Karen's parents have been living in Oslo, Norway, this semester, since John was awarded a Senior Fellowship at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. So, we took advantage of a free place to stay in Norway. We took IcelandAir specifically so that we could spend a few days on the way home in Iceland -- and we are ever so glad that we did!

Today, Clara, Timothy, Karen, and I all hopped on a bus in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the start of a 13-hour trip to Oslo. If we weren't moving to Vermont, we would definitely take this bus to Logan airport again: it saved us time, effort, and money compared to other options.

IcelandAir was also a real treat. The food was consistently excellent and each flight that we took arrived on time, except once when we delayed our takeoff by 10 minutes to wait for a connecting flight. One of the best reasons to take IcelandAir, though, is to get the chance to see Iceland -- but more of that in a few days.

We arrived in Oslo at noon on Saturday (they're six hours ahead of our local time). Karen's mom, Judy, was there to pick us up and show us which bus to take to their neighborhood, Røa.

We didn't do much today, of course, -- but we relaxed, unpacked, and played with the cool blocks that Judy had made from milk and juice cartons and papier maché. We brought home some pizza from Piccolo Pizza.

John and Judy's flat is in a cosy neighborhood of 10 or 12 small apartment/townhouse buildings; there are lots of trees and plantings and the buildings are arranged in such a manner that no one is forced to look into anyone else's yard or flat. Car-free lanes connect these buildings with roads outside the neighborhood, and after school there are almost always a half-dozen Norwegian children playing with jump ropes, soccer balls, etc.

After listening to the church bells, we went off to visit the Holmenkollen ski jump, first built in 1892; at that point, the jump was only 22 meters high; today, it's 126 meters. From the top of the jump, we saw a great view of Oslo and the Oslo fjord. Almost more interesting, though, was the ski museum, where we saw skis from as early as the 10th century, the clothing and tools used by Roald Amundsen and others, and ski equipment used by the Norwegian royal family. We're not skiers, but this was a fascinating exhibit nonetheless.

Clara, Timothy, Karen, Judy, and I took the "T" (yes, it's called the T-bane in Oslo) to the city center and crossed part of the Oslo fjord to a residential peninsula called Bygdøy, which also happens to be the home of several museums. It was threatening rain, and we though that an indoor activity (such as visiting museums) would be a good idea. The ferry crossing was lots of fun for all.

First, we went to the Kon-Tiki museum. Really, this museum ought to be called the Thor Heyerdahl museum, as it's full of information about not only his Kon-Tiki voyage in a raft from South America to Polynesia, but also his other trips, including those on the reed boats Ra I, Ra II, and Tigris. We'd known about the Kon-Tiki voyage, of course, which proved that it was quite possible for South Americans to have travelled to Polynesia before the advent of wooden sailing vessels in the area -- but we'd no idea about any of his other work. There was to be a party in the afternoon, where the 100 children who had signed up would get to meet Thor Heyerdahl and eat lots of ice cream. We hadn't signed up, so we made sure to leave before our children figured out that they were going to miss something good.

So, after a nice hot dog lunch, we ran through the driving rain to the Fram museum. Fram is a ship specially designed for polar navigation -- it can float within ice pack. Built before 1893, it was used several times in both the Arctic and the Antarctic up through 1912. (Here are photos from the 1898-1899 polar expedition.) The museum was built around the ship -- and we were able to go up on deck and down into the ship. Again, though, this museum is really more than just a "Fram" museum -- it really deals with the whole history of Norwegian polar exploration: Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Roald Amundsen, and others.

Then we waited for quite a while while for the return ferry, while the rain gradually lessened. It stopped, though, by the time we returned to the city center -- so we had a nice trip back.

Today we mostly wandered around the center of Oslo and did a bit of shopping. We spent a long time in two bookstores called Tanum, one on Karl Johansgate and one in the Byporten shopping area (the store manager there is named "Karin Møller!"). Both were good stores; the one on Karl Johansgate was an especial delight.

We found a great coffee bar called Stockfleth's, at Karl Johans Gate 25 (Lille Grensen), which makes absolutely perfect hot chocolate and caffe mocha.

Several people, including Karen's folks, recommended that we take a tour called "Norway in a Nutshell." This is basically a train ride from Oslo to Bergen and back, with a rather significant detour. Karen, Clara, and I made the first half of this trip (Oslo to Bergen, with detour) on the 30th, and returned to Oslo the evening of the 31st -- while Timothy stayed in Oslo with Grandpa John and Grandma Judy. Until the last leg of the rail journey, our weather held -- lots of sun, big puffy white clouds, and reasonable temperatures (40s in the tundra, low 60s at sea level).

We left Oslo on the "Bergen Line" at about 8:30. We were in the "barnekupe" or "children's compartment," a very nicely appointed cabin with sliding glass doors and curtains, a table with drop-leaves, etc. This lovely arrangement kept Clara from disturbing other passengers -- and other passengers from waking Clara. The Bergen rail line includes the highest stretch of train tracks in Northern Europe; the scenery is ever-changing with views of mountains, plateaus, glaciers and forests, gently sloping meadows and mountain ridges). Though many miles of the trip are now through tunnels designed to protect the tracks and trains from snow and wind, it is still a magnificent journey.

Two-thirds for the way from Oslo to Bergen, the train stopped in Myrdal, where we changed for the Flåm railway. To quote from the excellent Flåmsbana web site: There are no railway lines of the adhesion type anywhere in the world steeper than the Flåm railway. The gradient is 55/1000 on almost 80% of the line, i.e. a gradient of one in eighteen. The twisting tunnels that spiral in and out of the mountain are manifestations of the most daring and skilful engineering in Norwegian railway history. The train drops an incredible distance, from the nearly arctic tundra of Myrdal straight down to sea level -- all in about 12 miles. Naturally, there is a breathtaking waterfall, deep gorges, and wonderful views of the fjord.

"Fjord?" I hear you ask. Well, yes, the Flåm railway stops at the town of Flåm, right at the end of the Aurlandfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord -- the longest fjord in the world. First we had lunch (fresh air and majestic scenery had made us very hungry!), then we embarked on a 2-hour ferry ride through the Aurlandfjord and then back in another branch off of the Sognefjord to the town of Voss. Wonderful views! We saw farms precariously clutching to hillsides (and many sheep and new lambs doing the same). We passed Norway's smallest postal zone (6 residents). Lots of waterfalls and mountains. It was often very warm on board, but there was still plenty of snow at the tops of the cliffs. Some of the waterfalls fell nearly straight down the side of the cliff from the top down to water level; others bounced and careened their way down level after level, ending up as rushing streams flowing over giant piles of scree.

At Gudvangen, we left our ferry boat and got on the bus which was to return us to Voss, on the Bergen Line. The bus travelled up an amazingly steep grade with 13 hair-raising hairpin turns -- naturally, the views were breath-taking. We stopped at the Stalheim hotel to enjoy some of the views without worrying about whether the bus was going to make it up the incline. Then we arrived in Voss. This is apparently one of the best places in the world for skiing, though, as you might expect, the snow on the last day of May wasn't particularly good.

Finally, we caught the next train to Bergen in Voss. This seemed like the longest leg of the journey; Clara was getting a bit restive by then. Tired and hungry, we checked into the Strand Hotel (lovely, and less expensive than many of the hotels).

We wandered through Bergen, looking for a place to eat that wasn't Asian, Italian, or overpriced even by Norway standards (the cheapest items on two menus we saw were about $29 -- with entrees as pricey as $65). Desperate, we finally took the funicular Fløibanen up to the National Park of Bergen, where we'd heard there was an open restaurant; we'd seen their menu at the lower terminus of the funicular -- and it promised more reasonable prices ($20-$30 for entrees). From previous experience with restaurants with views from high places, we were expecting that the food would be unremarkable, but in fact, the Folkerestaurant Fløien was excellent in addition to sporting a breath-taking 180-degree view of Bergen, fjord, rivers, and mountains. We arrived by the 9:30 funicular and, except for a party of about 30 people over in one corner, we had the place to ourselves. The food was incredibly good: chicken, fresh asparagus, seafood bisque, etc.

For dessert, we had mixed berries with cream and ice cream. The strawberries (in season) were good, but the biggest surprise was to find cloudberries ("multe" in Norwegian). We were first introduced to cloudberries on our honeymoon in Newfoundland, where they are more usually known as bakeapples. They were delicious (they're like gold-colored raspberries), and reminded us, of course, of our honeymoon. We asked our waitress, Ragnhild, about them, and she told us that they grew in Norway and Sweden -- but that typically Norwegians wouldn't admit that they grew outside of Norway and Swedes wouldn't admit that they grew anywhere other than Sweden; she was very surprised to hear they grew in Newfoundland. Further, she said that people will keep the location of their cloudberry patches absolutely secret, rather like choice wild mushroom patches. We'll have more to tell about cloudberries later (see June 6th, once we've published it).

Clara and Ragnhild hit it off wonderfully, grinning and cooing at each other. Clara had been gamely sleeping and looking at scenery throughout the day, but I think the highlight for her was getting to chat and smile with Ragnhild.

As we left for the 11:30 funicular ride back into town, we took some pictures of Bergen. The sun had set a little before 11:00, but the sky was still plenty light for photos. In fact, the sky at this time of year even in southern Norway doesn't seem ever to get dark enough to see more than a couple of the brightest stars. The sun supposedly rises again at about 3:00, but after consistently staying up late we were never up at that hour to see it.

In Bergen, Karen, Clara, and I visited the 12th Century Mariakirken ("St. Mary's church"), the oldest surviving church in Bergen. Later we found out that in the 12th Century there had been 17 churches serving a population of, oh, it must have been about 12,000. Naturally they would all have been Catholic at that point.

Later we went to the Bryggens Museum, run by the University of Bergen. "Bryggen" means "dock" or "wharf," and is the word still used to refer to the very center of Bergen. The museum concentrates on Bergen from the 12th century through to about the 17th century and includes many original items from the time, including medieval ice skates, dice, purses, shoes, and cloth. Of particular interest were dozens of small strips of wood bearing inscriptions in Old Norwegian and medieval Latin. These were all inscribed in runes rather than the Latin alphabet; the Latin inscriptions were generally short prayers, but the Norwegian ones were much more interesting: "Gerda says you should come home" and "Come kiss me, my darling." An exhibit through September showed much about the medieval "urban code" of Bergen, including archaeological evidence of roads and buildings being modified to bring them "up to code."

We stopped by the retail store associated with the Sami's (Lap's) first Silversmiths: "Juhl's Silver Gallery." The shop is interesting and filled with delightful jewelry and other hand-crafted items. Most captivating, though, were the pictures on the walls of -- and the shopkeeper's descriptions of -- the enclave in the far northern town of Kautokeino where the jewelry is made. Several good pictures are displayed at this site, if you're interested. Be sure to follow the hidden "next page" links at the bottom right of each page! Another picture is available here. We stayed here entirely too long, captivated by photos of Sami in otherwise traditional garb almost completely covered with silver jewelry -- which is now practically traditional itself.

For lunch, Karen shopped at the fish market (smoked herring and a roll with lox) and I shopped at the fruit market (cherries and grapes). We got some bread at a bakery, and proceeded to feast on a bench right next to the water. Delicious!

Truly, very little of our vacation was spent shopping, but we spent some time at two other shops in Bergen worthy of mention. One was a vendor with a cart right in the center of things by the fish market. Susan Fosse Knitwear (yes, it's a temporary cart that gets taken down each evening, but they have a web site) had some of the very nicest sweaters, hats, and mittens that we saw in Norway. You can order from their web site, but it's considerably less expensive to buy directly at their cart.

Another highlight was Husfliden, a store filled with wonderful sweaters, linens, and traditional regional dress bunad. This is where many Norwegians buy this clothing (typically as Confirmation gifts), when they don't make them themselves.

A museum to which we had very much wanted to go was on its last day of winter hours, so we were not able to see it when we'd expected to: the Hanseatic Museum of Bergen. Their web site appears to be non-functional, so here are some relevant links via Google.

Finally, we took the Oslo train directly back "home." It rained most of the way, and we were again thankful that the weather was so cooperative.