Ozstamps was a little short in his earlier post regarding our trip...

This trip brings back wonderful memories:
Flying the CONCORDE from New York to London (an experience on its own). Then we travelled (via AMS/KLM) to Bergen (Norway). We stayed at the Strand Hotel, an Olde Worlde hotel overlooking the harbour and fish market, very central. We did the Bergen 1/2 day city tour (can be purchased from the tourist office). We started the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour in Bergen. You can purchase a ticket from any Norwegian railway station (cost is NOK896pp). This trip takes you from Bergen to Voss via train (great scenery). Then you board a (waiting) bus to go through the mountains to Gudvangen (great scenery again) where you board a (waiting) ferry that takes you to Flam (great Fjord scenery). Flam is a (single hotel, nothing else) tourist trap. Much better to stay at the stop before Flam (I don't remember the name of the village, but likely to be more interesting than Flam, which only harbours the hotel). The next morning we caught the 'historic' train to Myrdal (VERY scenic) which has several photo stops. At Myrdal you catch the (waiting) luxury express train to Oslo, which takes you through high, almost inhabitable grounds (again, amazing eary scenery) before coming into Oslo... YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH WITH THIS TRIP! You can also do the trip in reverse: from Oslo to Bergen.

In Oslo we stayed at the Scandic hotel, next to the train station (very convenient). We did the Highlights of Oslo tour (1/2 day) - great highlights.

That evening we boarded the overnight DFDS Seaways ferry to Copenhagen. There's plenty to see at night, because the sun doesn't really set... Make sure you have a cabin on port side, so you see land as you're going alongsode it initially... The walk to the ferry from the Scandic hotel is about 7-10 minutes - very easy. You can see the ferry (terminal) from the hotel if your room faces the (station) square.

Copenhagen is very, very picturesque, you can easily spend 2-3 days in the city and not get bored. We stayed at the (Weber) Scandic again - an olde worlde hotel - where we had an upgrade to a "Hollywood" suite Ozstamps organised this in advance, VERY comfortable... In Copenhagen we did the Grand Tour of Copenhagen (1/2 day) as well as the "Castles of New Sealand" tour" (1/1 day). Both tours are very good and visit interesting places. Rasmus met up with us and we did a walking/public bus tour of the city, including Christiana (no, it's not his girlfriend and I won't say more in public).

From Copenhagen we flew back to AMS. The Weber Scandic is very close (about 250m) to the railway station and you can catch a direct train to the airport from there for next to nothing (as long as you're able to work out the ticketing machine, so allow yourself an extra 5mins).

IN GENERAL: Norway is VERY expensive (for Australian standards) as far as food and hotels is concerned. All hotels come with breakfast which also supplies many traditional Norwegian dishes (yum!). Tours are good value. Once in Denmark, you can afford to eat and drink again...

For additional info: go to www.yahoo.com and search for "Norway in a Nutshell", sites. There are lots of them which will give you info and pix. You can also book the "Norway in a Nutshell" tickets via Eurorail at close to the Norwegian price.

If you decide to do this one, email me and I can give you additional info and email addresses of hotels, tour co's and the email address of 'Helga' at Bergen Railway Station who was not co-operative AT ALL. A public servant I suspect, my perseverance and Dutch background had to aid him strongly to become more 'willing' in the long run... I made it a point when we picked up our tickets for the trip at Bergen Railway station, to get him out of his office and shake his hand - he remembered me, which hopefully will make it better for the next (internet) traveller...