Scandinavia—Oslo, Goteborg, & Copenhagen—September 30th to October 3rd

Oslo—September 30th

We didn't have to catch a train to Goteborg, until 2:14PM so we took a stroll around the Aukershus Fortress and finally visited City Hall. On our last day in Oslo before leaving for Bergen we couldn't get into City Hall because there was a government function, but this time we were lucky and enjoyed the splendor of the main Hall and the other rooms upstairs.

So first, we walked through the Aukershus Castle (1299) grounds. This was once the royal residence and was eventually developed into a fortress in 1592 and was rebuilt into a renaissance castle between 1637 and 1648.

Akershus Fortress contains banquet halls, the Royal Mausoleum and the government's reception rooms, and its historic church is the home of the royal sarcophagi, none of which we could see, because of ongoing renovations. So, we amused ourselves by walking the grounds.

  

      This shows how thick the fortress walls are.              This is the first entrance gate to the fortress.

After the first gate, there's a lovely walk
to the main gate to the inner fortress.

The main entrance. Note its thickness. The 

castle and church are protected by massive

earthen mounds fortified and stone walls.

This is carved next to the arch below.

Cannons protecting the Oslo harbor below.

A picture of the church, banquet halls, the Royal Mausoleum
and reception rooms we couldn't visit.

This was posted on the gate leaving the fortress.

We exited through this gate behind the fortress. That

really is a draw bridge at the rear of the fortress.

Oslo City Hall is architecturally reminiscent of Brutalism and this design was intentional. The interior, however, is also intentionally expansive and elegant. This is where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded and Norwegian pride in its people and natural resources are honored and exhibited. 

The main hall is enormous and gorgeous.

The mural to the left and this one commemorate the

workers of Norway and growth of commerce.

The door leading into the the Banquet Room.

Reindeer decorations on door.

This banquet table in the Banquet Hall is
reserved for the most honored guests.

You may recognize these folks.

These porcelin inserts decorate the first floor. 

They honor everyday Norwegians.

And we end our tour of City Hall with the most important

room. Yep, the men's. As expected it's enormous.

Before boarding our train we enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate at Cousins. You can read about their mission here.

Goteborg—September 30th overnight to October 1st

The train ride to Goteborg was 3.5 hours, and I chose this stopover because it was halfway between Oslo and Copenhagen. We'd spent 7 hours on a train from Bergen to Oslo the day before and I wanted to break up the trip to Copenhagen. That's how I settled on Goteborg.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful country from Oslo to Goteborg.

Goteborg is the 3rd largest city in Sweden

and their train station is fantastic.

Tortellini, and to the right, goat cheese salad.

 

We stayed in Hotel G. It sits over the train

station, so all we had to do to find a meal

was drop down one floor to the central station

and select from all kinds of restaurants.

                The ambiance from our train

                station bistro.

This is the walkway over the train station

main floor. It spans from the hotel lobby

to the elevators to the rooms.

Walkway to elevators to hotel rooms.

We were stunned at the size of our room.

Hotel G lobby.

Copenhagen—day 1—our last 4 full days

Today we walked 5.8 miles through the Holmen, Refshaleoen neighborhoods and on to Copenhill where we had amazing views over to Sweden and Copenhagen.

 

Check out this video about Copenhill.

This is just too funny!

Of course there is a cafe and pub at
the top of the Copenhill ski slope.

355 feet is the last step to the top.

City from the top of Copenhill.

From the summit you can see three kinds of energy

used in Denmark—wind, oil, and this zero waste energy 

center itself.

This is a 240' climbing wall

on the outside of Copenhill.

This made me dizzy just trying to take the picture.

This neighborhood was once part of the 

city's famed naval base, but has been

repurposed for schools of art, architecture, 

apartments/homes, and public schools.

Broen's food court is just across the "kissing bridge"
and our hotel and it has an amazing array of food
and some really good beers.

Gelato balanced the taco meal.

Today, October 3rd, we decided to cross the canal again and "get lost" in the Christianhavn neighborhood and just see how the day goes.

Nyhavn harbor. Kind of famous.

Opera House from the "kissing bridge".

Because it's an immersive experience you have to put on cloth shoe-slippers, the kind realtors require before entering.

Going into this art exhibit was really cool!

Just like at home, retail/restaurants at the

bottom and homes/apartments above.

Get ready for some 17th century architecture in this
older part of Copenhagen.

The Church of Our Savior, 1752.

We loved these windows and shutters.

Click to enlarge for information about the park.

 

The view onto Stroget Street from Original

Coffee Shop. They have outdoor seating

wrapping around the top floor.

Took this short cut through the old Royal

Theatre on our way back to our hotel.

Again, the new Opera House from our hotel room.

We ended our day at Broens outdoor food court, sharing

a delicious salmon poke bowl. The proportions in all of

Scandinavia have been generous so we've been able to 

share most meals and be fine with that.

We've been lucky with the weather. In Bergen we had two sunny days in a row, dumbfounding locals when we mentioned how lovely the weather has been. And again, this past week we've had sunny weather, with some wind (10 knots or so), and temperatures in the mid-50's. The only time we've had "rainus-horribilus" was our first full day in Copenhagen at the beginning of this trip.