Fun day as tourists with Francine and Russ. Nice to have them lead the way! We roamed around the old town of gramla Stan, arriving at the royal palace just in time for the changing of the guard, this time complete with a marching band. Lots of tourists roaming the narrow cobbled lanes and gift shops selling $49 T-shirts.
We decided to splurge on the smorgasbord at The Grand Hotel, which was a trip. Lots of fish, herring, meats, desserts. Once was enough, I am ready to slow down on the eating.
In the afternoon we joined most of Stockholm or so it seemed to watch Sweden vs. England in the World Cup semi finals. Francine and Russ were in the distinct minority, wearing their English football shirts at the Sodermalm bar where we watched the game outside on the street in a crowd spilling onto the street. England won unexpectedly 2-0 and the crowd was very tolerant of Francine jumping up and down in victory.
We wandered around the cobbled lanes of northern Sodermalm and took in some great views of the rest of the city and did some people watching of the attractive young people gathered at various cafes and pubs, including a furniture designer/restaurant called Woodstockholm.
We managed to put the flood aside and enjoy yet another spectacular day of weather –it was almost too hot. My few warm weather clothes are getting a workout while I have yet to use my down jacket, rain coat or umbrella.
As our hostel operators suggested, we drove from Bergen to Voss to Vik and then took the ferry to Helle and then drove through Sogndal, a bigger town, to this tiny village of Solvorn. En route, we stopped for lunch on the side of a two lane road running though a green valley with a road zigzagging up a mountain beside water crashing down some falls. Wow. In Vik, we stopped at a lovely old Stave church circa 1140, made of carved wood, with painted murals inside a rounded entrance.
Eplet Bed &Apple is a charming homey place. Our room is small but cheerful and has a spectacular view. There are mostly young people here , some from France, but also a Jewish family from central Pennsylvania. Two strange coincidences: we met a couple yesterday in Bergen from the Pennsylvania family’s town. Turns out it’s their dentist. And the mom of this family went to Grinnell for college.
We went down to the one business in town, a small cafe and store where they served surprisingly good Thai food, cooked by a Thai woman who usually cooks at a restaurant in Oslo. She is summering here. Another pleasant surprise: we can swim in the fjord. There are two little beaches and the water is not frigid. As dirck says, it kind of feels like we are in summer camp or Ithaca on vacation by the lake.
This afternoon we walked out to another gorgeous neighborhood Nordes and a pretty park. It’s very hilly, with rough brick pavements, and unfortunately my knees and heel are giving me some trouble. But even Dirck was hobbling on the way back.
At the glorious Louisiana Museum, a contemporary art museum about a 45 minute train ride north of Copenhagen, we chanced upon a huge exhibit of work by Gabrielle Munter, a German painter we didn’t think we knew. Except the portrait used for the brochure cover and the main poster looked familiar. Turns out it was on loan from the Des Moines Art Center! That was strange.
Loved everything about the museum – the setting (on an estate with lovely grounds high above the North Sea), the architecture (a lovely old country house with modern almost Japanese-style additions that wind here and there), the grounds (sweeping lawns, gardens, paths through the woods) and of course the contemporary art and sculpture. The cafe was lovely too. Good food and we sat outside at a table overlooking the water. We have had the most amazing weather.
Tonight we splurged at Relae, a restaurant run by one of the many Noma-trained chefs in this city. We sat at one of three tables overlooking the kitchen which was fascinating, with all the chefs and servers moving around in sync with each other. It felt like we were watching a culinary ballet. The food was one of a kind. All super fresh and locally sourced and unusual. We got the “Relae menu” which was a handful of small exquisite courses.
TakeBetsywithyou 