Day 3 Stockholm
Summer solstice in Stockholm with close to 19 hours of daylight and Happy Mid Summer celebrations continue. We took a walk to the city to get a few people free pics. and then hopped on the #82 ferry to Djitgarden,…
Blog
Read MoreDay 3 Stockholm
Day 2 Stockholm
Early rising in the land where the sun never sets is easy to do. We were walking the city before any locals were up. It’s a holiday weekend after all “Happy Mid Summer.” After a mildly confusing walk to the…
Stockholm
We took the train from Oslo to Stockholm this morning. New language, new currency, just new. Nice ride and they welcomed us to Sweden. Kermit cheered. The announcements were louder and more detailed in Swedish, than in English – “next…
Day-29 Last of Oslo
A beautiful summer day in Norway. We have been so lucky. We started a nice walk through the city to catch the Ferry out to the museums. Our first stop was the Fram Museum Tales of the Polar Explorers on…
Day-28 Alone in Oslo
It’s raining and our travel buddies are gone…waaaaaaa We’ve reached the end of our pre-planned part of our adventure. So much for knowing where we were going and what we were doing (although, in Jeff’s case, that could be debatable).…
Day 27 Oslo
Last day with our travel buddies Linda & Tony. We had a fabulous breakfast buffet at the Radisson Blu. We had to get our own cappuccino; it’s our new reality. Off to one last Viking Excursion around the city. Our…
Day-26 Oslo
Up early to catch the train to Oslo. The trip took 8 hours through the most interesting and ever changing terrain. From Bergen to Oslo We had one more 2500 competition and Tony got the assist but Linda finished strong…
Day-25 Bergen
After a lovely breakfast we spent the morning walking the colorful streets of Bergen, Norways second largest city. The city has about 300,000 residents and lots of tourists. We had to say goodbye to our awesome Viking friends. We had…
Day-24 Geiranger
Called the “pearl of the fjords” Geiranger is nestled in the towering peaks of Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO world heritage site and gateway to the most magnificent natural treasurers. This morning we all were on the top deck at 5:00am to…
Day-23 Sailing the Inside Passage
The Norwegian Inside Passage is a protected shipping lane that eventually ends in Siberia. The channels are protected with beautiful bays, islands and islets (very small and often unnamed.) In the morning we passed Torghatten, a granite dome on the…
Day-22 Leknes (Lofoten Islands)
The jagged peaks and the crystal clear lakes of the Lofoten Islands stretch 118 miles into the Norwegian Sea from Norway’s coast. The midnight sun continues to illuminate the magic of Norway. We headed out on a cruise through the…
Day-21 Narvik
June 10, 2025. Wow, sailing the fjords is way better than ocean sailing. The water is so smooth, if you don’t look out a window you wouldn’t know you’re even moving. We had an early (8:30) narrated bus excursion through…
Day-20 Tromsø
The gateway to the Arctic and still boasting the farthest north something. Norway has an elongated shape, one of the longest and most rugged coastlines in the world. Norway has 239,057 islands and 81,192 islets. We took a private tour…
Day-19 Honningsvåg, Norway
Sunday June 8, 2025. After another day at sea following our time in Svalbard, we landed the next morning in Honningsvåg located on Magerøya Island. Long known for its fishing and Sámi population (a semi-nomadic people who are known for…
Days 15-18 Two Days at Sea; Two Days in Svalbard
Our two days at sea from Ísafjördur to Svalbard, Norway were, thankfully, uneventful; as in we had smooth sailing and nobody got seasick!:) Our two days in Svalbard were great! Located about half way between Norway and the North Pole…
Day-13 A New Friend
Ok, it’s Sunday June 1, 2025; our bags are all packed and set outside our door at the hotel for 9:00am pickup. It’s just a short walk to board the bus that will take us to the ship. You can…
Day-14 Ísafjördur
Being on the ocean made sleeping a little wonky. The seas were a little rough and very windy. Good thing we all had some Scopalomine and/or Dramamine to help with any seasickness. We woke up to the boat docking at…
Day-12 Reykjavík
We met up with Linda and Tony at breakfast. So nice to catch up. We then headed off for the 2 mile walk to the Perlan Science and Art Museum. Their exhibits let visitors experience Iceland’s natural wonders all in…
Day-11 Back to Reykjavík
It was a languid sort of day; knowing we were ending our adventure around the island by returning to the city and returning the car. We started the day by stopping at a cave house. Being our usual early starters,…
Day-10 The Golden Circle
Oh My Gosh, the last full day of our adventure around Iceland! Hard to get our heads around that! We had a nice, leisurely, breakfast at hotel Katla, as it was just a short jaunt into Vik where we were…
Day-9 Wet and Wild
We were out the door early because we had an hour drive to get to our first stop – a zodiac glacier tour on Jökulsárlón lake, the deepest lake in Iceland, at 248m (813ft). The weather wasn’t promising, but there…
Day-8 A Winter Wonderland
We travelled quite a ways today. And, a good bit of that was through areas where there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. So different from what we’ve seen for most of the trip so far.…
Day-7 Waterfalls and Puffins
Timing is everything, and we nailed it today. After a great breakfast at the hotel, we were excited to see what was billed as ‘the tallest tree in Iceland’, a Russian larch tree planted in 1938, some more waterfalls, another…
Day-6 Untouched Iceland
We did a lot of traveling today. Thank you Greg for doing all the driving. Most of it seemed like we were on another world. No traffic, no people, no buildings, no trees, no nothing, just the ribbon of 2-lane…
Day-5 More From Mývatn Lake
We didn’t go far today. A short ride out to the lava fields at Dimmuborgir, known as the “Dark crags” to start the day. Originally formed from a lava-lake, the area is now crisscrossed with different walking trails offering many…
Day-4 Water, Water Water
We had an appointment for a whale watching trip planned for the morning, but before we got to that we made a stop at our biggest waterfalls yet – Goðafoss, (“Falls of the gods”). It’s been getting noticeably cooler each…
Day-3 NW Iceland
Our first stop was a small town called Hvammstangi on the Vatnsnes Peninsula hoping to see some seals and puffins along the way. We were told the seals were farther north but, it was all gravel road up and around…
Day-2 Snæfellsnes Pennsula
It was a long day in the car. Good thing the weather was nice, albeit a bit windier and cooler than yesterday. Our trip took us out and around the Snæfellsnes peninsula to explore some waterfalls and small historical villages,…
Day-1 Who Packed Sunscreen?
We picked-up the rental car, squeezed our luggage in (not sure where we’re going to put Ellen’s bag when it arrives), and headed out for our appointment at the Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland’s iconic hot springs spas. The weather…
Day-1a A Property Irregularity
It was a son-in-law start to our adventure — not what we were hoping for. Welcome to Iceland! The first leg, Phoenix to Minneapolis, was a snap. We met up with Lori and Greg for the leg to Reykjavík where…