4-3-2016: Day 7, Chateauneuf-du-pape

April 2 - We Meet Our Guide Harry

Speaking of wine – we have a special treat courtesy of Tina and Jim’s connections in Paso.  We have hooked up with Harry Karis, author of THE book on Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  

Harry will be driving us to the best of the wineries in the Rhone Valley and Provence region over 4 or 5 days as we will soak in and concentrate as much as possible (emphasis on soaking) on the wine and region.  We cannot wait to meet Mr. Karis, as he is one interesting guy!  

The first adventure Mr. Karis admits to is being a guitar player in a rock and roll band in the mid 70’s where he started enjoying wine.  In the 80’s he moved on the opening a restaurant and continued and ramped up his knowledge and appreciation of wine.  But not one to relax, Mr. Karis decides, at age 40 to finish medical school!  That degree no doubt helped pay for great wines from all over the world but he focused on Southern Rhone wines and especially Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  However, Mr. Karis did not find a great book on Chateauneuf-du-Pape - so he wrote one!  Not just a little book about his favorite wine, he wrote THE book!  

And we get to spend time with this guy while drinking incredible wine in the beautiful Rhone Valley.  Whew!

 

There he is - the famous Harry and he smiles and has a sense of humor - this should be fun. Let's go a wine tasting! But first we tour the vineyards cause they are different. Really different. Glaciers were active in the Avignon region and pushed up rocks from the riverbed of the Rhone - tons and tons of smooth river Rock that cover much of the ground. So much of the ground is covered in rocks with vines sticking up here and there. It is early Spring and the vines have just broken buds in the last week. There are no supporting wires for the grapes here so it just looks different. Take a look at the photos Tina will post. 

Avignon has a wine event for the local wine people and Harry gets us in. It is just a local affair but the room is filled with 50 or so Wine people just wanting to pour as much as you can hold. Thank goodness Harry is with us and he leads us to 5 or 6 that each pour 4 or 5 wines to try. We sip and dump as this could be hazardous to our health! But each wine is wonderful! These are all Rhone wines so prevalent in Paso Robles but right away we see the difference as these are so layered and balanced so now we have two Rhone river wine areas we love! Our guide is famous here and many folks stop to pay their respects and to visit. 

We see maybe only one other American at a tasting spot and he is serious - taking notes on the Chateauneuf-du-pape we are trying. Silly me, I thought there was only one Chateauneuf-du-pape but there are many. Chateauneuf is a village and they have both white and reds in this region. So the education begins. We talk to the American and somehow Jim and I reach to dump and talk at the same time and comes a big wave of wine all over the American. White wine thank goodness but a good amount . The guy is way cool, does not miss a beat and says he have more clothes in his room and besides it should dry soon. But he talks to our guide and finally he stops, takes a breath, stops writing and says, "Are you Harry Karis?" And he begins to shake. "I have one of the first copies of your book! I have it all marked up and notes written in the margin. Can I get a picture with you". And he pulls out his camera phone and smiles the biggest smile with Harry. He wants our emails and he forgets about his wet wine pants cause today he meant Harry! 

What a treat being at a wine event for locals and us. We need a break and we like to walk and so does Harry so we head for the hills. We walk above the vineyard to a castle that was bombed in the war and still in need of total repair - but everything here is charming and so is the view. 

What a nice day so we head back to our lovely room.

4-2-2016: Day 6, Avignon... The Palace of the Popes

Provence is lovely!

We scheduled a day off to just visit Avignon so after a great breakfast we jump in a taxi and head to the old town. Avignon is an ancient city and famous as being the city of the Popes. 

Things have not always been smooth for the Catholic Church and there was split with two groups claiming to have the "real" Pope. Rome was a mess and so the "real" Real Pope moved out of town and headed to Avignon. Avignon was a city of commerce with one of the only bridges over the Rhone for miles. The Pope generates lots of attention and a lot of money and a lot of activity so Avignon is a boom town! The best wall you can imagine is built around the city with all the good stuff you hope to find. Watch towers that look like a chess set.

Inside are shops and in the biggest square is the Palace of the Pope. It is big - the biggest gothic building in the world. Such a calm and peaceful square it is said to be a mess during the Summer with visitors and tourists from all over. So glad we are here now! The Palace is nice and we marvel how the Pope and his staff lived on the collections from the people. The Palace was damaged from folks upset during the rebellion but some paintings and decorations remain. There are some nice views of the Rhone Valley from the hill behind the Palace well worth the walk. 

We're cold and hungry about 5 pm and are looking for a place for dinner before we head back to the hotel. Nothing opens until 7:30 PM, so we figure we'd find a place and hang out until they open. Nothing looks good, just tourist types of places and we continue to search the streets for a worthy place to eat. Nothing, head to the other side of this walled city and there is a very nice hotel with a noteworthy resturant. OOps...No tables until late at night, that's not going to work for us... But, the young man at the desk tells us of a very nice local fish resturant and offers to call ahead for us, and offers up the bar for a snack and a drink while we wait for 7:30 opening. Ahhh, very nice. Warm place to sit and sip on some very nice wine and share a beautiful cheese plate! Oh, did I mention that they had a huge very tempting chocolate egg in the lobby?

Dinner time came and off we head, to La Petite Peshe with a map in hand. With Clyde's fine sense of direction we locate the place...it was well worth the wait and the walk!

What a nice day!

4-1-2016: Day 5, Off to Avignon

Our time in Eze has been a dream but it is time to follow the River Rhone to Avignon. 

Train training...

Getting to Avignon from Nice is not all that easy and the best option is by train. Of course everyone says travel by train in Europe is the best and trains go everywhere and yeah, yeah, yeah. We tried it in Oslo and it was not a pretty sight. Here is what we learned - Everyone in the train station knows what they are doing except us. Oh, and the guy in the information station may know but he is not about to share with us. We found too that people from Europe know to travel by train with minimum luggage - we travel with maximum luggage so that is a problem. Another piece of knowledge is that they do not always speak English on the trains and what they say does not always make sense. 

We made it but it was stressful. But the best way by far to Avignon is by train so here we are, at the train station knowing not what to do. Ask a police, ask worthless information, ask other folks and bit by bit you know a little tiny bit. This is a really stupid (sorry France) system. All passengers sit in a room off the main terminal staring at an electronic board waiting for our train track. Waiting, talking to others, waiting until finally, about 10 minutes before time to leave, up comes the track number. Off goes everyone - but where? We did some scouting and we know - it's down the outside walk and down lots of stairs. Yes, that is correct, down lots of stairs and no escalator or elevator or help of any kind. We each have two heavy bags so this is really fun. Jim and I grab the big ones and the ladies grab the little ones and we go bouncing down the stairs, take a breath, and down the tunnel and what?! Now we have to go up the stairs?! Bouncing and grunting we reach the top and the train is there. Find our car - never did understand how you find the proper car but everyone else does so we finally find a spot that has a lot of the numbers of our tickets, big suitcases stored at the end of the car and relaxed. Whew! That was stressful. 

Trouble - the dude on the loud speaker speaks only French. OK, we can handle this - the train is due to arrive at 10:45. We can just wait until 10:40, the next stop has to be ours so off we go. Easy. Not so fast: there is a problem that holds the train for 30 minutes and so our clue to our stop is gone. We look and finally see a sign for Avignon and ask everyone in our car and sure enough this is our stop. We go to grab our big bags at the end of our car and they are buried under tons of others! Damn! Yanking and throwing the bags we get the bags free and we head downstairs and the train is starting to pull out - "Stop!" and other French folks help by calling out "Stop"! in French and we make it! Whew!! 

OK, where is our driver? Looking, looking, looking - no driver. Outside the station we wait, the rain starts, the wind picks up and so does the rain. No driver. Ah - a text from our driver: "Sorry, you train was late and I have another appointment so, ....." . Taxi time - no taxi in sight. Oh wait, Tina spots three taxis down the ramp, across the street and so we are off. These taxi drivers are a bit crusty is a generous description. They see us and there is a lot of discussion and arguing and we finally get a price but we spend the next 10 minutes pulling out bags out of this taxi and putting them in that taxi and keeping our bags together and we are finally ready with the Aho couple in one and the Brooker couple in the other. 

Yuck, our cab smells as if there is a fireplace in the back seat burning rotten wood and the cabbie likes to sing to himself and the race begins. Yes, a race. It seems our cabbies have decided to race to our hotel. Great. We drive and we leave the walled city hoping our hotel is fairly close but we keep driving and we are no longer close and the neighbor looks a little sketchy and even scary. We turn in and it is better - 

This is a resort but we are not convinced but the folks are nice so we head to our room. It is nice and roomy and the grounds are nice and this is going to be OK. We decided to try dinner and minute by minute we are really starting to love this place. Dinner is a winner and we head to bed in a very good mood indeed.

3-31-2016: Day 4, Last Day In Eze

It's the last day in this beautiful place..

And .... Krim is down with a stomach thing

Well, what can it be? ..we all ate the same thing except for the cheese. We all ate the cheeses in order until the last one that three of us declare should be used for fish bait. It just plain stinks. In fact Tina just plain spits it out as soon at it hits her mouth (not exactly the most discrete thing to do but she feels vindicated now). Krim, the born and bred European says, "Oh you guys, this is good, just taste it". It was round 3 AM that Krim is up walking around saying she does not feel right and by 7AM she is making runs to the bathroom and asking for the priest. Down for the day only making occasional groans. The world is cruel and Krim is getting hers today and we must move to Chev d'or down the way and leave Jim and Tina behind at Chateau Eza. So somehow we pack, walk down the way and into a beautiful, I mean beautiful room with a view to kill for with a full view of the Sea and two private areas to rest, enjoy a meal and think how wonderful life can be. But Krim sees nothing and wants to pull up the covers and die in peace. Lucky the weather is windy and cold and so she is not missing too much. 

Come evening Jim and Tina locate a delightful wine bar with food where the locals go and the most wonderful staff. Spending a fraction of the two previous nights we find great food and a awesome selection of wine a third of the cost and we have the best time. 

We head back to see if Krim is alive and bring soup (compliments of the restaurant - they are wonderful!!!) and 7 up compliments of Tina who knows just what is needed. And Krim perks up and she Lives!  It is all going to be all right. Yeah - Krim is back! 

Tomorrow we must leave this beautiful place, but one more beautiful night here..

3-30-2016: Day 3, Nice Day for Nice...

Nice, Monte Carlo, Grande Prix and the Royal Palace

Breakfast we decide to share and meet at 9AM. 9AM comes and no one is moving until Krim says,"what time is it?". "9:10AM" says I. I ring the Aho room and after a bit Tina mumbles some stuff and finally, "Huh, what time is it? And so we all show up 15 minutes later not looking our best but the folks are kind and we have the beautiful room overlooking the Sea all to ourselves. 

Coffee works it wonders and the food helps too and before long we are ready for the day. We have a three hour tour and we start with Nice - and it is nice (ha, ha, I had to say it!). 

We tour the old city and see some old Roman ruins and get some great views from the hill side. We also get a view of what is said to be the most expensive house in the world and a story to go with it involving the New York Nets basketball team Russian owner. $500,000,000 was the agreed upon price from the Russian to the local French banking family. So the Russian puts $14 million down to start the escrow. The French police get wind of the deal and start to check on this Russian and find there may be something with this guy and a young girl that could be maybe not so legal So, anyway, the Russian gets upset and backs out of the deal. So the French family's reaction is to keep the deposit. "Not so fast" says the Russian. And everyone brings in their lawyer and finally the French banker says, "I don't need your money, pay up and I will donate the $14 million to charity". The Russian keeps the lawyer working and, sure enough, the French win. And the money is still donated to charity and the Russian looks elsewhere for property.

We stop in the old part of Nice and walk the outdoor flea market that stretches a few blocks full of beautiful flowers and art and food and it is fun. But back in the car we go - we are headed to Monaco. We drive where the formula one cars will race in May and already they are putting up the stands. All the big name retail shops line the street and just down a bit is the the famous Monte Carlo casino. How cool is that?James Bond was right there. Parked in front is a Bentley, a Rolls, a Ferria, a Porche and up drives a Bentley and a driver guy hops out all decked out in hat and suit to open the door for a well heeled fur coated well cared for women to enter the Hotel Paris no doubt for a tea with some lady friends. Big ocean yachts sit in the harbor waiting for their owners. We walk around the corner to see the church where Princes Grace was married and on to see the palace just in time to see the changing of the guard. We later see from afar the road where Grace died in an auto accident. 

Fun stuff all but it is time to stop at a market for wine and back to our hotel to prepare for another Michelin star restaurant. Again we indulge and run up a bill that not only makes the heart jump it causes small beads of sweat to break out on the forehead and the hand to shake so it is hard to sign the receipt and put the damaged and worn out credit card back in the wallet.Thank goodness it was a Wonderful experience and we swear it is hot dogs for awhile until we bring our average dinner price down to a reasonable level. But was it an unbelievable experience!

3-29-2016: Day 2, The French Riviera

Half way from Nice to Monaco is the little village of Eze and it is ancient and known for charm and shopping and tourist for a good reason. But we are sometimes smart and we planned this trip before the season begins and the sun starts to bake. So the village is fairly empty and so far, no rain. The car can only get to the bottom of the hill and they kick you out to walk - steep walk up the hill through tiny walkways past tiny shops and picture a minute twists and turns. Pant, pant, pant. 

So we register at the desk, which is just a tiny little room with a desk. After they confirm that we are the Brookers and the Ahos, our lady asks us if we would like a drink of champagne to take the edge off of traveling. GREAT!! She takes us out to a drop dead gorgeous balcony overlooking the French Riviera. Out comes a young man about as soon as we arrive with four glasses of pink bubbles with blueberries decoratively floating in each glass.




Our hotel, Chateau Eza is at the top and lucky for us but not so for the bell hop cause he has our bags! This village is old - like 12th century old. Walking to the hotel we pass through a gate meant to protect the village and it worked for awhile. That is until 1543 with Suliman the great from Turkey jointed up with others and breached the defense and took over the town. The hotel folks are great and send us outside for a welcome drink on the terrace over looking the Mediterranean Sea - the beautiful turquoise blue waters for which the area is known. This is a village of Cobblestone walkways, rock walls, hand painted shop signs and it is delightful. 

We have reservations for dinner just down the walk at La Chevre d'or - a Michelin star restaurant. Oh, it is nice! And it is very discreet as we soon discover the menu for the guys have prices while the ladies have only food items. That explains why Jim and Clyde are croaking when we see an appetizer of Asparagus for one is over $70! 



We all just get an entree. Fish for "the girls" and beef for Jim and I went for the pigeon - it is France, right? The bird meal comes with an explanation because it is important to know that the cook does not just wrack off the head of the pigeon or shoot it up with a shotgun. No, no, no Monsieur. Such acts of brutality allow the blood to leave the body and with it so much flavor. No, it is important to strangle the bird and in so doing keep the blood and flavor in the bird. Frankly, I would have it no other way and was so happy to find the food is prepared properly. OMG! I ate the whole damn thing and proud I did. But the French do it right - at least here they do. We start to understand the reason for the prices. When you book a table you get the table - for the night! There is no turning the table to make a profit, they please the few lucky enough to get a table. 





So we start at 7:30 for drinks and show up at the table when we want and we leave the restaurant around 10. And the entree is not all we get. The staff brings several courses and each is a beauty to look at and the French wine is mighty fine. What a time and meal we have. But the flight was long and hard and the lag is hitting us and we start falling asleep on our feet.  

So bed it is and we sleep.

3-28-2016: Day 1, Travel ..It's Always An Adventure.

Let's do this!

It turns out you cannot just fly to Nice. Nope. You have to fly a little, fly a lot and then fly a little again. Jim and Tina start a day early and fly from San Luis to San Francisco cause the next flight starts early - really early. Like before they turn on the oxygen in the world early. Like 5AM early. But this is a vacation so they show up and off to Chicago they go and then they sit and they sit and wait and wait and wait cause the plane no wanna go in the weather. Now the next connection is in trouble but that only means they can meet up with Clyde and Krim in London and fly into Nice together. Remember what they say in Iceland; "Things will work out".

Clyde and Krim start with a nice flight from Sacramento to L.A.and after a bus ride we enter the new International terminal and it is kind of weird - almost empty and not a flight and gate sign to be found. I guess the architect did not want to spoil the looks with a big easy to find and read sign to help folks. No, the sign is on a post facing away from traffic. Brilliant. 

As Clyde and Krim enter the British Air huge plane we find it is built like a double decker bus! Really! They have an upper floor and a lower floor and both are full of folks. 500 or more folks. But not all folks are treated the same - surprise! Folks with way too much money or those with way to many points from flying all the time (read the latter as Aho) have seats and beds and we find out later - pajamas. Clyde and Krim find their seats are a little different. Our seats are packed in like sardines. Like small sardines. Lord help you if you drop anything cause there is not enough room to bend over to pick it up. There should be a law, I am here to tell you - chickens live better! Good thing the flight is ONLY 10 hours! No sleeping happening tonight. Anyway, we all make it to Nice and so does our baggage (how do they do that will all the connections?). Our driver awaits and off we go for a ride overlooking the French Riviera. Oh-La-La!

1-26-2016: This Year it's Wine, Champagne and Tapas

Ahh...

We are going to France and Spain this year!  It can get hot and crowded there in the summer so we are making our trip in April.  And both places, we hear, have pretty decent wine and food.  So it is set then, off we go to France and Spain!

We split the trip planning so Tina planned our route in France and I looked for the good stuff in Spain.  Straight off we find we need half a year to see what we want so we make some hard decisions.  Tina and I are buried in their Pismo Beach office making plans and reservations and, fueled by coffee and wine, we create a beauty of a trip.  Krim and Jim are going to love it! We can reminisce on the trip as we eat beans and rice for the rest of the year to pay for it.

Tina starts us off with a winner as we fly into Nice and drive half way to Monaco for a stay in a beautiful boutique hotel with a Michelin star restaurant set in a medieval town high on a hill overlooking the French Riviera and Mediterranean Sea.  Fabled wine country with fabulous food and scenery awaits us for the next 2 weeks!

We saw the impact of Spanish conquests in Peru and now we will get to see the effect of the Moorish invasion and occupation of Spain for more than 500 years.  We must visit a bar or two for Tapas, Flamingo guitar and dancers!  And just for kicks we will check out the place Columbus planned his sail to the new world.  Sherry was invented here and provided fuel for the Roman Orgies – got to see that!   North of Madrid the region makes wonderful wine we must try. We spend the last days of our trip in Madrid where I feel certain there will be a last shopping spree. 

Are we really doing this?  Stay turned to see what happens!  

So here is the schedule as we know it today, and there is more planning underway. We'll update as our plans continue to take shape:

So here is the schedule:

• March 28, Leave for Nice, France
• March 29, arrive in Nice, dinner La Chevre D’Or in the town of Èze, on the French Riviera
• March 30, Dinner Chateau Eza
• March 31, Dinner yet to be determined
• April 1, Avignon, in the Provence region, and set on the Rhône River. From Nice we arrive VIA train.
• April 2, Avignon
• April 3, Avignon
• April 4, Vienne
• April 5, Vienne
• April 6, Vienne 
• April 7, Bordeaux
• April 8, Bordeaux
• April 9, Bordeaux
• April 10, Bordeaux
• April 11, Barcelona, Spain
• April 12, Barcelona
• April 13, Barcelona
• April 14, Barcelona
• April 15, Fly into Granada, Spain, tour the city and then we’re shuttled to Seville for dinner.
• April 16, Seville
• April 17, Seville
• April 18, Fly to Bilbao and then off to Elciego to the Hotel Marques de Riscal
• April 19, Elciego
• April 20, Fly to Madrid
• April 21, Madrid
• April 22, Madrid
• April 23, Fly home

7-27-2015: Last Day....Flight Night

Breakfast is included and after coffee we hit the hot water and there are maybe four other people in this large area and we cannot even see them. Tina, Krim and Jim opt for a facial while I opt for beer by the lagoon and we are all feeling mightly fine with the day.

 

But, alas, it is time to leave and head back to the good 'ol USA. So, we head to the gate in plenty of time but - what the hell?! This looks like an NFL game just ended and there is only one tunnel out. I mean there are people lined up, babies crying and everyone is waiting for 5 people doing passport control and none look in any hurry. All 9,000 of us checking our watches with a plane to leave in 30 minutes and the line is not moving.

Finally we clear passport control but the crowd is stuck - no one moving. Jim has done his usual magic and 20 people ahead of us. But what is this? Jim gets the dreaded "Random security check" and as we work our way by he lets out a meager plea, "Hold the plane, please".

We finally clear the mass of folks and hit the gate and there is a swear to god bus waiting! Tina makes the bus but Krim is stuck as the door closes and I am stuck on the tarmac thumbing a ride. But a bus is found and after all that we wait for those stuck in Random security check hell. Eventually Jim emerges and, already 15 minutes after scheduled take off we leave for the plane. We have learned the Iceland folks have a saying that translated means, "It will all work on in the end" and we have used it often on our trip and know what, it always does. We will keep that advise and remember always the wonderful beginning of our trip, the Iceland ending and all the in-between wonders we got to share.

This has been one hell of a wonderful trip!

 

 

7-26-2015: Back to Iceland!

Nice flight - no problems, no hassle and entry into Iceland is so nice - everyone heads for the "nothing to declare" exit and they do not even have someone on the "To declare" line - grab the bags and go. And by go I mean to the special treat we (rather Tina) set up for our last day of the trip. We are going to the famous Blue Lagoon of Iceland.

But not the usual Blue Lagoon experience but we are headed to the Blue Lagoon Clinic. The Blue Lagoon was created by excess heated water from the power plant. The hot water is created by pumping glacier water into the earth where magna heats the water to steam that is used to power the electricial power for the City. The still heated water is used to heat the homes and other stuff in the City but they still have excess that was not used. But some smart folks decided to create a lagoon of hot water. A no kidding a lake full of the most beautiful blue hot water. The mud and water (with silica) is famous for making skin happy so everyone in Iceland looks 25. That bring tourists from all over the world and they line up to take part. I bet Tina has a picture!

It can be crowded and we heard from friends a less than satisfying event. So, we slip off to the Clinic that has 15 Rooms and their own Lagoon in the middle of a lava field. It is marvelous and we check in and hit the water around 4.

My, my, my. The water sucks out the stress, sucks out the sore muscles, sucks out the dead skin and sucks out the energy so you cannot move. The magic is apparently also in the mud and they keep a couple of buckets handy for us to use. Slap on the mud on the face and where ever and we stare at each other as if it is perfectly normal.

We have wonderful Aho wine left here for our return and heaven cannot be this good! Somehow we drag ourselves out and walk for 10 minutes on a path to the crowded place where people are packed but we walk past to our reserved table. The food is very, very good but Tina and Clyde can barely get the fork to the mouth but we find our way back to our rooms for a most wonderful sleep.

 

 

 

 

7-25-2015: Last Day in Bergen

The lazy days continue with walks to nowhere in particular and views to not forget. The town square is where you end up one time or another for shopping, visits and the working street people singing or standing very still on a box all painted with gold all with a hat out front for donations. But today there is a guy in mid-air floating about another guy holding a cane - levitation is going on here and no wires in sight. These guys are good and they gather a crowd. Any idea how they do it from the picture Tina will place here?

Dinner is a delight as Jim and Tina find a neighborhood restaurant with great food and a waitress with a great humor bone and knowledge of wine. Food is wonderful and we have a special night of dinner - our last in Norway for we return to Iceland tomorrow.

 

 

7-24-2015: Bergen Hike and Dinner Delight

There is a cable car that runs up one of the 7 hills surrounding the city and the entrance is right in the middle of town. Over 1,000 feet above the city the view is said to be spectacular so we have it on our list. It is raining on this day (of course) but between rains we sneak our for a walk. "The Girls" do some shopping, Jim does some needed work and I decide to check out the oldest building in town- St. Mary's Church. Probably built in 1130 by rich German merchants, the church has been in continuous use since early medieval times. A major restoration was just completed this year so I am lucky it is open. There are life sized statues of the twelve disciples plus moses and John the Baptist. The pulpit is a mystery as it is unlike any other in Norway. It was presented to the church in 1676 by prominent merchants but the biggest prize of the church is the alter reredos from the end of the 15th century. It is a screen, probably from Lubeck Germany and depicts Mary and the infant Jesus and other biblical scenes.

So if you go to Norway you just have to take a trip to see a fjord or two. They are everywhere on the west coast of Norway so we book a day trip and off we go. Bergen is full of islands and it seems they are all filled with homes and bays and places to keep boats and walk-ways down to the water from the hill sides. Different styles of homes, and different sizes. Jim, of course, has been talking about Swen and Ole for years and how the live down by the wharf in Bergen. So we are looking and ya know, by golly, we spot what just has to be their houses, right on the water with a little place for their humble boat! but the trip goes on and the view is getting a little boring and we wonder if maybe we booked the wrong cruise. But finally we turn up a narrow canyon and spot a waterfall from high on a cliff, there is another and the walls go higher and we see a cove where legend has it a thief stored away his stolden goods until one day he was discovered and ended up on the wrong end of a rope. But the view gets better but the weather worse as a little rain hits us and a cold wind whips round the port side of our vessel and it is time to duck inside. Many other waterfalls appear and we declare this voyage a good choice afterall.

So, next day after a long breakfast, we all meet on the street and decide to take a walk - perhaps up the hill to a small church like building. Up we go by the cable car and climb steep steps to finally arrive at not a church - just a building but the view is nice - "Right Jim?" "Jim!" Jim is off on the path to WALK up the damn mountain to the top! What the hell - lets go and see what happens. "We can stop anytime we want", says Jim. We walk, it rains, we walk, we sweat, we walk, switch back after switch back but the view is getting incredible and even though we have the wrong shoes and lack of planning we all kind of get into the walk. Finally we arrive and the view is as advertised - spectacular! We see the entire city and hills and bays and islands and the city. I bet Tina will toss in a photo to show the view. Wow! There is a playground for kids and a delight - troll heads on poles hidden in the trees for the kids to find, picnic tables scattered about and a nice cafe. In we go for wine and beer. Wine down and Jim decides to walk down. Tina, Krim and I vote for more wine and beer and to try the cable car ride down. The cable car kicks us out in the middle of town and we are delighted. What a cool thing! Right in the middle of town you jump a cable car for $6 and a 7 minute ride to hiking trails and beautiful views and a delightful day with an easy beautiful walk down to town through ferns and trees and views of the city.

 

A fire to warm our bones and a couple glasses of adult beverages awaited us at the top!

We reward ourselves that evening with dinner at the "Bare" Restaurant in the center of town with great reviews. Ouch, it is expensive but looks way too interesting to pass. So we vote to do the three course meal with wine and are glad we did. We start with appitizer one - dried fish skin with something on top - not good for Jim and Clyde but "The Girls" like it. Next comes pork rind and now we are talking and smiles all round. The food continues with all sorts of new tastes - smoked food using hay, hay sprinkles, indiginous berries, chicken liver with pork, Halibut cooked in juice, pork, sorbet with berries and several of the courses served by the chief chef. The wine and champagne was wonderful. It was great.

 

 

7-21...7-23-2015: Delightful Bergen

Wow is what we found our rooms to be - right next door to each other on the 6th floor we each have a small balcony we can step out on and look straight down to the water. Across the water we look at the famous old buildings of Bergen and it is a sight to remember. I bet Tina will throw in a picture or two of our view in both sunlight and in darkness - it is beautiful.

 

We take off on foot to the old town in the rain. It rains all the time here and in fact this is the home of the first umbrella vending machine. But, you have to take what you got and over the next few days we spend lazy days getting to know the place.

This is an old city that came into prominence from fishing but really hit the big time when it became part of the Hanseatic league - rich German merchants seeking trade and wealth. Bergen was the most populous city in Norway at one time and was the city of government for the country. The old town where once the commerce for the city was centered is now full of shops entered through narrow walk ways and alleys with retail, souvenirs and workshops for leather and jewelry. Its fun and we spend some time and a little money.

The city has a Cathedral and Krim and I visit. The architecture is different from central Europe but still impressive with high ceilings and church artifacts. The history of the building is a turbulent one as the building was first used by an King Olav the Holy, Norway's patron saint and it first mentioned in writing around 1150. Franciscan friars arrived in town in the first half of the 13th century and began to use the church. Fire messed up the place in 1248 and again in 1270 but fixed up each time. The church is pretty plain and has been so for most of it's history.

There is a cable car that runs up one of the 7 hills surrounding the city and the entrance is right in the middle of town. Over 1,000 feet above the city the view is said to be spectacular so we have it on our list. It is raining on this day (of course) but between rains we sneak our for a walk. "The Girls" do some shopping, Jim does some needed work and I decide to check out the oldest building in town- St. Mary's Church. Probably built in 1130 by rich German merchants, the church has been in continuous use since early medieval times. A major restoration was just completed this year so I am lucky it is open. There are life sized statues of the twelve disciples plus moses and John the Baptist. The pulpit is a mystery as it is unlike any other in Norway. It was presented to the church in 1676 by prominent merchants but the biggest prize of the church is the alter reredos from the end of the 15th century. It is a screen, probably from Lubeck Germany and depicts Mary and the infant Jesus and other biblical scenes.

 

 

7-20-2015: Trolly, Train and Bergen

Since we paid north of $100 bucks for a taxi from the airport it is a nice thought to know we are leaving Oslo by train. First challenge is to get from the hotel to the main train station. It seems they have a solution as there is a trolley right outside the hotel - maybe 50 steps away. However, it is over tracks and cobblestones that wheels on suitcases are not fond of traveling. And we are loaded with the usual stuff and bedding that we just had to have for our beds at home. Really - what were we thinking!?!

Here comes trolley number 18 and we jump, rather drag on and try to listen for main train statio and in Norwegian. It is not going to work so we follow the lead of the locals and when most get ready to leave at a stop we shout out, "Is this the main train station" and we get many "Yes" - so glad these folks all take English starting in 1st grade! But better still is a young lady with a scarf over her head from where I do not know - but she is an angel to us. She leads us to a better entrance to the train station with all our stuff and I try to wave her off with a thanks but she sticks with us - "I am going that way anyway so I will go with you". She finds the escalator for us and says, "I will meet you at the top" and she does and leads us to the big board with gate information. Along the way she tells me she lives outside the city and is working in a hospital but studying to be a lawyer.

So the Board says we are on track 4 so we go down a long ramp to the track and it looks like we have things under control. It is always good to make friends along the way and several of us are confused. So we talk to a Russian couple who are not sure because the sign says something else is on this track and we talk to two young Asian ladies that want to be sure they are in the right place. And an older lady checks in with us who now traveling alone since her husband had to cancel his trip for business reasons. Fine - until there comes an announcement the train will be delayed from 3:17 to 4:00. OK - until here comes our Russian friend that tells our train is on track 6! What - we run down to check the Board and sure enough there is a change in track but no change in time so we have zip time to make the change. We pass the Asian ladies and tip them off on the change and we tell our friend with the absent husband and we race off as the word gets round to the other folks and it is panic time. We push our bags up the ramp and round the corner to track 6 pushing and getting pushed.

We are in car number 1 which is down the entire train somewhere on the horizon where there is a clearing in the crowd. Bags and people are flying to the side and we know our Jim is making a run for it. Somehow the husbandless lady is with us and staring up three high steps with a bag she has no chance of getting up there. Quick stop and we throw her and her bag on the train and hit the gas toward car number one. Jim awaits and with a mighty grunt we heft the thousand pound bags up and into the storage bins and find our seats.

The seats are nice and we settle in for a 7 hour ride to Bergen on what is advertised as one of the most beautiful train trips in the world across the entire width of Norway. If you make the trip, be sure to get the seats on the left - or else you see a lot of hill sides. But it is a charming ride as we pass charming villages in rolling forests for miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seats on the right are a booth so we get company. Lucky she is a charming student that speaks perfect english and is reading Leo Tolstoy - a smart one is she, but fun and she also had to run to catch the train. As the train climbs we reach snow and glaciers and rolling hills and lakes and streams of glacier water. There are cabins here and our seat mate tells us folks have summer homes here and some have homes for skiing. It is quite a site.

 

Eventually we reach Bergen and it takes two small taxis to get us to the Clarion Hotel Admiral where we will stay for the next 6 nights with no particular plans. Our rooms are special but it is late so we find a spot to eat and go to bed.

 

 

7-19-2015: A Sunny Oslo Day

After breakfast we walked down to the harbor, passing beautiful city parks where people were sitting and children were playing. There is a palace here in Oslo (of course) so Krim and I climb the hill for a visit but the tickets are sold out for the day. No problem, the grounds surrounding the palace are charming and folks are gathering in the sunshine. The main street leads from the palace to the town square and along the way are museums and theaters and parks and people gathering to enjoy the day.

 

7-18-2015: Ahhh, it's Oslo!

Off to the airport and it is a zoo! People everywhere and carts and suitcases and more people and good grief. We find our airline and a kiosk and we enter our reservation number and bam - there we are! Out pops the boarding pass and bag check straps. Now what - ah, bag drop!- that's us! But wait, there are no people, just a conveyer belt and a scan gun. We watch a couple folks work it and it could be trouble. The locals toss their bag on the belt and scan they tag but the conveyer will not budge. Off comes the bag, out come some local words from the bag owner that I assume were not in good taste, out come some articles from the suitcase, back goes the bag on the conveyer belt and this time the suitcase accepts the bag. We are ready because we carry a luggage weighing devise but it was a major effort to make the weight. But it works first try and the bags disappear. Gulp - hope we did that right and our bags meet us in Oslo!

Our bags all make it and we find our expensive taxi for a ride to Thon Hotel Rosenhrantz. One of us gets a less expensive room (any guesses who?) and pay for it with a very small room. But wait, there is a reward and it comes with the hospitality. We are told the dinner that comes with the room is more like appetizers so we opt to visit an Indian Restaurant.

Big mistake as we return to the hotel to check out what we could have eaten and find it would work just fine for us.

But in the morning we get a most pleasant surprise as we join other guests for an incredible breakfast that comes with the room. Greeting us is yet another blond baltic beauty with a wide smile - my goodness the women and little blond kids in these counties are just beautiful. The breakfast offers smoothies, fresh squeezed (you watch it being made!) orange juice, rolls, wonderful bread, eggs of any kind, omelets, and on and on. Oh, and lattes for the asking and we ask many times over. But wait, that is not all - they offer a room on the top floor that is open to guests anytime where a machine knows how to make a great cappuccino and a fountain shoots out carbonated water all day long. What a hotel!

 

7-17-2015: Ice, Vikings and Abba

We are trying something new - again. We are taking a stab at a Hop-on-Hop off bus. Looks easy and our hotel guy says it is a good way to see the city - so we bite. We cannot find the bus stop. We look. We ask. We look some more. Finally we find a stop and get tickets and wonder - could they not put up a sign saying Hop-on - Hop Off - stop number 20?

First stop - Ice Bar! We get ponchos with glovers and a hood and in we go. It is just under freezing and everything is ice. An ice bar, drinks in an ice glass (Use your gloves please!), ice walls and Ice benches. We are having fun and taking photos.

Back to the bus and it is a nice way to see the City. Next stop is the most visited place in the City - the Viking Ship Museum. The weather turns cold and rain begins as we wait to enter - some Summer they are having! This ship is huge and the oldest Complete ship in the world. It was built around 1760 and sank where it was kept in near perfect condition by the cold water. Clothes were found and are on display as well as dishes and everyday articles. This was a war ship with many cannons. It is a wonder to see and we spend time to take it all in to enjoy.

 

Back on the bus and we have to stop and see the ABBA museum. We spend less time here but find the band was not just discovered one day on the Internet or American Idol. They spent time sleeping on a small camper, working bars and small clubs until they got their big break on British TV talent show. OK, we snap a photo with our faces on their bodies and it is time to head to the hotel and food, and bed.

We follow the advice of the hotel and they send us off to a great restaurant off the beaten track and it has the charm you look for. They also have meatballs and I take the laughs and order them up. They are good and I know everyone else is wishing my plate was in front of them.

We decide Stockholm is a winner!