Norwegian Fish Soup - Round 3

 I hadn't planned on this trip being a tour of Norwegian Fish Soup, but sometimes serendipity takes over.  More on that later.

Today, Wednesday, we were in Kristiansand.  We started out with a walk through the harbor area, through the fish market, and along the boardwalk.  Great fountains!

Our ultimate goal was to walk up to the Ravnedalen Nature Park.  We walked through the town and headed up an uninteresting road until we arrived at the park.   Then we were rewarded for our uphill climb.  We first came to a small lake where we stopped for a view and a snack.  Continuing on, we came to a small pond that provided a great place to sit and enjoy the view and the near perfect weather.

Apparently, the Norwegians have not received word that they are supposed to remove their Confederate Soldiers Monuments!

While sitting by the pond, we noticed a hiking trail that went further up into the forest.  We continued on to discover another beautiful mountain lake.

Now it was time to make our way back and serendipity struck.  We noticed a different and less rocky trail that went down a different way.  The reward was a nice hike through the forest and yet more lakes.  These are in the Baneheia area and seemed to be a popular swimming spot for the locals.

After returning to town, it was time for lunch.  We found a bistro next to the cathedral.  And, of course, I had to try the fish soup.  It definitely was solidly in the number 2 spot of the fish soups I've had,

We took a leisurely stroll back to the ship (stopping to buy a couple of Lego books for the California grandkids).  It turned out to be a grand day with 7+ miles of walking.  Now we're sailng to our next port - Maloy, Norway.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

The Real Oslo Wrap-up

 Just a little more to report from our last day in Oslo.  We boarded Sirena this morning.  It was so smooth compared to the last couple of cruises when pre-embarkation Covid testing was required.  When we got to our suite, we found a "Welcome Home" surprise courtesy of GM's Thierry Tholon and Ludmila Zelkin - a lovely 7-layer chocolate cake which Thierry knows is our favorite (and now Ludmila knows it as well!).  Maybe Ludmila is attempting to become our new favorite GM?  Don't worry Thierry, you can never be replaced.

  

 

One wonderful thing that we found on board is that three of the top officers are women - Ludmila, the GM, Susanna, the Food and Beverage Manager, and Gorica, the Restaurant Manager.  The captain is still a man but I am sure that one day we'll have a female captain as well.

After settling in, we took a walk around the harbor where the ship is docked.  It is located close to the opera house where you are able to walk around the outside - such a beautiful and interesting building.

Continuing on, we walked past the Munch Museum and along the waterfront.  Oslo has so many statues spread around the city and here we found one of the more fantastic ones.

Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to go into the Munch Museum which brings up another point.  When we decided to spend 3 days in Olso before the cruise we thought that it would provide enough time since we had been here before.  We were wrong.  There are a couple of museums, a walk along the river, and another sculpture park that we did not have time for.  I guess we'll have to return!

It's now 6:20pm and we were supposed to sail at 6:00 so we've obviously been delayed.  I hope it won't be too much longer so I can throw in some pics from the scenic sail away through the fjord.  Hang on . . .

We finally sailed away at 6:45 after a few stragglers came on board.  And here we are leaving Oslo and sailing into the setting sun:

And one other thing - we're hoping to see the northern lights as we make our way up the Norwegian coast.  The forecast that I've seen online looks promising - keep your fingers crossed for us.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

The Oslo Wrap-up

 It's Monday evening and we're wrapping up our stay in Oslo.  It's been a busy couple of days and the weather has cooperated, especially today.

We arrived in Oslo late afternoon on Saturday.  We took a bus from the airport that got us close to our hotel, the Karl Johan.  It's a nice hotel in a nice area - across from a park, near old buildings and many restaurants.  It's also just a short walk down to the port area.

After dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant (and there are many of those in Oslo), we were able to get a reasonable night's sleep to prepare for a busy Sunday.

For our first activity on Sunday we walked past the royal palace . . .

. . . to the Vigeland Sculpture Park.  We had visited there some years ago and were anxious to get back.  In the park there are over 200 sculptures done by Gustav Vigelands.  For me, the sculptures provide fascinating statements about the human condition and relationships.  Definitely worth a return visit. Pardon all of the photos but there was so much to see!

After the park, we headed back to our hotel but had to make a stop for lunch.  Now, you might think that we were anxious to try some Norwegian cuisine but Google pointed us to the San Francisco Bread Bowl.  It had rave reviews and the menu looked appealing.  It lived up to the reviews!

After lunch it was time for the anti-jet lag nap before our next adventure - a 2-hour cruise around the Oslo fjord.  It was a nice cruise and the sun even came out towards the end.

For dinner, I decided that it was time for Norwegian cuisine.  We went to a restaurant near our hotel and, when I ordered the fish soup the waiter said that they were out of it.  We immediately left and went back to the hotel for a recommendation.  He pointed us to a restaurant down by the port which turned out to be really good with good people watching.  I failed to get a good photo of the food before I ate it, but you can see the aftermath.

Monday's planned activity was a hiking tour covering three of the islands in the fjord.  We had time to walk around the Akershus Fortress before the tour.  Just for reference, the MSC cruise ship docked there is 6 times as big as the Oceania Sirena!

Our hiking tour started with a ferry ride to Bleikoya. There, we did a small hike around the island.  The island has a few cabins where the Norwegians like to go for the summer.

Our next ferry ride took us to Lindsay Vest.  This island is much more populated with many cabins.  The cabins are supposed to be limited in colors to red, yellow, green, and blue but we saw a few outliers.  We also had a stop for a bite as part of this hike.  We were able to buy some cheese and crackers to enjoy picnic style.

The last island on our tour was Hovedoya.  This was a largely uninhabited island with a battery of cannons from its time as a defense fortification, a beach, and the ruins of a monastery from the 1200's.

It was an excellent tour of the three islands.   Our guide, Neve from Scotland, was terrific.  When we got back to the hotel, we decided it was time for a drink and time to catch up on our blog/journal.  Not a bad spot for that.  As we sat, the second Ukranian support demonstration that we have seen here passed by.

One last Oslo dinner tonight (will it be Norwegian, or Italian, or Vegan?  I'll let you know) before we get on the ship tomorrow morning.  It's been a good two days in Oslo - I recommend it.

Peace and blessing,

Linda and Larry