28.3.11
I'll be Away for Three Weeks
Traveling to Norway to hunt some Vikings and lots of beautiful landscape. I wanted to do this tour for years, and in the winter season it's half the price on the Hurtigruten ships that travel along the Norwegian coast from Bergen all the way up to Kirkenes at the Russian border, crossing the Arctic Circle and circling the North Cape, and back again. The Hurtigruten started out as post service with some bunks for passengers in 1893, and has over time morphed into a mix of cruise, ferry service and freight transport. It's still an unusual cruise with no captain's dinner and entertainment on board (the landscape is entertainment enough), and with a lot more stops that a normal cruise, even at night. There's time to visit some of the towns along the way, and guided tours to fun places like a reindeer farm; plenty of things to do and to watch during the 12 days of the voyage.
So I'll be off via Copenhagen where I'm going to stay for two nights, then by ferry to Oslo, taking the train to Bergen (the route is one of the most scenic railway routes in Europe) where I'll stay another two days. Next onto the ship and doing most of the cruise, though I'll leave one day early at Trondheim on the way back to get more time for that town; finally by train to Oslo with another day to stay, and back home.
And to give you a photo to go with the theme, here's a stave church.
Stave church in Hahnenklee
That one's not in Norway, though, but modeled after one of the most famous Norwegian stave churches, the one of Borglund. It stands in Hahnenklee in the Harz. The town needed a larger church at the end of the 19th century, and the plan for a neo-Gothic stone building turned out to be too expensive. So the architect took his inspiration from the stave churches about which a lot of material had just become avaliable. There was an interest in everything Nordic because Emperor Wilhelm spent most of his summer holidays in Norway. And that's why there is a stave church in the Harz since 1908.
Stave church, interior
Of course it doesn't slavishly follow the models; there are elements of continental churches as well, fe. the tower. It's really pretty, and I'll put up some more pictures when I'm back. Sometime mid-April.
For now it's back to several feet of snow that long ago have melted here, even in the Harz, and temperatures that will not please the birch pollen (which didn't please me those last days). But I'm crazy and actually like winter.
I'll have internet acces on board, but I don't think I'm going to spend much time in front of a computer. I may check in occasionally, though. ¶ 11:45 PM
Traveling to Norway to hunt some Vikings and lots of beautiful landscape. I wanted to do this tour for years, and in the winter season it's half the price on the Hurtigruten ships that travel along the Norwegian coast from Bergen all the way up to Kirkenes at the Russian border, crossing the Arctic Circle and circling the North Cape, and back again. The Hurtigruten started out as post service with some bunks for passengers in 1893, and has over time morphed into a mix of cruise, ferry service and freight transport. It's still an unusual cruise with no captain's dinner and entertainment on board (the landscape is entertainment enough), and with a lot more stops that a normal cruise, even at night. There's time to visit some of the towns along the way, and guided tours to fun places like a reindeer farm; plenty of things to do and to watch during the 12 days of the voyage.
So I'll be off via Copenhagen where I'm going to stay for two nights, then by ferry to Oslo, taking the train to Bergen (the route is one of the most scenic railway routes in Europe) where I'll stay another two days. Next onto the ship and doing most of the cruise, though I'll leave one day early at Trondheim on the way back to get more time for that town; finally by train to Oslo with another day to stay, and back home.
And to give you a photo to go with the theme, here's a stave church.
That one's not in Norway, though, but modeled after one of the most famous Norwegian stave churches, the one of Borglund. It stands in Hahnenklee in the Harz. The town needed a larger church at the end of the 19th century, and the plan for a neo-Gothic stone building turned out to be too expensive. So the architect took his inspiration from the stave churches about which a lot of material had just become avaliable. There was an interest in everything Nordic because Emperor Wilhelm spent most of his summer holidays in Norway. And that's why there is a stave church in the Harz since 1908.
Of course it doesn't slavishly follow the models; there are elements of continental churches as well, fe. the tower. It's really pretty, and I'll put up some more pictures when I'm back. Sometime mid-April.
For now it's back to several feet of snow that long ago have melted here, even in the Harz, and temperatures that will not please the birch pollen (which didn't please me those last days). But I'm crazy and actually like winter.
I'll have internet acces on board, but I don't think I'm going to spend much time in front of a computer. I may check in occasionally, though. ¶ 11:45 PM
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Have a wonderful trip, Gabriele! Will miss you while you're away, but am really looking forward to seeing your pics when you get back!
Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. I'm busy taking photos already. Got a Gothic brick cathedral, a Viking ship museum (both in Roskilde), and a harbour cruise of Copenhagen so far.
Hope your trip to Norway is wundershon! (O with an oomlaut!) I have chosen you for the "One Lovely Blog Award!" Please visit my blog "Ancestors Gotta Eat" at http://ancestorsgottaeat.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-lovely-blog-award.html for your badge and acceptance rules and Keep on Blogging!
Thanks, Annis, Anerje and Carla.
The tour is nice so far albeit a bit on the rainy side. The internet access is more that wobbly; I'm writing this from a library in a little town close to the North Cape.
I got lots of photos of mountains, sky, and water. *grin*
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The tour is nice so far albeit a bit on the rainy side. The internet access is more that wobbly; I'm writing this from a library in a little town close to the North Cape.
I got lots of photos of mountains, sky, and water. *grin*
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