Oslo, Goteborg, and the Water

Thursday, June 25

Thursday was a big day as our tour officially began, and we finally got to the ship! But first off, rewinding to Wednesday night:

Our dinner was in the dining room where the annual Nobel Peace Prize winners are feted each December. Interesting Nobel trivia…we learned that the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo on December 10 each year; all the other Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm. Also, we learned that Henrik Ibsen, the famous playwright, would often stop at our hotel for a Bavarian beer. 

On the way to our first stop Thursday morning, we picked up a little bit of background on Oslo. The city was founded around 1040 as Anslo (later spelled Oslo) —it was destroyed in a fire and then rebuilt and renamed by the Danish/Norwegian King Christian IV as Christiana. After Norway became independent from Denmark in 1905, public sentiment began to call for the traditional name to be reinstated. That happened on Jan 1, 1925. We also learned during this initial ride that Norway is a multicultural country. 40% of its inhabitants are from elsewhere. So for anyone who thought this was purely a Nordic place with everyone blonde-haired, blue-eyed and white-skinned, you are wrong.

Our first stop was the Vigeland Park. While I mentioned in my first blog that there are so many statues all around Oslo, this is the only part that totally and completely represents works by one sculptor and one sculptor alone, Gustav Vigeland. There are over 200 of his sculptures! A stonemason from an early age, Vigeland believed that his representations of humans (the only representations in the park) should be nude, representing the circle of life and eternity. Not for the prudish among you! He was very obviously inspired by Rodin. You can see the variety of statues here; it was really quite incredible. 

Lunch was on the waterfront. And in my quest to sample as much fish as possible, I was glad to see that cod was on the menu.

After lunch, we headed to the KonTiki Museum and the Fram Museum — showcasing famous Norwegian explorers Thor Heyerdahl, Roald Amundsen, and more. While it was fascinating to see the crafts in which they sailed to the destinations, particularly in the KonTiki museum and to hear about Heyerdahl’s  discovery of Easter Island (including an Easter island actual monolithic figure).....

...these were not my favorite museums of all time, and they seemed more fillers than anything else. Note to self: if you come back to Oslo, go to the Historical Museum near the center of town where they have the oldest Viking helmet. That would have been fun!

The first night dinner on board the ship was lovely. In my fish quest, I chose the sea bream with a caviar (!) sauce, no kidding, and preceded by a chilled crème de celeriac soup (something like a vichychoise).  So very refreshing.

I capped it off with a simple fruit plate (Jane also had the fruit, and Mona had the creme brulee), and couldn’t help but request an almond financiere because on the French cruise line, you get all the pastries! Ooh La La! And French cuisine not bad!

Friday, June 26

The ship is Le Laperouse— part of the French Ponant line and it is gorgeous.

Some serious technology!

I have relatively little cruising experience: three river boats, and a smaller boat on the Galapagos, so this is really my first time around here. And I am already being quite spoiled; selfishly speaking, I am loving the French. Of course, everyone speaks English and everything is in English, but there’s plenty of French sprinkled around, so it’s a good opportunity for me to practice. Another new experience is that this morning it was quite windy and you can really feel it! I noted it, and one of our new travel friends said, "Toughen up."! Guess we have no choice! We were on the water until early this afternoon when we docked and went on land for our first excursion in Goteborg — Sweden's second largest city. There are multiple choices for excursions each day. The three of us chose a paddan city tour - that is a "paddan" boat, not a paddle boat. We wouldn't be doing anything except enjoying the scenery and the canal breeze.

We started our tour of Goteborg with a scenic overlook and historic overview of the town and Sweden in general.  Our Swedish local guide, Elizabeth, explained that Goteborg, being on the West coast, is much more temperate than Stockholm. She also shared that Sweden, while originally a Roman Catholic country became a Lutheran country after Martin Luther, and indeed, Lutheranism was the state religion until 1999!

 

She told us about the population numbers for other religions across the country, but didn’t say anything about Judaism, which was strange particularly since we saw a synagogue later while on the Paddon boat ride. We were standing right outside a beautiful church and were quite surprised that we didn’t go in! (You can never see too many churches!)

 

The paddon boat ride, on Goteborg’s canals was kitschy and fun. Our guide was a stand-up comic, adorable and very silly, and every time we passed under a bridge (which was frequently) he dramatically stooped down at exactly the right time after making clear that none of our body parts could leave the boat. 

Whereas Amsterdam’s or Venice’s canals run throughout the city, and as I recall, are relatively clean, these canals run in circles and were full of algae (still, we passed a number of fishermen and one even had some success). Our guide told us that at one point at least part of the canals comprised a moat— protecting the city. 

There were lots of sites along the way; here’s a sample.

The Goteborg Synagogue - completed in 1855

Old....and new!

 

Herr Paddan!  Gotta have a mascot.

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped for one of the “expected” Tauck surprises — Large pieces of Swedish cinnamon rolls for everyone. The entire roll is the size of someone’s face, so no one complained when we only received a piece. They were quite delicious.     

We headed back to the ship to prepare for the captain’s welcome dinner. We gathered up three new friends and made our way to the dining room. The amuse bouche was a cold pea soup.  

Next, all of us except Mona ordered the lobster appetizer.  Lobster tail with three dipping sauces: asparagus purée, garlic mayonnaise, and something else green.

Everyone ordered the scallop special! Pureed squash and seaweed butter.

We chose various desserts, including a small chocolate cake, a raspberry macaron with lychee cream, sorbet, and an apricot cream. 

This was a really special meal fitting a welcome dinner and we even befriended the manager of all the restaurants. He seemed very confident and gave us the inside scoop for upcoming fish dishes.

 

The evening ended for us with a 45 minute rhythm show — performed by three-dancers and a solo singer— probably covering 15 different styles of dance and just as many costume changes. 

It was terrific and now we sail to Arendal (not from “Frozen”, the real thing) where we have morning excursions around this (sure to be) charming town.

  

Shabbat Shalom and love,

wendy