In the Wake of the Vikings Days 1-3

Vacation time has rolled around again, and this time we took off on the Viking Sky Cruise ship to trace the path of the ancient Vikings as they explored Norway, The Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. The trip took 23 days and was filled with many unexpected events and sites.

Our plane landed in Oslo, Norway and we used the Hop On, Hop Off bus to acclimate ourselves. We took in the Viking and Maritime museums.

Wooden figurehead from prow of ancient Viking ship

Both had relics from the days of the Vikings.

Leather boots taken from remains of a Viking ship

Out the train window near Flam

After a day in Oslo, we took a train to Flam and passed through cloud shrouded fjords and had our first glimpse of the quiet life of Norway.

Hotel in Flam

In Flam we had our first taste of reindeer meat as we strolled through a local Farmer’s Market.  It was actually very good and we had it several more times during our trip.

After a day in Flam we boarded another train and headed for Balestrand for a two night stay.

Balestrand was a busier city than Flam, but still very small and quiet.  The views were extraordinary.  We were able to do quite a bit of walking with the temperatures being in the low 50’s.

One of the best things about Balestrand was the food. We had two nights of the most amazing buffet of Norwegian foods. The dinner service offered at least seven different ways of preparing salmon. It was all so wonderful. By this point in the trip, we had eaten, reindeer, veal, halibut,

Balestrand as seen from the tr

salmon, and numerous kinds of local fish that I’d never heard of.  The bread was to die for.  If this was the kind of food we would be eating for the next 3 weeks, we were going to be in big trouble! It would be a challenge to keep portions small or pass on sampling everything our eyes would see.

ROME- Day 1

Tiber River

Pizza and Gelato

We started our long-awaited vacation in Rome  and managed to walk a mere 18, 798 steps, on our first ½ day. The plane landed before noon and rooms weren’t ready until 1 p.m., so off we hiked to explore around the Vatican. Right away it became apparent that I would not be the navigator as I managed to take the four us on the “long and scenic” route around the outside perimeter of the Vatican! Well, it got our circulation going after the 12-hour plane flight! We found our first gelato stop and made it back to the hotel in time to shower and rest before heading out to find dinner. Pizza along the Tiber River was a great way to end our first Italian experience.