Geo: 60.4675, 7.07192Today we arrived in the quaint village of Eidfjord nestled in the heart of one of Norway's most scenic regions. From the Norwegian Sea, the waters of the expansive Hardangerfjord lead to the smaller Eidfjorden and to this charming mountain hamlet. We visited a nature center and viewed a IMAX type movie about Norway. Vast, rugged beauty. We have had beautiful sunny days. They say that is unusual. It rains a lot; but, so far, we have enjoyed sunny and cool days. Fantastic Broadway type show tonight, The ship sets sail for Stavanger so we will be sailing all night and have an early morning excursion.... read more

Geo: 60.3881, 5.33185We are flying Air Canada from Houston to Toronto Canada where we change planes and travel from Toronto to Copenhagen Denmark and finally, changing planes again we arrive in Bergen, Norway. A very long day. This will be our second trip with Viking; but, this time an Ocean cruise rather than a river cruise. We'll be visiting, in addition to Bergen, Norway, Eidfjord, Norway, Stavanger, Norway, Aalborg, Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, Berlin, Germany, Gdansk, Poland, Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki, Finland and finally Stockholm, Sweden. What an adventure!We left Houston at 11:30am on April 29th and arrived in Bergen Norway at 3:00pm the next day. Flying into Bergen the views of the snow caped Fjords were absolutely beautiful! Breathtaking is the only word I can think of. The ship is small compared to some ... read more

Geo: 51.4262, -116.178This morning we began a motorcoach tour of Yoho National Park. We began at the Front Range mountains driving through Banff National Park and then to Yoho (which means totally amazing) National Park. Our first stop was the Spiral tunnels. These train tracks soften the steep grade for trains coming across the Divide. Because each tunnel makes a complete spiraling turn, trains actually cross over themselves. We happened to arrive as a long train was going through the three tunnels simultaneously. You could see the engine emerge from the upper portal while 15 meters elbow it, the last cars are still entering the lower portal. The trains did not always have the benefit of this gentle, winding grade up to the pass. From 1885 until the Spiral Tunnels opened in 1909, steam engines inched ... read more

Geo: 50.6761, -120.338Our train adventure begins traversing through Fraser Valley along Fraser River eastbound from Vancover to Kamloops. Everything is green and lush. In this region local farms produce a variety of crops including berries, field vegetables, orchards, bulbs, hops, seedlings and Christmas trees. We traveled through the town of Hope situated in the Cascade Mountains at the start of Fraser Valley, made famous by the 1858 gold rush. It is the chain saw capital of BC. A Rambo movie was made here. It's said that many gold miners came with hope, most left with despair because there wasn't much gold here after all. We passed by First Nations people fishing for Salmon. First Nations people are similar to our Native American Indians. Our train is very plush and comfortable. The main seats are above with ... read more

Geo: 50.1183, -122.954Today we took the Gondola up to Mt. Whistler.  We walked through the upper village to the lower village, up and down many steps until we reached the first leg of the Gondola.  It was raining and cloudy.  We rode to the peak where we reached the summit house.  Enjoyed hot chocolate and admired the snow capped mountains.  Visibility was not good though; but, we made the best of it.  We then rode the Peak to Peak Gondola which is the longest suspension gondola in the world and covers 1.88 miles with no poles.  Amazing views even when it's cloudy.  We wanted to take the chair lift up to the top of Mt. Whistler but it was too cloudy and rainy.  We rode back to the summit house and down again.  We managed to ... read more