Norway Fjords/Sweden - Final Thoughts

 I just want to compile my thoughts on this vacation.

1. Length of the trip: On the last leg of the journey, 3 days in Stockholm, I wish I had just done only the 2 weeks in Norway and gone home from Oslo. The Trondheim to Oslo journey was definitely worth it. The last three days felt a bit tiresome. It could also be that Stockholm is a larger city and much more busy than Oslo, and I am just feeling overwhelmed. I am glad I did this, but I will not do this again.
2. Hotels: All hotels have been good. I just wish all of them had hot water kettle and tea/coffee provided in the rooms. Comfort Karl Johan (in Oslo) and Queens Hotel (in Stockholm) did not. As much as I appreciate that there are rooms with a single bed for one person, I find them small compared to the double bed rooms. Things sometimes are not in the right places (electrical outlets), but I can manage. I am tired of using one body/shampoo soap for body and hair provided in the hotels. I feel like my hair needs some TLC now. Breakfast in these places could use a bit of mashup. It's always the same boring stuff. The only one I really enjoyed was Thon Hotel. And their light dinner was amazing too. I have found these hotels to be so much more quiet than American hotels. USA the AC is buzzing or the fridge is making noise. Here ..nothing.
3. Transportation: It is always inundating in the beginning, but once I start it, I really love the buses, trams and subways of these cities and I always get a pass so I can use these transports without thinking twice. And these days Google map has become really good in guiding which route to take including bus and walking routes.
4. Google: Speaking of Google maps - it has been such a life saver for me to use this in my journey. It has told me where I am walking, told me which bus/tram/train to take. It was worth it for me to pay the $50 to T-Mobile for data just so I could not run out at anytime. The only thing I wish I had a bit more of was battery charger. Google Lens was awesome to help me identify buildings, translate ingredients in foods. Wow!! Life is so different now. Luckily English is not a problem in either Norway or Sweden.
5. Money: It was great not using cash anywhere. I was ready with my phone this time. I had my card on the phone wallet, and my credit card ready to use. I was impressed how easy it was to use everywhere. Even the toilets were hooked on to electronic payment! There was just one food truck where the vendor's machine was not set up, but he managed by borrowing his neighbors. So no cash needed unless you need to give cash tip.
6. Apps: Everyone has Apps. Trains have apps, buses, cruise, city cards, museums...all have apps. And most are good. I used them and uninstalled them as I went. 
7. Cruise: The Hurtigruten cruise was both good and bad. Good because the journey from Bergen to Trondheim was perfect for me to see the fjords and some sea life. It was great except for the rain and cold. Good also because I got a taste of what it could be like to be on the cruise by myself, which was a bit boring, but doable. Bad, because in this case, it was what they call a "port to port" journey and don't cover food. That is pathetic I feel. For what they are charging they can always provide at least breakfast and one buffet lunch or dinner. They are just an expensive cruise. But Norway cruises are like that, others were even more expensive. 
8. Charging Electronics: Some trams and buses in Norway had USB chargers. But most did not. One of the trains had an electrical outlet but the other one did not. So a lot of hit and miss on the transports. Hotels were quite good though, they all had enough electrical outlets. My converter I got was perfect for me to charge my three things - computer, phone and camera. 
9. Water: It was hard to find places to fill up water bottles. One can do them in coffee places but of course you have to buy something before you can enter these places. Museum cafes were okay since their cafes are kind of open.
10. Restrooms: They are called Toilets or WC here. After living in America for so long, this is the hardest thing. WC are available for free in museums, no problems, but gardens, train/bus stations and in general city is hard. One has to pay anywhere from 1 to 2 $ to use the WC. The problem also is that sometimes people follow you after you leave without paying, so you are sucker who paid for everyone after you. Generally the restrooms are clean. Yeah...and one last thing...a lot of the WCs are unisex. It's strange walking into a toilet with men in it!
11. KimKim: The agency which booked all my hotels and transport and some tours. I am not sure if all the contractors are like the ones I got or mine were just new. The charge was definitely higher than I expected but this time its okay because I had too many places to visit. The drawbacks of KimKim were
    a) they were too slow in making bookings;
    b) they did not pay attention to details - first they missed the 18 nights I requested, then they missed that my booking was not for 18 nights, then they missed that the cruise was for 2 nights not 3 (even though I had asked them to confirm);
    c) the vouchers were uploaded 2 days before I left, which made me nervous and planning for me a bit hard as I was planning out my day activities;
    d) the maps and recommendations were not uploaded till the day I was in Sweden. By then I had already planned out my day,
    e) they could have recommended how much time I spend in different places. The only one they recommended was Flam, and I took it, and I am glad I did. I wish they had done more.
    f) they had too much of their personal stuff going on - child vacation, sick child, death in the family. I understand all this, but this is their job and they could have juggled it better.
    
    The good things were
    a) I did not have to worry about calling 10 different places for bookings,
    b) I had spent the bulk of my money ahead of time so the rest was just my personal tours, food and souvenirs, (I could have booked museum tours with them, but I think I would have been overcharged for them).
    c) all the vouchers for reservations were uploaded in one place which reduces my organization headache,
    d) the layout of KimKim is really nice and they provide a lot of information about the city, places to eat and visit,
    e) I will get a printed photobook of about 80 photos of my trip. I don't have the book yet, I am looking forward to seeing it,
    f) they keep in touch and want reviews to improve services. I think they are more like Uber of tourism - they connect you to local people to make program. 

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Sweden Last Day

Last day in Sweden which is not really a full day. I just have to get up and get to the airport. Even that turned out adventurous.

I was ready for breakfast by 6:55 am. I did have a cup of tea and toast before leaving for the Central Station. The walk to Arlanda Express was just about 10 mins. I of course went right instead of going straight, so I turned around and went back. All well and good. The train was leaving in 5 mins so I reached at great time at 7:20 am. Reached airport in under 20 mins. 

The airport security was a long line, but it moved quickly - no taking off shoes, no taking out laptop! All done. My boarding pass said D18 but it was not showing up on the main display board. There was another flight going to NY and so I went to F72. I had just sat and decided to check again and realized that now my flight was on the board and it said "take shuttle from F gates to D24. And I realized that I had to go to D gates. I followed the signs and went through security, where the lady called the bus to take me to the D gate. It took 20 mins, but as I was waiting I heard my flight being called to fill at D18 gate. I got there in good time by 9:30 am (flight time is 10:20 am). 

It was quite crowded. I don't know why my ticket was flagged but they made me wait 15 mins for no reason. Anyway, it all worked out, and I boarded the flight. I gave up my exit row seat because it was right next to the toilets and the smell was bothering me. I slept just a bit and watched movies the entire way to NY. Things moved smoothly in NY JFK airport and came to find my gate. I did have to check in carry on as usual. They let me board early - why? Who knows?? Watched Tracker on the plane. It's a good show.

Got home by 7:30 pm. Took a shower, made tea and just sat for a while. It was nice to be home. I feel like I don't remember anything I did during the trip :-)

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 18 - Stockholm 3

Last full day in Stockholm and last day of touring. I am looking forward to going home. 

My first event, the boat tour, is not until 10:30 am, so no rush. I don't want to be walking around that much since I have to walk later in the day.

Breakfast was boring. I have been eating too many eggs. Left hotel at 9:45 am. Took the #7 tram to Styrmansgatan. It is the close to the where the boat tour will be. As I am walking and taking photos of buildings and trees, I see these two small towers with lights lighting in them to a particular height. On reading, I find out that the two towers - total eight sides are measuring 8 different environmental details - particulate matter, nitrogen, phosphorous, quality of river water, CO2 etc...This is so cool!! I am sure there are sensors somewhere.

The boat starts boarding at 10:15 am. It is crowded! I guess it is a popular tour. Mine includes lunch which I find out will be served at 11:30 am. It is super cold outside with the wind, but it is a beautiful sunny day. The boat ride is fun, see different islands, learn about the settlements and see huge houses and wow all those amazing apartment buildings. The narration was quite good with a sense of humor.

Lunch was hopeless - mashed potato stuffed with mushrooms and fried - why does it have to be mushrooms? There are so many beautiful and tasty vegetables out there. I removed all the stuffing and ate the potatoes. They decorated the plate with god knows what - parsley? kale? what the heck was all that?? They could have just made some rice and decorated or some carrots and broccoli would have been okay. Dessert was included but my hot tea was not. Dessert was a brownie decorated with some cream and blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Why can't they remove the green leaves of the strawberries?? Not impressed with the chef. The tour was good though.

Went back to the bus stand to take #7 to the museum. Walked the long route to Vasa museum, should have gone right of Nordic rather than left. Anyway got there...entry is $19. The guided tour started in 5 mins. It was nice. I heard on the boat tour also about Vasa ship sinking within the first 30 min of the maiden voyage. It was in the water for more than 300 years, until in 1060s the Swedes found it again and decided to dig it up. It was amazing! They restored it almost to its original glory and is more than 90% original material. It is a beautiful ship! Apparently no one was held responsible for the ship sinking - terrible. 

Vasa

Saw the 20 min movie. There is a lot of science and archeology involved in this project. It was amazing. The museum really did a great job of arranging the artifacts, giving a good idea of what life was like 300 years ago. Really good.

Now for my last thing to do in this trip...walk the Gamla Stan. Took the #7 tram now to T-Centralen. From here tt's a straight walk to Gamla Stan. It was about half a mile from here. The walk was nice going through a whole lot of shops just like it is towards my hotel. Cross the canal and I am in the Old Town. Well...it's a mountain of a mole hill, at least for me. It was the old town converted to a shopping area. Lots of tourists shops and eating places. Reminded me of Salzburg when I was walking near the castle. Anyway it was still nice to walk. Saw some classic things, like the Noble Prize museum, some other building that I have to figure out, the classic houses next to each other, the narrowest lane in Gamla Stan and Stockholm and so much more. It was a fun walk. And since I did have some room in my luggage, I bought a couple more souvenirs, light ones though. 

Sat down and has a cup of tea and cinnamon bun. Sad that even if you are paying customer, the shops don't let you use their restrooms. 

Started the 1 mile trek back to the hotel. It is a nice walk. Reminded of the day I came on Monday when it was jam packed and I was just in awe of the shops and crowd. Now I am getting used to and now its time to go. 

The one thing I miss doing is riding the red T to see some stations. I don't have the energy to go out anymore.

It's been a good day and I want to leave it like that. 

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 16 - Stockholm 2

 No need to get up early as everything opens at 10 am. I want to do the following:

• City Hall
• Vasa museum
• Go up to see the view from the other side of the river
• Cannot see the palace as they open only on weekends.
• And whatever else...

Breakfast was same old boring bread, eggs, cheese, cucumber etc...I fill up to my max and got ready to go to the City Hall. Today I am going to take as many as bus/trams possible. 

Outside is really nice and sunny. It is cold, but not too cold.

Got to Central and took the bus #53 Norra Bantorget, to Taglebacken (just 2 stops) and then walked to City Hall. Saw the huge steel building (Radisson Hotel) opposite the City Hall. Amazing building - the hotel. City hall is quite impressive as well. There was a notice there to get tickets from the gift shop - okay - I thought it was free. Nope - it was $17 and the tour would start at 10 am. I had 20 mins to walk around. It is also being renovated so a huge tarp covered the building.

Tour started at 10 am. A young lady took us to the Blue Hall, which is not blue but there is a history behind it. The bricks were so nice looking that the architect decided not to paint over them. The big hall is used for the Noble Prize celebration dinner. 

city hall

The Golden Room above that is used for the dancing/reception after the dinner. Anyway, it is a good Blue hall, the guide told us a lot of history (its only 100 years old), design was to look like it is more medieval than modern. 

We went up to another huge hall that is also used for celebration. This hall has beautiful murals made by the brother of the king, on the wall reflecting the shoreline buildings from the windows. There are wonderful chandeliers and carvings. 

And last room we went to was the Golden Room. It was made from mosaic from Italy, which went to Germany and then came to Stockholm. It was a beautiful room and the mosaic designs were all meaningful and telling a story. I am not sure I want to write them all here. Anyway...it was worth the tour. I bought a magnet and key chain from the shop.

Walked back to the T-Central station and took Tram #7 (from in front of Ahlens mall) to the Nordic Museum. I thought it was another name for Vasa museum, but my bad....it was the Nordic museum.

Nordic Museum - Ticket was about $17. There are 3 floors of history and artifacts. I had to download the audio to really enjoy the museum. It is interesting museum even though this is not the one I wanted to see. It shows the 600 year old history of Sweden becoming Sweden and the departure of Norway and Finland in the process. Really most of the history is quite brutal and Christian oriented. I don't like how the pagans had to leave their rituals to become Christians, which also kept changing from Catholic to Protestant to Lutheran...whatever. I was exhausted by the end of it, which is about 1:30 pm. I had some coffee and went down to use the restroom, but ran across the museum shop. I bought some traditional Swedish work lace. $5 I think.

Took the #7 to Nybroplan (should have gone up to Kungstradgarden) and had to swtich buses to #57 which will go closest to the viewpoint of Monteliusvägen. This was  tricky turnaround. The blue dots showed how I had to walk, but on the ground I was completely lost. Good for a couple ladies who told me where to go. I ultimately found the bus stand and I had a 18 min wait. Walked around and took photos of the Kungsträdgården garden area there. Got on the bus and got off at Mariatorget. I have a little more walk to get to Monteliusvägen, the view point. It was all the way uphill (small hill - hehe). The view of the city was amazing. I could see the city hall, Gamla Stan and the amusement park. It was great! 

Walked around the edge of the hill for a while and then came down the same way. I had seen some eating places there. On the main road I found a store that sold home furnishing materials, I ended up buying some traditional lace, 2 m of two different kinds, It was a great store and I got the lace for half the price of the museum store. Then I thought I might as well eat here. There was a Thai food place, Mae Thai. They had a lunch special for $10. I ordered Panang curry, it was great! I enjoyed my food. The bus #57 was going to come in 15 mins, and I saw a Coop across the road, so quickly went there and bout $5 worth of assorted chocolates as gifts and for myself. Did not have to wait for 57, took the 55 since I was going only to one stop and it took me to the same place, Slussen. (Yeah - I am getting comfy with those buses!)

From Slussen, I have to take the T (subway) to Hortorget from where I can walk to my hotel. It is 5 pm now. At Slussen, I found an elevator that went up a bit high since it services people on a small hill. I took a detour and went up the lift. The view was good. 

Came down and took the T, but since its the green line, I thought I would go to the two stations I had highlighted to see including Hortoget, Odenplan and Thoridlsplan. Well, I did not even get off at Odenplan, I did not see any art. Thoridsplan I got off, but no real art there and it is also above the ground, so not underground. I took the green T back to Hortoget. 

Hortoget station is full of stores and I found a bigger Coop. I thought I would see what kind of stuff I would get. Really I was looking for those Jalapeno peanuts. The peanuts were not there, but I did get some cookies, crackers and veg bouillon for making stock. I guess the peanuts were more of a Rema1000 deal. Okay...time to go to the hotel. But wait, what is around that corner? Some beautiful stairs. Okay more photos. Then I remembered the stairs I had marked on my map and realized they were back where I came from in the T station. So...walked back to the bridge. The stairs are called Bridge Stairs. I found them by this beautiful bridge. They look similar to where they shot Joker, the movie. (The real ones are in Bronx, NY).

Now its time to go back! And yes, I made it to my hotel by 6 pm. 

It was a good day. I cannot walk anymore today, so I am just going to stay put and write or watch TV. 

I am suddenly realizing that I have been using my credit card like a magic card. I have not checked how much I have spent. Hopefully, not more than $30 per day. 

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 15 - Stockholm 1

Today is my last day in Oslo. It's good. Part of me wishes I could have gone home from here today. But three more days in Stockholm! There is nothing much else in Sweden (for now) so better see Stockholm now since its barely a 5 hr train ride from Oslo.

It started easy going today, my kind of day. Breakfast was as usual...getting boring. I went to Normal to get my chips and mini toothpaste. I don't need anything else, oh - and got my little Normal bag as memento. The train is at 11:43 am so left hotel at 11 am. Train was on time but not as fast as I was expecting. We got in 10 mins late to Stockholm. The scenery was okay. Fall colors were a bit on display. I had gotten some spinach pastry and sweet stuff from Narvesan at the Oslo station. Both were really tasty. Funny thing is no one checked my ticket!

Stockholm was busy!! There is a huge mall right in front of the station. And when I took the left turn to get to my hotel (Queens Hotel), that is all an open mall. Saw a food mall on the way. There is just too much shopping stuff. I am walking through all this and thinking its all a waste of time and money! Walked and dragged my luggage for about 1 km to the hotel. They did not have my reservation. Had to call Silvia to get it set which she did. But there should never have been any problem to begin with. Anyway...all set. The room is okay, a single bed room. I find these a bit small but its okay. I'll survive! 

Went out to walk a bit. I did not want to walk towards Gamla Stan as I want to do that on Wednesday. Walked towards Hotorget, but things seem to be wrapping up. There is a lot of shopping going on in this area. 

Walked towards the Central station. Decided to go to the food place to eat something. Got some pasta. It was okay. I could not finish it so had to leave some. Not eating such heavy food again so late in the day. 

Decided to check out the subway station. Activated my 72 hr. train pass. The first time in the subway is always an adventure and Stockholm has many lines. I wanted to take the green one, but ended up on the blue one since it was there right as I was walking. I went up to Solara Centrum and took some pictures and then took the train back. Its good! I think I will be able to make it to Drottingham palace tomorrow.

That's it for my day today. Tomorrow should be fun!

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 14 - Oslo 5

Today is museum day. I got ready and had breakfast by 9am. Bought the Oslo card for 1 day online. I want to see at least three museums and use the public transport, so it should work out. 

First stop is City Hall. It opens at 9 am so I should have left earlier but reached there around 9:45 am by taking tram #11. The back side of the city hall is getting renovated, so it kind of looks bad. Anyway, the front entrance is on the other side. It is a wonderful entrance! A fountain and sculptures. I would have missed this! The inside also was amazing. I thought I was the only one there, but there were many tourists inside. There were wall to wall paintings, huge tapestries and wonderful chandeliers. All in all a great visit! And all for free. Spent about 1 hr here.

I need to take the ferry to the museums now. There is a special ferry for that on port "F". It was good, took all of 5 mins to get to the other side. They did check the Oslo pass here. Got off at the Fram museum. 

Fram

I really did not know what the Fram museum was about and I was pleasantly surprised. It was the first person, a Norwegian who set foot on the North Pole. Fram was the name of the ship. The original ship was there along with a lot of the original items. I found it fascinating since I had read the book on the captain who took the trip to Antarctica. This museum was full of information and history dating back to 1890s. There was so much reading to do, but I could not spend so much time here. I still spent over an hour reading, taking photos and admiring all the work these brave men did. It really takes a different kind of human being to be in these kinds of ships in such harsh conditions for so long. 

Next to the Fram museum is the Kon-Tiki museum. Again, no idea what this was. Apparently it was a journey of 6 men from South America to Easter Island on a raft in the 1940s. It took about 100 days for them to get there. Again, adventurous men! There was another raft there, Ra, which was made of papyrus and also used to sail to one of the islands. This was in 1969. Again, too much reading there. I figured I will read about it later on the internet.

Kon Tiki

The third museum there was the Maritime museum. I would not have visited this if I did not have the Oslo card. There was not much of my interest here. There were some nice paintings though. And a cafe....so I had an egg sandwich ($5). It was about 2 pm now.

Took bus #30 to the Cultural Museum. Had to change the bus to go in the other direction to reach the museum. I was expecting this to be like any other museum, but I was so wrong! 

There were four buildings making a square, each had things in it, historical items (clothes, house stuff, furniture etc.). This itself took one hour, and then there was the open air museum. This was a lot of buildings built outside in real dimensions to show what life was like in Norway. 

There was a lot of walking involved. There was also a stave church. This one had the original interior and some original pillars - about 1100 AD. The exterior was rebuilt. This church was much better than what I saw in Bergen. Walked around more, did not go to the farm side, but saw old Oslo streets. Very nice. It is a nice way to learn your history. There were many tourists there and probably locals too. It is about 4 pm now, and I need a cup of tea, so had one at their cafe.

Last thing on my list was the Ekeberg Garden. Took #30 bus to Solli and changed to #13 tram to get directly to Ekeberg. I thought I would be the only one there, but it was crowded! 

I knew there were sculptures there but not how and where. The museum would be closed by now. I think I heard about Ekeberg when I want to the Munch museum. Edvard Munch lived around this area. I can see why he would be so inspired to paint and draw. The location is high up and one get get a nice view of Oslo.

There was a lot of uphill in this park. I was not prepared for it. I had been on my feet since 10 am, but thank God for good shoes! The sculptures were everywhere. I reached the restaurant in the park, where is the best viewing for Oslo city. Really can see all the key points. Saw the map and realized that the maximum number of sculptures can be seen over 1.5 km walk. Okay then! The trek was  hard in the beginning, all uphill, but there were sculptures dispersed everywhere so it was nice to just go slow and enjoy. The most entertaining and big sculpture (or was it?) the light display in the forest. There were strings and strings of light that were changing colors, and music was playing. It was just magical forest. It was the most crowded place.

Went on to do the whole loop. I really enjoyed so many of the sculptures. These artists have really amazing imagination and the ability to bring it to a physical form. It was totally worth it. I would recommend about 2 hours for this park and come around sunset. I did not see much of a sunset because it was cloudy. It was after 6:30 pm when I was done....and boy I was done. I was just tired of being on my feet all day. 

Took the #19 tram to the central station and made it to my room. Had chips, peanuts, chocolate and will top it off with 2 advils - hehe. I am beat today. But really had a good day.

Norway Fjords/Sweden - Day 13 - Oslo 4

And I am going back to Oslo. Yesterday when I checked the train status, I kind of felt that it might be cancelled, but I wanted to wait until today to confirm. And yes, it is cancelled and they are providing bus to take us to Oslo. 

Got up at 6 am to get ready and was out of the hotel by 6:45 am. The station is not far so no issues there. Met someone at 7:15ish who was guiding passengers towards the buses. There were three buses and they separated the passengers according to their destinations. Very good organization. My driver was a doppelganger of Carlos! Good driver. I sat in the front, thank God. The scenery for about 6 hours was amazing! It was an eight hour drive. We started on time.

Within 2 hours I started seeing snow topped mountains near Oppdal and that is how it was for the next 3 hours or so. It was also snowing in some places. Yeah, the temperature was 0oC.  The scenery was just wonderful. I can see why Donbas is on the list for people to visit. It is beautiful. There were waterfalls on the way, a mountain stream turning calm and fast was going along the road (Hwy E6). We had to make stops in different stations since the train had been cancelled so we had to drop and pick up passengers, but the bus never got completely full. At 12pm the driver stopped for 30 mins to eat lunch, that is when I had mine too. My pita bread had gotten soggy, but it was still okay.

After Lillehamer, the scenery was more like Switzerland, lakes and beautiful hills and the mountain river going along the highway. This went on for 2 hours. So beautiful. I enjoyed the drive, taking photos and listening to my podcasts.

As we neared Oslo, the highway became 4 lane. The traffic has not been that much. I still don't want to drive here alone. People are very nice here though.

Reached Oslo around 5 pm. Walked to the same Comfort Karl Johan hotel and checked in. It's like coming home! I got a nice room this time, on the 3rd floor.

Today I wanted to see the public library, so walked there. It is right next to the central station. I thought that building was an office building, but it is a 5 story library, with 2 floors in the basement. It is huge! It has stuff for everyone, even tourists like me. On the way back, went to the central station and got a slice of pizza from 7-11 and walked around the mall. I don't need anything. Part of me wants to go to Normal shop, but again, I don't really need anything! Maybe tomorrow I will go and buy a small toothpaste since mine is running out.

Walked back to the hotel and waited till dark, as I want to see what the Opera house looks like at night. Ventured out at 7 pm and took some night shots of all the glass buildings, the library, opera house and Munch. It was a nice walk. The walk towards Karl Johans Gate was not great. There is no night life.

That's it!