A Reputable Journal

Today was a walking day in Bergen. It was an easy day of walking around the city using a couple of Voice Map tours. These have been very handy this trip! The voice map tours typically feature locals who record a guided walking tour and explain the sites or tell stories as you walk.

Today was a fairly short stop, the ship sailed away at 2pm we have a day at sea before we arrive at our final destination in South Hampton.

We started our tour near the public library and this pond in the middle of the city.

We paid our respects to the composer Edvard Grieg.

The statue of Ibsen brought back nightmares from Paideia and having to read Hedda Gabbler.

The Maritime monument commemorates centuries of seafaring people in Norway.

It was fun to revisit the area we stayed in with the kids when we visited Bergen years ago.

I woke up in the middle of the night, it was still dark, but the ship was casting a glow onto the cliffs around us. The clouds were level with us on the 10th floor of the ship. It felt like I woke up in the middle of a scene from Lord of the Rings. Instead we were slowly making our way through the Geirangerfjorden. At one point we stopped and turned 180-degrees and began backing our way toward the very end of the fjord.

I went back to sleep for a couple hours, and when I woke up it was light, and rain was falling. We had breakfast at Blu where I enjoyed my new favorite breakfast, a poached egg over ham and spinach on an English muffin with Hollandaise sauce on top. I’m not sure where Eggs Benedict have been all my life!

Today we had hired a van to take us to see the amazing sites around Geiranger. We added one other couple from cruise critic so we had the van to ourselves and a very friendly driver.

Ok, the nerd in me was super impressed by their mobile floating dock that unfolds and comes out to meet the ship!

Our first stop was above the village, you can see how cloudy and rainy it is but you can see our ship and the unfolded dock.

Next we passed some old farm houses. The sod roofs start with wood at the base, then birch bark as a sealant and finally dirt and grass.

We arrived at the top of Dalsnibba which would ordinarily be an amazing site, but the driver explained that due to the snow overnight that had just reopened the road, and since the clouds were so low we might not see much. He was not wrong

But after a few minutes the clouds started to blow away for a few minutes and you can see all the way down to the fjord for another view of our ship!

Next up, we drove all the way back down the mountain. Many many many switchbacks, very tight switchbacks such that only one vehicle at a time can pass, especially when the oncoming vehicle is a big tour bus.

We then proceeded to climb up the other mountain where we would have another view of the ship as well as the famous seven sisters waterfalls.

The sail away gave us new views of the scenes that we had only seen in the dark. I have many many more pictures of waterfalls all of them beautiful in person and all of them fairly disappointing when captured by camera.

The waterfalls above are the seven sisters, the story goes that there was a young man (or maybe a troll) that was in love with a beautiful young girl, However when he asked her to marry him she turned him down. No problem he thought, I’ll ask one of her sisters, but apparently he was so ugly that every sister turned him down, which drove him to excessive drink. Eventually he drank himself to death and turned into another waterfall on a rock outcropping that looks like a wine bottle.

So many of these Norwegian fables have such sad endings. But maybe the band TLC summed it up best - Don’t go chasing waterfalls

Today was a driving day. We taxied from the pier out to the airport where we picked up our Volvo EX30 and then headed out to explore the islands surrounding the Molde area. Lest you think the EX30 is some kind of duck boat car, it is not, it is a small electric SUV, and the islands are all connected by bridges.

The most famous of the bridges is the Storseisundet bridge, which from many angles as you approach looks like you will fly off the end of the bridge into the water. This is not the case.

Technically classified as a reinforced concrete cantilever bridge, Storseisundet represents a remarkable feat of Norwegian engineering. The bridge’s curved design serves both practical and aesthetic purposes - the turn allows vehicles to transition smoothly between islands while creating the famous visual effect that makes the bridge appear to end in mid-air.

Our first destination was a Stave Church in Averøya, built in the 1600’s its an interesting mix of Christianity and pagan beliefs about evil spirits. The men sat on one side of the church and the women and children on the other. The women and children sat on the windy side to protect the men!

Each church also has a boat of some kind hanging in the church the boats are all different and each has its own meaning. Peace, the safe return of the sailors in the parish etc.

After visiting the church we worked our way back toward the airport stopping at a few scenic overlooks and grabbing lunch along the way. When we arrived at the airport we had to recharge the car which was an adventure all by itself. It seems that figuring out the different chargers is always the battle when using an EV.

Back on the ship we enjoyed relaxing in the Caterpillar (The rest of the ship calls it the magic carpet, but Brian gave it a new name). From there we had a great view of the Aker stadium for the Molde football club. Behind the stadium you can see a very nice Scandic hotel modeled after a sail.

Today was a city day. We had our self guided tour in our ear buds and we walked around enjoying the sites of the old town of Trondheim.

Sometimes when I’m walking around I’m reminded what a big place the world is. Here we are in a Norwegian city, looking around learning its history, and we come upon the Royal Residence and so are reminded that a nation is morning the loss of its King.

In so many ways we are connected to each other around the world, and yet for many people just doing the ordinary day to day tasks of living we don’t give a thought to things going on for other ordinary people around the world.

We made our way to Nidaros Cathedral. It is very interesting both inside and out. I was really fascinated by all of the statues on the exterior from Viking Kings to Apostles to Adam and Eve each one has an interesting story and contributes to the history of the city or Christianity. The construction of this cathedral began in 1070 and continued for 230 years!

We also enjoyed walking along the river and seeing the brightly colored buildings.

We also made the climb to the fortress. It was a bit of a workout to get there and then even more confusing to get into the fortress because the directions wanted us to follow a path that we just could not follow with Jane in her scooter. But we eventually found our way in and enjoyed looking at the city from the ramparts.

We were prepared for cool weather, but the first thing that greeted us as we got off the ship was a little snow squall! It only lasted a few minutes before the sun came out again, but it was a good harbinger of the day to come, with rain and clouds and cool weather.

This was our first challenge at disassembling Jane’s scooter to fit in the trunk of the tiny Toyota. But we managed to Tetris it all in, although we left the trunk cover with the rental car agent. I barely had the little diesel up to 30 kph when I had to slow down for an animal in the road. Some poor Reindeer had wandered into town and was taking up the whole road. It finally found a way off and we were free to go. We didn’t expect to see them everywhere! We learned later that there are about 6,000 on this island that are herded by five families.

The drive out to the North Cape was only about 30 minutes but very hilly and scenic, there are almost no trees this far north but the morning sun gave everything a golden glow.

The North Cape is the farthest north point of Europe at 71 degrees 10 minutes 22 seconds north. North of the Arctic Circle. The globe monument is there as a reminder that we are all in this together. The visitor center at the North Cape has several reminders like that many of them made by school children around the world.

It was quite cool and windy at only 4ºC according to the car’s thermometer. We ended up with a LOT of pictures of Reindeer!

There were several small fishing villages on our way to the Cape, and lots of very lonely looking houses in the middle of the tundra.

I really hope this post does not land me on Santa’s naughty list for the year!

Today we did a walking tour of Tromsø.

It was rather cold and windy so we did not stay off the ship too long. The main highlight was a shot of the cathedral across the bay through an interesting arch.

But we also kind of turned this into a food tour where we had some Reindeer hotdogs! (Varme Polse!). We stopped for some Norwegian beer at Ølhallen, I had the Dark Season brown ale from Svalbard and Jane had the Big Fat Cat from Haandbryggeriet. Then we made a quick grocery store stop to get some Norwegian brown cheese. It’s always interesting to go into a local grocery store in a foreign country.

Here is the hot dog stand, there was only one person inside serving and we waited in line about 20 minutes. When we left the long was more than twice as long as when we started! I had mine with some crispy fried onions, aioli, and brown mustard. Delicious!

Here are a few of the sights around the Tromsø waterfront.

During the night we slowly cruised down the Nordfjord, past the homeland of Brian’s ancestors and to the tiny town of Olden. We had a beautiful tour today exploring Lake Lovatnet and seeing the Kjenndalsbreen glacier. The lake is the site of two of the most horrific landslides that caused a huge wave in the lake to wipe out two small towns (twice) in the early 1900’s. The towns haven’t been rebuilt, so the lake is very peaceful, and is also considered quite safe now by geologists because the area of the giant landslides is now full of rocks to the point where there would not be a huge wave.

The lake is fed by runoff from 10 different glaciers, and is still very deep in most parts. Small farms and summer houses dot the steep hillsides around the lake. Waterfalls are everywhere you look!

We cruised the lake in a canal boat that had been transported from Amsterdam. The captain and his family have quite the business going, boat tours have a stop at a restaurant at the end of the lake run by his wife, and his daughter is one of the guides. We know this because she threatened our guide: “I’ll have my dad make you swim back!” She told him.

We had a stop for Waffles and Kafe before heading a bit further by bus to see the glacier. The waffles were delicious, with sour cream and home made berry jam.

We were very grateful to our guide and the captain and the bus drivers who helped get Jane’s scooter on and off the boat, bus, boat, bus again and again it really helped her enjoy the day. We originally thought that it would go on the first bus and she would have to use her crutches the rest of the day, which would have been a real workout! It was worrying enough getting her down the stairs into the boat and then up a flight of metal stairs so she could sit up top and enjoy the view with everyone else. But we were careful and she made it.

After the tour of the lake we went up the sky lift in Loen, however the weather had turned by that time so it was a bit of a disappointment that it was cold, windy, and rainy at the top.

You can see how the ship really dwarfs the village from up high!

The sky lift and lake Lovatnet in the background.

This city is known for its Art Nouveau architecture and is considered one of the most beautiful in Norway. This morning we did a walking tour of the heart of the city which is also built on seven islands. We learned that the city burned in 1905 and it was because of that fire that everything was rebuilt according to an architectural master plan.

The biggest export of the city is Cod, but we had to try some locally. It was really good.

After our walking tour we hopped on an electric tour train which took us up to the Aksla viewpoint, you can really see the city! There are three cruise ships in town today, Regent, Costa, and our Celebrity. Definitely not as strenuous as yesterday’s hike, but another great day in beautiful Norway.

Aksla Viewpoint

First a bit of background, we are on a 14 day cruise around Norway with our friends Brian and Holly. Many trips with B&H are documented here, many of them marking 5 year anniversary milestones. This year we celebrate our 40th wedding anniversaries! Jane has been planning this trip for a good 18 months. Unfortunately she had to replan a lot of it after she was injured in a bike accident 7 weeks ago. She’s still recovering and can’t put any weight on her left leg. But we are making the best of it and I know we will still have a great time.

Today was our first port day of our Norway cruise. What a way to start! Brian, Holly and I rented a car from Hertz and drove through the 9 mile long Ryfylke tunnel on our way to the trail head. Unfortunately Jane was limited to using the scooter and could not do the hike, so she arranged a fjord cruise so she could see Pulpit Rock from the water.

We had an MG4 EV that was very easy to manage. The manager at Hertz told us we needed to bring the car back 80% charged, and that there were “only 30 charging stations” at the trail. We got a spot no problem but of course it took 15 minutes to figure out the right app so that we could actually charge the car!

The hike out to Pulpit Rock was slow going as it was very crowded and we ended up waiting for people to climb the steeper parts. Not to mention that the trail is very uneven with granite slabs meant to provide good footing. Eventually things spread out and from there it was very nice. The total hike ended up being over 6 miles and we were quite tired and had sore legs by the end.

Jane had a different perspective from the boat!

When we arrived back at the ship our first stop was the hot tub, which felt very good on our tired muscles. We had a nice dinner at the Tuscan restaurant and then Jane and I went to the magic show. Jane left shortly after the first trick as she was very tired. We are still adjusting to the time zone change.