Norway cruise part 5

 More about Day 10, after the bus tour in Olden.

There were several shops there at port. I looked through them before getting back on board the ship, and bought a block of "brunost"(a Norwegian brown cheese) and also a stick of moose sausage for the Sasquatch.

I spent some time in my cabin, resting and sitting by the big window. The weather was nice enough to have it open.

Look at the color of the water!  

A dock below was busy with small boats coming and going...paddleboats and RIBs too.  At one point a young couple jumped in and had a short swim!  Brrr!

At sail away time I went up to the top deck. This is a nice seating area up there. 

A beautiful day!

That was the last port stop in Norway. Goodbye Norway! I hope to come back again!

As the ship picked up speed it became too windy and cold to enjoy that top deck.

I had a nice hot tea at the buffet then settled down in the cabin to watch a movie before bedtime.

Day 11 started off strange for me...I slept until 7:43am! I'm usually early to bed, early to rise. I had a moment of panic then I remembered it's another day at sea so no need to hurry.

After a buffet breakfast I went to the cruise director Q and A session. Interesting and lots of funny stories.

 Then later the marine biologist gave a talk on plankton. She is such a good speaker that she makes any subject interesting.

I had a late lunch then back to my cabin.  Each afternoon they leave one of these snack plates in the room (unless I'm in there and I have the " do not disturb" sign out).

I'm afraid it's wasted on me. I don't want to eat stuff I don't recognize. I did taste the red salad. It was good...maybe watermelon and grapefruit with feta cheese?

Also this time they left this invitation to watch sail away from the helicopter pad when leaving Rotterdam the next day.

Day 12 we sailed into Rotterdam.  There's the harbor pilot

I ordered a room service breakfast and watched from my window.

 

My excursion...sightseeing and a visit to the Delft factory started with a bus ride through town.  Lots of bicycles here. People of all ages riding.

Close to the Delft factory area the IKEA store had these "Delft" decorated cows out front.

The factory tour was interesting with a guided museum exhibit area, a walk through the work area, where we saw the molds for forming different pieces, and also a worker hand painting a piece.

There was a big gift shop at the end. Whew! The hand painted stuff is pricey! 248 euros for one coffee cup (that equals 288 US dollars).

They had some less expensive things that were made with transfers instead of hand painted.  I only bought a little Christmas ornament.

Afterwards we had a walking tour. It rained and no one in the group had their umbrellas because the forecast had been for cloudy without rain.

Our bus driver saved the day with a few umbrellas he handed out.

Lots of historic buildings.

After visiting the nature and beauty of the fjords, the huge city was a sharp contrast.

The guide was very good though and gave a lot of information. 

Lots of waterways and canals.

Modern architecture.

Bridges.

Back on the ship I started packing my suitcase.  Here's my souvenirs. 

The coffee cup from "north cape" or 71 degrees latitude north.

A cute moose key chain and the Delft ornament.

I also got a couple of tee shirts.

The next morning in Southampton departing went smoothly.  I had a bus to Heathrow where I had enough time before my flight to stock up on some duty free candy.

Flights were on time and that long flight back to the US seems easier in daylight hours.

Overall a really pleasant vacation. I'm beginning to really prefer visiting a place with peaceful scenic beauty like Norway. I feel so fortunate to have been able to experience this.  I would love to go back again.