Holiday Vacation




We took advantage of the two week winter break from school to travel!

Estonia

 We spent Christmas in Tallinn.  We stayed in the Old Town and enjoyed the Christmas market - considered one of the best in Europe- and exploring more of the Old Town. We face-timed with our families back home and we started a new tradition - ice skating on Christmas Eve!  While there was a slight concern, Santa did in fact find us in our hotel room in Tallinn so I guess Owen and Lillian were good this year!

Tallinn
"Fat Margaret" in Tallinn

Norway

Next we traveled to Oslo, Norway and took a train across the country, arriving in Bergen to spend the Birthdays and the New Year's holiday.  While we knew that mid-winter is the rainy season in Bergen, we tried not to let it dampen our sprits.  We were fortunate to spend time on Mount Floyen on one of the days that was rain free.  Not only did this area provide a great views of Bergen, there are old growth cedars and great hiking as well as an adventure park that offered fun for kids to climb and zip-line.

Bergen Depot

Night view of Bergen from Mt. Floyen

Gingerbread house display


We visited museums and an aquarium, ate great food, and attempted to escape from the Bergen Escape House (they let us out anyway :). We were able to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve from our hotel room as we had a great view of the port side of the city.

A high point of our Bergen stay was a self guided tour we joined called "Norway in a Nutshell."  This trip had us train out of Bergen to Voss, Norway and then take a bus from Voss to Gunvangen, Norway.  We then traveled by a fjord cruise boat through the Aurlandsfjord and the Naeroy Fjords.  Our port of call was Flam, Norway where we then took a ride on the historic Flam Railway.  Finally, we transferred back on a regular train that returned us to Bergen.  This was a great trip that got us up close to the beautifully rugged nature of Norway.

Fjord cruise

Fjord Cruise

A stop on the historic Flam Railway
Sweden

After wrapping up our Norway trip we flew to Stockholm, Sweden to see the sights and celebrate Rhonda's birthday. We had a great time exploring the old city and visiting museums in Stockholm.  We spent a day in the Swedish National Museum that gave us an appreciation of the history and culture of Sweden.  One day we traveled by train to Uppsala, visiting the 15th century university museum and one of the oldest cathedrals in the country.  Back in Stockholm we visited the Vasa Museum, which holds a 17th century ship that sank in the Swedish harbor in1628...on its maiden voyage, and was remarkably preserved and now on display.  Finally, we visited a Viking history museum on our last day in the city.

Streets of the Old Town in Stockholm

The old town


The two weeks went fast and we returned to a full schedule.  And how time flies - it is already March and our time is going fast with our busy schedules and we are now thinking of what little time we have left in Estonia!!


Comments

  1. Dan MApril 15, 2019 at 12:09 PM

    Hi Rhonda, Don, Owen, and Lillian,

    Just a quick note to let you know I am thinking of you all. I was particularly struck when I walking to the library and past your home. Your garden looked so forlorn. I think it misses you.

    Hope you are well.

    Dan M.

    ReplyDelete

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