice, moving south in the winter as the ice grows, then moving north as it recedes in the summer. Kasper said they were once abundant in the region but were hunted for their blubber which can be 18 inches thick. For a long time they were rarely seen here but they may be making a comeback. The captain said there were at least 4 or 5 feeding here right now.

We stayed stationary in the area to allow viewing,  then the expedition leader decided to move and continue our attempt to reach 80 degrees. We almost made it but the solid wall of sea ice stopped us at 79 degrees, 56 minutes. So close!  Even so we are only 608 nautical miles from the North Pole.  Reluctantly the captain had to turn the ship southward and work our way back the west side of Spitsbergen with an intention to stop along the way for one last shore excursion.

To fill time Peter scheduled yet another naturalist briefing. Stefano Pozzi, who hails from Milan, Italy gave a short talk about the polar bear population in Svalbard and his own personal first “confrontation” with a polar bear. There are currently an estimated 3,000 polar bears in area. They are a protected species but an average of 3.1 bears/year are killed to protect humans. Only five people have been killed by polar bears in the last 50 years; the last one in 2011.

Steffano’s bear encounter occurred while he was taking the university Arctic guide course in 2014. They were out on an 8 day camping exercise when a polar bear invaded their camp for food and would not leave. Steffano showed us slides of the “encounter” and how they eventually had to call in a government helicopter to scare the bear off. He was a persistent fellow! Campers use trip wire explosive alarms near camp sites to deter bears. Dogs are also good bear deterrents. I was amazed to learn that polar bears have tremendous sense of smell; they can smell a seal up to 20 miles away!

During lunch the ship moved to a proposed site to take a walk but as the scouting team ventured out they learned that the wind had picked up and it would be too difficult for loading and unloading the Zodiacs because of the wind. We had to move to another, more sheltered, location nearby and because the new area had more snow near the water we would be taking Zodiac rides rather than hikes. As it turned out, it ultimately worked to our benefit.

The bay selected is called Magdalene. It is not large but is surrounded by not one, but seven glaciers, making it a stunning site. It was the intent of the drivers to simply show us some of the terminus of the glaciers and swing by some lounging walrus. Trivia for the day: one walrus is spelled “walrus”; the plural of walrus is “walrus”. Also there is no term for a group of walrus, like herd, or covey, etc.

Once off the boat we wandered over to where the walrus were and sure enough there were the usual “lumps” sleeping on the beach. What was new, however, was that there were 4-6 walrus frolicking in the water. We did not know if they were feeding or simply playing.  Although they are cumbersome on land they seem extremely agile in the water. There was even a bit of aggressiveness shown between several of the walrus with raised heads, pushing, shoving and bellowing. It was activity I had never seen before. We sat nearby watching the activity when a big male starting swimming toward us and our driver decided to carefully back us away, not knowing if he was simply curious or in the mood for a fight.

As we were watching the walrus we received a call from Peter that a mother polar bear and two cubs was nearby and so you suddenly saw a parade of 12 Zodiacs converging on the area where they were spotted. Luckily they were bedded down in an area of dark rocks so they were relatively easy to spot. They were  not super close but close enough to get some reasonable photos. This is the closet encounter with polar bears we have had the entire trip and the fact it included a mother and cubs made it a fitting and special end to our water excursions.

Tonight was the Captain’s farewell cocktail hour complete with champagne. When the trip began he introduced his senior staff. Tonight he took the time to introduce many of the people who work behind the scenes, like the laundry, the engine room, the servers and some room attendants. I think they especially enjoyed the little bit of fame as we all gave them hearty applause for their efforts.

After a final delightful dinner we returned to our cabins as they asked we have our luggage out in the hallway by 9 PM so it could be off-loaded the first thing in the morning.

Our  journey on the National Geographic Explorer was coming to an end.