Scandanavia
Scandanavia
In late summer of 2019, my wife and I went on a Scandanavian vacation that included visits to 3 main places. Past experience on other European vacations led us to schedule 2 day stays in each city/country. We flew into Copenhagen, Denmark then flew to Stockholm, Sweden then flew to Oslo, Norway before flying back to Copenhagen. We could have taken the train but the train rides would have eaten up to much of the vacation. If I was retired, I'd be all about taking the train.
Copenhagen
As I mentioned in another post, this is one of my favorite cities in the world. The variety of stuff to see and do is great and you can get around easily on foot, by bicycle, or by one of the Hop On Hop Off buses. Christiania is this crazy independent hippie city within the city that we walked to from our hotel. On the way, we passed a lot of waterways that were used for swimming and boating which was cool because it was on the edge of the city. Nyhavn is the section that gets associated the most with the city and it's super cool. Lots of tall, brightly colored townhouse type buildings on a big wide street that has a canal running through the middle. Lots of shops and restaurants with great beer and seafood.
People everywhere were on bicycles. I've seen people use them a lot in other European cities, but not like this. Very cool. I definitely want to go back.
Stockholm
We liked the city and the museums (especially the Vasa) but like Athens, I don't know that I need to go back. We used the Hop On Hop Off buses to get around and it felt like we saw a lot in a short period.
Oslo
Much like Stockholm but more of a big city feel. Again, we used the Hop On Hop Off buses to get around. The weather was cool and damp so that probably contributed to this being my least favorite stop. There was a viking museum that will probably go down as the worst museum I have ever paid to enter....it was practically empty.
All three cities shared some common characteristics. Friendly people that spoke English (all three countries have different languages and currencies but all spoke English). A main train station that connected you to the local airport (no need for cabs/Uber if you plan your hotel stay near the station). Lots of great food and places to see by just walking about. The thing that was not great was how expensive these countries were. Meals and wine/beers were very pricey. I had a lot of $10 pints. I used a credit card with no international transaction fees for everything so we never had to mess with exchange rates or cash.
