TRAVELOGUE: Norway, Sweden, and our 2025 European Class Reunion
August 25 through September 6, 2026
A year-too-late blog post.
One of my friends recently mentioned that she hadn't seen my blog post on my Norway trip last year, as I usually did after every trip. I guess I was too busy celebrating my retirement. But, in truth, I fell into a rabbit hole from my obsession with painting. The acrylics took over my life.
My friend is planning a
European trip and wanted to know if it was worth visiting Norway. I nodded
enthusiastically and even told her I could happily spend an inordinate amount
of time at a sidewalk cafe with my cup of latte, watching people pass by. The ambiance was great, people enjoying their stroll, not hurrying like in New York. A sense of peace and contentment filled me, and I thought, "I could live here".
On our 45th anniversary since graduating from the
Arellano University College of Nursing, sixteen classmates, with spouses and
sisters, gathered in Norway for 4 days, then embarked on a cruise along the
European coast via MSC Poesia Cruises, and landed in Sweden for a few days.
NORWAY
For our class reunion, our classmate Alma and her husband,
Homer, volunteered to plan the itinerary for the group’s 4-day stay in Norway.
She had been in Oslo, the capital city, since we graduated from Nursing. I
often wondered how fate brought us to different countries for our nursing careers.
As much as I loved being a New Yorker, I am very envious of Norway’s universal
health care and comprehensive social security system. The Norwegian government
can afford it since it is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas
outside the Middle East.
Our group stayed at the Karl Johan Hotel, a historic 4-star
boutique hotel with 160+ unique rooms (but no air conditioning), a glass rooftop,
and a cozy lounge with a fireplace. The breakfast buffet was bountiful, with
many Pinoy wait staff. Very convenient for its central location, right in the middle of the
pedestrian walkway (was the hotel named for it or because of it?), near the train on one end and the Royal Palace at the other
end of Karl Johan Gate road.
Oslo, nicknamed Tigerstaden, or "The Tiger
City," hence the huge, mean-looking tiger in the middle of the town
square. It is a vibrant capital and a haven for art and nature lovers, with
historic buildings, quaint cafes, and cobblestone walkways.
The Royal Palace was impressive, with neoclassical
architecture, Doric columns, and beautiful gardens. At the time of our visit,
the royal family was in residence, so no tours were allowed inside the palace.
The changing of the guard happens every 1:30pm.
It seems surreal that, as of this writing, a royal announcement was made that His Majesty King Harald passed away on August 28, 2026.
Akershus Fortress is one of Oslo's best attractions: a medieval
castle that used to be a prison but was later converted into a home for royals.
The huge estate has a cobblestone courtyard and lush grounds surrounded by
fortress walls. No entrance fee needed.
Another landmark is the Oslo Opera House, with its striking geometric design inspired by icebergs and described as a “wave wall.”
The Munch Museum features paintings by Edvard Munch, a symbolist/expressionist painter known for his iconic works The Scream (1893) and Madonna (1894). We didn't have time to explore the art collection, but our group posed to recreate the agonized face in "The Scream."
Regrettably, I think we looked comical and didn't accurately convey Munch's intent to show "a profound experience of existential dread related
to the human condition." In other
words, the painting symbolized the anxiety of modern man. Ugh, I have seen similar
faces when we received trauma alerts in our ERs.
On August 26, 2025, we visited the 340-acre Vigeland
Sculpture Park in Frogner Park. It displays more than 200 sculptures by the
prolific Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland; it’s the world’s largest sculpture
park by a single artist. Would you believe that admission is free and it is
open 24/7?
"The sculptures symbolize the entire journey and cycle
of human life, including universal themes of birth, struggle, anger, joy,
death, and eternity, all depicted in naked figures."
A 100-meter bridge features 58 bronze statues, including the
famous Angry Boy stomping his foot as if in a tantrum. The fountain is
supported by six giant figures and surrounded by 20 bronze tree groups to depict
the human life cycle.
The Monolith sculpture is a grand visual masterpiece and
stands 17 meters above ground. Carved from a single stone block, it features
141 sculpted human figures clinging together. The word "monolith" has
been used to describe a massive group of people who are non-diverse, rigid, and
unchanging in their outlook. Well, we are definitely not monoliths.
Our group was easy to spot: Baby Boomers in bright green
shirts that doubled as a beacon for lost members. As in any large group, gathering
everyone for the group photo was quite an undertaking. Thank you to the
husbands and the sisters patiently clicking away to record the classmates’
antics. The three sisters (Bheng, Poleng, and Lucy) were enjoying their elder sisters' shenanigans.
The Holmenkollen Skating Arena is a world-famous
Nordic skiing and ski-jumping facility and has hosted several World Ski
Championships and the 1952 World Olympics.
The Oslo Fjord summer evening cruise- we feasted on a
Norwegian prawn shrimp buffet during the 3-hour sail on a traditional wooden
sailing ship, with a fascinating view of the harbor, the fortress, the Opera
House, and the verdant hills on our fjord sightseeing. The music reflected our
Baby Boomer generation. The husbands enjoyed their own reunion; in fact, they
were even more enthusiastic about their photo ops, even using our alumni
tarpaulin.
MSC BOAT CRUISE
We set sail on August 29 with MSC Cruises, stopping in
Copenhagen, Denmark; Warnemünde, Germany; and Gdansk, Poland. I missed the
excursion stops in Latvia and Lithuania because of my hip pain. The excursions
serve as a teaser of what each country offers because the port stops allow only
about 5 hours of exploration. This may seem to be a good idea if you want to
return for a longer stay in whatever country you fancy. Otherwise, you may get
stranded and will have to catch the ship at the next port stop.
On the ship, there are many amenities that can entertain
anyone who stays onboard. Spas, swimming pools, boutiques, gyms, beauty salons, massage parlors, and endless food. We
had the White Night Party and some theater shows. For dinner, the Pinoy chef cooked Sinigang na
salmon and chicken adobo for us. It was
my first time on a cruise. I enjoyed the sumptuous breakfast buffet, the
fabulous service from the cabin crew, and the nightly dinner.
I heard of a woman who bought a 15-year lease on a cruise
ship with all her meals covered, housekeeping and laundry services, and routine
medical care. Uh-oh, not interested.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
For this stop, my sister Bheng and I opted to take an
excursion bus to Dragor, the most famous historic fishing village near
Copenhagen. We walked through cobblestone streets by the scenic harbors with
small fishing boats. The iconic 18th- and 19th-century yellow houses had red
tiles or thatched roofs. From the harbor, we could see the bridge and the
Swedish coast. As a surprise, the tour company treated us to delicious Danish
bread and coffee.
Copenhagen, “City of Spires”, is known for the spires and
church towers that dot the horizontal skyline. Nyhavn is a 17th-century
waterfront and entertainment district lined with brightly colored townhouses,
wooden ships, restaurants, and lively cafes on each side of the canal.
A must-see attraction is the iconic Little Mermaid statue, a
bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen. The statue is based on the 1837 fairy tale of
Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a mermaid who sacrificed her voice
to become human. In 1989, Disney made the movie and named the little mermaid
Ariel.
The sculpture sits on a rock by the waterside. I don’t know
what kind of security the Langelinie promenade has, but the statue has been
vandalized numerous times over the years. First, political rebels sawed off the
statue's head, and it had to be replaced. The new head was decapitated again,
but thankfully recovered.
WARNEMÜNDE and ROSTOCK, GERMANY
Warnemünde is one of the busiest German port towns on the
Baltic Sea, and serves as a gateway to Rostock and Berlin. For this tour, my
sister Bheng and I paired with Ampy and her husband Ofre to explore Warnemunde
together. We hired an enthusiastic cab driver who negotiated a reasonable price
to bring us to the tourist stops.
Schwerin Castle, located on a small island southeast of the
old town, is regarded as one of the most important works of Romantic
historicism in Europe for its picturesque, scenic viewpoints. The castle was added
to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2024.
A fairy-tale setting on Lake Schwerin, with a majestic gold-domed building that formerly housed German dukes but is now a museum and the seat of the state parliament. The expansive, manicured gardens (Schlossgarten), designed in a mix of French and English styles, feature woodland paths, quiet canals, romantic bridges, and lush spaces that invite selfies and group photos. My favorite is the stunning “tunnel of greenery”. I later learned it is also called a "Laubengang." In English, it's a pergola, pleached tree tunnel, or green arbor.
Next, our driver drove us to the beautiful medieval town of
Rostock. We strolled through the main street and Market Square with the pastel
colored houses with gabled roofs and timbered facades.
GDANSK, POLAND
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic coast of northern Poland, and
the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland's sixth-largest city and its
major seaport. This is where World War II began, and it was rebuilt to its new
grandeur at the end of the war, when Poland’s democracy movement was born.
This beautiful historic center is now adorned with Baroque, Dutch Renaissance, and Gothic buildings, along with colorful houses with gabled roofs and ornate facades.
Gdansk is the world capital of amber, the “Gold of the
North.” The Museum of Amber exhibits the fascinating history of amber mining,
which began in the 19th century. Amber is fossilized tree resin that early
Europeans highly regarded. In Greek mythology, amber represented the tears of the
Heliades sisters when their brother was killed by Zeus. The Vikings revered
amber as a sacred stone, while the Slavs regarded it as the sun.
Amber comes in all shades of yellow, brown, red, and white, but the most common is honey-orange. It is mostly used as jewelry, but has also been used by Fabergé (as in those fabulous eggs crafted for the Russian tsars) and Salvador Dalí.
I remember amber as that precious preservative for ancient dinosaurs. Just like in Jurassic Park, where the scientists extracted dinosaur DNA from amber resin of mosquitoes that bit T-Rex.
SWEDEN
Sweden is the largest and most populous Nordic country, the twelfth-richest
country in the world in terms of gross domestic product per capita. It was home
to Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, and Bjorn Borg, Astrid Lindgren (author of
Pippi Longstocking), and the birthplace of IKEA ready-to-assemble furniture and
Swedish meatballs. But indisputably, its greatest export is ABBA.
My must-see attraction is the ABBA Museum in
Stockholm. I included Swedish pop songs in my musical soundtrack
in my younger years. The group (Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny
Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad) won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with
their song Waterloo.
The ABBA Museum is an interactive museum where you can
fulfill your secret fantasy to be the 5th member of this legendary
group and record yourself singing your favorite ABBA song.
We took the HOHO (Hop-on, Hop-off) bus to the ABBA Museum.
We went inside the recording booth to sing along to ABBA. Never mind that we're
off-key; who cares. Karaoke time at the ABBA Museum. We are the Dancing Queens. Bucket item checked off!!! Initially, it was just the four of us in the booth, then a few more classmates
joined us.
The Old Town is the oldest part of Stockholm and another go-to
destination, and it still has architectural beauty, with charming
boutiques and cafes.
The AUCN reunion was definitely a memorable experience for all of us. A once-in-a-lifetime event.
