Chasing Summer from Brooklyn to the Arctic Circle: 3 Weeks, 4 Countries.

The idea that Maggie and I might top 2023’s “Quarreling Cousins Go To Norway” trip seemed easy at first, but it grew.  Soon our itinerary included NYC, Amsterdam and, of course, Denmark.

Seriously, my 2023 trip with cousins Ron Herem and John Gravley couldn’t have been better.  We actually got along with a minimum of acrimony, although our occasional navigational blunders did indeed, as Ron & John forecasted, “Make funny stories someday.” Ron’s prior trips to Norway helped us zero in on the most iconic cities and compelling attractions for this one.

Wanting to give Maggie a taste of these two remarkable countries and stem some of my growing impatience with the seemingly endless Phoenix summer heat, earnest planning began after watching McGregor and Borman’s MC special “Long Way Home.”

BROOKLYN

Our first leg was spent with Chris & Ginger in NYC over Labor Day. Maggie, taking her first red-eye flight, was surprised by how good she felt arriving at JFK at 7:00 in the morning, after leaving Phoenix at 9:30 PM the previous night. She slept most of the flight.  Taking a leisurely taxi ride to Brooklyn, we got to the kids’ condo just as they were waking up and preparing breakfast. The timing was perfect.

Our long “time zone adjustment weekend” allowed leisurely walks in Brooklyn, including a local festival with lavishly costumed children. Maggie attended Pilates classes with Chris & Ginger and one night we saw an awesome production at New World Stages in the city by the British “Shows Gone Wrong” company, titled “The Play That Goes Wrong.” The story follows the Cornley University Drama Society as they attempt a 1920s murder mystery play, but then everything goes off the rails, with forgotten lines, sets that don’t work and a series of disastrous mistakes. This level of physical comedy is rarely seen live. I had to wonder how much work it must take to put the set back together for the next performance, as they pretty much destroy it.

The culinary standout for this trip was when Chris and Ginger treated us to Eleven Madison Park (location as well as the name). This is Chef Daniel Humm’s three-star Michelin restaurant with a full vegan menu. The dinner took nearly 4 hours and was splendid, worthy of its top reviews and greatly enhanced by the table company.

Tuesday arrived, the kids got back to work. We played with the adorable kitties Bentley and Aziraphale, and tried to stay out of Ginger’s hair as she was working from home. Before heading to JFK for a night flight to Amsterdam, we saw the Mercer Lab show in New York City called “Maestros and the Machines”. It’s an immersive exhibition exploring how legendary artists like Da Vinci, Mozart, and Hokusai might have created art using today’s advanced technology, with immersive soundscapes, interactive installations, and digital reinterpretations of classic masterpieces. It reminded me of parts of our earlier visit this year to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.  That giant underground installation houses over 1,900 works spanning ancient, modern, and contemporary art. More about this in a bit, as this NYC exhibit mimics a small portion of MONA.

AMSTERDAM 

Arriving bright and early to our hotel in Amsterdam, we checked our luggage and immediately began working on Maggie’s “must see” museums list – The Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Stedelijk (Modern Art) museum. It took a couple of days.  The Stedeliki is renowned for modern and contemporary art and design, featuring paintings, sculpture, photography, and new media. Like the Mercer Labs and MONA efforts, it’s focus is on contemporary art. In a way, it offered an interesting bridge between the Mercer and NOMA. The challenge in viewing all contemporary art is attempting to predict what will last and what will end up on the trash heap. Everyone has an opinion, but I’m pretty sure, no one knows. But what the Stedelijk had was several exhibits that I am fairly certain will be totally forgotten in less than 50 years..

By the 4th day we were Amsterdam experts, walking to most places and riding the train with no fear. We met up with a dear friend of mine, Brigitte Vincken, catching up after being out of touch for nearly 30 years. We exchanged books – my autobiography for a book of her brilliant and masterful photography.

NORWAY (Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Bodø & Tromsø)

Stavanger: Too soon, we were off to Stavanger, Norway.  We were greeted at the airport by my cousin Ronnaug and her husband, Svein. Stravanger is in the southern part of Norway, the area where ancestors on my mother’s side are from.  The evening of our first day, cousin Ronnaug pulled together a family dinner, reuniting us with family we met in 2023 as well as in California, years before. We marveled at how the children are getting bigger and how gracefully everyone is aging.  Our second day in this area was guided by Ronnaug and Svein, a sort of “best of” from the longer trip in 2023. We managed to see the Norwegian Petroleum Museum this time. It resembles an offshore oil platform and traces Norway’s North Sea oil story.

The highlight, however, was an extensive harbor tour with Ronnaug’s sister, Ingvild, and her husband, Øystein, on their boat.  They have a beautiful home on the water, an impressive boathouse, and a garage/workshop with a half dozen vintage motorcycles, most of which he has meticulously and beautifully restored. We also visited the Printing and Canning Museum, which tells the story of Stavanger’s herring canning industry and its tens of thousands of can labels. I had three differently seasoned herring sandwiches for lunch at the museum. The photos and well-preserved machines and tools used in the canning process is not to be missed.

Bergen: We traveled by ferry 51/2 hours to Bergen, the city claiming close to 300 days of rain a year. Other than one morning for a couple of hours, we had no rain. More photos are probably taken of the Bryggen, the Hanseatic wharf, than all other photos of Norway.  It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the centuries-old architecture, narrow lanes and wood-carved buildings full of artisan shops are a blast. Bergen serves as a gateway to the fjords and is where we would board our first Hurtigruten ferry, MS Nordkapp, to Trondheim.  But not before many trips through the 700-year-old fish market, walks through the beautifully preserved Bergenhus Fortress, and visiting all the places Ron had shown John and me on our 2023 visit. We even ate at some of the same restaurants.

Trondheim: The highlight here was having dinner with Egil Bakka and his wife, Gunvor. Egil is the patriarch of the Herem/Bakka family. Although older, he is still active. His efforts to preserve and share Norwegian folk art, songs and dances are known around the globe.

As in Bergen, I retraced a lot of the route that Ron showed to us in 2023, including the world’s only bike lift, the Trampe, which pulls bikers up the steep hill to the Kristiansten Fortress. It is a wonderful walking city and like Bergen’s Bryggen buildings, Trondheim has Bakklandet, colorful wooden houses lining a canal that, with calm water and the right time of day, will result in stunning photographs. Some are here and below.  Our hotel, The Clarion, was right near the Rochkeim, a museum dedicated to European and Norwegian pop and rock music. John, Ron and I visited it in 2023, but we did not go back this time.

The Clarion Hotel was a genuine surprise.  Sitting on the Brattora waterfront, the exterior is clad in patterned, coated aluminum and glass.  The exterior, which we’d seen in 2023, astonished us as being so unusual with its “out of focus” feeling. We learned this time that the dot patterns have a real purpose, providing insulation and solar shading, besides the unique appearance, which changes as light hits it differently.  The interior, with its 3-dimensional, crystalline atrium lobby with glass bridges and dramatic ceilings, gives unusual panoramic sightlines, inspired by ice formations. We found ourselves sitting in the lobby and just staring, attempting to assimilate this marriage of Scandinavian minimalism with urban dynamism. It is truly a memorable environment inside and out. But then it was off to the ferry terminal to catch our second Hurtigruten ship, the Polarlys, this one taking us to Tromsø.

Bodø:  On the second day, our Hurtigruten ferry stopped here for several hours, allowing us to explore. The highlight was the Norwegian Aviation Museum. Coming from Arizona where we have the famous Pima Air & Space Museum, as well as smaller air museums like Falcon Field in Mesa, I am familiar with top Aviation museums, and this is one of the largest and most brilliantly curated air museums in the world. It is absolutely stunning! The dramatic modern architecture contributes to an especially atmospheric setting. It details a unique Cold War story with a Norwegian/Arctic focus. Rare aircraft—like a real U-2 spy plane, Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Spitfire, and a PBY Catalina—which are fully restored and displayed alongside immersive multimedia about Norway’s strategic air role. The exhibits are indoors, and the experience is focused on history, education, and Norwegian national identity. A stunning achievement; we could have spent many more hours there.

On our taxi ride back to the ship, our driver took us up to a scenic overlook right near the parking lot of the Wood Hotel Bodø. Afterwards, racing down the hill, we made our ship departure in good time.  

Tromsø (pronounced tram-sah): This was to be as far north into the Artic Circle we would go and, after seeing Northern Lights while on board, we were not terribly disappointed when the night appeared cloudy.

Tromsø is essentially two communities separated by a super-high bridge. Tromsø, the city, is mostly situated on the island of Tromsøya, though the entire municipality extends onto the mainland and the island of Kvaløya.  It is the largest city above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway.

We arrived just after lunch and after walking from the ferry terminal to our hotel to drop our luggage, we immediately grabbed a taxi to where we could take a cable car to amazing views of the city on the Fjelheisen Tromsø.

Back on the island, we explored the fun downtown areas, finding one of the best bars in Tromsø, operated by the oldest beer brewery in Scandinavia, founded in 1877. The beer we ordered from the over 75 on tap choices, was dark and excellent. The bar was hopping, but we couldn’t help noticing that the tables & chairs were about 60-70% of the height of a normal table & chair heights, giving off a certain “kindergarten” feeling. We finally came up with an explanation – the room is below street level and has quite low ceilings.  Leaving, we ducked down in a few spots to avoid hitting timbers crossing our path. The low chairs and tables, once seated, give the illusion that the room is at an actual normal height.

Walking back to our hotel, we asked our AI apps to find us the best restaurant in Tromsø. Both phones recommended Café Bistro, so off we went. After a bit over a mile, we approached the front door and saw a sign on the door reading “We’re sorry, but we are fully booked for this evening.” Hungry, and intrigued by the reviews we’d read, Maggie waited while I went inside. Passing just ten small tables, I approached a small bar, asking the woman who appeared if we might get a table later that night. She asked, “How many are you?” When I said two, she pointed at the only empty table in the restaurant and said, “I’ve just had a cancellation. Sit there.”

It was a family run affair, and our food was awesome. We went for reindeer and wolf fish (a very ugly fish but quite tasty) and split a bottle of Italian red wine (a 2018 Vendemmia Masi CampoFiorin) the proprietor and our waiter said would pair perfectly with our dinner choices and she was so right. It was a wonderful way to remember our Tromsø visit. The next morning we boarded flights to Oslo and then to Copenhagen.

After roughly six days on the two Hurtigruten ships/ferries (the second leg better than the first), we left this spot, as far north as we would go into the Arctic Circle on this trip.  To celebrate crossing this invisible line in the water, we watched fellow passengers have ice cubes and frigid water ladled down the back of their shirts/blouses and over the tops of their heads by the ship’s captain and a troll. This rite was capped with a glass of Norwegian spiced rum of some sort.  We passed, but got quite a few photos of the event.

Maggie’s only complaint about our extensive Fjord tours was the lack of wildlife sightings. While seeing a few whales and pods of orcas, seagulls, and the captured creatures in the zoo at Amsterdam, she’s seen no sheep, goats, deer, elk, or moose on any of the amazing hills and mountains we’d passed.  Are they shy? Scarce? Killed off? Fortunately there’s been a lot of correspondingly positive things, such as great museums, great weather, awesomely friendly and helpful people, and excellent food – although we’ll not order the fish ice cream again – one taste convinced us there are far better flavors of ice cream.

DENMARK

Denmark was the final stop on this 3 1/2 week trip, and the perfect way to bring it to a close. We were met by my Danish cousins, Jens and Lise at the Copenhagen airport and then spent the final 4 days of our trip with them in this marvelous country. If Norway can’t find a spot flat enough for a football field, Denmark has “flat” in spades.

The first night, Lise & Jens arranged a big family dinner in my grandfather’s brother’s workshop, which has been converted into a family room with a table that comfortably seats over 20 people.  I reunited with many relatives I’d met in 2023 when Ron Herem and I visited.  It was just great to see them all, as well as the progress and changes in their lives.

We met Merete, Lise’s sister, whom I’d missed in our first visit.  She gave me an original letter she’d kept from my cousin, Dennis Larsen. Dennis had written to her from his home in Fairmont, MN, on April 3, 1957.  They would have been about the same age, ten years old or so.  I am in the process of getting it to Dennis. Jens unveiled the Danish translation of my book, and I was surprised to find how many of my relatives had already read it or were reading it in English. Most Danes speak and read English very well.

The next day we did a long walking and boating tour of Copenhagen, a beautiful and diverse city.  It’s many canals reminded us of Amsterdam, and it was fun to see a 7 Eleven sign in a 200+ year old building. Portions of the canals were lined with beautiful, brand-new-looking buildings with intriguing and innovative architecture.  Other parts were grand old stone castle-like structures.  Walking by the king’s residence, the door was open to the “royal garage” (photo below) where we could see a good number of high-end cars, all black, including a stretched Rolls-Royce that looked brand new were being cared for by a small staff.

At the Tivoli Gardens, an iconic and historic amusement park on Friday, we met up with Nickolai, Sebastian’s brother and the son of Tommy and Hanne. He manages production for shows in the Pantomime Theatre. Many shows feature a beloved mime artist, Pierrot, who’s become a classic character in Danish theatre and pantomime.

The theatre opened in 1874 and is the oldest surviving building in Tivoli Gardens.  We saw how the famous front curtain, shaped like a peacock’s tail is operated from behind the stage. This old wooden theater does everything a modern one does, moving actors from below the stage to the top of it and everything in between, but without electrical assist.  It’s all levers and cranks.  Nickolai’s love for his work and the theatre itself was infectious.

Jens & Lise live roughly 90 minutes from downtown Copenhagen, a place as difficult to park in as NYC. So our route to/from was well calculated. We drove about 40 minutes to a train station, parked the car and boarded a fast train to the city. The trains are comfortable, clean and well-maintained and very quiet with riders, nearly all Danes, abiding by an un-written set of behaviors which meant they were always polite, if somewhat distant. If you spoke, you did so quietly.

We learned our flight to Amsterdam had been cancelled on the way to the airport. We were rebooked on another flight taking off six hours later. We arrived in Amsterdam rather late, but in plenty of time for our trip home.

I’m sorry about the length of this, if I’d had more time it would be shorter.  The length is partly to inform and partly for me to keep a record of what we did. Travel has the power to transform—and for me, it always does. Encountering new cultures and values encourages us to rethink and challenge our deeply held assumptions, opening our minds to broader perspectives.

See below for more photos:

Grass-roofed homes are common in Norway and Denmark.