Oslo to Amsterdam
August 30 to September 18, 2025
Mike and Judy Henderson
We had originally signed up for a Regent cruise from Paris to Barcelona, but our friends Eva and Richard chose this one and invited us to join them. We had seen several of the ports on the Paris to Barcelona cruise, while this one only has a few ports that we've already seen. This one will take us above the Arctic Circle.
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8/28/2025 (Thursday) Our friends, Richard and Eva, are traveling with us to Norway. The limo is picking us up about 1pm so I picked them up about 12:15 to bring them to our place.
Here's our departure picture:
Lynn and Greg were there to say "Goodbye". Greg will be taking care of our two "girls", Annie and Lizzie, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
The ride to the airport was quick - there wasn't much traffic in the middle of the day.
We're flying KLM to Amsterdam, where we change planes to Oslo. Our check-in was quick and easy - the airport we not very busy - and our bags were checked through to Oslo.
Then it was through security, which went quickly, and we settled in the Air France lounge to wait for boarding time, which was 3:45pm. The Air France Lounge was very nice, clean, modern, and had good food and drinks.
About 3:45 we went to the gate, which was very close by, and boarded immediately. The aircraft is a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a nice plane. The flight was a bit more than ten hours. They served us dinner and then we tried to sleep.
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8/29/2025 (Friday) The cabin crew woke us about an hour before landing and served us breakfast. After breakfast, the cabin crew came by with the KLM "blue house" Bols Genivre gin bottles. There are 105 different bottles as of this year, one for each year of KLM's history. They create a new one each year. You can see which buildings the bottles represent here.
When I was working, I had received a Blue House on a KLM flight to Europe. But not being much of a drinker, I never checked to see what liquor was in the bottle.
Judy and I each got one. They are numbered on the back, 33 on the bottle on the left and 40 on the one on the right.
Eva and Richard have many of these - they traveled quite a bit on KLM in their careers.
We arrived in Amsterdam about noon, and had a bit over two hours before our flight to Oslo. I thought KLM did a good job on the flight to Amsterdam.
When we arrived in Amsterdam, we had to go through EU passport control and it was a zoo. I suppose too many flights arrive about noon, and the passport control was swamped. Those blue signs you can see in the far distance in this next picture are where the passport officers were. It took quite a while to get to them.
This was somewhat like passport control in Hanoi, but people stayed in lines here. Not so true in Hanoi - it was just a mass of people pushing to get to the passport control officers.
There was a separate line for people with tight connections, and workers checked the boarding passes of the people who wanted to get into that line. We had about two hours to our boarding time so we went through the regular line.
It took about an hour to get through the line. We had checked the gate for our flight to Oslo, but when we got through passport control, the gate had changed. Amsterdam is a BIG airport and it was quite a walk to the gate, over a half kilometer. When we got there, the gate was closed, as they were still processing an earlier flight.
Eventually, they opened the gate and after some delay we boarded the aircraft, a 737-800 or -900, I couldn't figure out which it was.
The flight was uneventful. As is common in European Business class, the seats were just standard economy seats, but the middle seat was left unoccupied. We arrived about 4:30pm and went to baggage claim. And that's where we ran into problems.
All four of us have AirTags in our luggage and the only suitcase that showed as being in Oslo was Judy's. We immediately went to the baggage department to arrange for our luggage to be delivered to us.
The agent working the counter was, at first, not very accommodating toward us. She wanted us to come back to the airport at 10:30pm and pick up our baggage, which was impossible since Regent was providing the transportation for us, and the airport is a long way out of town.
Additionally, I didn't think that we should have to go through all that since the airline is the one who screwed up - I felt they should deliver the bags.
Shortly after we started the claims process for our bags, a large group of people arrived at the baggage department. Apparently, they were all people who were on the same flight with us and most of them were going on the same Regent cruise.
I didn't take this next picture right away - I was more concerned with working to get our luggage. By the time I took it, a number of the passengers had been processed. There were a lot of people who did not have their luggage.
What may have happened is the luggage was taken to the original gate and much of it was not moved when the gate was changed.
The agent kept trying to get out of delivering the bags, saying there wasn't time for her to deliver them before we sailed, but we kept pushing, and told her that the ship was not leaving until 9pm tomorrow (Saturday) so there was lots of time for them to deliver the bags to the ship. Eventually, she caved and promised to deliver everyone's bags to the ship.
With that settled we were able to depart baggage claim and meet the Regent agents.
They took us to a van for the ride to Oslo. A couple from St. Petersburg, Florida joined us. It was about 5:45pm when we left the airport.
The ride to Oslo was long, and took about 45 minutes (I know the times because my photos are time stamped). Luckily, we were headed in the opposite direction of rush hour - the other side of the freeway was bumper-to-bumper.
The Florida couple was in the Grand Hotel and the four of us are in "The Thief" Hotel (I know, strange name. I asked, and the hotel is named after the waterfront area). The Grand Hotel was down town, but The Thief Hotel is on the waterfront.
It turned out that The Thief hotel was very modern. Judy and I were given a suite - I have no idea why we rated a suite. Just the luck of the draw, I suppose. Here's the bedroom.
And the sitting room. Everything was so modern that we couldn't figure out how to turn out the lights in the sitting room. We just left them on and closed the doors to the bedroom.
The suite was obviously intended for entertaining - there was even a half-bath off the sitting room.
That was all lost on us. We went up to the restaurant on the 9th floor and had a light meal. We sat next to a couple from the Orlando, Florida area, who are also on the Regent cruise, and enjoyed talking with them.
After dinner, we went back to the room and went immediately to bed. We were tired.
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8/30/2025 (Saturday) As usual, I couldn't sleep the whole night through. I was up about 3am. I took a shower and then worked on this blog.
I went to the lobby about 7:15am to see if the Regent agent was available. The agent, Roger Storrud, was available and I told him of our problems with the luggage. He asked me for the claim number and assured me that he would follow up to make sure the bags got to the ship.
Then, I checked on the restaurant, and while it was not scheduled to open until 8am, it was open. I called Judy and we went to breakfast before 8am. But after that we just waited until about 11am when we went downstairs to catch the shuttle to the port.
As usual, it was hurry up and wait. But about 12:30 we did get on one of the shuttles and we boarded the ship, the Mariner. Just an interesting note, we were on the Mariner back in 2017 for our first Regent cruise - a cruise around the tip of South America. That was a very interesting trip. We went to Machu Picchu, saw the Nazca lines, and went to Iguassu Falls.
Our cabin number on that trip was 1026, and now we are just down the hall in 1032.
The check-in was done in the theater and it moved quickly.
We received our room keys our cabin, 1032, but the cabins were not ready yet so we went up to the 11th deck and had a light lunch. By 2:30 we were in the cabin.
The Mariner is one of the older ships in the Regent fleet and the cabins are smaller than on the newer ships, such as the Grandeur, Splendor, and the Explorer. The bathrooms are much smaller. Here's a view of our cabin.
I had some problems with the Internet access but the ship's tech was able to fix everything. The ship is using Starlink and the Internet access is quite good.
AND, my suitcase that didn't arrive at the Oslo airport was delivered to the ship and then to our cabin. I just received word that Eva and Richard's suitcases were also delivered. So we're all in good shape for the cruise. It was a nail-biter for a while, however.
Our cabin attendant, Geraldine, came by to introduce herself.
Her helper is Katrynna, and we met her later.
Once we unpacked and put everything away I did the most important thing I could think of - I took a nap.
At 6:30 we joined Eva and Richard in the Compass Rose for dinner.
By the time we finished dinner and got back to the cabin, it was 8:15, and the ship was sailing out of Oslo harbor.
That was the end of our day. We were thankful to be aboard and settled in.
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8/31/2025 (Sunday) Let me talk a bit about Norway before I go into this day's activities. Perhaps the most important event in recent history was the discovery of oil off the coast of Norway in 1969. With that event, Norway's financial condition went from good to very good. Norway was not poor prior to 1969, although the citizens often try to claim the country was poor (probably because of the famine of 1866-68 during which 50,000 Norwegians perished and many emigrated to the US). Prior to 1969, Norway had a good economy based on natural resources like timber and fish, and abundant low-cost hydroelectric power. It's people were well-educated.
After oil revenue begun flowing into the government, Norway created a sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Global Fund, presently valued at about $1.9 billion, and invests the money in various activities throughout the world. It also used some of the money to build infrastructure in the country, perhaps the most visible being the building of bridges and tunnels to improve transportation. Norway has many fjords and without the bridges and tunnels, it would require very long routes to get from one side of a fjord to the other. Some of the more built-up areas had ferries to cross the fjord.
Looking back a bit further, in April 1940, Norway was invaded and occupied by the German Army during World War II. Although there was robust resistance activity, Vidku Quisling (who became Minister President) collaborated with the Germans. His name, Quisling, is now used to denote a traitor who collaborates with the enemy. After the war, he was tried, found guilty, and executed on October 24, 1945.
The Jewish population of Norway was not huge, a bit over 2,000, but they were not protected by the Quisling government (the Danish government, and people, protected the Danish Jews). Many escaped from the country, with the help of the resistance, but about 775 were arrested and sent to extermination camps. Only about 25 to 35 survived the camps.
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Now, back to our trip.
We managed to sleep the whole night through - we didn't wake up until the alarm went off at 6am. We had arrived in Lysekil, Sweden during the night.
We went to breakfast and then to the theater at 8:15 for our morning excursion to Lysekil.
The excursion mainly consisted of a boat ride from Lysekil to Smögen. We boarded a bus which took us through some of Lysekil and then we went to the dock to meet the boat.
It's about 16km between Lysekil and Smögen, although the boat can't go in an absolutely straight line. It took about an hour and a half to get to Smögen.
Along the way, the guide pointed out that the land in this area is granite, often a highly desirable red granite.
We passed a few small towns along the way.
We eventually arrived at Smögen and walked through the town. There were some interesting buildings, some designed for the fishing trade.
It was an interesting town.
A bus brought us back to the ship, and the route was quite a bit longer, about 49km, because we had to go fairly far inland to get around the fjords.
When we returned to the ship, we had lunch and then met in the Observation Lounge for Trivia. Later that evening, we had dinner with Eva and Richard.
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9/1/2025 (Monday) During the night, the ship sailed to Skagen, Denmark, only about 80km from Lysekil. Skagen is the northern most point of Denmark. Skagen is pronounced "sky-en", with a soft "g".
We were up early because we had to meet in the theater at 7:45.
We went first to the Sand Covered Church. The church was built between 1355 and 1387, with the tower being 22 meters tall.
Due to certain land and climate changes, sand began blowing over the land where the church was located. By the late 1700's sand was beginning to accumulate against the church. In 1795 the church was closed and the major part of the church was demolished for the building materials. The tower was left as a guide to shipping. It's now about 18 meters above the sand.
Here's what it probably looked like in the mid-1700s, with the sand already drifting over it.
After we left the Sand Covered Church, we went to the Skagen Art Museum. It displays works by Skagen Painters. The area had become a draw for painters, owing to the lovely northern light,
The statue in front of the museum is of Michael Ancher and PS Krøyer, two founding artists, but they look for all the world like Lenin and Trotsky.
This work is called "The Drowned Fisherman". The painting is based on the death of Lars Kruse, one of two fishermen who drowned at the same time. See also here.
After we went through the museum, Judy and I walked through the town. As we walked by a shoe store, the owner was just opening the door, and I was able to observe the magnetic influence a shoe store has on Judy. As soon as the door opened, she was sucked into the store by some unknown force:-)
After about an hour at the museum, we left to go to Grenen, the northern most point of Denmark. Along the way, we had the opportunity to see three of the historical lighthouses of the area.
Note: We were in a bus and some distance from these lighthouses. It was impossible for us to get decent pictures of them, so these pictures were taken from the Internet.
The first was a Vippefyr, which means "bascule light". It was built in 1627, and the one you can see now is a faithful copy. A coal fire was made in the iron bucket which had openings in it, and which was then hoisted up using the lever. Unfortunately, it didn't work well - the light was very hard to see.
When I first saw the structure from a distance, I thought it was a trebuchet.
The vippefyr didn't work well and was replaced by the Skagen White Lighthouse in 1747, which operated until 1858. In the early days of its operation a coal fire was built on the roof. You can see a device similar to the bucket used on the vippefyr at the top of the lighthouse.
As technology improved, a new lighthouse, called just the Skagen Lighthouse, (sometimes, "the Skagen Grey Lighthouse"), was built with electric lights, and a revolving light. It is still in use and is open to visitors.
Then we proceeded to Grenen, where we took the Sandworm trolley to the north point. It's a trailer pulled by a large tractor.
The point is mostly sand, with a bit of small rocks. The tractors are really needed to travel over the land. Here we are at the point.
We wore our red jackets from our trip to Antarctica with Silversea. Someone joked to Judy: "Wrong cruise line".
Here's a view of the point, where the North Sea (on the left) meets the Baltic (on the right). The waves were breaking, meeting each other head on, and the water was turbulent. To experience standing in two different seas at the same time, some people took their shoes off and walked out to the end. I wasn't interested in doing that. We didn't have anything to wipe the sand off our feet before we put our shoes back on.
It was very windy out at the point. You can see Judy's hair being blown in this next picture, as she takes a picture of the area.
After returning to the starting point we had the opportunity to shop (of course!) and then we reached the ship about noon.
Later, we played the trivia game in the Observation Lounge and then went to dinner with Eva and Richard.
That was the end of our day.
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9/2/2025 (Tuesday) We're in Kristiansand this morning, just 160km from Skagen.
Our excursion today does not leave until after noon so we were able to sleep late. We surprised ourselves by sleeping until 7am.
After breakfast, we took things easy, mostly relaxing in the cabin. I worked on this blog. We went to an early lunch and then went to the dock and boarded the bus for our excursion.
The first place we're going is to the Kristiansand Cannon Museum. When I heard the name, I thought it would be a museum of old cannons through time. But when we arrived, we found that it had been a WWII German coastal artillery fortification, named Batterie Vara (named after Major General Felix Vara. After the war, the Norwegians named the fortification Møvik Fort). During WWII it consisted of multiple naval cannons, only one of which has been preserved.
The staffing for the entire fortification (planned for four guns) was about 600 military personnel. About 450 were naval gunnery troops and 150 were Wehrmacht soldiers to protect the site. A single 380mm gun was manned by about 52 naval personnel. Two guns were operational in May 1942 and a third in November 1942.
The site also included 16 smaller guns, including a number of the famous 88mm antiaircraft guns, for protection from bombers.
Here's a view of the remaining cannon, taken from their website.
And a view of the cannon from the ground.
The purpose of the cannons was to prevent allied ships from entering the Skagerrak Strait, and especially from entering the Baltic sea.
The cannons were 380mm SK C/34 naval guns, 51.66 calipers (380mm is almost 15 inches). The maximum range was about 35km to 55km, depending on the shell used. The rate of fire was specified as 2.5 rounds per minute but could be faster or slower based on the skill of the gunners. They were used on the Bismarck class battleships and were intended to be used on some future battlecruisers that were never built.
The guns were repurposed to several coastal batteries, including this one.
Our tour included going into the cannon fortification.
A view down one of the hallways.
This is a rangefinder. The operator would look into the view piece in the middle. At each end was a mirror that could be angle adjusted by the operator. When the two images aligned, the angle of the mirrors was used to determine the range. It was only moderately accurate at long ranges. They did not have radar to determine range.
Two 380mm shells. The shells were obviously very heavy so there was special equipment to handle the shells and transport them to the gun. I was impressed by the engineering that had gone into the fortification.
While not a part of the fortification, they had a display of a naval mine.
This is probably a "ready room" where soldiers waited before going on duty.
I didn't see a the kitchen and mess hall, but obviously they were somewhere in the facility. I did see the latrine.
After the tour was officially over, I went into the cannon housing and saw where the gun was loaded.
Then I went to the other end of the gun.
Looking directly into the barrel, you can see the rifling.
While the gun we visited was built into the ground, it could be destroyed by a direct bomb hit. To further protect the ability of the fortification from bombs, the Germans built a huge concrete casement to house a slightly larger gun. This was built on the location of which was to be the fourth gun.
While the existing guns could fire 360 degrees, the gun planned for the casement was limited to about 120 degrees.
That's what I visited next.
The ceiling is 4 meters thick and the walls are 3.5 meters thick. This gun emplacement was never completed. The gun which was to be placed here was lost when the cargo ship carrying it was sunk by British aircraft on February 22, 1945. It was probably another 380mm gun.
Here's an aerial view of the casement, picture taken from the museum website.
Many more excellent pictures can be found at the museum website.
Leaving the Cannon Museum, we boarded the bus and went to old town Kristiansand. We walked through some of the town and eventually wound up in the old town square.
That's the Kristiansand Cathedral on the right side of the picture.
We were given free time to walk around the old city but the ship was only about 1km away so Judy and I decided to walk back to the ship, getting us home in time for Trivia.
However, we didn't do very well with Trivia.
Then it was dinner with Eva and Richard and to bed. Tomorrow we go to Stavanger.
