Jen & Mark's Travels

Europe 2015, Day 1 - Puttering Around Scandinavia

March 14, 2015

It has been 3 years since our last international trip. It feels great to explore a new portion of this amazing world that we live in. As a refresher our last trip was in 2012 when we went to the 2012 Olympics in London and Eastern Europe with our niece Abbey. Mark was given a great opportunity through work to attend a conference in Berlin for a week. We decided to end our international dry spell by taking advantage of Mark being in Europe. But the question was where do we go... There was no clear destination front runner so we let the airfare deals help determine our starting point. The best airfare deal was traveling on Norwegian airlines to Oslo from JFK.

Flying Norwegian airlines wasn't bad; they practice a minimalist approach (BYOS- bring your own seat; other than that it was fine) A plus was that Jen had her first experience with a Boeing Dreamliner 787. It's a fairly swanky airplane. Jen arrived at 10:30 and checked into the hotel. Mark flew to Oslo from Berlin and arrived an hour and a half later. We stayed at the Park Inn at the Oslo airport. This was planned based upon what we had hoped to do while in Norway. The first adventure for this trip was exploring the Norwegian country side as well as the western portion of Sweden. Our vehicle of choice was a Tesla Model S 85. Given our convenient location staying at the airport we walked over to Hertz and picked up our chariot for the day.

2015 Tesla Model S
Kosterhavet National Park, Sweden

Jen in the Front Trunk
Kosterhavet National Park, Sweden

The weather for Saturday was very pretty. The sun was out and there was not a cloud to be seen. Temperatures topped out at 55 however it never quite felt that warm. The best way to describe the Scandinavian country side we drove through would be to imagine a mix of: Western New York and coastal Maine, with the smells and foliage of the Pacific Northwest.

We arrived at our final destination, Kosterhavet National Park in Sweden, just before sunset. Upon arrival we took a sunset hike along the shore and did a photo shoot of our chariot. On the way back to Oslo all of us (including the car) stopped for some juice. Dinner was schnitzel with spuds and a salad and Swedish meatballs with cabbage and potatoes with ice cream cones for dessert. It seems that Norwegians like their raspberries and trust me we are not complaining!!! An evening drive through Oslo was the final piece to our first day in Norway.

Saltö, Sweden

Kosterhavet National Park, Sweden

Hättebäck, Sweden

Europe 2012 - Homeward Bound

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

We woke up at 5:30AM after being serenaded by many alarms. After quick showers we went down for breakfast, then boarded our shuttle bus for an uneventful ride to the airport. This time we arrived with plenty of time to spare, and were able to people watch for an hour in the international departures area.

We boarded our Swiss Air flight to JFK and were delighted to find that while we were in the next-to-last row, we had ample leg room and a well-equipped entertainment system. Swiss Air (motto: we are bad for your diet) insisted on feeding us every hour whether we needed it or not. We experienced delights such as baked chicken in gravy, potato cakes, veggies, kuchen, ratatouille, ice cream, chocolate and drinks offered at least 3 times per hour. When we got into JFK we had to wait for a healthy hour at immigration- the hall was filled to capacity when we left. However to our surprise getting through security at JFK was a breeze.

The rest of the trip into Cleveland was uneventful.

Trip Statistics:

13 Days of Travel
7 Countries Visited
6 Flights
4 Air Carriers
7 Hotels
~2000 miles in the car
5 Unique Currencies

Berlin!

Monday, August 6, 2012

We woke up at our hotel in Prague, got ready and went down to breakfast. Our breakfast was decent, but definitely not the best of the trip. From there we packed up and drove to Berlin. Mark got the chance to take the Audi A4 on the Autobahn, and got to play a little bit.

We drove to the Berlin airport, parked, and took public transportation into Berlin. We stopped by the Berlin Zoological Garden for lunch at a traditional German Restaurant. We had Kartoffeln (Potato) Soup, Weiner Schnitzel, Kielbasa, and beer.

After that we took the u-bahn to Checkpoint Charlie and showed Abbey the location and parts of the Berlin wall.

Abbey at Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin, Germany

We had to hurry to catch our plane (or so we thought) when we found out there was construction on the u-bahn and the line we wanted to take was closed between several stations. After a hurried trip to the airport we returned the rental car and checked in, only to find in Berlin they have security right at the individual gates, and we ended up being there with 20 minutes to spare.

The flight to Zurich was uneventful- the Swiss Air flight was run by Eidelweiss Air, and they had some interesting things such as a portrait of cows in the first class cabin. Their unique in-flight magazine included articles in three languages, and unique things such as high-heeled flippers (Christmas present idea for Abbey!)

After landing we boarded our hotel provided shuttle bus, and drove half-way to Italy to get to our airport hotel. The driver seemed to have a prior F1 career, as he wasn't very gentle.

Czech This Out

Sunday, August 5, 2012

We finally had the chance to sleep in!

Our day started around 9:00 we left the hotel around 10:30 and headed to the Charles Bridge. The Charles Bridge was initially constructed beginning in 1357AD, and has been continuously restored to the present day. There are many statues of historical significance to the Czech Republic lining the bridge.

Charles Bridge
Prague, Czech Republic

We also visited the John Lennon Wall and took in the layers upon layers of graffiti which grace it.

John Lennon Wall
Prague, Czech Republic

Our main destination for the day was the Prague Castle, which was constructed starting around 870AD. While it's called a Castle, it's really a compound which includes The St. Vitus Cathedral, the Basilica of St. George, The Old Royal Palace, and many other historic buildings. We toured the aforementioned highlights, took in the city from the top of the castle hill, and then headed down into town to do some shopping.