Drøbak, Norway

With this post, our long Norway saga comes to an end. Finally!

And what a place to end it after all we saw in Oslo our April 1st weekend, followed by our 6-day Hurtigruten sea voyage from Kirkenes north to Bergen south. Then we did the cross-country 7-hour train ride from Bergen back to Oslo (last post).

It was Tor's 66th birthday that Sunday when we returned to Oslo (remember, we're twins. born 2 months apart!). The next evening we were scheduled to fly back to Amsterdam, so he graciously took Monday off to show us a part of Norway, in the outskirts of Oslo, that is dear to his heart: Drøbak. His paternal grandmother, Martha, was born there in 1882.

Our parking spot was across the street from the Drøbak Kirke from 1776,
so that's where we started a lovely, leisurely walk around the city centrum.


I love churches that have cemeteries on their property.
Somehow it just seems appropriate.


On the other side of the church is where the commander of the Battle of Drøbak Sound is buried and memoralized, Colonel Birger Eriksen.. The start of the war in Europe began here against the German invasion, 9 April 1940. We stood on that spot almost exactly 71 years later, 11 April 2011.


It was fun to follow the Oslofjord around the back of the church and hilly terrain to the harbor.
It was such a delightfully warm and sunny day, as you can see.


And did I mention...a LAZY day!
Tor seemed to know just exactly what the doctor ordered.


We weren't the only ones!


All good things come to an end...but only to make way for the next good thing, right?
We were on our way to the harbor and had to check everything out.
The top-left image (above) is an old-timey lighthouse, compared to the one on the right!


And before we could say Jack Sprat, there they were: the Three Mermaids.
They're a gift to the city from Ingeborg Lane, sculpted by Reinard Finsrud. They're not as famous as Copenhagen's Little Mermaid but just as impressive, if not more so.


Now you know why there are THREE mermaids guarding this lovely harbor.
I have been to the harbor in Copenhagen where the Little Mermaid sits: no comparison!


From the harbor we started walking through this idyllic seaside town to the town square...


...and to the Christmas shop.
See the Santa sign Tor is holding? He bought that for us because the Drøbak Julehuset is open year-round with its own postmark. A big deal for children of all ages (which we are!).


Astrid was able to capture one of the signs as we entered the city.


Then it was time for lunch. Tor knew exactly where to go.
It was the perfect way to end our delicious day and trip...before leaving for the airport.


But first, one last surprise from Tor...a collage I have already shown when he took us to the vantage point high above Oslo, showing the same mountains in the background where Edvard Munch was inspired to paint his "Scream."


Remember my Opera House post? What a different vantage point!


...and 4 more churches to add to our Norway collection...

And one last weathervane captured by Astrid! A perfect one for ending the trip, sending us off on our brooms back to The Netherlands. HA!

Talk about the trip of a lifetime. How many times have I said that! We can't recommend it enough, which is one of the resons why I worked hard on all these posts to finish them. If you ever have the chance, GO. You'll never regret it.

But then, you could also just come here to visit us and be equally as entertained. I promise.

The Norwegian Bloggers

Because our 6-day sea voyage was bookended by THREE sets of Norwegian bloggers, that is where I will start this odyssey of our Norway trip.

Three sets. Three couples. 4 Norwegians. One American. One Filipino-Spanish. And if you add in Astrid and myself, another American and one Dutch woman.

The incredible power of virtual reality becoming real!

1. Renny and Diane: Oslo

The first weekend we spent 4 nights with Renny and Diane in Oslo.
He's Norwegian and she's American, from New York, now in Oslo for 12 years.
One main reason for showing their housing complex is the color...one of THE Norwegian basic colors for houses. Very hard to miss!


If you can't take a joke....!
Our first full day in Oslo was a SUNNY Friday, and while Diane worked, Renny took us out to see the sights. We walked out of the parking garage and immediately 'dealt' with these two lovelies, sculpted by Skule Waksvik.
What a way to start off our day!


Oslo's city center is right on the harbor where all the big crusie ships dock. I remembered it well from the Scandinavian cruise Donica and I took back in 2006. Nothing had changed.
Town Hall's two towers; the sculptures; the Nobel Peace building; the open fish market.


We had already decided ahead of time to take the hop-on-hop-off boat cruise that came with our free 72-hour/3-day Oslo Pass.



Renny and Diane had already hosted a big Blog Gathering last year, attended by our very own Vagabonde, amongst others. Thanks to that event (which we were unable to attend), we got some of our own freebies AND free Oslo Passes. THANK YOU!

BUT because there was still ice on the Oslo fjord, the hop-on/off boats (with wood bottoms) were not able to run. Instead, we took a two-hour fjord cruise in a boat with a metal bottom that could break through the patches of ice. It was worth every minute, giving us a foretaste of the longer voyage to come the following week. It was a great way to get many of the city's highlights. You can see Renny's take on it here.


After a full day on the town, we rendezvoused with Diane after her work, and stopped to buy fresh cod for dinner on our way home. Our appetites were more than ready for the typical Norwegian meal Renny and Diane served up for us, joined by Tor and Anna, the last set of Norwegian bloggers.

I'll get back to Tor and Anna later because we stayed with them the following weekend after our sea voyage. But it was wonderful to meet them at Renny and Diane's, to share the camaraderie that had been building for weeks.


Renny and Tor are both computer/IT wizzards, so you can just imagine how we all started going 100 mph on our different ways of uploading and sorting through all our images.
And that's saying nothing about the fact that Renny is THE consummate Blogger's Ambassador, championing the making of blogs and not war!


Diane's blog had been in hibernation for 3 months because of her social work stress. Babysitting these two gerbils who adore her was her lifeline. But it appears she became freshly inspired by our visit and started blogging again here after we left.
I love it when we can feed off of each other, don't you?!

By the way, that's her youngest son, Kyle, sitting next to her...and still living at home....


...and since he also was such a gentleman in welcoming us to his home, we got involved with his life as well.
His RUSS 2011 life! That's all about his high school graduation and the rite of passage they all go through, including this uniform, worn by the girls, too. That's another story altogether...but very Norwegian!
We got our education.


On a foggy Saturday, we were off again to see the Kon Tiki and Fram museums, all minus Anna. We had already become one big happy family. Too much like fun!


Then to the Norwegian open-air Folk Museum without Tor. Just the 4 of us.
See how Renny immerses himself into the lives of other people (bottom left image above)? He's like that...a friend to anyone and everyone from anywhere.

Are you still following this...and noticing that this is a post about the people more than about what we saw! But I'm still trying to whet your appetite for the posts to come. HA!

Our last full day, Sunday, before our sea voyage, was spent relaxing and visiting the Oslo Opera House. I'll talk about it more in another post but it's the only opera house in the world where you can walk up to and on the roof. Incredible, especially in the fog.
Thanks to Diane we had a lovely tour of the backstage inards.
And surely you didn't miss Tor, at 6' 6", waving his arms.


It really is an awesome construction!


Can you tell how much we enjoyed each other?
Thank you, Renny and Diane.

2. Charles and Odd: Bergen

Totally unbeknownst to us, we found out another blogger, Charles, lives in Bergen, the end city of our sea voyage. And since we were staying there overnight, before our next day's train ride to Oslo, we made sure we hooked up with them.
Charles is Filipino-Spanish and Odd is Norwegian, now married for 2 years.


Charles met us at the port, helped us take our luggage to the YMCA, and then we were off to meet Odd for sights of the city.


Lucky for us, Charles insisted on making us a Thai supper, and Odd insisted on a movie for our wonderful evening together. It was short but sweet. Friends forever.
Thank you, Charles and Odd.

The next day we were off on the 7-hour train ride to Oslo, west to east, across this incredible country called Norway. And that takes us back to Tor and Anna....

3. Tor and Anna: Oslo

It so happened it was Tor's 66th birthday that Sunday, April 10. Two month's later it'll be mine, so we have long ago decided we are long-lost twins. And why not!


Lucky for us again, we had a splendid meal prepared for us by Anna.
An avocado-caviar appetizer followed by a potato-fish casserole and home-grown berries with ice cream.
True Norwegian cuisine.


While eating, we found out that Anna had hand-painted not only the dinner plates but an entire set of Christmas plates. Just for fun and pleasure! An artist amongst us.


This is Anna, a high-school teacher of challenging kids! She has no interest in her own blog but clearly keeps herself busy with her collectibles and two Manx cats. I've decided after meeting her that she's an actress!
So much more full of life than I was expecting. Tor, too.


While Anna was off to school the next day, Tor stayed home to show off his neighborhood, overlooking the Oslo fjord...the same one we had crusied with Renny a week earlier.


Then we were off to Drøbak for the rest of the day before flying home.
Nice and relaxing and sunny, just like our first full day with Renny a week earlier.
Drøbak is where Tor's paternal grandmother, Martha, was born in 1882, so it was another special piece of Norwegian life.


And then, to top off the Incredible Adventures of Astrid and Ginnie while in Norway, Tor surprised us and took us to the scenic overview of Oslo from the Ekeberg hill where Edvard Munch got his inspiration for his famous painting, Skrik/Scream. Since we hadn't visited his museum, it was the next best thing.
And what a way to end our trip before driving to Gardermoen airport!
Thank you, Tor and Anna.

There you have it. The Norwegian bloggers. The bookends to our sea voyage. There was no better place to start for me but with them. Norway will never be the same without them!