I will be in Norway on an 8 day tour in a little over a week. We will have one free day in Oslo and one free day in Balestrand. Does anyone have suggestions on the top "must do's" for both of these cities?

Balestrand was my favorite place when I toured Norway several years ago. The village itself is small but there are a few things to recommend. St. Olaf's stave church while not authentic is lovely and certainly worth a visit. If you are into walking there are numerous excellent walks in the area.The Balestrand Art Gallery is interesting too. There is a burial mound nearby which will be impossible to miss. Apparently they recovered a viking ship and remains of a King but only the mound is visible. There are two ferries a day which go up through the Fjaerlandsfjord to Mundal. This was one of my favorite trips. There are more popular fjords but the serenity of this fjord was especially beautiful' The only other boat we saw was a wooden fishing boat which looked like it could of been in a museum. At Mundal a small shuttle takes you up ti the Glacier Museum which is far more interesting than it sounds then you travel up to the glacier itself before heading back to Balestrand. Mundal is well known for its many book shops.

For Oslo, I recommend a visit to the Resistance Museum and the nearby castle. Definitely take the short ferry ride out to Bygdoy Peninsula and see the Norwegian Folk Museum and the Viking Museum. I spent nearly half a day at the Folk Museum which is largely an open- air museum but absolutely fascinating. The Kon-Tiki Museum is also located on the peninsula but it didn't make the cut-off for me. Oslo really has a number of art galleries and museums to recommend it, but I only had a short time there.