June 27, 2016- Back to Copenhagen

Came down to breakfast this morning, and the floral arrangement in the lobby had changed. 

Then, during breakfast, I became intrigued by the chandelier and the flowers below it. It was just so colorful and delicate. 

It was a smooth trip back to Copenhagen. We made a fun little stop for lunch in Gothenburg. It was right on the way and Mike really wanted some of those Swediish meatballs, so we went back to the Market Hall. 

We decided to go back to the old hotel to use the restrooms and found this crowd out front. Someone important must be leaving. We snuck in the back way through the Pub. Inside the bartender told us it was Bruce Springsteen. 

Back in Copenhagen we checked back into the same Hotel Bethel. We're in the corner room on the second floor. 

Our windows are on the same level as the clock and just above the arched windows. It's a sweet room!

At dinner, it started pouring down rain. 

It's been a fantastic trip!  Tomorrow we fly home. 

June 26, 2016- Rainy Drive to Oslo

What a rainy drive we had from Geiranger to Oslo today. On the positive side though:

1.  We saw the Lom Stave Church. We just happened to drive right through the town where it is located. We stopped, walked around and took some pictures. Sunday services were going on so we couldn't see the inside. We could hear the organ and hymns though, so it was pretty cool. We've now seen 3 of the 28 stave churches!

2.  There was still lots of beautiful scenery. 

3.  We stopped in Lillehammer for lunch. All 3 of the places Mike picked as options for our lunch were closed. The town was deserted. It was Sunday after all.  We found a tiny bistro open that served spinach and cheese pies, so that's what we ate. It was tasty.  

4.  We're staying at the Grand Hotel Oslo. It's a beautiful, old, historic hotel in the heart of Oslo. It's in a pedestrian zone, so finding parking and then walking to the hotel was a mini adventure.  The lobby and  grand staircase pictures below give a sense of the grandeur of the place. 

5.  The rain stopped soon after we got here so we did a quick walking tour before dinner. The Parliament building is literally right across the street. 

We also saw the Prince's Palace.

We walked down to the harbor.

There's a huge cruise ship in town. 

We also were able to walk around in the Akershus fortress. 

Tomorrow we drive back to Copenhagen so we will be close to the airport for our flight home on Tuesday. It's hard to believe this trip is coming to an end. 

June 25, 2016- Two "Most Beautiful"s

Today we woke up to our first rainy day. Fog had moved in too, and visibility was minimal. We could barely see to the other side of the fjord. Good thing we were planning on taking a day trip to Alesund. 

Alesund is known as the most beautiful city in Norway. It has a cool history in that in 1903 the whole city burnt down. It was rebuilt in 1905 in the Art Nouveau style. Gone were all the wood buildings. 

I'm standing in front of the museum that told the story of the city's fire and rebuilding. 

Many of the buildings have decorative elements like the painted fruit around the windows on this building. 

We walked to this beautiful church. We could not go in, however, it was closed due to weddings. 

We had a nice lunch place called Nomaden that Mike had found during his research. The ham and cheese croissant sandwiches were yummy, they had fresh dill on them which was an interesting twist. The real highlight, however, was the banana cake we shared for dessert. 

Aren't those just the cutest dessert forks you've ever seen?

Remember two days ago when we missed the last ferry out of Hellesylt?  Well today we had our second chance to take this one hour ferry to Geiranger on our way back. The trip covered 12 miles down one of the "most beautiful" fjords. Along the way there were waterfalls in every direction and old abandoned farms. It really was gorgeous, even with the low clouds, which I think added a bit of drama to it all. It was cold, though, on the ferry. 

This farm was abandoned in 1962. It was mainly an apricot farm (you can see the orchard near the water) but they also kept about 100 goats. 

This is the ferry we were on going the opposite way. 

The Seven Sisters waterfalls are behind us. 

You can just barely see another farm at the top there. It is located across from the Seven Sisters. I imagine the view from that farm is spectacular. 

Our hotel from the fjord. 

For dinner tonight we went in to town. On the way, I made a new friend. 

We ate at the #1 rated restaraunt according to Trip Advisor, Brasserie Posten. It was our best dinner of the trip. Mike had grilled lamb and I had a pizza. 

Tomorrow we head to Oslo!