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.

Part 4 Norway Cruise

 Day 8 was a day at sea. I like to stay out of my cabin for a while in the morning to give the room steward a chance to change the towels and tidy up.

They do this twice a day on this ship, leaving crisp unwrinkled sheets and a shiny clean sink. In the evening there's a chocolate candy on the pillow and the next day's program.

The steward closes the blinds and turns on all the room lamps so it all looks cozy and inviting.

So, after breakfast, I decided to skip the morning talks and go to the Solarium to read.

It's a large indoor area with walls of windows to let the sun in, and an indoor pool is there, and also a snack and drink area. It's an adults only area except for a couple of hours in the early evening. So it's nice and quiet and there's a nice view of the sea.

Very relaxing so I soon headed back to the cabin for an early nap!

On the room TV there is a channel that shows the ship's current position on a map. You can see our position here marked by the arrow.

The rest of the day was more of the same...reading, some stitching, eating, a quick walk out on the upper deck, a TV movie in bed. 

Here is the sun at just past midnight when I lowered the blinds.

Day 9 was a port stop in Alesund. I had scheduled a scenic boat tour that traveled further up through a fjord.

It was a lovely sunny clear day.

The wind was very chilly, though! But there were places to get out of the wind on the boat and an inside area too. There was narrator speaking off and on throughout the day.

The water is such a dark blue. Don't dive in though...it can be up to 1300 feet deep in this area.

Back on the ship and time for a short nap and a visit to the buffet before the evening show, which was The Beatles...impersonators, of course.

The group was entertaining but maybe holding back some of the most popular songs since they were scheduled for a performance the next day too.

Day 10 was a port stop at Olden, which is a beautiful area and a popular vacation spot for tourists and Norwegians too.

I had to meet for my bus tour at 7am so I hurried and had a quick cup of coffee and a chunk of that Apple Kringle at the buffet.

The bus tour was nice and the guide was an American who had been living in Norway for 20 years. He had some good stories about things he found so different when he moved to Norway...food, customs, rules, traditions.

But the best thing was all the lovely scenery.

There's our ship docked right among the peaks.

Seeing everything reflected in the dark glassy water doubles the beauty.

We passed through several avalanche tunnels. This photo is from inside the bus going through a tunnel.

The tunnels are just big enough for 2 lanes of traffic.

More...

Oh, I'm on the wrong side of the bus for the views here!

A few grass roofs along the way...

Clouds reflected in the water...

The tour included a mid morning stop at a small hotel for coffee and cake.

Overall a very pleasant and enjoyable tour. 

This is getting long. I'm going to have to do one more post to wrap everything up.

Norway Cruise part 3

 Day 6 started with an unhurried morning since we weren't scheduled to pull into port at Tromso until around 1:00 pm.

After breakfast I attended the marine biologist's talk on "sea monsters"...which was about large and strange fish.   Some that could have been the basis of old time sea monster legends.

 I stayed in my seat for the next talk, which was on the psychology of color.

Afterwards I enjoyed the scenic sail into Tromso.

Snow in the mountains.  How would you like living here?

Something different here. Is this fish farming?

How about living here? A guide said that traditionally, homes are white and outbuildings are red.

Here we are pulling into port. Tromso is one of the larger cities. It's actually an island. People have lived here thousands of years...including the Vikings and the native Sami people.

I had a good view of the port workers catching the thrown rope to loop over the bollards.  They started with a small rope which was tied to a huge thick rope that actually holds the ship.

Then began a long process of many trucks taking turns to pull up and unload supplies for the ship.

My bus tour didn't start until 5:15 pm. That sounds late in the day, but remember, it doesn't get dark here in the summer. 

The tour was just okay. Mostly because I had forgotten to put my hearing aids back on...so I missed hearing a lot of information.

The amazing parts to me, were the tunnels.  The Norwegians build lots of tunnels everywhere to prevent roads from being blocked by avalanches and heavy snow.

Because Tromso is an island, they not only have bridges, they have carved tunnels below the surrounding water to drive to and from the island...the main one being 334 feet below sea level.  It's quite a system, with roundabouts and even below-ground parking.

The weather was damp and chilly, so back on the ship, I stopped by the fancy coffee shop before the evening entertainment, to get a hot beverage.

I got a little surprise too...this is a $7 hot chocolate!

It was good, though. 

The evening show was another female singer.

Back in my cabin,while getting ready for bed, a beautiful rainbow appeared.

Amazingly, I could see both ends of it.

I'm not sure if the whole arch could be seen (because of that overhang). I didn't want to get dressed again and go up on deck to find out (but I should have).

Day 7 was the most fun.  We had reached our northernmost port, and the northernmost  city in Europe...Honningsvag.

My tour for the day was called "King Crab Safari".

Off the ship and there at port we went to an equipment rental shop, where we dressed in heavy duty waterproof coveralls and a flotation vest.

Next, we climbed into a RIB, a Rigid Inflatable Boat and took a seat.

Then we zoomed off into the Barents Sea!

It was " hold on tight" as the boat captain made some fast curves out in the open water...just for fun.

We pulled in close to this area where they said there were some reindeer up on the slope. I couldn't see them and I've looked really hard at this photo and still can't see them.

Next we located the floats that were tied to the crab traps. They were really deep. A lot of rope had to be hoisted in.

There were 3 King Crabs in this trap. Two (females) were thrown back in the water and this one (male) was harvested. 

This photo of the other RIB on the tour, shows how we were seated. The seats are high and close together and one must throw a leg over like climbing on a horse.

So you are wedged in, straddling the seat, nearly standing, hanging on to grab bars in front of you.

Our next stop was for a crab leg lunch. 

 

It was extremely windy!

Our guide did a demonstration of how to quickly kill and clean the crabs.

Then we went into a lavvo - sort of based on the style of a traditional Sami dwelling.

Where we were served crab legs with bread and butter.

Then we climbed back in to our big coveralls and back on the RIB for more fast fun on the water, then back to port.

Interesting things in the port area. 

A big rack where fish had been hung to dry. Just the heads remain.

Stacks of crab traps.

Big bundles of rope wrapped in plastic.

Anchors.

Back on the ship and I just had a quiet evening reading with a drink in upper level of the main Plaza Lounge.  

One last look as we headed back south.

Okay, I have more to say. I'll follow up with another post.