mmm-yoso!!!

Roadtrip (During Covid-19) - Ventura Harbor and Copenhagen Sausage Garden (Solvang)

*** I figured that since my latest posts have been on our November 2020 roadtrip, why not just keep on going and do our latest roadtrip? Think of this as "Roadtrip Week".

I'm sure that I'm not the only one dealing with wanderlust withdrawals during these days of Covid-19. It had been over six months since I'd been out of town, a bit of a new record for me. I just needed a break. After talking to the Missus a bit, we decided to hit up SLO County again. We really wanted to return to a couple of places and I'd discovered some interesting things while doing a bit of research. Frankie's wonderful Auntie "Alle" said she'd be happy to watch him though I didn't want to burden her with too long a time away. So, we put together a plan for four nights. We left on a Sunday; I just didn't want to deal with the possibility of crowds and such.

After doing some research, I decided that we'd spend the first evening in Solvang, which even though it seems really touristy, I had a surprise up my sleeve. Plus we hadn't ever spent the night there.

I had also planned to take a break at Ventura Harbor to stretch our legs and to check out a few places. The Missus wasn't overly keen on this, but we needed a break. And then She saw the produce stands once we got off the 101 on Olivas Park Drive.

We first checked out Rodela's, then Santiago's right across the street.

And ended up buying a watermelon which we lugged with us the entire trip and some cherries which She really enjoyed.

Rodela Produce and Flowers
4550 Olivas Park Dr.
Ventura, CA 93003

Santiago's Fruit Stand
4551 Olivas Park Dr.
Ventura, CA 93001

From here it was basically a straight shot to Ventura Harbor, which houses a shopping center. It was nice to park the car and stroll around a bit on such a beautiful day.

We strolled along the waterfront....there were so many pooches!

 And ambled our way to the end of the walkway to a place I wanted to check out - The Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Channel Islands National Park. I've been fascinated by Channel Islands National Park, five islands, right off the coast of Ventura. The least visited National Park in the United States.......often called the "Galapagos of California". The islands has it's own endemic species of fox.

While the tower and some of the displays were closed off due to Covid, it was still an interesting visit.

The Robert J. Lagomarsino Visitor Center at Channel Islands National Park
1901 Spinnaker Dr.
Ventura, CA 93001

After checking out the Visitor's Center, we took a stroll across the street and walked around Harbor Cove Beach for a bit.

While walking back to the shopping village we noticed this memorial.

I was curious and read the story of Officer Korber's ultimate sacrifice saving the lives of others.

The shopping village was getting a bit crowded so we knew it was time to go.

We made good time to Solvang. We staying at the Hotel Corque, which was right off Alisal Road. We parked, went in, and wouldn't you know it, our room was already ready! 

After freshening up for a bit, we decided to grab a light lunch. Heading out we noticed that Copenhagen Drive had been blocked off to traffic with outdoor dining areas set-up. I thought the Missus and I could share a sausage from the Copenhagen Sausage Garden, so we headed on over. Man, the place was doing some pretty good business.

But they had a really good system in place. You went ahead and placed your order at the host stand; paid and found an open table.

   The last time I'd had a Currywurst we were in Vienna....man was I missing travelling, so I ordered a currywurst and a "side" of potato salad. The young man manning the condiment station was amazing....we dispensed various sauces, got drinks for folks, and in our case got us sauerkraut. The Missus loves Her sauerkraut so I asked him for four small containers......he asked me to wait for a second, ran into the restaurant and brought out a cup and gave us basically half a cup! The Missus ate most of it straight away, even before our sausage arrived.

   Soon enough our sausage arrived. It was decent, with a nice "snap" the roll was slightly toasted and yeasty. Nit bad at all......I'm still not sold on the sweet-ketchuppy sauce that is the norm for currywurst though.

We were a bit shocked at the amount of potato salad ($3). Which was not overly dressed; you could actually taste the potato.....quite simple....which is sometimes for the best. The Missus enjoyed it more than me!

 We liked the friendly service and the food. A nice pleasant surprise for us.

Copenhagen Sausage Garden
1660 Copenhagen Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

After lunch, we took a short walk, reacquainting ourselves with Solvang. It had been over three years since we last visited.

It wasn't quite as crowded as when we've visited before and we enjoyed that.

We then headed back to the hotel. Since we had checked in early, there was time for a short nap before dinner......things were starting off quite nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Copenhagen - Our Last Day and Restaurant Schønnemann

We got into Copenhagen from Paris at 930pm. Getting to Nørreport Station from the airport is a snap; our hotel was further down Vendersgade this time; around the corner from the last place was stayed at. The room was large, the floors creaky, and the bathroom; yet another "wet room", had the worst configuration I've had for a bathroom since probably that boat on Halong Bay. Everytime you showered, you had to make sure to remove all the T.P., close the seat, etc....

You'd think for $280/night they could come up with something better....like maybe shower curtains?

Oh well; at least breakfast was good, not as good as the Ibsens hotel, which we stayed at during the beginning of our trip. Still, breakfast was quite filling; more than enough to keep us most of the day.

After breakfast we headed out. We'd spend our last full day in Copenhagen just strolling around and exploring. The Peblinge Sø, one of the Three Lakes on the west end of Central Copenhagen was right across the street from the Hotel.

We walked along the lake and down Nørre Søgade until we came around to busy H.C. Andersens Boulevard and headed toward City Hall.

The skys were overcast, but it wasn't particularly cold, and it was a nice walk along the Boulevard.

We noticed a few things that we hadn't recalled seeing during our previous visit; like the Memorial of the First and Second Schleswig Wars, a conflict between the Danish and Germans as to who ran the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. It was a very complex situation, called the "Schleswig-Holstein Question", so confusing was this issue that Lord Palmerston was quoted as saying, “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.” 'nuff said.

They were a bunch of other events happening at City Hall Square, so we didn't dally very long before heading off.

That's the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek below, a famous art mesum.

We crossed on a bridge and walked along a canal.

We both cracked up when we saw a gentleman park his walker in front of this bar then walk inside for what I assume is his morning "hair of the dog"?

We found ourselves in the Christianshavn neighborhood.

I had recalled seeing a church on the map and we soon found Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) with its distinctive spire a little more than a block down the street.

From here we crossed back over and somehow ended up back in Nyhavn, where we enjoyed all the little Christmas booths set-up along the canal.

After walking for a few more minutes, the Missus decided She needed a caffeine fix. We were near the ILLUM Department Store, so we decided to stop by the Copenhagen location of Eataly.

For some coffee and a few snacks for the Missus.

Our late lunch stop was one of the oldest and most treasured purveyors of the Smørrebrød, the classic Danish open-faced sandwich since 1877, Restaurant Schønnemann. Restaurant Schønnemann is a lunch only place; with basically two seatings, one at 1130 and one at 230pm. Reservations are a must; you step inside the restaurant a few minutes before your designated time; check-in and then go back outside to wait in the ever expanding line. At right about 230pm, folks were being escorted to their table.

I had been forewarned about some rather brusque service; but the nice woman who served us was anything but that.

She was indeed very efficient; you don't survive the daily crowds here if you're not. But she was also quite warm and really tried to make our visit as enjoyable as possible.

Speaking of drinks.....folks having lunch here were really having a great time. we watched the older folks at the next able put away several glasses of drinks each, along with a couple of Aquavit.

As for the Aquavit, after having it at Arakataka in Oslo, it had to be the Aquavit Linie, which is aged in oak casks. "Linie" literally mean "line" and true to the name, Aquavit Linie are put onto boats and are sent around the world, from Norway to Australia, crossing the equator twice along the way! The woman suggested the Aquavit Linie Christmas Edition, which was excellent, with more caraway and anise tones. It was like drinking a wonderfully smokey bagel.

As for the smørrebrød, we started with the Marinated Herring; which was lovely.

The herring had an almost "buttery-meaty" texture; with a nice surprisingly clean finish to it. The egg was wonderful and the curry salad and pungent red onions really helped to cut and oiliness. The nutty rye bread was fantastic with this.

Speaking of oiliness; the Classic Spicy Pickled Herring was a bit much for the Missus.

This definitely had a funky cheesiness to it and had that typical high oil fish flavor.

We were fascinated by the "Greenland Shrimps" in a Pyramid. Man, this was quite a bit of shrimp.

Which were a tad over-cooked for our taste and on the bland side. The shrimp really didn't have the sweetness we were expecting and the white bread just didn't do it for us.

We finished with the Tenderloin Steak of Pork, which came in a larger than expected portion.

The crisp rind of the pork was amazing; crunchy, porky, just good stuff. The meat was toothsome, but not tough, and more moist than expected. And, it had that nice porcine flavor that has been bred out of the "other white meat" here in the States. It was pretty rich, just a few steps away from "meatsweatland", but we enjoyed this. And of course; that wonderful, nutty, rye bread.

And the Missus let me have another shot of Aquavit Linie Christmas Edition to boot! So it was a nice and fitting last meal in Copenhagen. Schønnemann was a fun place for that meal.

As for the Aquavit Linie Christmas Edition; I saw that they had it for sale at the Duty Free Shop in the airport, so I bought a couple of bottles.

Restaurant Schønnemann
Hauser Plads 16
Copenhagen, Denmark

Darkness was already falling as we left the restaurant at 4pm.

I knew we weren't going to be able to manage eating anything else this evening. And we'd be leaving before breakfast was served the next morning, but we weren't too worried since I think that pork would do a fine job of holding us.

As I usually do during our trips, I grabbed a beer on the way back to the hotel room, popping the bottle as we relaxed before bed. It gave me time to reflect on our trip; this one had been a long one, over three weeks, taking us from Copenhagen, then to Oslo via Overnight Cruise, from Oslo we flew to Tromso, where we "chased the Aurora" and experienced Polar Winter, then next we were off to Amsterdam, then to the Missus's favorite city, soon enough we were headed to Strasbourg, where we got to enjoy the sites of this UNESCO Heritage City and its wonderful Christmas Markets. Back in Paris, we enjoyed a fantastic meal at Restaurant Alliance and continued with our exploration of the city. And here we were. Early tomorrow morning we'd be flying back home. But there was one more interesting experience to come....so stay tuned!

Tromsø - Dinner at Mathallen

We'd had a fun day exploring Tromsø. It was so different from San Diego. Polar night is fascinating and a bit disorienting as noon seems like dusk and by 2pm it looks like had fallen. We really only had time for one dinner in Tromsø since the previous evening we'd been "Chasing the Aurora". We had decided to stay close to the apartment, just kind of chill and relax, and had made dinner reservations at the highly regarded Mathallen. Locally sourced ingredients and they had something on the menu I wanted to try....and no, it's not reindeer.

We had early reservations, which really didn't matter, since it already was so dark it felt like 9pm.

The menu was really small, with only four starters and three mains.

And like almost every other restaurant we had dinner at in Norway, they had an open kitchen.

We love the bread in Scandanavia and Mathallen was no exception. Also, I had wanted to visit Mack Brewery, founded in 1877, it is the northernmost brewery in the world. But we had run out of time, so I settled for a Mack Pilsner at Mathallen. Not very distinctive in flavor; very light and easy to drink.

The Missus started with the King Crab Soup (185 NOK - about $22/US). Yes, that's right, this bowl of soup was over twenty bucks.

Not too much crab, but the soup was nice and rich and obviously made with a very good seafood stock. Loved the texture which coated the tongue quite nicely.

We just couldn't seem to get enough pickled herring, so I ordered the Christmas Herring (155 NOK - $18.50/US).

This was delici-yoso!!! Just a couple of bites, but man, the herring melted in your mouth. It wasn't fishy in the least; very savory, and I'm thinking the Aquavit really added a nice touch of sweetness.

The Missus went with the "Catch of the Day", Cod (320 NOK - about $39/US).

She enjoyed it and said it was nicely cooked.

Since we were in Norway, I really wanted to try Lutefisk, which is made by air-drying fish, usually cod. A few weeks (yes weeks) before serving it is soaked in water for a week, then in lye (!!!) for two days. At which time it's pretty much poisonous. It is then soaked in water for another ten days to make edible.

I ordered the Lutefisk (575 NOK - $70/US). Yep, about seventy bucks US.....yikes!

The process gives the fish a jelly like texture, which was a bit odd. At least you can't complain about dry fish here, eh? Apparently, during the last set of soaking, the fish becomes so hydrated that you don't need to add any liquid to "boil" the fish! It also has a fairly strong smell; but not too bad. The flavor is fairly mild, on the briny salty side. It definitely needed the lardons and mustard sauce for flavor. Those brown shavings are Brunost, a brown "cheese" that is made from milk, cream, and whey. It has a very interesting slightly sweet and yeasty flavor. The mashed peas were very bland, the potatoes, simply done were delicious.

It was an interesting meal, the service was fine, not as friendly as at other places in Scandanavia. And heck, I'm not opposed to having lutefisk again.......

Mathallen
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway
Hours:
Tues - Sat 1130am - 11pm

We took the short walk back to the apartment and relaxed. I just sat at the window and watched the snow flurries come in.

Our flight from Tromsø was scheduled for 1030 am. We got up, packed and walked over to the stop for the airport bus.

It was 8am in the morning......

And it looked like midnight. We watched these guys working on the roof of a building across from the stop. Man, I sure wouldn't want to be doing that during the winter.

The airport in Tromsø is fairly small.

But SAS actually has a small lounge.

Where we were able to grab breakfast.

While staring off into the snow......

I'm not sure we'll ever be back in Tromsø, but we really enjoyed our time here. It was a great experience, but we were now looking ahead.

Next stop.....Amsterdam.

Exploring Tromsø and Lunch from Mathallen Deli

Because of polar winter, it was really hard to tell what time it was when we awoke. It had snowed quite a bit the night before.

This is what the apartment's parking lot looked like as we headed out.

I had planned two nights in Tromsø just in case we missed seeing the Aurora Borealis on the first night. So, since we'd been rather successful  the night before we had a free day to just wander around. Most of Tromsø is located on an island (Tromsøya) and we wanted to see what options for tours and such were available, so we headed down to the TI.

Storgata and Kirkegata are two of the main streets in this city of about 70,000 people. We'd prepared rather well for this trip; I found that my silk base layer, in spite of being very light (a plus when travelling light), was actually quite warm. I only needed the bottom layer during our time in Norway, but the top layer was used during the whole trip. So we walked along the streets down to the TI near the port area.

Along the way we passed Tromsø Domkirka (Tromsø Cathedral), the northernmost Protestant Cathedral in the world.

The Cathedral was completed in 1861. And can hold 800 people.

It started snowing a bit as we neared the TI.

This is a memorial for Richard With a Norweigan businessman and politician who was born in Tromsø. You can see the snow as it blew by the memorial stone.

And yet, this didn't bother us much.....we were enjoying the novelty of it all. Also, the rather stark grey and white made lights and colors really stand out.

I wasn't quite sure what the significance of the statue of famous Norweigan explorer Roald Amundsen was to Tromsø.

Until I read that he lived his final years in Tromsø. In 1928 set off on a rescue mission, it was his last expedition as his plane crashed and the remains of the crew were never found.

We got to the TI and inquired about some tours; but most were either all day affairs or something we really weren't interested in doing. The really nice young man suggested walking across the Tromsø Bridge to visit the Arctic Cathedral. So we decided on doing that. So, that's the bridge and the cathedral from where we were at the port.

So we headed off......

It really didn't take too long to reach the very striking Ishavskatedralen (Arctic Cathedral).

You get a great view of the city from here.

Though I was distracted by the rather random "Artic Phone Booth".

I think the stark background really made the red color of the phone booth really stand out.

Meanwhile, the Missus was distracted by the trees.

We really had a great time just walking around and taking photos. Of a place so different from San Diego.

After a short while we decided to head on back.

While crossing the bridge I looked up. I saw the dark clouds approaching and said "oh-uh". Just as the high winds and flurries hit us.

I think the cars crossing on the bridge must have thought, "there's two more crazy tourists....."

The snow flurries stopped just as we finished crossing the bridge (of course) and I shook off the snow that had accumulated on my shoulders and head...shaking like some bear awakening from slumber.

We headed back towards the apartment on Grønnegata.

As we walked past Bardus, where we had a late lunch the day before, we saw this striking building to our right and decided to take a look.

The building is the Kongsbakken Upper Secondary School and that area in front of it Kongeparken (Royal Park).

For some reason, the statue of King Olav V seemed dark and brooding, staring at us. It kind of creeped us out.

We walked along the street named Verstregata where I noticed that the view looked really nice near some apartments. We then noticed that there were some stairs leading to an outdoor area. We enjoyed the view of the city from here.

Worried that we might be trespassing, we quickly took photos and headed back to the street.

Heading back down to Grønnegata and decided to make dinner reservations at Mathallen which was literally one block from our apartment. We'd be taking things easy this evening.

After making our reservations, we decided on getting lunch from Mathallen's Deli which was right next door. For some reason, the cold really dampened our appetite.

We got the Baked Cod and Creamed Fish Soup.

Of course the fish was very good, fresh, moist....though fairly bland overall.

We actually enjoyed the potatoes.

I wasn't sure what the Creamed Fish Soup was going to be like; but this was very good. Not too thick, fairly light, yet hearty.

The fish was very tender; the vegetables, especially the celeriac were delicious. I'm not a big fan of cream soup, but this was just right.....warming and hearty and quite good with bread.

Mathallen Delikatesser
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway

A very nice pre-nap meal.

Thanks for reading!

Tromsø - Chasing the Aurora and Lunch at Bardus Bistro

So, you might be wondering why Tromsø? Well, seeing he Northern Lights was a "bucket list" item for the Missus. We missed out on the Northern Lights in Iceland the previous year. I wanted to have the best shot at seeing them on this trip. Granted, there are many great places to see the Aurora Borealis from above the Artic Circle, but I chose Tromso for several reasons. I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not much of a roughing it kind of guy. So while your friendly neighborhood mining town, no matter how large would be great for some, I wanted something that would be more suited to the soft American in me. Tromsø while being 250 miles above the Artic Circle is home to the world's northernmost university. The city has an international airport and I'm not much of an outdoorsy kind of guy. I just figured Tromsø would be a better fit.

So did we see the Northern Lights?

More on that later.....

If you looked at the last photo in my previous Tromsø post, you'd notice how wet the streets were. Yes, it was drizzling off and on as we awoke from our short afternoon nap. It was 3pm, but could have just as easily been midnight. Most "Chasing the Aurora" tours are large motorcoach kind of things. I paid a bit more for a small group (no more than 15) tour. Since these tours can be up to 10-12 hours long, I thought it best to get something to eat.

It was still drizzling outside, so we decided to head on over to Bardus Bistro which was three blocks away.

While I'd heard that Bardus can get pretty full, it was fairly quiet at 330pm, so we easily managed to get a seat. Plus, they serve up the lunch menu until 4pm.

You really can't go wrong with fish in Norway, so the Missus ordered the catch of the day. In this case it was Pollack.

You couldn't complain about the fish; it was nicely seasoned, cooked well, very moist, and very mild. It was the barley risotto that we really enjoyed. Nutty, with a great "chew", we both enjoyed it.

I had wanted the Reindeer Steak, but they were out, ditto the Duck Confit. I really wasn't very hungry, so in the end, I just went with the soup of the day....Cauliflower.

This was a good sized portion. I wasn't too much of a fan though as it had too much cheese, almost stringy, like a fondue, too salty, and really didn't have any cauliflower flavor. At least it was very hearty and could hold me over all night.

Bardus Bistro
Cora Sandels gate 4
Tromsø, Norway

This is how the place looks during the day.

We were to meet outside the Tourist Office at 6pm for pick-up. The rain had turned to sleet. When we arrived at the now closed TI it was getting pretty cold.

By the way, that's a usual bus chasing the aurora tour you see across the way. Overcast skies meant that things didn't look very promising. But we were here....

Our guide worked really hard using both what was available in terms of weather forecasts and maps. We were also told to bring our passports, in case we'd have to drive all the way into Finland.

Eventually, we found a clearing, a place that's a usual stop. And while it was difficult to actually see the Aurora Borealis with the naked eye, our cameras, with the right settings were much more successful. In fact, I would scan the sky with my camera and the sensors would pick up the Northern Lights.

Meanwhile the folks leading the tour would provide tripods and help folks get the settings right on our cameras.

I'm sure the Missus wanted the ultimate pulsing Northern Lights she saw at Aurora Reykjavik, but this was nature, the real world, I'd take whatever it would give to us.

The second part of the tour was to have a campfire and soup in the wilderness. So we stopped somewhere....I'm not sure where, and hiked into the forest from the road. I've never walked in knee-high snow before so it was quite different. No matter what your dad said about walking in two feet of snow uphill both ways; it ain't easy. One of the more portly women fell face first in the snow......man, it was really hard getting her upright! We finally found a clearing.....

 

A fire was started and soup was passed around. We had reindeer soup, which was fine if a bit salty.

And then of course, there's me, in a thermal suit......looking like a Ultraman wannabe......

And having a couple of young males on the trip; well, they had to compete at things like; how fast can I climb crawl up the hill in two feet of snow......which was kind of funny.

All in all, we spent about nine hours on this tour. There was a couple who had tried the previous night, a total of ten hours with no results, so I felt pretty lucky. Most folks were sleeping on the drive back, but I watched as we drove thru two snowstorms. It was so fascinating to me, so different from where we live.

We got back to the apartment at 2am. After taking a shower I sat with a cup of tea and watched the waves of snow come in.

There would be a flurry, then it would stop. A few minutes later, the next flurry would come in.

We live in such an amazing world; I felt blessed to be able to be here and experience some of it.

Oslo - Dinner at Arakataka

We'd done a good amount of walking in Oslo, so we settled in for a nice nap. I awoke to the sound of a ships horn. I looked out the window, it was already getting dark at 430pm, and I saw the cruise ship we'd arrived on leaving the harbor.

It was time to wake up. We had dinner reservations at...surprise, a place the Missus picked out. I managed to get reservations at Arakataka which seemed a bit off the beaten path, though it was only a half mile away. The darkness probably had something to do with it.

The restaurant was rather small with an even smaller open kitchen.

The bar area was a bit larger, but the place was still not very large. The Hostess and our Server were amazing. Very knowledgeable, amiable, and just so nice. I mentioned being told to try the Aquavit in Norway; specifically Aquavit Linie. Man, this stuff is good. I ended up bringing back a couple of bottles. I'll tell more about it in a future post.

Most folks were getting the tasting menu, but having a bunch of tasting menu meals coming, we decided to order from the menu. And it turned out to be the perfect thing to do.

The weakest item of the night was the Potato Bread and Smoked Artic Char.

The potato bread was on the soggy side, the flavor of the char very mild and lost under all those greens and herbs.

Things turned around with the rather interesting Rutabaga, Porcini, and Pecorino. Which looked nothing like what I had imagined it would.

Thinly sliced and made pliable; the rutabaga had a nice crunch, the fragrance of porcini danced around the plate, and the pecorino added a nice milky-saltiness which really elevated this dish.

The Reindeer Tartare, Beetroot, and Juniper was another nice combination.

The mild, clean flavor of the reindeer, matched with the sweetness of the beets, and the tartness of the juniper was a surprisingly nice combination!

The Dry Aged Pork was nice and tender....and yes, it medium rare, making it ever so moist.

But the real winner was the combination of shaved black truffle and kale. Another interesting and rather delicious combination of earthy flavors with the crunch and bitterness of the kale.

The Skate was so buttery and mildly sweet. A wonderful piece of fish....the Missus claims one of the best She's had.

But I really enjoyed the pungent-mildly garlicky ramps and the savory and almost briney flavor of the salsify. We were both enjoying vegetables that we really don't get much back home in San Diego.

Of course we had to order the Duck, Cabbage, and Lingonberries, which looked quite lovely.

 A nice sliced duck breast on the right. Nice and gamey. Slices of duck confit under roasted wild cabbage, lingonberries, with black garlic. This looked and tasted wonderful itself. But then another bowl arrived and was poured on the dish.

A espuma of duck confit, hearts, skin and barley......

Good lord! This was like being invited into duck heaven! The texture of the duck hearts were especially satisfying.

We were wiped out after this hefty dish and had no room for dessert. Another glass of Aquavit....well, one does need a digestif, right?

This was probably our favorite meal in Scandinavia. It had the right combination of comfort, flavor, and interesting, yet tasty dishes that were nicely seasoned and kept our attention. While the combinations were interesting, nothing was so over-the-top to be strange. And like all the places we ate at in Scandinavia, service was so friendly.

Arakataka
Mariboes Gate 7
Oslo, Norway

As we were finishing up dinner, we noticed a large queue lining up one block over. The Missus was curious. So we walked over after dinner and asked what was going on. We were told that there was a concert going on....and then in the typical Norweigan way, we were told that there were "still tickets available....so please, if you're interested we'll be happy to have you...." Such nice folks!

It was pretty chilly as we walked back to the hotel.

And yet Oslo was so relaxed.....it definitely had an affect on you.

We headed back and got to sleep early. Tomorrow, we'd be flying to a city 250 miles above the Artic Circle. It was going to be an interesting day for a kid from Hawaii.....

Thanks for reading!

Oslo - The National Gallery and Lunch at Grande Café

Though there we buses, shuttles, and taxis queued up as we disembarked from the overnight cruise we decided to walk to our hotel.

Our hotel was located in the Byporten (City Gate) Shopping Mall. Since we'd only be spending one night in Oslo, this was the perfect location as it was next door to the Central Train Station, with direct service to the airport.

Upon completing the twenty-five minute walk from the cruise ship terminal, we arrived at the train station and Byporten. We knew it when we were greeted by this fellow.

"Tiger City" (Tigerstaden) is Oslo's nickname and this statue stands proudly in the square in front of Østbanehallen and the Train Station. We quickly stored our bags....we were too early for check-in and headed out.

The main street of Oslo's downtown area is Karl Johans Gate, which stretches from the train station to the Royal Palace. We decided to check out the National Gallery as it held a painting that both the Missus and I wanted to see.

Along the way we passed the Oslo Cathedral, which was built in 1697.

It is actually Oslo's third cathedral; the first was abandoned when King Christian IV decided to move the city west to be within the protected confines of Akershus Fortress. The second was completed in 1639, only to burn down fifty years later.

One of the things that caught our eye was this carving.

I later read that this corner stone is a thousand years old. It was taken from Oslo's first cathedral and placed here when the church was being built.

We peeked in the door and were welcomed in, but didn't spend much time as it was Sunday and there were services being held.

 

Across the way is the public square known as Stortorvet. The statue of Christian IV hovers above the square.

From there the boulevard turns into a mass of chain stores and such for a while.

Until you get to the long stately boulevard that leads to the Royal Palace.

On this day there was a lively Christmas Market right on the main street.

You couldn't help but stop at the skating rink and watch parents teaching the children how to skate....not always successfully.....

But quite charming nonetheless.

On our way to the National Gallery we took a wrong turn and ended up looking at this huge building. Turns out it's Oslo's City Hall.

A quick note; this is where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented every 10th of December. There's also supposed to be some really nice art pieces, but we needed to get to our destination.

A quick turn back and past the National Theatre.

We found the National Gallery. There are quite a number of famous works here....but of course we came to see....

The Scream by Edvard Munch. There's something so compelling about this work...panic, fear, anxiety.... To quote Munch himself:

"I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

There was one other work that really made an impact on us. It is entitled, "A Sick Girl", by Christian Krohg. It is a painting of a young lady dying of tuberculosis. The painting is so realistic....you meet the stare of the child who seems to look right through you. You see suffering, you see fear, you see the rose in the grasp of the girl slowly falling apart. Whoa.... heavy stuff.

We headed back to our hotel to see if we could check in. On the way back, as we walked past the historic Grand Hotel.

The hotel's restaurant, the Grand Café is pretty well known, once the hang out of intelligentsia and the elite, it just seemed a nice place to stop for some coffee so we stepped in.

The service is not overly formal, though there's definitely an old world vibe to the place. As you can easily tell by the folks having lunch and coffee when we arrived.

There's a famous mural showing some of the cafe's famous clientele (the "Kristiania Bohemians"), like Munch and Henrik Ibsen.

The Café actually closed down in 2015, but was reopened in 2016 with some modern touches....which probably included the open kitchen.

The menu seemed quite interesting so we decided to have a nice snack in addition to our coffee.

Starting with the Pork Cracklins with Parsley and Black Truffle Sauce.

The pork cracklins were very light and crisp and not greasy in the least. The sauce was on the weaker side in terms of truffle flavor; but we loved the way it coated the pork skins. Which tasted just fine on their own as well.

We also had the Horse Carpaccio.

While I wasn't sure what to make of the plantain chips; this truly isn't what I'd call a Nordic ingredient; the horse was cold, clean tasting, a hint of sweetness to it and very tender. The light mustard and sesame dressing really brought out a savory element in the dish. The carpaccio was wrapped around some lightly crisp, yet very tender salsify, which added another layer of a distinct taste to things. It's hard to describe the flavor. It's not parsnip, but almost slightly savory-briney in a way. This was really lovely!

The service was excellent; not overly stuffy, but quite professional. The prices aren't cheap, but we'd gladly return. There's a kind of casual elegance and refinement that a storied history brings....though I'm very much the uncouth visitor.

Grand Café
Karl Johans Gate 31
Oslo, Norway

The snack was perfect as it held us until dinner and fueled us for the walk back to our hotel. Our room was ready when we returned. After not getting much sleep the night before, even the coffee we had with lunch couldn't keep us awake. It was time for a short nap. Then we'd head out for dinner. This time, the Missus had chosen the place.

Thanks for reading!

The DFDS Overnight Cruise - Copenhagen to Oslo

As I mentioned in my previous post; I'd made reservations to take the overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo. I thought this would be interesting for several reasons; first, the Missus had never been on a "cruise" and I thought this would be a nice way to see if this suited Her. Second, the Missus just doesn't care to see the same folks day after day. This was an overnight cruise, so I didn't think we'd be seeing the same folks all the time. Third, in terms of price, $269, think of it as a room and transportation, I thought it reasonable. A quick note on prices, there were fares as low as $88. But, having a read a few posts and I actually know two people who have done this, it became quite clear that a lot of young people take the cruise because booze is so cheap......international, duty free and all. So, since we'd be leaving on a Saturday night, more comfortable accommodations, I believe we had what they called "Commodore De Luxe" class would suite us well.

That's the view from our cabin. Our room was very comfortable.

And there was an attendant who went over our cabin with us....including the mini-bar with complimentary sparkling wine, beer, and water.

There was also a lounge for folks in Commodore Class, which was a really nice touch.

Complimentary beer, wine, drinks, and snacks.

Right out the door was the deck. Even though it was winter, the views were quite nice.

Soon we were underway. We decided to take a look around. Here's our Captain for this cruise.

The Duty Free Shop was a feeding frenzy of folks buying up cheap booze, clothes, and other stuffs. It was kind of crazy so we just headed back to our cabin.

We decided to get an early dinner. I'd spent an extra $40 for the "Christmas Buffet" dinner. So we headed down to that dining room. There weren't very many people eating at 530pm.

It was quite a generous spread; but much of it wasn't to our liking.

We enjoyed the pickled herring and smoked fish the best.

Much of it was either too salty, over-cooked, and just not prepared to our taste.

I was excited to try the game meats, but was also disappointed in preparations. Lacking in flavor other than being really salty.

The Missus and I split up and came back with a sampling of the various dishes.

In the end; we might have been better off just grabbing a sandwich and relaxing. Though the smoked and pickled fish were quite good.

After dinner we just went up to the lounge and relaxed.

Before ending our evening, we took one more walk around. At 9pm there already were folks feeling....well, pretty good. One guy was doing the Tarzan yell down one of the hallways! It was time to call it a night. After a nightcap of course.

The location of our room was very quiet, except for the two guys pounding on some door at 2am in the morning.

As for the Missus; well, She had a hard time sleeping. Not because of the movement or noise, but because of the vibration of the boat. So, I didn't get a ton of sleep either.

We decided to get an early breakfast. The "Commodore's Breakfast" was included in the price of our cabin and was in a different dining room than the regular buffet breakfast.

The selection and quality was decent.

More pickled herring and smoked salmon.

We took the long way back to the cabin. We enjoyed spending time on the deck.

In spite of the cold; it was really neat watching the ship slowly arrive in Oslo.

Soon enough we'd arrived at around 945am. Folks gathered to disembark and it was a bit of a cattle-call.

Though I'm certain it wasn't everyone....especially the folks who drank the night away.

As for us...well, it was a brand new day....and we'd arrived in Oslo!

Copenhagen - The Little Mermaid and a Memory Card Fail at Bror

After a nice break for lunch at Almanak, we headed back out. The Missus had seeing the statue of the Little Mermaid on her agenda.

We walked past the very Amsterdam looking Nyhavn Canal. There was a Christmas Market there as well. We'd walk though it on our return visit to the city.

Past the distinctive Opera House.

Until we got to the area known as Langelinie. Walking alongside the water you'll see a crowd of people. Of course, it has to be the Little Mermaid.

Shades of Mannekin Pis is pretty much all I have to say.

Watching the crowd is actually more interesting. As they try and get selfies and sometimes as close as possible to this rather small statue.

A study in human nature.....

As we walked back in the direction of our hotel, we did pass a couple of interesting sights in the area. This is the Ivar Huitfeldt Column which commemorates a battle during the Great Northern War.

And this striking fountain.

This is the Gefion Fountain. The dramatic scene depicts the Goddess Gefion driving four bulls. It is Copenhagen's creation story if you will.

According to the legend, the Swedish King promised to give Gefion all the land she could plough in one night. Gefion turned her four sons into oxen and carved out what is now known as Zealand, the island on which Copenhagen resides.

We also found the church in back of the statue; Saint Alban's (also known as the English Church) to be quite striking as well.

  We headed back to the hotel, down the street known as Bredgade. It had started to drizzle a bit, so we looked around for a place to have a short respite. We noticed a church with an impressive copper dome, so we decided to take a look.

This is Frederiks Kirke (Frederik's Church), a Lutheran Church and has quite a story. The church was designed in 1740 and work started in 1749. But due to literally death and taxes, the site stood in ruin for over a hundred years. In what at the time was a highly controversial move, the land was sold to Industrialist Carl Frederik Tietgen on the condition that a church be built along the lines of the original plans and that it be donated to Denmark when completed? So what did Tietgen get out of it? Well, in turn he acquired land rights in the area.

There's a word you'll hear quite often in Denmark; Hygge. To me, it seems more of a concept than a word; that feeling one gets, I believe you can be alone or among friends. A coziness, that content feeling, secure, trusting, comfort...... Our hotel had "hygge hour", basically happy hour in the lobby. The Missus had a glass of wine, I had a pilsner. It was nice and relaxing.

We then headed off to dinner. I had a list of places to try but had to cross off a bunch of them because I couldn't get reservations. Amass comes to mind. Bummer, because the chef and owner, Matt Orlando is form San Diego. I had heard so much about "New Nordic (Danish) Cuisine". I went ahead and got reservations at Restaurant Bror; opened by two former sous-chefs at Noma.

Anyway, here's what happened. During the meal, my memory card failed. I have a couple of SD cards that are getting fairly old. Since, unlike the two Asian Young Ladies who we saw taking copious notes during their meal at Bror, I don't take notes....it's my memory and the photos that cue up many of my recollections of my meal. Guess my gear is getting old. This is the second card to go over the last 3-4 months. Sorry to say you won't be getting a post on our wonderful meal at Sushi Noguchi.....or I may just do a COMC with the photos that made it.

So, the deal with Bror is that you get either a four or five course set menu. You can also order a selection of snacks. Things like Bull Balls....yes, literally bull balls and such. The menu features some interesting ingredients, which we found in most cases to be too salty, put together in combinations where nothing really stood out. Several times; we ate each of the ingredients from the composed dishes and found them to be quite good separately, but together it was just a mish-mash.

For some reason, the Missus really didn't care for the bone marrow butter. I found the bone marrow and pickled pumpkin crispbread to have a rather unpleasant clash of flavors and textures....think pickled lard.

And so it went. The service was excellent and the wine tasting was fabulous.

But overall, this just didn't do it for us.

The dishes seemed to lack focus and direction. The cod head was supposed to have horseradish sauce; which tasted just like plain mayonnaise.

The best item we had was the cod - pesto lettuce cup. Though you really could have been eating any type of fish since all the clashing flavors cancelled each other out.

Sad, because I was really looking forward to these meals. This also kind of turned the Missus off on set menus....though it was kind of too late for Her because I had reservations at places in Amsterdam and Paris that had multi-course set menus. Luckily, we enjoyed those meals much more, especially Alliance in Paris.

So perhaps it's better that I just leave it at that.

Restaurant Bror
Skt. Peders Stræde 24 A
Copenhagen, Denmark

I still had an open evening during our return trip to Denmark. I was going to make reservations for a late lunch at a Copenhagen main stay that has been around since the 19th century or a set menu dinner at another restaurant. Guess what won out?

A Walk Around Copenhagen and Lunch at Almanak

We started our first full day in Copenhagen with breakfast and then headed off. We were staying in the Nørreport area, which we enjoyed. Not as hectic as other parts of the city, but still centrally located. We decided to use the day to walk around the city. Rådhuspladsen, City Hall Square is considered to be the heart of the city by the guidebooks we read, so we headed off down Nørre Voldgade.

Taking a left on H.C. Andersens (yes, that H.C. Andersen) Boulevard coming right up to the square. As you can tell; the weather was a bit gloomy and overcast, but after having some record heat as we left San Diego, we really enjoyed the cold.

Copenhagen's City Hall is quite impressive. The tower of the city hall rises high above the square.

To the right of City Hall is a statue of Han Christian Andersen who seems to be staring wistfully at Tivoli Gardens across the street.

Interesting thing about taking a photo from this angle. The statue actually holds a cane in the left hand. From this angle though; doesn't it look like the statue is holding a knife and is perhaps not too happy about having to stare at the entrance of an amusement park for eternity?

On the otherside of city hall is the statue called "The Lure Blowers" which depicts two warriors lowing into a Lur, one of the oldest known instruments, dating back to the Bronze Age.

According to local, ahem "lure lore" the bronze statues will actually blow into the lure if a virgin walks by. For what it's worth; I've never heard of anyone actually hearing a peep coming from that horn.....

To the left of the "blowers" is the Strøget a collection of pedestrian streets that winds its way thru the center of the city.

Along the way you'll pass the University of Copenhagen, churches, and buildings that hide wonderful courtyards.

That distinctive obelisk is the Reformation Memorial. It celebrates Denmark's decision to break away from the Catholic Church, transitioning to Lutheranism in 1536.

It stands right in front of the Church of Our Lady.

We took a quick visit inside the cathedral. Which was bright, with clean lines, and is lined with statues of Jesus and his Apostles.

It was quite different from most churches we visit.

Rick Steves Copenhagen Guide recommends heading around the Holy Ghost church and thru a passage at #32 Valkendorfsgade. There you'll come across a lovely and peaceful square (Steves says its "beer-stained", but I think we were there during the off season) called Gråbrødretorv.

Nearby are the two squares known as Gammeltorv ("Old Square") and Nytorv ("New Square"). The Old Square features a distinctive fountain known as Caritas (Fountain of Charity).

This is the oldest fountain in Copenhagen and has quite an interesting story.

There was a Christmas Market on Nyhaven, so we decided to take a look.

It had all those necessities...meat in tubular form....

Traditional Viking Drinks......

And even sleeping dogs.....

Walking a bit further up the street we ended up on busy Amagertorv.

We took some time out to visit the beautiful Royal Copenhagen Store.

We then took a turn and headed down Købmagergade. I really wanted to have a hot dog from Den Økologiske Pølsemand, but the Missus refused. Suddenly, we heard some music, and wouldn't you know it, out of nowhere, a marching band came down the street!

We turned around and headed across Amagertorv and crossed the bridge to the island known as Slotsholmen ("Castle Island"). This has been the Center of Government since the Middle Ages. Many of the most impressive structures in Copenhagen reside on this island.

Christiansborg Palace.

Confederation of Danish Enterprise (Dansk Erhverv) - which I believe is sort of like the Chamber of Commerce.

And the very distinctive Børsen, the former Stock Exchange.

By now, I was getting a bit hungry. So we headed up along the waterfront until we came upon this retro looking building known as "the Standard".

I'd read about a restaurant named Almanak that took up half the building. The restaurant specialized in modern interpretations of the traditional Danish open faced sandwiches known as Smørrebrød.

The restaurant was fairly empty when we arrived. The very nice and tall (actually, just about everyone is tall here) young lady sat us; provided the one page lunch menu, and went through all the various smørrebrød, their preparation, what was more traditional and what was not. In the end we went with three sandwiches; which turned out to be enough for a light lunch.

Starting with the oh-so delici-yoso Christmas Herring.

Turns out that the Missus, who is not always fond of oilier fish loved pickled herring. And this version, pickled with the addition of beet juice, which added a tinge of sweetness to the savory-briny pickled herring. The texture was almost buttery; the dill helped cleanse the palate; the almonds added texture, the rye bread was moist and pleasantly dense.

The Smoked Salmon was equally delicious.

The sprouts added a slight and pleasant bitterness and crunch. The horseradish was just pungent enough to balance out the wonderful smoked salmon. The pickled lingonberries was also very tasty.

The only clunker was the Homemade Liver Pate.

We were somewhat puzzled when the supposed open-face sandwich arrived with bread on one side of the plate and a bowl on the other. Touching the bowl, I found it to be lukewarm. We could identify mushrooms and chunks of beets which lay on top of a grainy looking mush. This really looked like liver thrown in a food processor, brown-grey with some red bits floating around. The offal flavor was very pronounced, as was the unpleasant texture and metallic after taste. One quick note; I'm not the biggest fan of many liver dishes....my mom used to make liver for me as punishment. The Missus, who likes liver had a difficult time eating this as well. Not wanting to insult anyone; I finished the dish off. But from this point on, if we saw pate on the menu in Copenhagen; unless we saw it first, we just couldn't order it.

We did have very nice service. As for the price? Are you ready? Three open faced sandwiches (we later found out that 2-3 per person is normal) and one bottle of sparkling water.....was over $50 US. Not cheap.....

Almanak
Havnegade 44
Copenhagen, Denmark

But what the heck; we were in Copenhagen and next up....we'd be searching for the Little Mermaid.