In the heat of travel negotiations last Spring, Ellen told our friend Anne that we might not make it to visit her and Phil the particular dates she suggested due to other commitments. Anne quickly dissuaded us from that position by disclosing that we would not be visiting only Anne and Phil. Mark and Nina […]
Author: Steve
Back and Loaded
Sorry for the delay in posting. It’s been a busy several weeks since arriving back. We’re also suffering a bit of “extended travel readjustment affliction,” or EXTRA. (One of EXTRA’s symptoms is photo forgetfulness, so you may see a dearth of photos.) Now, about four weeks since returning, we’ll try to catch you up on what’s […]
Oslo, and Goodbye
Happy American Independence Day! Well, all good things must end. This will be the last post from Europe. From Oslo we fly via Reykjavik to JFK and Montclair, NJ where we establish a beachhead in North America. We didn’t have much time in Oslo, but we were able to walk up Karl Johan Gate to […]
Vigeland Museet og Parken
We were recommended to check out Vigeland Park in Oslo. So we did. It is an impressive place, filled with tourists, primarily, it seemed, from Asia. Little did we know, as we walked through the place, that Vigeland himself was something of a Nazi sympathiser and that his works are sometimes considered to “reek of […]
Going Up the Country
We took a daytrip up to visit Ove’s farm, about an hour north of Kristiansand. On the way up we stopped at the duvet outlet to pick up some dual duvets. We have become enamored with the two duvet for one bed system, and wanted to bring some home as a final souvenir. Ove’s farm is […]
Kristiansand and Flekkerøy
One of the joys of travel is meeting people on the road that you otherwise would not normally meet. Ove and Bodil fall into this category. We were seated with them at a table for lunch one day, and a friendship bloomed. We, and others, had dinner together after debarking in Barcelona. Now we were […]
Regina and Natasha
When we were studying Spanish in Cuenca,Ecuador, we met Regina, a woman from Sweden who was also studying Spanish. Last New Year’s Eve we met up with Regina and several friends. One of the friends, Natasha, was from Finland. When we went to the beach several days later, Natasha shared a car with us. Eating […]
Epic Fail!
Johan, Kristina, Ellen and I went to visit the Vasa Museum. It is a testament to royal hubris. The king of Sweden ordered the building of a new flagship. He wanted it bigger and scarier than anything that had come before. Against the advice of his builders, he made it taller and taller. When launched, […]
Nobel City Hall
Our first stop on the Johan and Kristina city tour was the city hall. It was built in the early 1900’s and was quite refreshing as it was not gothic, romanesque, or baroque. The lines are clean and project nobility and stability. As it is where the banquets for Nobel prizes are held, it was […]
Stockholm
We took the train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. We were impressed with the similarities between the landscape we were going through and the landscape in northern Minnesota. Granite, lakes, pine, and bogs were common along the route. It is very flat, and we have since found out that they have quite a few moose. Johan […]