This is our first full day on our 2 week excursion from Copenhagen through the Danish straits and North Sea to Scotland, the Faroe Islands and finally Iceland, where we hope to experience a full solar eclipse if the weather gods grant us the favor. We are now passing through the channel between Norway and Sweden as we cruise up to Oslo, our first stopping place. We were scheduled to make port earlier today at Lysekil, Sweden, but exceptionally heavy winds cancelled that visit. So we head to Oslo earlier than expected. The blue sky is overcast with intermittent sunshine and the water is now smooth under our Oceania Marina vessel with sailboats cruising for pleasure through this beautiful peaceful scenery.
I am with 10 good friends, almost all of whom of whom I have traveled with before, people I have known over time from when I was 5 years old, to someone I met in person for the first time only a few days ago. All older people with the richness of life experiences that makes people so distinct and interesting. Claudia, my law school friend and cabin mate, Marge, my childhood friend, and her partner Rae from Connecticut, Geri and Rich, Jeanne and Bill, and Andrea, all friends from Berkeley, Ginny an old friend from my college year in India, and Judy, my newest friend.
This vessel is both luxurious (think black and gold) and outdated (no communication app or outlets for electronic charging) with, as stated as Oceania’s main promotional line, “the finest cuisine at sea.” And after one day, they seem to be living up to that standard. The ship goes into dry dock in October for major renovation.
Copenhagen was enjoyed by all of us, some visiting friends, and some engaged on walking or boat tours in the old part of town. Everything is clean, with a smattering of graffiti, and friendly people. Walking through the shopping area of town what struck me is the number of small book shops, something we no longer see in our part of the world. Ginny, Andrea and I had a wonderful time in the afternoon at the National Art Museum, learning about the history of the country through the descriptions in English of the various period pieces of fine art. As Ginny and I stood in a large hallway, a guard came over and asked us if we had seen the invisible painting. I thought, of course, he was being sarcastic but in fact he sincerely meant what he said – during some recent renovation a modern art work was brought upstairs, attached on the wall and then thoroughly covered over with white paint, creating an “invisible painting”. This friendly guard then took us both over to a part of the museum we had missed to see a room with the classic paintings of the 1800’’s by a famous Danish painter. It was still light in town when we finished an excellent dinner at Keyser Social, where Marge and Rae joined us for a very refined repast.
The photo above is the only one I took in Copenhagen, a striking street sculpture created to face a contentious piece of land which was a public park which was destroyed to build a parking lot below ground. The project is stlll in limbo due to public dispute.
Our extra time in Oslo was spent exploring downtown, its main pedestrian walking street, and a central park where an African Food festival was happening. We all went our separate ways but we all climbed up the ski slope of the opera house construction which provided us a panoramic view of the City.
The following day was a trip by most of us to Bygdoy Museum Island with a visit to the Folk and Culture Museum, displaying old Norse rural homes and a small Norwegian town which were saved from destruction and moved to this land to preserve some of the country’s architectural heritage. The old wooden buildings gave a sense of what life was like several centuries ago in this part of the world, with intact furnishings as well as the beauty of the exterior carvings. This park was a very physically challenging environments: steep unpaved paths and rocky walkways and stairs. It was founded in the 1880s and created at the direction of the King long before the concept of accessibility came into European culture.
Some of us then visited the Center for Holocaust Studies which was a deep dive into the rise of anti-semitism in Norway and the deportation and emigration of the small group of about 2100 Jews in the country. About 750 were killed and the remaining lucky ones fled to neutral Sweden. Some of us also visited the Kon Tiki Museum and the Fram Museum before taking the quick ferry ride back to the city.
We had the most gorgeous weather today, bright and sunny and warm with a cool wind blowing which made everything we did feel wonderful. Another abundance of good food this evening. We are eating too much but at least are walking about 15,000 steps or more a day — many miles. More adventures tomorrow as we move along the coast to Mandal.