Going North – Nordic Adventure
After leaving Egypt we made our way to Paris for a little down time and to visit Betsey’s family in Meudon (close to Paris). It was a nice time with family as well as doing some cold weather clothes shopping and laundry. At La Mare aux Canards, a family favorite restaurant in Meudon, we shared a lot of duck, wine and laughs with Peter and Florence, Betsey’s cousins. There were two major art exhibits in Paris – one at the Louis Vuitton Foundation and the other at the Pompidou Center. The first was the Morozov exhibit, an Impressionist and Modern art collection gathered by 2 Russian brothers. It is the first time the collection has traveled outside of Russia – very exciting. The second was an extensive retrospective of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work – also incredible. Wandering around the city is always delightful. It was sad to see the remains of Notre Dame but encouraged by the incredible rebuilding efforts underway.
After Paris, Scandinavia beckoned – Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia. The temperatures in Stockholm were certainly a switch from those with shirtsleeves in Cairo a week earlier. And short days – in Northern Norway the sun rose at 9:30 and set at 1:30! Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm is beautiful with quiet cobblestone streets with little doorways and shops and wonderful small restaurants. But Stockholm is also the home of the Noble Prizes – we toured the fascinating and inspirational museum honoring the award winners as well as the magnificent city hall where the yearly Noble banquet is held.
Stockholm is loaded with history and grandeur. The Stockholm Palace is enormous and regal. We tried to absorb some of the rich history of Sweden at the Viking Museum – incredible complex relationship between the Swedes, the Finns, and the Danes.
A highlight was walking around the Vasa ship – it was to be the largest ship in the Baltic when it was launched on 10th of August 1628 – it promptly rolled and sank about 1000 meters off the dock. It was raised 330 years later in 1958, wholly intact. With much (and ongoing) preservation, it is now the centerpiece of a historical museum. We even visited the ABBA museum (no singing involved) – they were (and still are) a huge phenom in Sweden.
After way too many tasty, rich, dinners in Gamla Stan, it was off to Oslo, Norway. Much more of a bustling big city than Stockholm – Norway is known for being the rich kid in the neighborhood – with prices to match. They’ve built an Opera house to rival Sydney’s with a unique design to suggest the glaciers. Next door to the Opera house is a recently opened 9 story Munch Museum filled with Edward Munch’s works – we wrangled some last-minute tickets to the sold out exhibit and were amazed by all his works beyond ‘The Scream’. Both buildings face this beautiful Baltic harbor – with icy water and saunas both mid-stream and along the shore. Mark took a long warm sauna as well as a reviving dive into the chilly waters. Norwegians do not let a little cool weather dampen their love of outdoor activities. The sailing cruise up the fjords was full with people taking in the beauty of the waterways. Lots of tiny and not-so-tiny summer homes dotted the many beautiful coastlines. Given the time of year, the Christmas market was already going strong with plenty of warm glӧgg, beer and hot chocolate.
For Betsey’s birthday we flew up to Tromso Norway – about 70 degrees North, over 200 miles north of arctic circle. Tromso is a nice fishing town with a pretty coast line and town center. On Betsey’s 29th birthday late at night we drove up north about another 2 hours (with a great guide and a small group) to where Norway, Sweden, and Finland meet to see the Northern lights. After hiking to a little calm stream in the woods and right on cue the lights started their display – beautiful green streaks across the sky. They danced and moved around for a few hours -we were so lucky – and Betsey got some great photos. It was plenty cold but the guide had provided cold weather suits which kept us toasty. After the lights diminished, around a little camp fire, our guide recounted a few old Nordic stories including a few about the local trolls. It was a long night but incredible! The next morning after sunrise, we rode a cable car up to the top of the mountain top overlooking Tromso and were thrilled by the view of the fjord and surrounding mountains – very cold and windy up top with lots of snow but worth it for the view. As you’d expect meals included wonderful fish soup and unexpectedly great beer.
After Norway we went over to Helsinki, Finland. By now the days were getting very short and the weather getting colder. We didn’t find a lot of interesting things in Helsinki – a beautiful red brick cathedral from the outside but closed due to renovations, the parliament building nice but also closed, several other museums but mostly closed for the season. On a whim we took the ferry over to Tallinn, Estonia (about 2 hours). Tallinn the capital of Estonia is a beautiful old-world town with several old churches, stone gates, storybook buildings lining little streets, and a little fort. The Alexander Nevsky cathedral is the first we saw with the onion dome tops – impressive. Estonia has been an important Baltic trade hub for centuries and also taken over many times by varies countries most recently the Soviets. They became independent in 1991 after the ‘Singing Revolution’ in 1988 – 100,000+ people got together in Tallinn and sang all night for 5 days afterwards they declared independence from the then Soviets.
Visiting the Nordic countries was a blast and we can’t wait to go back some time with warmer temperatures and longer days. Next stop, Krakow, Poland.
Comments