Tallinn, Estonia (Day 1!)

We took a Lux Express bus to Tallinn, and we only had to get off at one check point!  It was amazing! That usually never happens.  Also, Lux Express buses have the yummiest hot chocolate for free!  The other good thing, the lady next to me got off about half way through the ride, so I had more room for myself!

We had a much easier time finding our hostel this time! It was located right in Old Town, which was so nice!  It was more like a bed and breakfast than a hostel.  We had a 4 person room just to ourselves which was really awesome.  The beds were so comfy and the pillows I swear were made out of clouds.  Our room had such cute decorations!  It had a beach house feel to it.

Our first day wasn't super interesting just because we were pooped when we got there and it was pretty late, so we just decided to stay in the hostel and chill.  I walked to the nearest grocery store, which was about 3 minutes from our hostel, and got some gluten free grub.  The store had the best chiabatta bread made by Schar!  I was excited, because I hadn't even seen that kind in the US!  I was one happy camper.

(blurry, but it's our room!)

Oslo, Norway (Day 3!)

Day three in Oslo was nice and relaxing.  I checked out of the hostel at 11 am and then went to meet Jess and Caitlin at the harbor.  They had just come back from Bergen and wanted to see the fortress area.  It was kind of a miracle that they found me, because I gave them really confusing directions!  And I got really confusing directions from the hostel front desk!  But we ended up finding each other thankfully.  If i'm not mistaken, this area helped inspire the makers of Frozen!

We walked around the fortress and took some pictures of the fjord, church, and castle.  It was beautiful, with an amazing view!  I just fell in love with all of Scandinavia!

At 5 we went to the airport and spent the rest of the night there because our flight left early the next morning.  I ended up finding a booth to sleep on and I actually slept really well!

While I was sitting in the airport killing time, I read a pamphlet and learned a couple of interesting facts about Norway:

1) Norwegians are world champions when it comes to drinking coffee?  Oslowegians consume around 500 million cups of coffee a year; almost 1,000 cups per inhabitant.

2) Oslo is one of the oldest capitals in Europe, and is thought to have been originally settled in viking times.  Excavations have exposed the remains of a settlement from around 1,000 AD.  The viking settlement was located in Bjorvika, where the National Opera stands today.

Until Next Time!

~XOXO

-Keeley

Oslo, Norway (Day 2!)

Day two was really nice for me.  Some times when I travel with a large group, I get to a point where I want to just spend some time alone.  Thankfully the girls in my group were totally cool to let me do my own thing on the second day.  And I have to tell you, it was really nice to just be able to go to the places I wanted to see, without a plan or a time table and just take as long as I wanted.

I decided to go to the Holocaust Museum at Villa Grande.  I slept until 11 and then took the bus to the exhibit.  The lady at the front desk spoke English and was from New York!  She was pretty interested to see another American in the building! She was really nice and gave me a tablet to carry around so that I could read the information.  Unfortunately, the entire exhibit was only in Norwegian, but it was still worth the visit!

What I found most interesting about the museum is that it is inside a large mansion house called "Villa Grande," and the interesting thing is.....former Norwegian Nazi Party Leader, Vidkun Quilsing lived there.  I just love the idea of putting a memorial and museum of Norwegian Jews inside a Nazi Leader's home!  It's like the ultimate "stick it to the man." 

(Entrance to the bunker/air raid shelter)

(A Torah found at Auschwitz)

(A rosary necklace found at Auschwitz.  Many people are unaware that Jews weren't the only ones sent to death camps.)

(Uniform from Auschwitz)

(Children's shoes from Auschwitz)

I learned that the ship the S/S Donau departed from the port of Oslo on November 26th 1942, carrying 532 Jews.  On December 1st, the Norwegian Jews arrived at their final destination: Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.  All men, women, and children who were found unfit to work (346 people) were killed the same day.  Only 9 who were onboard the S/S Donau survived the war.  Altogether, only 34 out of the 772 Jews that departed from Norway on the Donau, Monte Rosa, and Gotenland ships survived.  As many as 250 families from Norway were wiped out.

I can't imagine the pain and suffering that these families had to endure.  I was amazed by some of the acts of strength and courage that I read about.  One man smuggled and carried a baby in his back pack to save its life.  I wish I had written down his name!  It was definitely worth my time and as a massive WWII enthusiast, I found it all very interesting.

Just as I was leaving the basement exhibit, there was a room that had the names of all of the Norwegian Jews who lost their lives during the Holocaust.  I decided to sit down for a minute and just respectfully read some of the names.  It was a powerful way to end the exhibit.

(This was only one wall in the room)

This was one place were I wish my Dad could have been there too!  We both love learning about WWII and the Holocaust, and I just kept thinking about how much he would have enjoyed it too!

After I was done checking out Villa Grande, I walked through a cute neighborhood, got back on the bus and decided to stop at the harbor.  This one was much bigger and in a central location, right in front of the Nobel Peace Museum.  The view was absolutely incredible!  I had to take a million pictures and just stand and marvel for a bit!

Day 2 was so wonderful.  Just nice and relaxing and I really enjoyed my time alone!

Stay tuned for my post about day 3!

Until Next Time!

~XOXO

-Keeley

Oslo, Norway! (Day 1)

After our short time in Stockholm, it was time to move on to Norway!  I wasn't sure what to expect in Oslo, but I was ready to explore!

We woke up and left our hostel at 9:45 am and headed down to the tourist center by the metro station.  We bought an Oslo City Pass that included free entry into most museums, bus travel, ferry travel, and discounts at some restaurants and stores.  We got it for $60 with our student discount.  It seems like a lot, but really, I think it definitely saved us some money overall!  

After that, we headed to the folk museum, which was an open air museum kind of like the one in Stockholm.  The one in Sweden was definitely better, but this one was still interesting!  We looked at old wooden structures from the early days of Oslo, and also saw the world-famous Stave Church.  EPCOT has a replica in their Norway area.

Stave Church

Folk Tale about this particular house: According to tradition, the farmhouse from Hemsedal is where "Fanitullen" took place.  The legend tells about 2 men starting a brawl at a wedding.  The famous fiddle tune (Fanitullen) was said to come from the master of ceremonies, who had gone down to the cellar to fetch more beer during the fight.  There he found a creature sitting on the barrel and playing a tune.  But when he saw that the fiddler held the fiddle the wrong way and tapped the rhythm with a hoof, he realized it was the devil himself.  The master of ceremonies ran upstairs and found one of the fighters dead.  (And that's Norse Folktales for ya haha)

Stave Church

Carvings on Stave Church

Inside Stave Church

Door of Stave Church

More carvings from the church

I felt like Emma from Once Upon a Time <3

Victoria is a doofus!

After we finished exploring the folk museum, we grabbed some lunch at a cafe.  And I found a gluten free sandwich AND a gluten free slice of cake.  I hit the jackpot.

When we finished eating, we went to explore the Viking Ship Museum, which was pretty darn cool!  It is a small museum, but interesting none the less. There were 3 viking ships on display that were found in Norway during and excavation in the early 1900's.  They were "burial boats" for well respected and powerful vikings.  One ship contained the remains of 2 women, and there is a small mystery about who they were.  One was a servant and one was an important figure in the viking community, but which bones belonged to which person?  That is the mystery!  It was pretty cool to look at the bones, because both women were so different.  

The two ladies (One was tall and one was short.  One was young and one was old.  One had better teeth than the other.  Who do YOU think is who?? 

They also found many viking artifacts during the excavation, and these were on display too.  There was some of everything: shoes, cookware, oars, sleds, buckles, you name it!  It was interesting to see so many artifacts from such a long time ago.  

A burial chamber that was found on one of the ships

The ships themselves were also pretty dang cool.  One was in better condition than the others, but on each ship, you could see details of carvings in the wood, and it was incredible.  Real viking ships! I had to touch one just to say I've touched a real viking ship, but I wasn't supposed to.  So, I did it while no one was looking.....

Mystery #2: These runes were found carved into a piece of wood on one of the ships.  The meaning has never been discovered...

I bought a couple of souvenirs for Kian, and then we took another bus to a stop near by that would lead us to Oscarshall Castle.  We couldn't find a direct path, so we took a little hike.  We walked through the forest and after a while decided to each be a different character from The Hobbit.  Because, well, we're nerds.  I was (of course) Gandalf, so I grabbed a walking stick and called it my staff.  The forests here are absolutely breath taking.  I'm not kidding when I say that Europe has fairy tale forests.

As we kept walking, we came across the Oslo Fjord!  It was a beautiful little spot, and we decided to stop there and enjoy the view.  We searched around for sea shells, and I found another bottle cap to add to my collection.  We also tried skipping rocks, which I am incredibly bad at, turns out!  But I did get one to skip two times!  Not that impressive, I know haha.

Finding the Fjord

Gandalf always carries plastic bags.

After a bit of rest, we decided to walk up the hill a bit more and look at the castle.  Sadly, it was closed, but we could still see part of the castle from a distance, and I got a couple of nice pictures of it.  It reminds me of a Cinderella castle.

The entrance to the castle (not the actual castle, as I was told 10 minutes after being really excited lol)

The actual castle in the background

It blends in with the sky

Our first day was filled with activity, but it was a nice, relaxing day of exploration!  

Stay tuned for my next post about Day 2!

Until Next Time!

~XOXO

-Keeley