Monthly Archives: September 2026

A Fort!

Posted on September 22, 2026 | 1 comment

I wonder how many forts we have been to in our lifetime. Lots, Michigan, North Dakota, Florida, Texas “Remember the Alamo!” Never was there a harder one to spell. Suomenlinna on Sveaborg. It’s a World Heritage site and an island.

An awfully complicated story

1748 Sweden

1808 Russian

1918 Finnish

We took the 15 minute ferry ride and walked around. It was the most beautiful sunny day we’ve had in Finland.

We managed to find the stop for a Rick Steve’s suggested self-guided tram tour. Quite a challenge for us. No pictures. Apparently it poured down rain while we were on the tram. We ate an early dinner at Zetor https://www.raflaamo.fi/fi/ravintola/helsinki/zetor  a restaurant Grundela took our group to last week. On the weekend It’s jammed full of Finns doing line dancing dressed like Texans. Very quiet Monday 5pm.

Dennis can’t hear. I have a very sore throat and we both have the kind of cough I would expect to hear from a tuberculosis patient.

Double sided cough syrup directions Finnish /Swedish

Sought out the neighborhood Apteeki after our early dinner. She greeted me at the door in English and asked what I needed. I got throat lozenges & strong cough syrup. Unfortunately, I managed to lose the plastic cup she gave me to measure the syrup. Took me forever to translate the Swedish/Finnish dose directions and then convert from milliliters 😄. Hope I’m close.

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tour ended in Helsinki Finland

Posted on September 20, 2026 | Leave a comment

Lots of rain and contrasting architecture

Our first day in Helsinki is the last day of our tour. Gundega walked us around the city as the weather alternated between drizzle and pouring rain.

No matter what I try the photos are headless on my phone unless you open them individually 🫤

Helsinki is known for it’s post-war modern architecture but they did some rebuilding in the old style too.

Went to the Helsinki Architecture & Design Museum today and we made a second trip to the Oodi (world famous) public library.

Oodi, most popular library I’ve ever been to

On a rainy Friday afternoon it was really busy and sunny Sunday it was even busier.

I counted 24 baby buggies/strollers parked on the 3rd floor so some kids & adults were actually near books. 😉

Having spent most of our day in the Architecture and Design Museum learning about a children’s character named Moomin, Craft Punk clothing, and the Aalto philosophy of tuberculosis hospital design, my head was exploding!

I couldn’t manage to find which of the streets with 18 letter names in both Finnish and Swedish and are NEVER at right angles would get us home. Thank goodness for Dennis!!

Gudvangen & Flan

Posted on September 12, 2026 | 1 comment

We arrived by public bus in Gudvangen about 7pm. Dennis and I were assigned cabin # 1 with Gary a retired Saskatchewan bachelor farmer. This worked out really well. We really enjoyed having a cabin mate.

We were each handed a pile of sheets & 1 towel. Not only did D. and I struggle getting our 2 duvet covers and 2 half sheets on 1 bed, we were hosting 8 for dinner.

Our guide Gundega had everything figured out. As some people were coming in and asking for bowls or cooking utensils others were arriving with cooked food. Others demanding space in our small oven. By 8pm we were all enjoying eating our dinner together.

We met the next morning for a boat trip up the fjord to the town of Flan.

Flam is a very touristy town. After warming up with some coffee most of us chose to go hiking. HUGE cruise ship docked in Flan was great for tourism business but ruined close-up pictures of the fjord. We had to climb above town.

On one of the most rigerous hikes I’ve been on lately we walked up 500+ uneven stone steps for a better view of a waterfall.

After our hike Dennis & I took a bus back to Gudvangen while the rest of our group took a scenic train ride.

Great spot for a picnic near the bus stop & ferry landing.

We decided to visit a Viking village

We bought our ticket just a few minutes before the sparsely attended tour started.

Beautiful walk from the Viking Village back to our cabins.

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Gudvangen, Norway

Last Day in Oslo

Posted on September 8, 2026 | Leave a comment

Started the day with an orientation tour with our Latvian guide Gundega. There were only 4 of us on the tour. We refreshed our memory & saw some things we hadn’t seen before.

Swedish King Christian points to where to build the new city after a fire or alternative interpretation pushed the little people down.

Norwegian King Harald passed away last week. Flags are at half staff and a LONG line of mourners extends at least a quarter of a mile down the hill from the palace for the 3rd day. A great variety of people waiting to pay their respects to the king. We saw men in nicely tailored black suits and others in shorts and t-shirts. Some were climbing the hill to add to the piles of flowers on the Palace lawn.

Monday, still line at least 1/4 mi. to pay respects to King Harald

We spent the entire afternoon in the National Museum, It’s huge and covers both The history of Western art and the history of Norwegian art.

No crowd in front of The Scream at the National Museum

We had fish soup by the docks. Great people watching on a Sunday. We walked home through the fort.

Oslo, Norway

Posted on September 5, 2026 | 1 comment

Arrived exhausted yesterday after long flights: Spokane to Seattle to Amsterdam to Oslo. Spent most of our day at the new Edvard Munch museum We both have long had an interest in Munch. Hope that’s not too strange. Years ago we traveled to NYC for Spring break because MOMA had a special Munch exhibition.

We didn’t wait to get a close view of the painting The Scream. There were other renderings including a woodcut print which I think I like better than the color version.

Crowd in front of one rendering of *The Scream.*

The new museum is beautiful and incorporates some interactive activities for adults and children. After 4 hours we were satisfied we’d seen enough

View of Oslo Opera House from the 12th floor of the Munch museum

On the walk back to our hotel I made Dennis climb the Opera House roof. We climbed this roof in 2019 with rain and sleet blowing in our faces. I couldn’t Believe Dennis didn’t want to go up in better weather.

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Norway, Oslo