The Broughtby's European Adventures

  Our final leg of the Scandinavia journey was Norway. We started and ended in Oslo but much of our time was spent exploring the fjords and smaller towns.  More Norway photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Lo5sFgQF2ScPYkV8 Wed, 8/20 – Stockholm → Oslo We flew into Oslo later in the day so only enough time for a little exploration and dinner.  One impression I have of Oslo is the social activism, not just with this small protest about fossil fuels, but the general vibe (i.e. graffiti).  All very calm but lots of opinions! The Tiger statue outside the train station. Thu, 8/21 – Oslo → Bergen Not much time in Oslo before we began our exploration of Norway.  This was the most stressful part of planning the trip and why I delegated it to Ryan. It involved piecing together various transportation modes and he thrives in planning trains, buses and water-related transportation.  It was a complex puzzle that mirrored the popular "Norway in a Nutshell" ...

  Mon, 8/18 - Helsinki Even though Helsinki was only a day trip, I felt it deserved its own blog post.   More Helsinki photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/E8UopombY1QpFZdD9 We traveled to Helsinki by cruise ship spending 2 nights on board.  It was a nice, small ship so easy to get on and off in Helsinki. First Sam and I wanted to go on the  SkyWheel   ferris wheel because we learned about it watching the Finland episode of "Europe From Above".  One of the cabins is a "SkySauna" - an actual wood sauna.  We did not take that option given it is quite expensive and it is a minimum of 1 hour.  I cannot stay in a sauna for 1 hour! We had lunch at a traditional Finnish restaurant ( Restaurant Savotta ) and then met our tour guide to get the most of our limited time in the city. The tour and guide were "interesting" (said in the "British" way as Sam would say).  We were the only ones on the tour and it seemed a bit inconvenient fo...

  We took a quick flight from Copenhagen to Stockholm to continue our Scandinavia adventure.   More Stockholm photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/P9CcUCkXJkz9Dp4v5 Fri, 8/15 -  Copenhagen → Stockholm We hadn't planned a food tour in Stockholm, but these things tend to happen.  We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed to Östermalms Food Hall.  The tour guide was more awkward than other food tour guides we have had.  Hard to describe but he reminded me of a young George Michael. Not a bad thing but he did not fit the typical profile of a food tour guide. On a very positive note - there were more meatballs on this tour!  Sat, 8/16— Stockholm We did a walking tour in the morning with another fairly entertaining tour guide and even more information about the historical Sweden/Denmark mortal enemy situation.  This statue is to honor women in leadership given most of the history involved men being in power and making "interesting" ...