Scandinavia 2019

14 days, 5 countries, 7 hotels, 8 flights, 8 trains, 7 buses, 2 taxis, 3 boats, 2 funiculars, 8 trams, 2 pairs of legs and 2 rides in Kirk’s truck… it was a fun adventure for our 5-year wedding anniversary (10 years together)! Some takeaways from the trip: Norway is the most expensive country from our trip (and any country we’ve ever visited). Helsinki, Finland was our coldest. Only -2°C but the wind chills (kills)! Cutest is a toss-up between … Read More

It’s our last day of sightseeing for this trip, and we want to make the most of it. So we follow Janel’s recommendation of catching the ferry across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia. The EU and EURO country was a part of the Soviet Union in the past, but now we don’t even need to show ID to get in after a 2-hour boat ride across the Gulf of Finland. The weather is showing its … Read More

Why are we getting up so very early this morning? Oh, right, we’re heading to the airport for our next leg of the trip: Helsinki. Norwegian Air will take us from ARN to HEL in just under an hour, but with change to Eastern European time zone, we’re short another hour this morning. As experienced before, free WiFi is available just about anywhere, and so we have no problem following the instructions Kirk’s Air Force friend Janel sent us on … Read More

While we’d love to make this as lazy of a day as possible, we have a couple of agenda items that require us to roll out of bed at a decent time and get going. First up: breakfast at the Wiener Caffeét (anno 1904), a traditional Viennese Coffeehouse that I found in a brochure and declared a must-visit for today. Just a few minutes from the hotel, we enjoy the authentic atmosphere and food to get the day started properly. … Read More

It is time to say Goodbye to Tromsø as we leave the freshly snow-coated city through the maze of tunnels under the hills. Never have you seen less daylight when crossing an island than here – the tunnel starts in the middle of town and ends right at the airport, roundabouts and intersections under ground included! Check in/bag drop, security and going to our gate only takes minutes at the small TOS airport, and soon we are walking across the … Read More

After getting back to the hotel after 4am last night it’s a very late and lazy start into this Monday in Tromsø. The weather is not making getting up and out any easier as it is a toss up between rain and snow with some wind mixed in. Dog sledding trips are cancelled due to the heavy rains having washed out tracks and we’re not going for a 3rd light chaser tour as conditions are worse than the last couple … Read More

After sleeping off last night’s disappointment we get up and out by midday today. It is very quiet in Tromsø today – not unusual for a Sunday after tourists were out late chasing the lights and what seemed like all of the 20,000 students in town out partying until the wee hours of the morning (we saw them outside the bars, taxi lines and bus stops … everywhere… at 4am!) We have a few hours for Tromsø sightseeing before our … Read More

Kirk and I have a lot planned for this Saturday. Not only is it our 5th wedding anniversary, but it’s also the day we’ll first try to catch a view of the Northern Lights! Step 1 in that adventure is to bid Bergen farewell as we hop on the airport express bus to catch our Widerøe flight from Bergen to Tromsø. Tromsø, also known as the Gateway to the Arctic will come up when you google “best place to see … Read More

We have a full day to explore Bergen, Norway’s second largest city located on the west coast of the country. While quite large, the downtown (and touristy) area is easily walkable. Even from our hotel (CityBox), a 5 minute walk from the training station, the main sights include the fish market and Bryggen UNESCO world heritage area, all within a few minutes walk. The city centre and northern neighborhoods are on the city fjord (Byfjorden). The city is surrounded by … Read More

After a good night’s sleep at the Flamsbrygga Hotell and another hearty breakfast, we are ready to explore what Flåm has to offer. Late last night the rain had turned into snow and covered everything with a light blanket of fluffy goodness to greet us in the morning. The village of Flåm is in Flåmsdalen at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden – a branch of the Sognefjorden with 350 people living here. As a cruise ship port however, it … Read More