The 11th day of our Scandinavian trip had us waking up in quaint Bergen. We selected Bergen as a home base for the ease of a spectacular day trip to explore Norway’s famous fjords – in particular the Nærøyfjord and Aurlandsfjord arms of the Sognefjord.
Despite ominous weather forecasts, as we leave Bergen on a train en route for Voss, the weather is holding and looking positive. Here’s a view out of the train window about 20 minutes outside Bergen:
A Sunday morning in late July seemed like the perfect time to visit Uppsala, the fourth largest city in Sweden. Home to about 140,000 people, it’s a university town located about a 45 minute train ride north of Stockholm. We arrived to a very quiet place ready for some exploring with no itinerary or plans in mind.
A quick walk from its newly refurbished train station and we’re at the Fryis River which cuts Uppsala in half. It’s a beautiful walk along the river and a great way to start exploring the town:
The tourist cards most larger cities offer end up being a bad value for us. To “break even” you usually need to spend a couple of days running through museums to feel you got your money’s worth. Not so with the “Copenhagen Card” – for us, the attraction was that full transit and regional train access was included. That made our day trip north of the city on a series of trains painless. Our plans for the day are a visit to Hillerød to see Frederiksborg Castle, a quick trip to Helsingør to wander around and find some lunch, and then on to Humlebæk to visit the highly renowned Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
About 50 minutes after leaving Copenhagen’s central train station, we arrive in the tranquil surroundings of Hillerød as the castle opens for visitors:
Although our Alberta road trip plans were cut short due to snow storms, we weren’t going to miss driving back from Lake Louise along the Bow River Parkway. It’s a scenic, winding 2 lane road through the forest, well known for its mountain vistas and wildlife sightings. This drive didn’t disappoint.
This is what most of the hour and a half drive looked like – forests and snow-capped mountain peaks. We only saw maybe eight other cars for the length of the drive. I took this picture standing in the middle of the road:
I’d rather be walking through the pine trees / high up above Lake Louise…
That line from the Blue Rodeo song “Western Skies” put Lake Louise on my mental travel map many many years ago. Our initial plans were to spend our first travel day hanging around Banff and to leave on a day-long road trip the following day to visit Lake Louise, perhaps Field, BC, the Icefields and the Bow River Parkway. The night before leaving, with the advance forecast calling for two days of heavy snow in the mountains, we called an audible.
Travel day: Awake at 3:45am, flight out of Halifax at 6:30, arrive in Calgary about 6 hours later. Two hours on a shuttle bus to Banff. Stop at a Safeway to pick up supplies and provisions and by 2pm Mountain time, we’re in our rental car and on our way north. We weren’t going to miss the chance to see Lake Louise, even if it was for an abbreviated visit. The weather gods smiled on us with temperatures pushing 15C and the sun broke through the clouds as we reached the lake. Our travel weary spirits were raised as we walked up a hill and the beauty of this view washed over us:
October 5 – We’re on a train out of Zurich toward Lucerne before the sun is up. The jump on the day is so we can spend the morning on top of Mt. Pilatus (2132m) before it gets too crowded. We’re planning on completing what is called the “Golden Round Trip”. From Lucerne, this involves a bus to the small town of Kriens, a short walk to a cable car station which takes us to a gondola station in Frakmuntegg. On this part of the trip, the still air is filled with the sound of Swiss cow bells from the cows grazing on the mountain slopes below. The descent involves a trip on the world’s steepest cog railway (48 degrees at greatest slope) to Alpnachstad, and then a 90 minute ride on a lake steamer back to Lucerne. By the end of the day back in Zurich, we’ll have traveled on seven modes of transportation (train, tram, cable car, gondola, cog railway, boat, bus).
The early morning ascent, first from the cable car looking back on Lucerne, then from the gondola:
We arrive on top of Mt. Pilatus with only about 20 other people. It’s perfectly quiet on top of the mountain this morning. There’s no wind, the temperature is just below zero and we emerge above the clouds to spectacular blue skies and sun. Heading outside of the gondola terminal, I see mountains for the first time in my life:
Jodi and I share the moment in almost complete silence, in awe of what we’re seeing. My jaw literally drops at the beauty around me. After a few minutes of taking in this scene, we’re off on a hike around the mountain:
Here’s the two of us as the hike comes to an end and it’s time to head back down the mountain:
After a half hour descent via cog railway, we’re on a lake steamer for the trip back via Lake Lucerne. By now, it’s warmed up close to 20C and the early morning clouds have moved off to reveal another beautiful day. The scenery along the lake is stunning – mountains, rolling hills and quaint towns hugging the rugged terrain:
We spend about an hour on a short walking tour of Lucerne. The city is gorgeous – tree lined streets, German inspired architecture, and of course, their famous Chapel Bridge:
Back in Zurich after the train from Lucerne, we get ready to take in the opera “La Traviata” at Zurich’s Opernhaus. This Verdi opera is wonderful – the symphony is outstanding and the acoustics of the opera hall are first class. Even from our back row seats, we have a great view.
Bluenose Traveler 