Oslo - Fish Soup Round 5, Cliff Diving and Pizza - Wait, What???

We are in the Air France lounge in Paris CDG Airport waiting for our flight home.  It was quite a trip getting here, but more on that later.

We disembarked Sirena at the far port in Oslo.  GM Marck told us that it would be chaotic there with few taxis and suggested that we book a private taxi, which I did.  Well, that didn't work.  Marck was at the gangway and helped us with our luggage to the taxi waiting area - he really treats us so well.  And there was quite a queue for the taxis.  I booked the taxi for 8:45.  It was a no show!  So, at 9:10 we joined the taxi line which by then was fairly short.  It was a pretty quick ride to the Karl Johan Hotel (where we stayed the last time we were in Oslo) and the good news is that the taxi fare was about $25 cheaper than what I had booked.  Now I'm fighting with them for a refund.

At the hotel, we received good news - our room was ready for us.  We dropped our luggage, got settled a bit, and then headed for a coffee shop.  After coffee, we went back to the hotel where Linda did her exercises and I posted the previous 2 blog entries.  By then, it was time for lunch.  We walked over to a restaurant down the street from the hotel where we had previously eaten.  It was crowded and the greeter was rude, so we quickly left. (BTW, Oslo was very crowded.)  After a bit of wandering and a bit of consulting Google Maps, we made our way to Stortorvets Gjaestgiveri restaurant.  What a great find it was.  We sat out back on their not crowded patio and had one of the best lunches we've had.  The fish soup was second to none and the Skagen sandwich was delicious.

Observant Linda had noticed some signs advertising a cliff diving competition at the Oslo Opera House.  Can you believe it?  The opera house is a fantastic building which we have visited in the past.  The exterior is unique and the interior is decorated with what else but Norwegian wood.  So we walked the 1 km to the opera house (Linda a big day walking, more on that later) and caught some of the action from afar.

                                         

After watching for a while we made our way back to the hotel for a coffee stop and a nap.

After that lunch, we weren't sure that we would want dinner, but guess what?  We did get hungry.  We decided that we had had enough fish soup and seafood so we opted for pizza!  I found an Italian restaurant, Casa Pisano, that looked like it had good pizza and that was a short walk from the hotel.  The restaurant turned out to be a popular and interestingly decorated family business.  And the salad and pizza lived up to their on-line ratings.

As I said, it was a big walking day for Linda - 3.3 miles.  And she felt not too sore and ecstatic that she could do so much!

This morning's flight to Paris was fine.  The arrival in CDG, not so fine.  Linda had requested a wheel chair for what can be a long walk in CDG.  The wheel chair was at the gate for her and then things got weird.  The first wheel chair took us from the gate to Passport Control where we had to wait for about 10 minutes for another wheel chair to take us through.  We thought that that wheel chair would take us to the gate, but no!  He took us down to a van that was supposed to take us to the concourse we were to leave from.  Once on the van, we waited for another person they were taking and then we got quite a tour of the airport as they took her to a farther concourse where we waited some more.  Finally, we were taken to our concourse, and after a bit of confusion, we were brought to the lounge.  It turned out to be a 1 hour ordeal to get here.  At least we have lots of time until our flight to LA.  Hopefully, our flight to LA will be uneventful and the ride I booked to take us home will actually be there.

So that is it for this adventure.  Next up is an Alaska cruise in about 4 weeks.  Stay tuned.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

Fish Soup Round 4

I'll get right to it - Tuesday in Kistiansand was Norwegian Fish Soup round 4.  It was not the best but it was still good.  More on that later.

We were here almost 2 years ago and walked up to a big park.  This time, I attempted to hike around the Odderoya peninsula.  I say I tried because of a combination of not following the All Trails recommended route and my increasingly obvious old age.  When I left the ship, I walked a bit along the waterfront until I found a street that would take me up to the trail.  After a couple of detours, I passed yet another playground and made it to the actual trail.  I stopped at an old battery for a rest and the view.

I continued up the trail and then came to a very steep downhill that took me to the lighthouses.

I walked a little way longer and then saw the next uphill.  At that point I decided that I did not have the time (and maybe the stamina) to continue on, so I decided to retrace my way back to Linda.  The real challenge then was to make it up that very steep hill.

As we sailed out that evening, we passed the area I hiked.  I took this photo which I think does not do justice to showing how steep the trail was.

On the way back, I found another battery that gave me a good view of the city.

After returning to the ship, it was time for fish soup.  We walked along the waterfront.

We continued on to the Sjohuset restaurant.  Now as for the fish soup, it was the one that was most loaded with seafood, but the flavor was not up to the others.  Don't get me wrong, it was still good.  And the salmon and trout salad was outstanding.

After lunch we walked past the fountains where I attempted to recreate a selfie from 3 years ago.

Kristensand was our farewell to Norway until we disembark in Oslo.  Then it was on to Denmark and Sweden.

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry

On To Denmark (and Sweden)

Wednesday we were in Skagen, Denmark.  It was a welcome return to a very nice city.  We took the shuttle bus into the city and returned to the art museum which we had visited 3 years ago. They have a wonderful collection of local art.

 

Does this one remind you of a Renoir?  It did for me.

After visiting the museum, we deviated from our usual lunch routine and just got a sandwich from a bakery.  We sat in the park at the museum and enjoyed it.

Later that day, I took a walk along the coast past a nice neighborhood and to the beach.

On Thursday, we were in Copenhagen.  We have been there several times and we took an excursion that included a canal boat ride, which we hadn't done before.  I had to stop and think if I really wanted to do it, but was glad that we did!

Here's just a few of the many photos we took.

The excursion finished with a short bus tour of Copenhagen.  We were glad that it did not include a stop at the famous Little Mermaid.  In our opinion, the Little Mermaid might be the most overrated tourist attraction in the world.  Later, when we were out on a walk, we approached it from afar and marveled at the crowd around it. Can you find her?

We were docked in a great location, adjacent to a big park.  We had a nice walk around.  The statues in the park were much nicer than the Little Mermaid!

An interesting event was occurring at the port.  Apparently, Norway had banned very spicy food because it was causing hospital visits for children.  The ban had just been lifted and this boat that serves spicy food was being put back in service.  It was quite a celebration.

Friday we were in Gothenburg, Sweden.  We had booked an excursion but, as I followed the weather forecast which called for a rainy day, we decided to cancel it.  Besides, as I looked back on my blog entry from our last visit, I saw that I had referred to the city as uninteresting.  What a good decision it turned out to be.  It did rain all day and we were glad to have the time to do all of the things we needed to do to prepare to leave the ship the next day, though we did miss out on the opportunity to have Swedish meatballs.  The weather did clear in the evening as we sailed away.

One note on this cruise.  There were more families on board than the typical Oceania cruise.  It was great to see families enjoying quality time together like this family.

Today, Saturday, we are off the ship enjoying a day in Oslo before we fly home.  Another chance for Norwegian Fish soup?

Peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry