| Day 1 | TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT (D/Sn)
Pick up group in Evans for transfer to Denver International Airport. At 10:00 a.m. board flight for Boston. Icelandic Air flight for Oslo departs Boston at 9:30 p.m. and arrives in Oslo on Monday at 12:20 p.m. Snacks, Cocktails and Dinner are served, followed by Movie Presentation. "Lodging": Transatlantic Flight
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| Day 2 | OSLO, NORWAY (In-flight Breakfast, Welcome Dinner)
Welcome to the capital of Norway. Relax and freshen up prior to your Welcome Dinner. You will be arriving in the Scandinavian countries during the very best time of year... MIDSUMMER. Midsummer days offer a fabulous experience with about 17 hours of daylight and about 5 hours of duskiness. You’ll enjoy being tucked in by the sunset in the Scandinavian Velvet Midsummer Night.
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| Day 3 | OSLO, NORWAY (B)
Guided City Tour of OSLO, including viewing ROYAL PALACE, visits to world-renowned FROGNE PARK, VIKING SHIP MUSEUM, and HOLMENKOLLEN. Afternoon and evening at your leisure. Oslo is a vibrant city where you can see people day and night enjoying the long days of summer. It’s also the HOME OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ACADEMY.
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| Day 4 | OSLO to BERGEN (B, D)
Depart for HALLINGDAL VALLEY, crossing the HARDANGER VIDDA HIGH MOUNTAIN PLATEAU NATIONAL PARK. Photo stop at VORINGSFOSSEN WATERFALL. Continue to Hardanger and Brimnes, to board FJORD VESSEL for BRUARVIK. After crossing fjord, continue along shores of Hardanger Fjord to NORDHEIMSUND with a photo stop at STEINDALS WATERFALL, prior to continue to the Hansa town of BERGEN.
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| Day 5 | BERGEN (B, D)
Guided CityTour of BERGEN, including the HANSEATIC MUSEUM, BRYGGEN, FISH MARKET and Composer Edward Grieg’s home TROLLHAUGEN. This afternoon we’ll take a ride on the VERNICULAR FLOYEN to one of the seven mountaintops to enjoy the view over the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Day 6 | BERGEN to BALESTRAND (B ,D)
After breakfast depart for VOSS to MYRDAL SUMMIT and transfer to the FLAM RAILWAY. This railway provides one of the most scenic and magnificent train rides in the world. The rail descends to sea level and the Village of FLAM, where you’ll be on your own for lunch with time to explore. Don’t worry, you can’t get lost - this is a quaint little village surrounded by mountains & water. Later in the afternoon, board a Fjord Vessel and sail to BALESTRAND. With its stunning location, Balestrand has been loved by artists of all kinds and is a very popular area for mountain hiking. After a short walk from the quay, you arrive at the Kviknes Hotel, with its famous 1913 Swiss style facade. This is a well-known landmark in the region. A fantastic fjord buffet awaits you.
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| Day 7 | BALESTRAND to GEIRANGER (B ,D)
After breakfast depart for OLDEN and BRIKSDAL, continuing our tour through MAGNIFICENT FJORD COUNTRY. Here we transfer to the TROLL-CAR that will take us to BRIKSDAL GLACIER. Weather permitting, we’ll get a close look at the Glacier. After that our road takes us via STRYN to HELLESYLT, where we will cross the GEIRANGER FJORD, passing the world renowned SEVEN SISTERS WATERFALL, arriving in GEIRANGER
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| Day 8 | GEIRANGER to TRONDHEIM (B, D)
Leaving Geiranger we cross over the EAGLES ROAD to EIDSDAL where we catch our next Fjord Vessel to LINGE, then up the mountain road to TROLLSTIGEN, making a photo stop at the TROLL WALL, the highest vertical cliff face in Europe. Then we’ll descent through ÅNDALSNES, DOMBÅS, the NATIONAL PARK DOVRE, OPPDAL and finally to TRONDHEIM, the former Capital of Norway. Leif Erickson left from Trondheim in the year 1,000 AD to explore the world.
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| Day 9 | TRONDHEIM to STOCKHOLM (B, L, D)
An early departure today to continue our journey via bus and train as we head for Sweden and its capital STOCKHOLM, one of Europe’s most beautiful cities (The Venice of the North), where we’ll spend two nights.
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| Day 10 | STOCKHOLM (B, D)
Today’s plan call for a comprehensive guided tour of STOCKHOLM (The City Floating on Water) including VASA SHIP MUSEUM, OLD TOWN, KING’S GARDEN, and OESTERMALM’S MARKET (one of the most beautiful and best preserved indoor markets in all of Europe-- has been open since 1888). You’ll have free time this afternoon to explore on your own.
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| Day 11 | STOCKHOLM to KALMAR KINGDOM OF CRYSTAL (B, D)
Today we travel to the Hanseatic town of KALMAR, where we are invited to entertainment and a traditional Hyttesill dinner. In older times, glass blowers would invite friends to their work place, where a meal was prepared in the glass blower’s ovens as they cooled. Food, music, drink and friendship are all in great supply.
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| Day 12 | KALMAR to
HELSINGBORG (COPENHAGEN) (B, D)
After several stops in the Kingdom of Crystal, we continue to Castle Country. We will have three nights in our hotel in the thousand year old city of Helsingborg. One of the oldest cities in the country, Helsingborg is known as the Gateway to Sweden.
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| Day 13 | HELSINGBORG (B, L, D)
We start the day with a guided tour of the CASSERMATTS of HAMLET’S ELSINORE CASTLE, a stop of CONTESSA KAREN BLIXEN’S HOME (remember her in the movie “Out of Africa” with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford). Returning to Helsingbord, we are invited to a guided tour of OLD TOWN and part of CASTLE COUNTRY.
Then it’s our privilege to accept a rare invitation to celebrate with locals and international tourists a SCANDINAVIAN MIDSUMMER’S EVE with FOLK LORE PERFORMANCES, DANCING AROUND THE MIDSUMMER POLE AND SING ALONGS as part of the program. Midsummer’s Eve is the most important holiday of the year, except for Christmas. |
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| Day 14 | HELSINGBORG (B, D)
Today provides a City Tour of ROSKILDE, then into COPENHAGEN to tour COPENHAGEN’S HARBOR and its numerous canals. The balance of the day will be spent exploring TIVOLI GARDENS, where we will have our Farewell Dinner.
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| Day 15 | HOME SWEET HOME (B and In Flight)
And then as always, all good things (vacations) come to an end, and so does this tour. After hotel check out, you will be transferred to Kastrup, where you check in for your flight, heading for HOME SWEET HOME. You chase the sun all the way and arrive in the Good Ol’ US A, the same day as you departed a slice of PARADISE ON EARTH.
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