OSLO, NORWAY AND NORWEGIAN EXPLORERS!

Monday, August 17, 2026
Oslo, Norway
63F and sunny

Sunset sailing out of Oslo

Sunrise today from our balcony

Sailing into Oslo

Approaching Oslo on the Oslofjord

Delightful!

Oslo, the capital city of Norway and another cosmopolitan city! Our cruise ship docked near the center city, so we had an easy “on our own” walk into the hub. Of course, we stopped for coffee and shared a delicious cinnamon bun first.  Oslo has a population of about 700,000—and Norway—5.5 million.

Oslo Opera House

The Munch Museum (The Scream)

We couldn't do everything, but next time!

She Lies

The She Lies sculpture in the harbor is a floating glass and stainless steel structure that resembles an iceberg—created by artist Monica Bonvicini to evoke the power of ice and water in the high north. It rotates due to the influence of winds and tides. This sculpture is astounding!

Our first stop was a sleek train station, the largest one I have ever seen, that incorporates a huge mall with another huge mall right across the street. We were looking for Starbucks!  We could not resist walking through the mall, clothing stores, cosmetics shops, at least 5 grocery stores—3 small ones and 2 large ones), florists, furniture, vitamin shops. It was just like any mall but multiply Erie’s mall by at least 5. It actually seemed like the train station morphed into a mall—I didn’t get a photo!

[Aside to Ann and Jim—this is a train station to love!]

Traveling Man statue

outside the train station

Entrance to the train station

One of the smaller grocery stores

Three level mall

Men's fashion!

Outside-I do like public art!

We found Starbucks in the huge mall across the street, purchased our Oslo mug--

Why not Troll Coffee to fill the

Oslo Starbucks cup!

TK is always thinking

We decided to Uber to the Kon Tiki museum, 3 miles away. We were not going to walk that far.  When Janie was in her early teens, she read two books by Thor Heyerdahl—one was Kon Tiki. Briefly, the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl theorized that early people could have sailed on a balsam log raft to the Polynesian Islands and he set out to prove it in 1947.  Heyerdahl and five other men constructed the boat and sailed for 101 days before smashing into a reef at Raroia, an atoll in French Polynesia in the Tuamotus.  All survived and returned safely.  This book must have piqued my sense of adventure as a 13 year old!  As it turned out, DNA has proven a link between Peruvian natives and those of French Polynesia.

Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island  was written in 1957 by Thor Heyerdahl—and describes his investigation into Polynesdian history and culture on Easter Island and other areas. He studied the "moai," thousands of stone statues on one of the most isolated islands in the world.  Obviously there is more to both books, but that is enough to possibly pique your interest. I am definitely going to reread those books. I surely never dreamed I would see a reconstruction of the Kon Tiki!

I am sure this is not a real 

"Easter Island maoi"

A replica of the Kon Tiki

I can picture 8 days on the 

Atlantic Ocean on the U.S. Brig Niagara

I cannot picture 101 days on the 

Kon Tiki on the Pacific Ocean

(closeup)

Kon Tiki--aft

There is actual footage of

the voyage---

On the high seas-count me in...

Another maoi

Heyerdahl built the Ra (made of reeds) 

for a voyage across the Atlantic, 

but it was not successful

Across the street from the Kon Tiki museum was the Fram Museum.  Why not learn about Norwegian exploration into the Arctic and Antarctic? This museum honors the polar exploration of the three great Norwegian explorers, Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, and Roald Amundsen.

The Fram—“forward” in Norwegian—is a ship that was used in expeditions of the Arctic and Antarctic regions between 1893 and 1912.

The Fram

The Fram, a 3 masted schooner

Janie on the 3 masted Fram

We toured the original Fram inside the museum, 70 ft. length and 20 ft beam. Its sides 4 ft.  thick made of oak.  There was lots of information about the journeys, the preparation, the sled dogs, the crew, the cold. We walked through an area that was like a freezer to experience the chill of an Arctic trip—although I am sure it wasn’t as cold and certainly not the length of time these men endured.  Roald Amundsen is also known for the three year journey he made with a crew of six on the Gjøa, the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage.

We salute Norwegian explorers and their passion!

On the Uber ride back to the center city, we saw cows in a meadow, rolling hills, trees, and suburbs with apartments and single family homes.

Karl Johans Gate (street) 

We walked one more street near the train station and found Vaffelvogna! We enjoyed a folded soft waffle stuffed with strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream (not from aerosol can).  I hope we find such a treat in Skagen, Denmark tomorrow!

Vaffelvogna

TK captured this amazing image

as we were sailing on the Oslo Fjord

10 p.m. Central European Summer Time

or 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time

TK’s Takes: He wished he had tried the brown cheese at the Vaffelvogna (like caramel).  He saw a large firehouse near the ship.  He bought a troll on Karl Johans Gate (street).  He said he really liked the Scandinavian countries, too bad there is a lot of winter.

ALL ABOARD THE SAPPHIRE PRINCESS IN THE BALTIC SEA!

Friday, August 7, 2026

On the Baltic Sea/Aboard Sapphire Princess
Baltic Sea—the Øresund Strait, 2.5 miles wide, between Sweden and Denmark
64 F and cloudy

Flag of Denmark

Clarion Suites-Airport

After ten hours of sleep, I was awake before TK.  We met our Uber driver to take us to the port—he drove through Copenhagen, so we had a little taste of the city.  It is not like the Mediterranean cities I am used to. We saw single family homes, garages, no red clay roofs, and there were large apartment buildings in this city with a population of almost 700,000 people.

Department store in downtown Copenhagen

Downtown Copenhagen

I take such great photos from an Uber

Downtown Copenhagen

TK spotted our ship before I did. The port traffic was light, and the terminal was not crowded. It did not take long to board the ship—TK does so much preplanning: our stateroom, dining room, soda package, Internet package, all set up before we even get on the ship. Lucky girl I am.

Sapphire Princess Stats:

Grand Class
Built in Nagasaki, Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2004/$400 million
951 ft. in length—121 ft. beam—17 decks
1337 staterooms—1100 crew---2670 passengers

Stateroom D317-Deck 9

This might be the largest

stateroom we have ever had!

Nice size balcony

Our luggage is unpacked, we explored some of the ship, and we had dinner.  We like a table for two, separate —not a “bank” of tables for two. Fortunately we have what we want!  For dessert we had sticky toffee pudding for our Scottish Cruise Friend Mike.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

(not quite as good as Edinburgh)

As we departed Copenhagen while dining, we heard the Captain mention that we would pass by Kronborg Castle—the setting for Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, and the most powerful and important castle in Scandinavia!  The current castle was finished in 1585 and is located at the narrowest point of the Strait of Øresund.  

Kronborg Castle

(Elsinore in Hamlet--Elsinore is the English version of the 

name Helsingor, the city the castle is in)

Our state room is on the port side, so we watched Denmark float by after dinner—if we were on the starboard side, we would have seen Sweden! This point is the entrance to the Baltic Sea making it a strategically very important location.

 The region that is today southern Sweden (Scania) has belonged to Denmark for most of history. The Danish king, therefore, also had a powerful fortress on the other side and controlled the passage in and out of the Baltic Sea. The king collected taxes from all the trade ships passing by. At times, these taxes financed more than a third of the expenses of Denmark.  Interesting!

I watched as we sailed for an hour and may have seen the castle.  Hamlet was one of my favorite Shakespeare plays—I hope my students liked it as much as I did!

TK’s Takes: Passing through Copenhagen he remarked about so many bicycles without locks outside homes and even in the city near sidewalks and stores. We realize some were for rent, but not all of them.  Traffic was light.

 He liked boarding the ship so easily, but this was the first time we ever put our own luggage on a conveyor belt to the ship. We were in our room by 1 p.m.  The ship is smaller than most we have been on and it has a library!

Our dining room servers are both from Thailand—we mentioned that our daughter in law’s brother is in his 2^nd year of teaching in Thailand! 

Clarion Hotel Lobby

I liked the lighting

OLD AND NEW FRIENDS, MALLS, AND UBER!

Hampton Inn – Fort Lauderdale Airport North

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Saturday, January 16, 2016

80 F

I’m writing this while our family in Erie/Jamestown is snow skiing and snowboarding at Peek n Peak! Quite a contrast!

What a fun day!  We were on the highway before 8 a.m. and the drive from Titusville to Sawgrass Mills Mall took about 3 hours on a perfectly sunny day!  First we hit the Tommy Bahamas Outlet, but there weren’t any deals there that we hadn’t already bought—ha ha!  This mall is huge with 350 stores!  It is the eighth largest mall in the United States, the largest single story mall in the U.S., and the second largest mall in Florida. The upscale stores include Kate Spade, Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, TB, Versace, Prada, and at least 25 more. There are many other shops from Chico’s to Ron Jon’s to Target, and everything in between, except Sephora.  That said, what did we buy? Another suitcase.  Anyone who has seen our basement knows that is ridiculous, but I needed a carry on that would fit my 10 inch laptop, the iPad, and my stuff for my hair, face, and dental stuff. What can I say?

And, if you are anywhere near a Cheesecake Factory, STOP NOW, and try their Lemon Meringue Cheesecake! Oh my gosh, heavenly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheesecake Factory, Sawgrass Mills Mall, Fort Lauderdale

After the mall, we headed for our Hampton Inn to get ready for dinner with our friends at Coconuts on the waterfront. As I was organizing my new suitcase, TK said, “I’m ready, are you?” Well, sort of. He had taken it upon himself to try out Uber and had already ordered it. Quickly we dashed for the lobby. In a very short time a very clean Toyota Prius drove up and Andrew drove us to Coconuts. He was so very friendly and told us that he is a software designer but does Uber in his spare time.  Because of the traffic the drive took ½ hour, but the ride was very pleasant and I sure am glad that TK did not have to drive. Turns out one’s first Uber ride is free!

We were so happy to see Nancy and Brian from Ukiah, CA again (I think this is our 4^th or 5^th trip together). We met their friends, Denise and Mike and Bobbi and Rick, also from California. I sure enjoyed talking with them. It wasn’t long before Colin and Gwenda (England) and Donna and Lawrence (Wisconsin) arrived---what fun to see our friends!!  It’s going to be one heck of a cruise.

Coconuts at the Waterfront, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

http://coconutsfortlauderdale.com/

Image from Coconuts' website

After dinner we walked with Lawrence and Donna and Colin and Gwenda to their hotel where TK ordered our Uber back to the Hampton Inn. He no sooner typed in the information on the Uber app on his phone and a Nissan Sentra drove up for us. I couldn’t believe it! What was even harder to believe was the ride back to the hotel only cost $8.11. Can you believe that? TK sure knows what he is doing!

TK’s Takes: “I haven’t been in an elevator since the trip started.” In reference to the fact that we have been staying on the first floor of our hotels. The mall is too big and it is confusing. [jk note: no, it isn’t]. Finally, “Uber is the best!”

Note to Friend H: Thanks for trying out Uber first! We love it too!

Note to Friend M: I love love love my blue, green, teal fiber necklace!!!

Note to Friend Mj: A comment on my blog! Thank you!