Oslo - Final Day with Inspiring Vacations and Herbert

The bus drives us through central Oslo where we see many of the attractions and government buildings. 

On the outskirts of the city and following a long climb, we arrive at the Holmenkollen ski resort complex where ski jumping and decathlon are contested.  The ski jump regularly hosts FIS ski jumping events. It's seating capacity is 70,000!

Look closely and you can see the elevator that delivers the ski jumpers and their team to any level.

This is "Toto" our local guide for the Oslo tour. There is a huge public garden in Oslo similar to those in Madrid or London or NYC. The park is adorned with the sculpture works of Gustav Vigeland.

It is said the park contains some 700+ of his works. Toto's theory is this statue is of Gustav with his grandfather.

Time and weather constrain the group from venturing further into the park to see more of his works.

Most of Gustav's works included children. Although he disavowed his two children, his work shows an adoration of children. 

He sketched this child on a visit to the UK. Little did he know it would become his most famous work. The gold hand comes from people posing holding hands with the statue against the rules.

How long did the live models need to hold this pose?

Similar to Macy's or Harrod's Christmas windows, we observe animated windows. These are the best three of an entire block of the windows.

For lunch we enjoy a nearby sushi establishment. We luck out. We find businessmen dining there and the food excellent. Three sashimi offers: kingfish, tuna, and salmon. All delicious but pictured in the ascending order of our preference.

Our trip with the group concludes with a group dinner, one of the best meals of the trip.

And finally, a great big Bravo Zulu to Herbert, our fantastic guide. He was the consummate professional in EVERY sense of the word

Svolvaer and Lofoton Islands

Today's tour provides for more scenic beauty as we drive through the Lofoton Islands. The extent of our driving concludes in the tiny village of Henningsvær. The village is connected to the mainland by a 257-meter single lane bridge.

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The main livelihood of this town is cod fishing. The season is just beginning and we view the first catches on the drying racks. That's the good news. The bad news is the smell.

The ultimate goal of walking this city, other than attempting to give CJ a heart attack is the uniquely located soccer field.

Obviously, the pitch looks a bit different at this time of year.

On the way out of town the bus stops at a Viking Museum where there is a replicated Viking long house.

We stop at a small fishing village for a photo op. They have huge sheds for working on boats throughout the year.

This boat hasn't been tended to recently. The tide has gone out and he's too tight to the dock and listing. There was a second one suffering the same malady of inattention. They need floating docks.

Enjoying the scenery of the Lofoton Islands.

A simple Luteran Church.

This is our final northern sunset before moving on to Oslo.

To Oslo

We depart Svolvaer enroute to our flight from Evenes. More than two hours later we return to a lunch stop to burn time enroute to the airport.

Ships are moving through the fiord.

Herbert takes a group photo of his tour group.

We wait two hours for our flight to Oslo. It is CJ's shortest flight ever. He is asleep within a couple of minutes of liftoff and wakened with his tray table still down on the impact of landing. Take away the sleep and his perception of the flight is that it takes a few minutes to get from Evenes to Oslo.