I don’t think I’ve ever planned a trip without someone, either on a forum or in real life, suggesting alternatives to my itinerary. When I went to the Balkans, I heard from people who said I needed more time in Dubrovnik and others who said I needed less time in Dubrovnik. And no where did…
I spent a good portion of the day yesterday at the airport in Bergen. Since I had to check out of my apartment by noon, and my flight to Trondheim wasn’t until 15:45, and I didn’t want to haul my luggage around, I just went to the airport early.
One of the lessons that’s hard for me to learn when traveling is to pace myself. As one loyal blog reader pointed out, I may have set a record for museum visits, and yet all I can think about is the museums I didn’t have time for. Bergen has some museums that are highly recommended in…
There’s a contest in this blog post. Keep reading to see what it is and how you can win. I drove around the Sognefjord region today, probably less than 300 kilometers, starting at 8:30 this morning and getting back to Balestrand at 19:00. I’ve taken some great road trips. Last year in the southwest, a good…
I am on the balcony of my room at the Balestrand Hotell, trying to focus on what I’m typing. But I am distracted by the view of the Sognefjord in front of me.
Fredrikstad could be the next Cinque Terre. It is surprising to me, given his Norwegian heritage, that Rick Steves gives short shrift to this country. His Scandinavia guidebook includes Oslo, Bergen, and the fjord region, and that’s it. Fredrikstad is exactly the kind of place he likes to discover and reveal to Americans. It has…
Yesterday in Oslo was like so many winter and spring and fall days in Seattle: grey and rainy. Fortunately I got most of my outdoor sightseeing done on Saturday, when it was beautiful (until late afternoon). So yesterday was a day to check out several Oslo museums.
I meant to blog about the concert I attended at the Concertgebouw last Thursday, but with all I’ve been busy doing, I somehow forgot. The concert was, in a word, sublime.
Last time I blogged I was in a completely different country where they speak a different language and use a different currency and where you didn’t have to say “It’s only money” every time you spent the equivalent of $5 for an ice cream cone. Since then I’ve gotten out of practice with blogging. Sorry.…
I think I knew I was biting off more than I could chew, but this is Amsterdam, home of some of the world’s greatest museums and rich with history. I actually only went to four museums, but it feels like it was much more. And it didn’t help that I never stopped to take a…
Today was my Haarlem day. It’s a short train ride to Haarlem, about 15 minutes. In fact, when I was first planning this trip, I was going to stay in Haarlem. It would have been a nice place to stay, I guess, pleasant to go back to after a day in Amsterdam. But I’m glad…