Denmark

Denmark

We arrived in Denmark via the ferry from Larvik, Norway to Hirtshals, Denmark. As with all our ferry rides it was a smooth crossing. We have been very lucky.

 Denmark is pretty much flat with no dramatic vistas like Norway has. It is a very neat and tidy country. In spite of being flat, it is a beautiful place. 

The first place we visited was Skagen. It is the northern most point in Denmark. From there we went to Sondervig to see the International Sand Scculpture Festival. The theme was an African safari. Next we visited Odense. It was the first day of the flower show. The theme was the circus. They had clown flower gardens everywhere. The last place we visited was Egeskov Slot. It is a castle surrounded by a water filled moat with large gardens and lots of museums. We spent the whole day and enjoyed everything.

Looking back toward Skagen from the beach.

Grenen the northern most point of Denmark where Kattegat and the North Sea meet. As you can see a very popular tourist spot.

 Our camping spot, Slettestrand, Denmark. There is not a harbor for the fishing boats so they have a huge winch and pull them up on the sandy beach.

Next morning the boats were gone for about three hours. After they were pulled up on the beach, we watched them pulling fish and crabs from the nets. It was a very time consuming process.

Views of the International Sand Sculpture Festival in Sondervig. The wall was 200 meters long and 7 meters tall.

Odense, Denmark Flower Festival with a circus theme.

Clowns were everywhere.

A sheep made of roses.

The castle at Egeskov. The moat goes right up to the exterior walls. The castle was built on oak poles.

One of the path ways in the gardens. 

The kitchen garden.

Flowers in the kitchen garden.

Tree top walking - This walk way went from tree to tree to tree to tree to tree with spiral staircases at each end. Pretty neat.

Carriage Museum and the scent garden. You see a lot of thatched roofs in Denmark.

The Motorcycle Museum. Interesting way to display them, suspended from the ceiling. They were at eye level and you could walk all around them.

Inside the Castle

The kitchen

Armour displayed in the Music Room.

Lion hanging in the Hunting Room.

Deer heads and hunting weapons in the Deer Hallway.

Bill on stilts.

I guess this is what they do with old bikes, paint them one color and park them on the city streets.  We saw these everywhere in Scandinavia. This one had added flower baskets. Nice touch!

Norway

Backpack in Hardangervidda National Park and Gaustatoppen, Norway

We were planning on doing some hut to hut hiking in Norway, but only accomplished one overnight. Time got away from us and the weather was not co-operative. Our one overnight was in Hardangervidda National Park. We hiked to a mountain hut called Hein. The trail was difficult, but the scenery was beautiful. Next we went to Rjukan, Norway and took Gaustabannen (a funicular inside the mountain) to Gaustatoppen. The views were amazing. They say you can see 1/6 of Norway on a sunny day and our weather was excellent.

View on our overnight hike in Hardangervidda National Park.

The trail was rocky. If it wasn't rocky, we were hopping from rock to rock crossing water or mud, both were everywhere. If water, mud, and rocks were missing, then the brush was attacking us. Thru it all, the bugs were everywhere. At least they didn't bite. Everyone we met on the trail (they were all Norwegian) said this was an excellent trail. I wonder what is a bad trail?

Hein Mountain Hut in the distance. A welcome sight.

A bridge to the hut. Why didn't we have more of these?

Hein Mountain Hut - It is a private hut. They call themselves a B&B. We had a full 3 course dinner and a full Norwegian breakfast buffet with a warm clean room. Not what you expect in the middle of no where. We enjoyed our stay.

End of the day view.

Rjukan, Norway town square. Rjukan is in the valley below Gaustatoppen.

Looking down on Rjukan from the road up to the high country.

Gaustatoppen

The map of the tram and funicular inside of Gaustatoppen.

The tram tunnel goes 860 meters inside the mountain.

The funicular climbs 1040 meters at a 40 degree angle. Water was rushing down the tracks. It was creepy.

The funicular was bult to have year round access to a radio tower.

Gaustahytte - A mountain hut cafe.

View looking south west from the top of the mountain.

View looking south from the top.

View looking east from the top. Rjukan is in the valley in the left of the photo.

 Sherpas from Nepal built stairs from the top of the funicular to the base of the radio tower. They were still building while we were there.

View of Gaustatoppen.

Roadside view of the Norwegian high country.

That is all of Norway! Next post will be Denmark. 

Norway

Oslo, Norway

It has been about a month since we have been in a capital city, Helsinki being the last one.

There is so much to see and so little time to do it. The weather forecast was for a lot of rain, so we decided museums was a good idea, we visited five different ones, all good. We also walked around the city between rain showers. The second day the weather cleared, lucky us. Walking around the city was great. Oslo is full of wonderful architecture and fabulous sculptures. There was tons to see.

The Royal Palace

Barcode area of the Bjorvika, Oslo.

 The area know as Tjuvholmen. This is a new area that reflects current trends in architecture.

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art.

The Oslo Opera House - designed to look like an iceberg.

View of the opera house from the roof. The building was designed so you can walk up and onto the roof.

Inside of the opera house. The wave wall is made of strips of oak.

The Thinker by Rodin.

Nobel Peace Center

Street musician - The music was very good.

Fountain in a flower market.

Polar bear sculpture

Poodles -Part of a temporary sculpture display in the Akershus Fortress.

Bill and a scuba diver.

Red Hat sculpture in Aker Brygge, Oslo

Vigeland Park has more than 200 sculptures by Gustov Vigeland. He also designed the park. We lucked out on our second day in Oslo, the weather cleared so we were able to enjoy walking around this large park.

The Monolith, 1934

Two men sitting back to back, 1934

Sitting man and woman, their foreheads touching, 1916

Two young men, 1925

Boy and girl riding on woman's back, 1916

Group of children, 1920

Man running, 1930

Angry boy, 1928