In July 1999 we flew to Oslo, Norway but first we had a stopover in London, England for a couple days.
We stopped in London just to see Cliff Richard in his Hyde Park Concert (it was great). Since the concert was at night that gave us 2 full days to see the typical tourist sites. We used one of the city tour buses to see London. This was plenty especially since we were there the year before for almost a week.
Then we flew to Oslo, Norway for a couple days. Our hotel was near the Central Station and the main Karl Johans gate pedestrian shopping district. Even though they had trains, buses and trams through out the city, we used the tram system (Trikk) to get around since it was mapped out the best. Just some of the things we saw were the Munch Museum, Norwegian Folk Museum in Bygdøy, Oslo City Hall (where the Nobel Peace Prize is given out), the Royal Palace, Vigeland’s Park, and the Viking Ship Museum.
Rather than a car, we were able to get across and around the southern tip of Norway by train and boat. We left Oslo on a train that began our version of the famous "Norway in a nutshell" tour. This train and boat tour covers the most spectacular scenery and fjords in Norway. Even though we went through Myrdal and Flam, we added an extra night in Aurland. Our hotel, and most of the town, was right on the side of the fjord with tremendous views. In fact, because of the slope of the fjord the hotel was built with rooms only on one side facing the water.
We further extended the fjord cruise by taking a boat all the way to Bergen where we spent a couple days. When we left Bergen we took the FlaggRuten Express to Stavanger, this was a 4 hour high speed cruise on the very choppy North Sea. This town is on the western edge of Norway. We continued on the train to the southern tip of Norway to spend time in Kristiansand. This was a nice break before heading back to Oslo since the town was small and relaxing.
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