One Day in Oslo

I made a trip to the Lofoten Islands in Norway in February, with the goal of photographing the northern lights over the beautiful landscapes in the area. I decided to spend a full day in Oslo on the way there since I needed a layover anyway and had never seen the city. I arrived at the Oslo airport late in the evening and learned my first lesson: take the train to the city and not a cab. The train costs less than half as much and makes the trip in half the time. Lesson learned, I made it to my hotel, got a good night’s sleep, and had a filling breakfast before spending the day walking. My plan was to walk from the hotel to the Oslo cathedral, up Karl Johans Gate passed the Royal Palace to Vigeland Park, and then along the waterfront to the Akershus Fortress and the Opera House.

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Jordan and Egypt

Giza, Egypt
Nine Pyramids View, Giza, Egypt

Once Sandee and I committed to join a tour group in Israel, we knew we’d have to take advantage of having made the long flight and see some of the other amazing locations in the area. Petra was high on our list, both because it is relatively easy to get to from Israel and because it is such a unique and famous place. If you’ve seen “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” then you have seen Petra. As I started researching tours, I found a reputable company that offered a four day tour of Jordan and Egypt that included Petra, Wadi Rum, and Cairo. How could we resist?

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Touring Israel

Jerusalem, Israel
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Sandee and I did an 8 day tour in Israel at the beginning of December. We don’t normally do tours as we generally prefer the freedom to explore at our own pace – sometimes even taking days to just relax. In this case we knew we’d have a much better experience having a guide and we had several friends coming along with us, so we took the plunge.

Our’s was a “Bible Experience” tour led by Behold Israel and it was extremely well run. They managed all lodging, transportation and food and all were excellent. Especially the food. We had a full time guide, driver and bus and were joined though most of the tour by Amir Tsarfati who provides great information from both Jewish and Christian perspectives and gave bible lessons from the sites we visited.

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