Sweden has some great national parks that are not far from the city – this one was only 30 minutes from Stockholm
So many paths and choices to check out all the lakes …
The various berries like the lingoberries can found along all the trails
And very small and tasty blueberries too!
There are supposed to be strawberries and raspberries as well but we did not find any of them on our afternoon out, but we did find some of our little beetle friends along the way!
Many calm and relaxing lake views
You can even make some licorice tea it you like.
The ducks definitely like their licorice roots even more than the Scandic natives
When we found an even more secluded lake
We had a BBQ and cooked some hit dogs.
And the ducks could not resist joining us as soon as the fire was lit!
And of course, what do you eat for dinner after a long day hike? Swedish meatballs!
Why doni say that? Because we are staying at hotel which is formerly the bank where this famous robbery and incident occured!
But let’s explore the city of churches and palaces from all over Europe origin. This one was German design.
which is basically a connected set of islands built from Viking settlements and fiefdoms over the past 1000 years.
There are many popular museums throughout the city – maybe as many as St. Petersburg in Russia!
But the most popular museum is…you guessed it right, the Abba museum!
and if you can look closely, in the city pictures, you can zoom in and see the office where one of the Abba singers is hanging out and working in his office 😉
Of course, we checked out the Royal Palace
We did not pay the required gold coins to survey the national treasury and crown jewels
But we snuck into some of the free places that reminded of us of the Vatican
but the guards shooed us away quickly when they saw us!
So we detoured a little down the famous priests alley
Which is known as the local Ghost walk tour for some reason….
Maybe it was this little guy that scares away people who do not donate and help the homeless in Stockholm. If you rub his head, just like the dog paws of the Moscow subway, it will bring you good luck
We used the good luck he gave us to find some good deals in the mile long tourist shopping street!
But the one thing you really DO have to be careful if is the bikers…they will happily knock you over if you stray in their path!
So after a long day of walking around, what is the best thing to do?
Have dinner at one of the classic local street side restaurants – Sturehof 😀
It is very popular for locals and tourists to hike around the city in the seven mountains surrounding the area. We went up to Mount Ulriken.
It is best to take the cable car up the first half of the way to access the best trails
They are pretty fast and efficient but get crowded in peak times
They do not have great views though, so enjoy the 60 minute ride to get to the top and then that is when the best pictures can be taken.
We did a 5 mile hike ourselves to the top where you can see the North Sea in the distance.
It is about 1000 feet in elevation, but there are some great ponds to check out
and historical places where they used to have water troughts for the horses.
Many people struggle to actually see the North Sear as it rains 270 days a year in Bergen and it is very overcast.
The wild sheep were pretty friendly on the way up.
This one was checking out the old military bunker in the distance and wondering what might still be stored there since most of the population has been nervous about Russia recently.
But if you ever visit Bergen, this is one of the best and easiest hikes almost everyone can enjoy or have a picnic!
We decided to head west from the fjords and check out Bergen to see if the city was any different. I think we found a cool driver – I think it was Liev Schreiber practicing for a new movie role…
Driving in Norwaty takes some patience as during the summer there is a lot of construction and mountain rock demoliton to kepe the roads open. This limits many sections to one lane and having to take long waits to pass.
Of course, there are many scenic waterfalls and valleys to stop and check out.
The best one to stop and visit is the Steinsdalfossen waterfall
…which is quite shocking to walk up to.
Because when you get up close, you realize you can actually walk behind it!
and then before you know, it you arrive in Bergen which is very different than Oslo!
It rains a lot more and is culturally different. Stay tuned for details tomorrow!
It is a little bit of a tourist trap and most visited city in Norway, but there are ways to have more fun than just visiting via a cruise ship…
Ourselves, we first took a train from Voss to Mrydal. It is so easy to take trains in Norway and nobody even checks your tickets…unless they determine there are more people on the train that actually bought tickets.
From Mrydak, we took the famous and popular historic Flam train. It is full of people from around the world to say the least…
It is only 20 KM long and about an hour journey.
But it has some amazing views and scenic valleys.
So many waterfalls, you give up counting…just like the nmber of whales you see in the Arctic Circle.
It even stops by a giant waterfall that is right next to the tracks and you can get off the train.
When you walk out of the train and towards the waterfall, you get soaking wet in about 10 seconds!
and then when you disorientated with all the water, the siren appears to indicate the Seattle Seahawks won a touchdown in the pre-season game against the Las Vegas Raiders!
When you get to Flam, you can hang out with all the cruise ship people, or you can walk and enjoy the quiet village away from all the tourist shops.
We took a walk along thre fjord and found a nice local marina hotel and restaurant and sat out the afternoon rain while everyone ran back to the ship 😉
We had a very special opportunity to visit and enjoy a meal on a very unusual spacecraft that did not likely originate from Norway or this planet.
It was not very easy to find or get to. Just like the Squid Game, you need to show up at a certain place at a certain time almost in the middle of nowhere in the Fjords of Norway.
You have to drive through 10+ kilometer tunnels through many mountain passes.
And navigate torrents of waterfalls that would sweep a car away if they just swelled over the road by just a few inches of divergence.
But if you follow all instructions, someone in uniform will take you to the spaceship and escort you inside without explanation.
You climb down some very dark and steep stairs as the spaceship is much larger than it appears and only the very top of the craft was peaking out of the ocean.
Then you must carefully navigate the confusing lights and sounds until you are introduced to some explanation from the darkness
We are now being introduced to a sustainable future from the sea that has been brought to us from very far away…
So what do they serve guests who join them? It is a long story, so I hope you are patient (and hungry)!
Cone Of Plenty Aromatic herbs, fermented gooseberry and jasmin blossom.
Tidemark Scallop, oyster emulsion, salads from Astrid & lemon butter sauce
ToppTur Crispy onion, langoustine tartare and smoked fresh cheese
Snowcrab Circut Toasted blinis, poached snow crab, crispy seaweed, black currant leaf, raindeer mosse & preserved pine cones
We caught an early morning flight and checked into a hotel in the harbor area which was very convenient.
We stayed at the Thief Hotel and had a great early lunch at the Salmon House restaurant which surprisingly had better salmon than you get in Seattle!
It is only a 10 minute walk to the main square where the is the old fort and the Nobel Peace Center – yes, I am referring to the Nobel Peace Prize.
To explain, you first need to check out the famous city hall building that is uniquely architected and near the harbor square.
Inside you will find numerous historical story telling murals discussing things like the Nazi occupation during WWII.
But what is cool is the actual podium and spot where they hand out the annual Nobel Peace Price is open to everyone and in the same room as all the historical paintings.
Of course everyone likes walking up main street where there is all the shopping, pubs and great line of sight to the Royal Palace at the end.
My understanding is this statue was of the original French born king that ruled for a while and had this palace built…
But what is more interesting is watching all the tourists that do not pay attention and mess with all the rules the solitary Royal Guard tries to enforce with his old M4 rifle that does not have any ammunition in the clip.
Ok – let’s go pack to probably one of the most popular hang out spots with the locals and tourists is the Opera House which is designed to look like an iceberg floating in the ocean.
P.S. I have visited a few other times, so if you would like to see or learn more, check out some of the other postings:
It was kind of cool to have to hotel on Hans Christan Anderson avenue, and we visted on the 150th anniversay of his passing. What history to achieve on tihs trip!
On tihs street, this statue is right at the corner of the avenue, city hall and the shopping district (see below)
It is quite a historic building and very popular and free to visit
Notice the top of the building are polar bears to represent Greenland. Yes, I have been to Greenland in this posting 🙂
even more scary were these guys, maybe they are trying to warn guys about getting married???
City Hall is VERY popular in Copenhagen as it is like Las Vegas. Anyone can come in, sign a paper and get married in the town hall. We walked in just as one was starting…
You can even rent flowers for a few minutes for a wedding!
The one thing I could not figure out is hot dogs are very popular to eat in Copenhagen and the stands are everywhere.
Shopping District
Of course there is the shopping district that most people start with the Hard Rock Cafe
From there get ready for the crowds! It is actually not too bad as it is both tourists and locals shopping.
For some reason, Gasoline Grill is the most popular hamburger place and they sell out of beef patties every day…I am not sure I see what is special compared to Burger King down the street…
Sprinkled thoughout the area are numerous historical landmarks and I believe this one used to be public phone booth!
and of course, the most popular store with the longest line is the Lego store! Don’t ask me why…
The Popular Canals
One of the recommended things to do is to explore the canals and sites best viewed from the water starting with the opera house which has a few levels actually below the water!
Next is some of the intersting and intruguing architecture styles you see in Northern Copenhagen.
as well as the naval base museum which has some great cold war artifacts.
and if you like military history, you should check out the very old WWII fort that is an island in the harbor.
You can only reach it by boat and it has some of intersting views of both the famous windmill farm as well as the very long bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden.
The most interesting are inside the fort and see many of the original equipment and how 750 soldiers survived and were based on this tiny island.
It feels like a tiny prison with very thick walls and concrete hardenned faciliites everywhere.
The Famous Mermaid
Now, if you go on a boat in Copenhagen, you must see only friendly local – The Little Mermaid
Now, you should also visit her controversial younger sister which was supposedly genetically modified, and accoridngly less popular.
and of course, nearby, is the scary Madonna. This reminds me of a horror movie for some reason.
Tivoli
Last, but not least is Tivoli which is apparantly the oldest amusement park in the world
It actually has a ton of different cuisine restaurants which makes it a fun place to have lunch or dinner.
It has a lot of shows, concerts, etc. and I think we found it looks best at night when all the lights come on.
We decided to do a little different vacation exploration this year, so we decided to visit Scandavia.
We had to make a connection through Minneapolis and enjoyed the spacious and friendly Delta lounge on the way.
The cool thing is the pilot gave me the latest pilot cards for the A330 as the very rare Delta 100th anniversary cards when I boarded 🙂
The bad thing is the passport control and baggage claim in Copenhagen were total chaos. If you had a connection in Copenhagen less than 1.5 hours, forget it. There was no way to you could make a connection,
Now, despite the unusually rainy season, it is a very nice city explore and walk around. Parks, paths, and castles everywhere.
The crown jewels were stored here, but they would not let me in for some reason.
That is the new (controversial design) Opera house in the distance. This is also the historical WWII landing where the German Nazis arrived and occupied the city.
Not far away is a memorial in the city which was well known for all the people who helped the Jews escape the Nazis through Denmark which was one of the rare safety spots during the Holocaust.
Of course, we had to check out the fmaous colored houses along the canals
This is the equivalent of Venice tourism in Denmaej I would say…
There are lots of churches and royal palaces for sure.
Sometimes, it makes you feel like you are touring Rome based on the designs and architetcure.
OK – that is enough for Day 1 – stay tuned for more adventures!
If you want to find all the trolls in Seattle area, you must go hunting and expend some additional effort in some cases. Sometimes they are very far away from civilized areas and you need to take ferries to reach the islands they are hiding on to avoid the zombies populating the major cities.
The ferries take a lot of careful planning and timing. You will feel the pain when you are tardy and you miss the current ferry by less than 5 cars…
Vashon Island has great waterfront parks to explore and even check out the historic lighthouse.
You can even see Mt Rainier in the background of you look beyond the sailboats
Downtown Vashon is a fun set of shops and farmers market. Bookstore too!
And of course the popular Hardware Store restaurant which was great for brunch.
and I am not sure if the downtown ice cream shop was the most popular or all the traditional arcade games. Who can resist playing MS PacMan or Street Fighter 2?
Now, what were we REALLY looking for?
We found the Bird King troll Oscar meeting people in the Point Robinson Park and not being too shy.
Let’s share all the other trolls we found!
This one was hanging out in Lincoln Park in West Seattle
We found this guy in Ballard
and this one was the first one we found hiding in the trees in Issaquah!
David Cross Travel Blog 