NORWAY 2025: Cultural and Cuisine, History and Heritage
The Lake Region State College Foundation’s annual key trip is “Travel with the President” and in 2025, it will be venturing to Eastern Europe. However, choosing what to offer as a new travel experience is always a challenge because there are so many choices. With that thought in mind, a separate trip is being offered to community members in September 2025 to three key cities in Norway. To distinguish this adventure from the traditional LRSC Foundation President’s trip, this one is called “Trips with Teresa,” and it is also done through EF (Education First) GoAhead and is under the leadership of Teresa Lyn Tande, following the same format as the traditional “Travel with the President” trips.
The trip to Norway is the second “Trips with Teresa” tour, the first being the Food and Wine of Tuscany and Umbria Tour of 2024. Its success led me to make this trip available to community travelers.
The design of this trip was inspired from my one and only time in Norway in 2018 with “Travel with the President.” All 25 of us adventurers were thrilled with how much we learned about Scandinavia as we traveled to the capital cities of four of the countries: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.
Although my family and I stayed back for a few extra days to explore where our grandpa was raised, I felt I needed to know more. I am only second generation, but after the trip in 2018, I realized how much I didn’t know about my grandfather’s homeland or why certain “traditions” have carried through into the 3rd and even 4th generations. Also, people are always asking me when will I take another trip to Norway?
13 Days, three cities in Norway
That has manifested in this new trip for September 2025: an exploration of three key cities of Norway: Bergen, Stavanger, and Oslo. I have designed this 13-day trip to give insight into how Norway’s past shaped today’s American Norwegians, connecting the Norway that was to the Norway that is.
As we travel to those cities, we will be passing dramatic mountains, cascading waterfalls, soaring cliffs, and quaint seaside towns. We begin with colorful Bergen, the heart of the fjords which define Scandinavia’s natural landscape. Then we’ll go by train to fjord-flanked Flam and enjoy time in this quiet town near a Viking Village where we can still hear their stories, see their history, and experience a day in their lives. We’ll take a fjord safari and see the wildlife and hear the lore and legends of this Norse country. We’ll spend time in the port town of Stavanger where Norway’s oldest Cathedral is, then make our way to the cosmopolitan capital city of Oslo, known for its impressive modern architecture, world-class museums, and succulent seafood. Our time in Oslo will finish the trip through Norway’s culture, history, and heritage.
As with all EF trips, the cost covers air fare and lodging, all travel from and to the airport, daily breakfast, six dinners with beer and wine, two lunches, an in-tour flight, two train rides, and one ferry transfer PLUS the services of an expert tour guide. Of special interest is a visit to museums of three world-renowned Norwegians: Edvard Grieg, musician; Henrik Ibsen, playwright; and Edvard Munch; artist. The itinerary includes a visit to an Aquavit distillery and the Oslo City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held until 2019. A highlight of the tour includes a day spent at the open-air Folkemuseum [https://norskfolkemuseum.no/en/the-open-air-museum] in Oslo. The Norsk Folkemuseum shows how people lived in Norway from 1500 to the present through its more than 160 buildings relocated from towns and rural districts throughout Norway.
A more detailed listing of the itinerary can be found at grouptoursite.com/tours/norway. The final cost depends on excursions, rooming preferences, and the airport departure city. The website also provides key travel information regarding passports and vaccinations as well as packing tips, weather tips, and eating tips. For more detailed information not found on the website, feel free to contact Teresa.tande@lrsc.edu or tandet@gondtc.com.