Day 90

27 July
It seems to have gone by so quickly and now it is the last day of our trip (not including a travel day tomorrow). We visited the ski jump in Oslo as one last tourist stop. We went through the Holmenkollen ski museum and caught a lift to the top of the jump, from the top it was definitely high and steep. Jenny and Ivar dropped us at the airport for our flight to London, one of 3 on the way home to Perth.

Day 88 Bergen to Oslo

25 July
After a HUGE buffet breakfast that all four of us finished with shots we walked down to a bakery to get lunch supplies. We then walked down to the front tourist area around the port where there were some souvenir and fish markets (one stall was selling sausages made of deer, reindeer, moose and whale). Then we went to Bryggen which has old wooden wharf buildings that used to be used for trade by ships. Ivar, Alistair and I walked up to a lookout at the top of floeyen. We met Jenny up at the top and looked at the view over Bergen, the fjord, the islands and the ocean beyond. In the afternoon we visited the leprosy museum which had a lot of information about the disease in Norway, the treatment of patients, the establishment of an epidemiological registry and the evolution of theories of the cause of leprosy from inheritence to bacteria. At 4pm we caught a 6 hour train home to Oslo.

Day 87 Oslo to Bergen

24 July
Today we had an early start with Jenny and Ivar to the train station to get our train to Myrdal. The scenery was very pretty, we saw lakes, mountains, a ski jump and a glacier. At Myrdal we changed trains to the Flam line that took is from over 800m down to sea level. It is one of the most beautiful train lines in the world, I liked looking at all the waterfalls. In Flam we got on a ferry that took us through the sognefjord the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Once though the fjord we saw the coast and some of the islands in the area. We got into Bergen around 9pm, checked into our hotel then walked back into the main street for dinner.

Day 86 Oslo

23 July
After breakfast in the same bay where we slept, we headed off to explore more around the islands. Whilst the weather has been beautiful and sunny there was not much wind today so we used the motor. In another bay we stopped for a swim and lunch before cruising back to the main port area of Oslo and doing some tourist sightseeing from the water. We attempted to sail but there was still not a lot of wind.

Day 85 Oslo

22 July
On the way to the shops we enjoyed picking wild raspberries and strawberries on the side of the road. We packed up overnight bags and went down to the harbor to go sailing on Ivar and Jenny's boat. We sailed around a few of the islands before finding a spot to spend the night and go for a swim in the (freezing) water. We had moose for dinner up on deck watching the sunset and playing Yahtzee.

Day 84 Helsinki to Oslo

21 July
Today might have been our record, 3 countries in 1 day. We met Nick and Tuuli for coffee before getting on the ferry to Tallinn in Estonia. The ferry was less than 2 hours. We went straight from the dock to the airport and checked our bags then caught a bus back into the old town section of Tallinn. We had lunch in the old town at a cafe recommended by Tuuli before doing a quick lap within the old town walls and getting the bus back to the airport to fly to Oslo. I wish we could have spent more time there looking at all the nice fairytale style buildings and holiday atmosphere. We got in early evening and we were met by Alistair's family- a luxury to be met at the airport and driven home instead of facing a bus/train/walk in an unfamiliar city. As it was such beautiful weather we sat outside for dinner and planned the next week in Norway.

Day 83 Helsinki

20 July
Today we met up with Nick and headed down to the port. We bought  some strawberries and peas and took a ferry across to Suomenlinna, a little island off the coast of Helsinki. The island is a maritime fortress with bunkers, tunnels and lots of other old buildings. We took our picnic lunch to the far edge of the island watching boats sail by. Back in Helsinki we walked with Nick around the port area. We went out for pizza before heading to a house party on the top floor of the tallest building in Helsinki. It was a bit of a wild night...