Oslo, Norway

 Our ship arrived in Oslo on Wednesday afternoon and docked in the harbor.  We took a Hop-On - Hop-Off bus tour tour around town but did not have much time to explore.

The weather again is bright, cool and pleasant.

We find that Norway has very little pollution, and strict environmental regulations even on private lands.  Almost every driver has an electric car and these charging stations are everywhere and accept  credit cards.

Here is the Munch Museum that Bill visited.  Note the monument on the left in the harbor as a reminder of the power of water and ice called "She Lies".

Edward Munch was a Norwegian artist famous for this painting "The Scream".  Bill liked that he was born on December 12, 1863.  The 15-story modern building is full of his weird painting and sculptors. 

His various works of art are so strange and different that  Bill enjoyed the hundreds of pieces on display.

Strange and weird.

and different... figure this one out?

This must be what a bad day at home can lead to.

Finally - some good uplifting art on display!  It was an unusual and very interesting art museum.  Truly an art museum worth a visit if you get to Oslo!

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Stravanger, Norway Walking Tour with Guide

 On Tuesday, April 28, we stopped at Stravanger which is the main southern port of Norway.  It is a very old city with cobblestone streets and the highest concentration of original wooden buildings in all of Europe.

There were numerous guided walking tours offered so we found our native guide and followed her for two hours.  She spoke clear English that even Bill could understand so we liked her - a lot.  And followed...

We stopped at the national oil museum and learned plenty about how Norway gets its oil from huge drilling  platforms out at sea.

We walked around the old parts of town on narrow cobblestone hilly streets.

We saw the largest concentration of original wooden harbor houses in Europe.

We walked past a bomb shelter from World War II.

The old parts of the city were very hilly and many in our two-hour tour group skipped out early and walked back to the ship.  We stayed the entire time, kept up with the fast-walking native guide and loved the tour.  Cheap-skate Bill even tipped the sweet lady at the end.

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Eidfjord, Norway

 Our second stop on this big boat ride was further inland, by water, to a small mountain village called Eidfjord.  The weather again is cool, clear and beautiful.  The main attraction here, beyond the landscape, is a modern Scenic Norwegian Nature Center.  It is about a half hour ride by bus so Bill grabbed a seat to check it out.

The Nature Center from outside.

The sparkling rivers and streams up here have plenty of trout like these on display.

The Reindeer run wild in the mountains nearby and two bucks fighting better be careful....

...as this native hunter from the past is ready for more meat and clothing material.

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Norway in April and the Weather is Cool

 Last Friday, April 24, 2026, our friend Francis dropped us off at the Traverse City airport in the afternoon.  We then flew to Detroit, to Amsterdam, and then to Bergen, Norway.  Our flights were on Delta and Air France.  All the 11 hours in the aircraft seats gave Bill terrible back pains so he was ready to get to our ship - The Neptune owned by Viking.

We settled into our cabin on the ship and were delighted that our luggage arrived at our room soon after we did.  The ship is large holding 900 passengers plus it crew.  We are now about six hours ahead of Michigan and the weather is cool and clear.

On Sunday we passed up all the shore excursions and simply walked around Bergen and checked out a few of the shops and stores.  The currency here in Norway is the Krone which is worth about 10 cents of our dollar.  Many of the shops have beautiful wool sweaters.

We are now far to the north so it was no surprise that Bill was attacked by this type of bear!  

We visited a small museum in Bergen and saw where Vikings from long ago had lived.

This very tall Viking was kind enough to donate his ancient body to the museum for display,

We walked back to our ship and took a last look at the harbor that was very quiet on that Sunday.

Tomorrow is Eidfjord Norway.

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