Trip
Itinerary &
Some Wonderful Memories |
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| Date &
Weather |
Daily
Activities |
Overnight
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Wednesday
May 9th
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We left
Minneapolis early evening on IcelandAir,
we were delayed slightly by severe weather.
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On the Plane |
Thursday
May
10th
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We started the
day with a short layover in Reykjavik, Iceland. We arrived in
Oslo at Noon and then took the Train from the Airport to Oslo.
Walked to our Hotel which was just across the street from the railway
station. We spent the early evening exploring downtown Olso and then
ventured down to the Bryggen
(Harbor) for dinner. I tried the reindeer, not bad.
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Oslo
Radisson
SAS
Plaza Hotel
Hotel
Photos
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Friday
May
11th
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I spent some
quality time doing some railfanning at the Oslo Railway station before
we boarded the Express
Train to Bergen. Our rail journey took us over the Bergen
Railway Line, along the fjords and over a mountain range to Bergen.
Many considered this to be the most scenic rail
line in Europe, I would agree! We arrived in downtown Bergen late afternoon
and several relatives meet us at the Train Station and transported us to
our hotel which was on the
Bryggen.
Had a few beers and great conversation in a local pub on the harbor and
then had dinner with my cousin, Rignor and her husband Lars Sætre.
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Bergen
Radisson
SAS
Royal Hotel
Hotel
Photos
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Saturday
May
12th
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Dorothy and
Kathy did some shopping in Bergen
in the morning and then we picked up our car and meet my cousin Willie
Lunde and his wife and headed north to find my cousin Olav Lunde who
helped us get situated in our Holiday
Home. It was our home away from home for the next week and was
located just north of
Bøvågen on Radøy Island.
Then we were off to a fantastic family get-together which our extended
family in Norway had put together for us and 70-80 of our relatives.
Special thanks to Øyvind and Kiss along with their family for all the
hard work and Kathy Mryrass and Olav for pulling all the relatives
together!
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Sunday
May
13th
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We spend most of the day
getting a tour of Radøy Island "The Green Island" and the
Bergen area by Jan Ove Lunde. We were joined by Kathy Myrass my cousin
from Montana and her cousins Connie Dawson and Carrie McFarland. What a beautiful
country and it was nice to stop and visit with the folks who live on the
original Lunde farm where my grandfather grew up. Once we arrived in
Bergen, the men in the group avoided the shopping scene and took the
Fløibanen cable car to Mt. Fløyen for a great view of Bergen. We spent
the evening discussing our family roots and filling in some more blanks
of the family tree.
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Monday
May
14th
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Today we sleep
in and then meet up with our family again to take the ferry to Fedje
Island. The ferry ride was a little rough, especially for the Kathy and
myself who have weak sea legs. We meet up with more of our relatives on
Fedje and had a nice visit and lunch before taking a personally
guided tour of the island, checking out the Fedje Lighthouse and a local
Tin Factory, opened up especially for us. We returned to Radøy
for a great dinner at Øyvind and Kiss's place.
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Tuesday
May
15th
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We headed
inland today via Voss and through 40+ tunnels, including the Gudvanger
and Lærdal
Tunnels which were 11.5 and 24.5 kms long respectively, the later being
the longest in the world. Our destination was Lærdal to catch the ferry
to Gudvanger. The ferry took us on a wonderful 3 hour trip through
the Sogn, Aurland and Gudvager Fjords, for the 1st half of our journey
we had the ferry to ourselves!
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Flåm
Fretheim
Hotel |
Wednesday
May 16th
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This morning
we rode the the Flåmsbana (Flåm
Railway) between Flåm, Myrdal and back. Unfortunately it was
raining but it was still a great ride. After returning to Flåm we
headed to Borgund and stopped to take a tour of the Stave
Church. We navigated back though the Lærdal
Tunnel once again and stopped at Aurland for lunch and then a short
visit to the small town of Undredal and it's Stave Church. We then
headed back to Radøy traversing the 40+ tunnels once again. Boy do Norwegians
love their tunnels!
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Thursday
May
17th
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May 17th is Norwegian
Constitution
Day and we got up early to go down to
Bergen to spend the day. We meet Lars and Rignor for
breakfast before scouting out a location to watch the parades. These
Norwegians take their 17th of May celebrations very seriously, it was
great! We then had lunch with Lars's mother
southwest of Bergen, had some great Sour Cream Soup. I spent the
time just before sunset exploring some more of Radøy and taking some
more video and photos.
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Friday
May
18th
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Started off as
a nice day, but quickly turned to rain! Overall we were very fortunate
that it only rained on us four days during our visit. Everyone
told us it typically rains 8 days a week in Bergen! We returned to
Bergen for a day of shopping and to get some dinner, but we 1st had to
exchange our car for a different model that would hold our
luggage. We stopped over at Oyvind and Kiss's once again and had
another great visit.
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Radøy
Island
Holiday
Home |
Saturday
May
19th
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We got up
early again as we had a long road trip ahead of us to make it to Ålesund
for the night. Even though it was raining most of the day, we
still traveled through some great scenery. We took an alternate route
(highway 60) which was recommended by my cousin in Ålesund. It was well
worth the detour and we saved a ferry crossing as a bonus. Our home for the next two days
was
in downtown Ålesund
next to the port where we will board our ship tomorrow for a fjord tour.
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Ålesund
Radisson
SAS
Hotel Ålesund
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Sunday
May
20th
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We departed at
9:45 on the MS Harald Jarl (a Coastal
Steamer) for a all day cruise to the Geiranger Fjord, which was
another great journey through the fjords of Norway. It was a great
experience to ride one of the original small steamer's. My cousin
Sigfred Lunde meet us at the ship and took us on a wonderful tour of Ålesund
before returning to his home for coffee and cake. Spent the evening
visiting and discussing our family heritage and Norske visit with his
wife and father.
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Ålesund
Radisson
SAS
Hotel Ålesund
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Monday
May 21st
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Our road
adventure today from Alesund to Lillehammer, takes
us through the village of
Åndalsnes where a cruise ship had stopped for the day. We then took a
detour up a steep mountain road, the Trolstigen (Troll Highway) before
following the Rauma
Railway Line through the Romsdalen (Roms Valley) and then through
Dombås on our way to Lillehammer.
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Lillehammer
Radisson
SAS
Hotel Lillehammer
Hotel
Photos
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Tuesday
May
22nd
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This morning
we stopped for a short period of time at the Olympic Park to explore
some of the Winter Olympic facilities used during the 1994 winter games.
Then headed south to the Oslo Airport to catch our Plane to Reykjavik
and Iceland. We hated to leave Norway behind! We arrived in
Reykjavik late in the afternoon and we went to a movie (the Mummy
Returns) before retiring for the evening. Of course the sun was still up
at 11:30pm.
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Reykjavik
Radisson
SAS
Saga Hotel
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Wednesday
May 23rd
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We explored the shopping area of downtown
Reykjavik before returning to the airport for the last leg of our journey
home to Minneapolis.
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Home Sweet
Home |
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