We have now completed phase one of our Scandinavian trip, having just spent three days in Copenhagen and three days in Oslo, taking the large overnight ferry to connect them. Although, of course, the time was far too short to have done any in depth exploration, here are some of our impressions. The weather has been absolutely ideal and here, in countries that are so far north that the winters are long, cold and dark, everyone seems to celebrate the coming of summer, getting out and about on foot, scooters and bicycles. Cycling is so much a part of life that here the concept of the 5-minute city has been easily achieved. There were very few private cars in the downtown core. We felt that the Danes and Norwegians are so far ahead of us in cutting down emissions – the cabs are all electric, many Teslas, huge wind farms, lots of public transport. Downtown was clean and safe with no evidence of homelessness, mental health issues or drug use. The schools teach English from first grade so the population is bilingual.<\/p>\n

In Copenhagen we had an Airbnb very centrally located, across the road from a very high-end shopping centre, with three restaurants on the roof. The street was pedestrianized and full of young people. The city is an interesting combination of historical buildings, erected when Denmark was a very wealthy and very futuristic high rises. The high spot of our time here was \u00a0a 2-hour small canal boat tour round the city just for us and our friends. Our leader\/pilot was a recent graduate in history and philosophy who gave us such an interesting commentary and answered all our questions. In Oslo, we stayed in a hotel just steps from the waterfront, a happening place, with cruise ship terminals, ferry docks and a wide variety of restaurants. We took a ferry to the Fram and Kon Tiki museums, which were fascinating and so well presented. We also visited the beautiful and very futuristic Opera House and the Munch Gallery. Probably the high spot was our meal with Don and Meg at a Michelin recommended fish restaurant on the Quay.<\/p>\n

The train from Oslo to Bergen was very efficient (6 1\/2 hrs) through spectacular scenery and going well above the snow line with lakes still frozen over. We are now on the ship and united with Don & Meg and Meg\u2019s cousins Jan and Ronnie with Jan\u2019s husband Dave. It seems a very nice ship with less than 500 passengers, excellent food and, so far, very usable weather.<\/p>\n