Blogs from Norway, Europe - page 10

Today we were not getting into port in Oslo until noon, so no alarm today. The nurse came by and took vitals and all was well with both of us. They tested Susan to see if she can get out of quarantine. We watched as the ship came down the fjord. This fjord doesn’t have the high mountains like before. Susan said it looked like a cruise on Lake James. We got to Oslo around noon and luckily, we docked again on the starboard side. Today was like yesterday, food, movies, reading, email,… Just boring. Susan’s results were supposed to be back around 4, but no call. She called down to the medical center after it opened and they said the Dr would call her when he had time. Around 5:45, she got the call. They ... read more

Well today is not what we expected. Susan woke up not feeling great so decided it was time to take a covid test. Boy it pop’d up positive too quickly. We both put on masks and I opened the door to the deck. Then I called the front desk and told them. They said medical would be contacting us shortly, Well,…. Medical opened an hour later and I called and they had not heard anything from the front desk. They asked us to show up at 9. We did and they did a rapid test on us both, Susan – positive, me – negative. They then did a PCR test for us both. Susan is quarantined in the room, I’m free to go about as long as I’m masked. I leave to go for a long ... read more

Dear All This blog entry relates my travels around the southern coast of Norway, dubbed the "Norwegian Riviera" as it is very much the country's favourite summer holiday destination. I took a break from the highlights of the western fjords and cruise ships, and delved I feel into a bit of the real Norway beyond the picture postcards. I spent a lovely three days on Norway's southern coast, off-the-beaten international tourist track, and spoke in Norwegian for pretty much my whole time there, impressing myself with how much I could get by with it. I could certainly say things I needed to say, and read things, but when people spoke back to me it was a bit trickier to understand. But I loved being able to practise it there, without people readily speaking back to me ... read more

Still rainy today, but it came and went in spurts and was mostly just a light mist so that’s ok. I started off by going down to the water in Sjoholt (finally no low cloud/fog cover). Not too far into town there’s also this quirky forest statue park (Elvastien) that I’m really glad I found - their facial expressions are top notch. Also saw a bunch of people (successfully) fishing along the river in the forest - they were walking away with some real big ones! I drove back to the Moa mall (free parking!) and took the bus into the city and am so glad I did lol - it’s San Fran-esque in terms of very hilly and steep roads all over… but also narrow of course. I’m glad I didn’t have to manoeuvre today ... read more

Dear All Greetings, with this blog entry on more exciting adventures I had this summer in the western fjords of Norway - it certainly is a beautiful part of the world! Norway's western coast is actually so close to the United Kingdom, you don't really realise it - the country is indeed one of our closest neighbours, yet I don't think we really think of it as such. The language is also surprisingly not too different to English, due to our shared Viking roots, and with a bit of basic knowledge of it, it is actually fairly easy to read. It is, however, a little trickier to understand when it is spoken though! I had a really wonderful few days on this next part of my journey. On the Sunday, I bade farewell to Bergen as ... read more