Postcard Collection

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August 16, 2025: Our only full day in Iceland and the last day of our vacation. Our travel agent booked us on a large bus tour instead of the smaller requested van, but I was determined to have a good day anyway. We started with a stop at a collection of greenhouses that grows tomatoes year round in Iceland. What makes this possible is the very cheap geothermal energy in this country. Our next stop was at a hot springs area where mostly it was bubbling water and mud, but there was one that was spouting water as well. The third stop was at a large waterfall they call the Golden Waterfall. We were able to walk quite close to it. The final stop was at the place where the North American and EuroAsian tectonic plates meet. Ten thousand years ago there was an earthquake that split the plates and there is now a “no man’s land” between them where you can walk. We ended the day at a delicious seafood restaurant with another great fish and chips meal but the real highlight was dessert which was served with licorice raspberry ice cream.

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August 15, 2025: There is not much to write about today. We had lovely breakfast buffet at the hotel, including the bottom photo of the deep chocolate torte. We did a bit of last minute souvenir shopping and then it was time to head to the airport for our flight to Iceland. Things took a lot longer than we anticipated and all we really had time for once we arrived was a fantastic dinner of fish and chips that tasted as if the fish had been caught moments ago.

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August 14, 2025: We started the day with a 4 hour ferry ride through the fjord to Bergen and arrived by noon with plenty of time to see the city. After finding the waffle and ice cream stand (with cloudberry ice cream), we went on an informative and delightful walking tour of the city. There was time for a bit of shopping and then we took the funicular up to look out over the city. Then back down to a local shop that sells handmade Norwegian sweaters. This was a splurge we had planned for and we were so excited to each find a beautiful sweater that we loved. For dinner, we went to a seafood place on the waterfront for our last night in Norway.

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August 13, 2025: After a bit of a walk around the small town of Balestrand, we went on a fjord and glacier tour. We met another lovely couple from England and enjoyed hanging out with them in the back of the boat while we tried to take pictures that captured the beauty of what we were seeing. At the end of the fiord, there was a small glacier museum and then the guide took us to a place where we could see the glacier (the largest in continental Europe). We then had a lovely return ride through the fjord to the hotel. For dinner we booked a tasting meal at a local cidery that exceeded my expectations. While it was officially a four course meal, each course had several components and was paired with one of their ciders. The chef is from turkey and the meal combined both Turkish and Scandinavian influences. I think it was the best meal we have had in our trip.

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August 12, 2025: Today was a day of trains and ferries filled with beautiful views. It started with a 5 hour train ride out of Oslo to Myrdal. There were some beautiful views along the way but nothing compared to what we saw on the second train from Myrdal to Flåm. They even stopped that train on the way so that we could get off to take pictures of a rushing waterfall. We had a bit of a layover in Flåm before boarding the ferry that would take us to Balestrand with more beautiful views along the way, although unfortunately it was rainy and pictures were difficult. We are spending two nights at the Kviknes Hotel, which is rather famous and has amazing views from our balcony.

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August 11, 2025: What an excellent day in Oslo! After so much time worrying about rain before this trip, the weather was perfect! We started with taking a ferry across the fjord to several museums, only two of which we had time to visit. We spent most of our day at the Norwegian Folk Museum. This is a large outdoor museum where they have moved buildings from different times and places all over Norway. We did some initial exploring on our own and then decided to join a guided tour for what ended up being the best decision we made all day. The guide was fantastic! She was interesting, informative and so friendly. She showed us the main differences in building over the years in medieval times and then after 1650 when the Danes came. We spent time in the stave church, which will be the only one we will see on this trip. Shortly before we were planning on leaving, I found out they were having lefsa demonstrations! It was a flour based lefsa and a recipe from the 1700’s, thicker than I am used to and so delicious! We then walked to the Fram Museum which contains information about Norwegian explorers to the north and south poles. After a ferry ride back to Oslo and a pastry break, we walked around the castle area a bit. We had dinner at an excellent restaurant, ending the meal with a panna cotta with a cloudberry topping. Cloudberries are only harvested wild and only in very cold climates. It was so delicious and I hope to try more cloudberry items while we are here.

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August 10, 2025: Our day started with getting up before 4 am in order to catch a 7 am flight from Copenhagen to Oslo. It allowed us to have a full day in Oslo, but we did have to spend a little of it resting in the afternoon. After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we had our first taste of Norwegian pastry. So delicious! We then spent a lovely 2 hours at the National Museum in their paintings section viewing many works by Edvard Munch including his famous painting The Scream. Next we went on a walking tour of the city, seeing the old and new buildings ending with the palace. Dinner was a long way off and a snack of waffles and Norwegian brown cheese ice cream was perfect. For dinner I had pork knuckle which had been slow cooked for hours and while delicious, was definitely too much food.

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August 9, 2025: Today was our last day in Copenhagen. We started our day with a climb up the steeple of Our Savior’s Church. It has a curly staircase on the outside of the steeple all the way to the top. As I am not fond of heights, I went as far as the deck below the outside stairs. The view was still great and I didn’t have to be so nervous. We then had lunch in the Christiania neighborhood before going on a walking tour with one of its residents. This neighborhood has an interesting history as it was founded by hippies and based on communal living. They are still their own community, facing challenges to thar status all the time. As Dave and I are both a bit under the weather and we have a 7 am flight tomorrow, we went back to the apartment to finish packing while Elizabeth and Nicole went to another museum. After dinner at a neighborhood seafood restaurant, we finished up the day with Uno, wine and chatting. We finally had a chance to use the outside deck!

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August 8, 2025: After more delicious pastries, we took a canal tour of Copenhagen and enjoyed seeing the lovely architecture from a different perspective. Lunch was a Danish loaded sausage and a rhubarb soda—so many rhubarb drinks here! Then it was an hour train ride to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. They have a wonderful sculpture garden and a great collection. When we got back to Copenhagen, we chose a traditional Danish restaurant and all of us selected 2 types of smorgasbord (open faced and very loaded sandwiches) for dinner. The moon was huge and perfectly placed for a picture on our way home.

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August 7, 2025: Our first full day in Copenhagen was busy, tiring and so much fun! We started the day with delicious pastries. I had a chocolate croissant that had a center of chocolate pudding. So unexpected! Our first stop of the day was a visit to the Glyptoteket Museum where we visited the Egyptian exhibits, special exhibits for Degas and Gauguin and much more. We then had a 3 hour architectural and sustainable bike tour of Copenhagen. It was a beautiful day to bike and as it is so flat here, the biking is easy. Then it was on to the Danish Design Museum where our favorite exhibit was of a designer who created metal wire sculptures. As we were close, we made a stop to visit the Little Mermaid Statue before heading to dinner at a brewery that served American style bbq.

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August 6, 2025: Today was a travel day so there is not too much to add. Before getting on the train in Stockholm, we made one last stop at a favorite bakery to get pastries to eat on our journey. Then there were 2 train rides, taking about 5 1/2 hours total to get to Copenhagen. We are staying in an Airbnb here and it is a lovely 2 bedroom apartment. Once we got settled in, we went to a delicious ramen restaurant that makes their own noodles. Then back to the apartment for Uno and wine before bed.

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August 5, 2025: Three museums in one day was the plan and it actually happened! We started at the Vasa Museum which houses a ship which is almost 400 years old. Just a few moments into its maiden voyage, the ship tilted, took on water through its gun ports and sank in the harbor. Due to the composition of the silt, it stayed preserved in the mud for over 300 years until it was raised in 1961. After the Vasa, we spent some time at Skansen, an open air folk museum. This was ok, but not as interesting as I had hoped it would be. We finished our museum day at the ABBA museum, filled with the music and history of the group. Dinner was at a Michelin restaurant, Rolfs Kok. The food was excellent, especially the fresh, warm madeleines I had for dessert.

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August 4, 2025: Today we took an hour long ferry to Dtrottningholm Palace, which is both open to the public and the current home of the Swedish Royal family. It is similar to Versailles, but on a smaller scale. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed touring the house and exploring the gardens. We had an afternoon snack of Swedish waffles and I chose to have goat cheese, honey and walnuts on mine. For dinner we went to Pelikan, a restaurant that serves traditional Swedish food, and I had their delicious Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes, gravy, lingonberries and bread and butter pickles.

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August 3, 2025: Our Scandinavian trip has begun! One of the things I am excited about is trying lots of new pastry over the next two weeks. Today we started with cardamom and raspberry knots at Vete-Katten. So delicious! Our first stop in Stockholm was the Swedish History Museum to check out the Viking exhibit. We saw several Viking rune stones, hordes of silver that had been discovered buried in Sweden along with so much more. The afternoon was spent doing a very entertaining and informative walking tour of the Old Town part of Stockholm. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

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July 29, 2023: Five years ago, Elizabeth and I took a bike tour out into the countryside and I knew Dave would like this as well. Different this time was the weather. We had the true Amsterdam experience of biking much of the first half of the 4 hour trip in the rain! Bikes are such a huge part of the culture here and taking a ride out into the countryside lets you see so much more. We got to see some of the lock systems surrounding the city, reclaimed farm land, use a hand pulled system to get across a small canal, see a working windmill and visit a farm that makes cheese and wooden shoes. The rain started up again when we got back to the city so we headed to the Dutch Resistance Museum to learn about people’s varying responses to WW2. A nice walk alone the harbor back to our hotel before ending the day with a delicious (and beautifully presented!) 4 course meal at Van Speyk.

#amsterdam #biketour

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July 28, 2023: Another museum day! Today we went to the Rijksmuseum but with a small tour group as we are unfamiliar with Dutch masters. We learned more about Rembrandt, Vermeer and others and were able to appreciate the paintings more. Unfortunately Rembrandt’s masterpiece The Night Watch is being restored and is only partially visible. Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride was one of Van Gogh’s favorite paintings and you can see in the thick way that Rembrandt used the paint in some areas the future of Van Gogh’s paintings. After a lunch of waffles, we went on a walking tour. While it wasn’t as good as the one I had from them 5 years ago, it was still interesting. We stopped by an exhibition of the World Press photos to see this year’s winner and honorable mentions, as well as past winners. Then we went to Melly’s Stroopwaffles for warm and gooey cookies. Time for a quick stop at the hotel before a wine and cheese canal trip. To full for dinner after all the cheese, we instead went to Winkel 43 for their famous apple cake. So much dessert on this trip!

#amsterdam #rijksmuseum

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July 27, 2023: We started our first full day in Amsterdam with a trip to the Van Gogh Museum. So much to see that we spent over 4 hours here! I have included a few of my favorites, along with a selfie we took with a projected painting in the background. In addition to the regular exhibits, there was a special one highlighting some of the 75 paintings Van Gogh made during his last 70 days. Yes, that is correct—more than one per day! After a late lunch at the museum, we didn’t have enough time to go to the museum we planned on and instead opted for Our Lord in the Attic Museum. This is a museum that looks like a regular canal house from the outside, but has a Catholic Church hidden inside from when they were illegal in Amsterdam. We ended our day eating Dutch savory pancakes at The Pancake Bakery. I had a bacon, cheese and apple one. We had poffertjes with butter and powdered sugar for dessert, which are really just like mini pancakes.

#amsterdam #vangogh