Sunday, March 27, 2011

Kaleidoscope Scenes from Norway

We sailed up Oslo Fjord on a Saturday morning and were surprised, and delighted, to see that we were sailing through a regatta. There were sailboats in every direction, as far as the eye could see.
This is a look down at the architecture of Bergen's old wharf buildings built 900 years ago when Bergen was one of the principal seaports of the Hanseatic League are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This is a Norwegian traffic jam. Those warm Scandinavian sweaters have to come from somewhere.
This is the Hanseatic wharf of the Bergen harbor. Sadly, the old buildings on the other side of the harbor were destroyed when a German ship containing a lot of ammunition exploded in the harbor, where it was not supposed be docked. If you look very closely, you will see the tips of a roof that peaks above the old waterfront buildings on the left side of this photo. That is the modern Raddison hotel where we stayed. Some of the banquet rooms were in the upper floors of the old waterfront buildings. Thank goodness they did not build a taller, modern building.
My husband took this photo of me gazing at a frozen mountain lake during a blizzard -- in June! We had lunch nearby at a lodge that is used for summer ski training, high in the mountains.
The fjord country of Norway is a kaleidoscope of green meadows and forests and blue sky and lakes.
The lakes and countryside of Norway are clean and refreshing. It was cloudy most of the time we were there. (The scenery does not get this green without rain.) But we had a sunny day of blue skies before we left, thank goodness. It is tough to plan a trip in places that get rain. You want to travel to a see a lot of different places, but also to leave enough time to enjoy places even if there is a day of cloudy, rainy weather.

6 comments:

brattcat said...

these are marvelous.

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

Beautiful photos with such contrast between the areas.
Melbourne Daily Photo

Jack said...

Norway looks gorgeous. I haven't yet been to Scandinavia, but it is on the bucket list.

BTW, last week a friend asked me for recommendations about Florence, Milan and the Italian lakes. I gave him some favorites of my own, and also sent links to your recent Bellagio and Villa d'Este posts, saying This is a professional couple with good taste who do lots of high end traveling. Afterwards, I googled you guys. My friend is a retired GC from a Fortune 500 company and his wife is a prominent employment lawyer. Small world.

Margaret said...

Another one of my favorite places! I never get tired of this area.
Margaret

glenda said...

Great photos. The sailboats were pretty spectacular. The traffic jam was fun to see.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Norway is a place where I'd love to go and your beautiful photos certainly are re-igniting my desire to visit. Thanks for sharing!

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