June 20, 2014   Sea Day

 Most of the passengers including us were ready for a sea day after four busy port days in a row.

At 10:34am this morning we crossed into the Arctic Circle so we are not expecting the sun to set for several days now until we head south out of the Arctic Circle. The weather is cold, windy and raining at times but we are hopeful for sunshine.

The captain hosted an Indonesian lunch in the dining room for all of those passengers who had booked more than one cruise back-to-back. In our case we had booked a seven days cruise back-to-back with a fourteen-day cruise. Many of the passengers onboard had booked the fourteen days cruise to Norway followed by a fourteen-day cruise to the Baltic. The majority of the lower level of the dining room was filled with guests for this special lunch.

Most everywhere on the ship we meet other guests who are complaining about something. For one thing the price that people paid for the cruise varied greatly so many were upset about that. Some guests received free drinks or other incentives to book the cruise while others did not. It has made for a lot of unhappy passengers. We have heard about several water leaks in people’s cabins and have seen the fans in the hallways drying the carpeting outside of cabin doors. Many complain about the high cost of the shore excursions, while others complain about the recent change in charging for cappuccino and latte’s with your dinner. If it is not one thing it is something else that people are complaining about. The crew is even complaining that the guests are not spending money in the casino, in the shops or at the bars! I guess we all just want to feel like we got a deal.

The entertainment on this night was a variety show featuring Ian Cooper, Petrina Johnson and David Schofield who had each performed solo over the last week.

Trondheim Nidaros Cathedral

Nidaros Cathedral

June 19, 2014   Trondheim, Norway and Scenic Cruising of Trondheimsfjord

 Founded by King Olav in the year 997, Trondheim was also the capital of Norway until the year 1217. Trondheim is one of the oldest cities in Norway and today it is the third largest city of Norway with a population of 185,000.

We took a bus from the city center to our first stop this morning; the Ringve Music Museum located a couple of miles outside of town. Ringve is Norway’s national museum of music and musical instruments. Once the childhood home of Norwegian naval hero Petter Wessel Tordenskiold, this 18^th century summer manor house now houses the music museum. The manor house is comprised of period rooms named for famous composers, each with multiple musical instruments on display. As the tour guide leads you through the home and discusses not only the residence but also the collection of instruments, they stop in each room to play some of the instruments. You get a chance to actually hear the antique clavichords, organs and square pianos.

The old barn of the residence has now been converted into a gallery space with an impressive collection of musical instruments from around the world. They are beautifully displayed in a climate and light controlled environment to preserve them. The entire collection is made up of more than 2,000 instruments. You receive a video recorder and headset when you arrive so that you cannot only see the instruments but you can also hear many of the instruments being played.

The manor house is situated on a 32-acre botanical garden with a lake and a variety of flowers and trees to enjoy. Unfortunately the weather was cold, rainy and not very inviting to stroll the grounds.

After our visit to the Ringve museum we traveled by bus back to town where we visit the Nidaros Cathedral and Archbishop’s Palace Museum. This impressive, Gothic Style cathedral was built over the burial place of St. Olav beginning in 1070. The extensive construction project took some 250 years to complete. It had only been completed eight days before an extensive fire damaged much of the building. Over the centuries several fires badly damaged the church. Late in the 19^th Century an extensive restoration was begun which included the stained glass windows, two German organs, the sculptures on the western façade and much of what is still visible today.

The church is reminiscent of something you would see in Rome or a much larger city than Trondheim. The church is nearly 400 feet in length, 200 feet wide and 400 feet tall. Much of the interior is comprised of huge Gothic style arches of soapstone. This is the church that is used for Norway’s coronation ceremonies, royal weddings and large national events.

Adjoining the church is the Archbishop’s Palace Museum and several other museum buildings where we saw the crown jewels, an interesting military exhibit about the resistance movement during World War II and archeological excavations on the site including the Archbishop’s mint where coins were minted. It is an extensive collection of things to explore but we only have a few hours before we had to be back onboard the ship.

We had wanted to visit Stiftsgarden Palace; Norway’s royal families 18^th Century private home consisting of 140 rooms but we ran out of time. The royal residence is located in the center of Trondheim and includes furnishings in a variety of styles from Biedermeier to Chippendale and Hepplewhite.

The night’s entertainment was a show by the Ryndam singers and dancers titled “Rock Legends”. A collection of songs form the Stones to Sting, Michael Jackson to Madonna and John Lennon to Annie Lennox. These young people work so hard to put on an entertaining show every time. They repeat the same show three times in one night, have multiple costume changes and are on the move the entire forty-minute show. We sit in front of the stage to cheer them on!

Alesund Church

Alesund View from Mt. Aksla

June 18, 2014   Alesund, Norway

 Alesund was once a flourishing fishing harbor but now has evolved into more of an offshore oil industry town. In January of 1904 a terrible fire destroyed the entire town of wooden buildings, leaving 10,000 inhabitants homeless. Shortly thereafter the entire town was rebuilt using stone, brick and mortar, much of which remains today. The architectural style of the day was Art Nouveau so all of the towns’ older buildings were rebuilt in this style. In addition to the oil industry, the city also is know for its manufacturing of Stressless furniture. The Stressless furniture is a luxury line of reclining chairs and sofas. Today the town has a population of about 50,000.

Our exploring took us through town to the Alesund Park where we began our climb up 418 steps to reach Mt. Aksla for a panoramic view out over Alesund and the surrounding islands. The climb up the hill was tiring but the views from the top are spectacular. Our friend Eddy joined us for the climb.

After returning to town we wandered the streets exploring the wonderful Art Nouveau buildings with their floral motifs. The majority of these old buildings have been beautifully maintained and many meticulously painted to show off the Art Nouveau details. Some have large sunflowers cascading down the façade while others are simpler with only a decorative owl and leaf motif around the entrance. Others have very detailed garlands of flowers and fruits accenting the roofline or the ground floor retail space. Most of the buildings have stone and plaster exteriors with wrought iron railings and adornments. The streets themselves are mostly comprised of small granite paver stones.

We walked to the Alesund Church to see its beautiful stone exterior and adjacent cemetery. The present church dates back to 1909 after the fire although the cemetery appeared to only date back about ten years. The exterior of the church is very nice; unfortunately we were unable to see inside the church.

While out in town we ran into Chris Marcado, a shopkeeper from onboard the Amsterdam last year on the 2013 world cruise. He is now working on the Crystal Symphony which is a much more luxurious ship. He says that he has only been on it a short time but while the ship’s public areas are very beautiful he is having trouble adjusting to the smaller crew quarters, food and a different makeup of the crewmembers. He was on his way to see Ryndam crew he may know.

The weather today was much colder than we have been experiencing with a high of only 47 degrees. We were lucky in that it was only mostly cloudy and the rain was limited to a very light sprinkle while we were ashore. The hours of daylight are continuing to get longer with the sunrise at 3:46 am and the sunset not until 11:30 pm.

The night’s entertainment was a twenty-six year old British concert pianist by the name of David Schofield. We had him as an entertainer on the world cruise last year and he is a wonderful entertainer and pianist. David grew up in Manchester, England where he learned to play the piano at the age of four. His parents sent him to a private boarding school for nine years to continue his studies. His next stop was Chicago where he studied piano and when he was only nineteen-years-old he won a music competition at Carnegie Hall and since then he has been performing all over the world at concert halls and aboard cruise ships.

Flam Village

Waterfall

Laerdal Village near Flam

June 17, 2014   Flam, Norway and Scenic Cruising of Sognefjord

 Flam is a very picturesque village located several hours from the open sea at the end of an extension of the Sognefjord, the Aurlandsfjord. The name of the village means “little place between steep mountains” which is exactly what you find at Flam. Snow-capped mountains surround the harbor. It is a popular holiday destination for hiking, fishing and biking.

Our shore excursion took us on the Flam Railway dating back to 1940 when this section of the railroad was finally completed after twenty years of construction. It was a major challenge for railway engineers of the period due to the fact that 80% of the line has a gradient of 55%, the equivalent of 1:18. In addition to the steep grade, a total of 20 tunnels exist — 4.5 miles in length– and 18 required to be hand dug.

The result is a spectacularly beautiful train journey providing panoramic views of the Norwegian mountains and valleys. Waterfalls cascade down the mountains into the river below. We saw fruit orchards, sheep grazing and goat farming for cheese production along the way. The train stopped along the way for a photo stop of one of the largest waterfalls in this area. When we reached our destination at Vatna-Halsen we disembarked the train for waffles and coffee at the local hotel. Some free time allowed us to wander out into the beautiful countryside to explore some of spring’s wildflowers, a local lake and to look for Trolls. Unfortunately as we have learned the trolls only come out at night so we were not lucky enough to spot any Trolls.

We returned to Flam via the railway where we explored the Flam Railroad Museum to gain more insight into the construction and history of the local railroad. In Flam we wandered the small village, which consists of a hotel, market, visitors center and a variety of large souvenir shops selling trolls and other Norwegian items. No wifi internet sites were to be found……lots of frustrated people, or at least us!

The entertainer on this night was Petrina Johnson a star of the BBC television series “Showstoppers” and has also performed in London musicals like Sunset Boulevard, Copacabana and Evita. We had enjoyed her voice on the world cruise last year and she was excellent this night as well.

Stavanger Harbor

Kent Smoking his Fish

Stavanger Wooden Homes

June 16, 2014   Stavanger, Norway

 As this was our second stop in Stavanger this trip we checked out a couple of new museums and explored a few new parts of town. The weather was once again sunny, warm and glorious.

Our first stop was the Norwegian Petroleum Museum that is located in a sleek, modern building along the fjord not far from our ship. The museum has an enormous amount of information about the offshore oil industry that has made Norway one of the richest countries in the world after the discovery of oil in 1969. They have films showing where the petroleum comes from, models of dozens of drilling platforms, a collection of drilling bits, drilling rig helicopter transport information, a film about the divers who work at the ocean floor in special pressurized vehicles and suits. It was a very interesting museum that gave us much more insight into what happens on a drilling rig in the middle of the ocean.

We also visited the Norwegian Canning Museum located in the one of the town’s former canning factories dating from 1880 to 1930. In 1915 Stavanger exported 350,000 cans of sardines to 59 countries. Inside the museum we saw equipment from each step of the process: the arrival of the fish in crates of ice; the salting; the threading , which made them ready to be smoked in huge wood burning ovens; the removal of the heads; packing the fish; adding oil and sealing the cans.

They also have equipment for you to see how the cans were made from metal, soldered together, sterilized, washed, sealed, packed in waxed paper and labeled with a paper label. In later years the exterior wrapping was replaced with cans that were already printed onto the metal.

Laborers used to do most of the work by hand including solderers who could solder 500 to 600 cans closed a day, the threading of the fish on thin rods ready for smoking, packing of the fish into the tins to the actual can production. In this particular factory in addition to the smoked sardines they also made fishballs and fishcakes that were either boiled or fried. No samples were available. Canneries existed in Stavanger until 1982.

We shared drinks and dinner with several of the LGBT group. The night’s entertainer was a violinist who played classical, Gypsy, Jazz, Country and Irish Fiddle music. He is a very accomplished musician and the show was excellent.

June 15, 2014   Sea Day

 It was a quiet sea day to relax before a string of four port days of touring and exploring ashore. We attended a couple of lectures about the upcoming ports of call and what shore excursions were available as well as the things to see and do in the next couple of ports. Kent actually worked out at the gym to enable the consumption of more deserts, while Mark worked on his blog.

The LBGT gathering included a couple of new fellows and six of us decided to dine together in the dining room, then attended the show on the first row to better see the “blossoms” up close!

The evening’s entertainment was a show by the Ryndam singers and dancer’s called Classique. The show included music from Mozart to Manilow showing how classical music and dance has inspired artists of all generations. Most agreed it was one of the best shows we’d seen so far!

June 14, 2014   Dover, England

 This morning the majority of the guests who were on the ship for the last week were headed home and a new ship full of passengers were arriving. We took a double decker shuttle bus to the Dover Castle that sits atop the hill overlooking the port. The Castle has a 2,000-year history of protecting the English coast at its closest point to France across the channel.

The castle grounds consist of the great tower, medieval tunnels, churches, halls, an underground hospital, secret wartime (WWII) tunnels and more. Henry II built the present castle in the 1180’s, and over the next 800 years it was adapted to meet the changing demands of weapons and warfare.

Inside the Great Tower you find a museum, interactive exhibition and recreated interior of the castle from the time of Henry II. Costumed actors portray the King and his court roaming the rooms of the castle reenacting what may have gone on at the time the castle was built.

We took a tour of the Underground Hospital built within a maze of underground tunnels. The tour of the hospital takes you through the hospital wards, operating room and nurses dormitories.

The “Operation Dynamo: Rescue from Dunkirk” tunnel tour takes you through some of the 3.8 miles of underground tunnels where the 1940 operation to evacuate hundreds of thousands of soldiers from Dunkirk, France was planned. With the use of actual film footage from the time along with recreated war rooms, they bring to life this difficult time in the spring of 1940 when the allied forces came close to total destruction by the advancing Germans. Luckily they were able to evacuate most of the allied forces (some 385,000) from the beach at Dunkirk before the Germans who had them surrounded arrived.

The tunnels were built using technology available at the time to build mining tunnels. The chalk like material of the hillside was excavated and the tunnels were lined with steel arched supports. The tunnels are maybe ten feet high at the center of the ceiling and about fifteen feet wide at the base. It is damp and musty and would have been filled with cigarette and pipe smoke at the time. Not a very pleasant environment to work in or to be recuperating from surgery. All aboard time today was 3:00pm so we did not have a lot of time to explore ashore but we enjoyed our time at the Dover Castle.

We were required to attend another lifeboat drill for this next two-week segment of our trip. There was the usual sail away party on deck as we departed Dover; an opportunity to check out the new passengers who boarded the ship today. There was an LGBT cocktail event in the bar where we met a new passenger, Eldon, from Saskatchewan, Canada but now living in Florida. He is a very nice gentleman in the accounting business. We had dinner this evening in the dining room with a new friend, Eddy, who was on the ship last week as well. He is a derivatives trader from Melbourne but has been traveling the world for several months. He is headed to Hungary to purchase property to refurbish and rent to students. His father lives in Budapest. Eddy has lots of interesting stories to tell from his 45 years of life!

Ulvik Fossli Hotel

Reservoir on the Plateau

One of the waterfalls near the hotel

June 12, 2014   Ulvik, Norway and Scenic Cruising of Hardangerfjord

 Ulvik is much more of a village than it is a city. With a population of only 1000 residents or so you can hardly call it a city. The city was once difficult to access but just last year a new suspension bridge slightly larger than the golden gate bridge was opened making access in and out of the town more accessible.

Our tour on this morning took us about 90 minutes drive out of town to the Hardangervidda Nature Center in Eidfjord where we saw an interesting film presentation on a 225-degree wide panoramic screen. The movie featured the local floral and fauna, waterfalls and canyons as seen from a helicopter. In addition to the film there was a very nice museum of taxidermy animals and exhibits showing what exists in the local area. There were birds, rabbits, rodents, elk, reindeer and more.

Our next stop was a drive up to the Hardanger Mountain Plateau. The meandering roads along the rivers and fjords are scattered with homes and vacation cottages of all sizes and shapes. In the lower elevations of the area you find many fruit orchards including apples and cherries. This area is the fruit basket of Norway. As we climbed to the higher elevations we found that trees were no longer able to survive the climate and the land becomes much more barren. At the top of the plateau is a large man made reservoir and power plant. Not only was it raining at the reservoir but also the temperature had dropped into the 40’s. Snow can still be seen on the surrounding hillsides. Between the melting snow and the rain you find many incredible waterfalls throughout the area.

We stopped on our way back to the ship at an old historic hotel that started operating here more than 100 years ago, before modern roads were built and people could arrive by automobile. The hotel is still owned by the original family who started the hotel back in 1891. We enjoyed a variety of cakes, coffee and tea in the hotel. The hotel sits just above the Voringfoss waterfall that is a sight to see.

The town of Ulvic is very small so there is little to see other than a few hotels, a juice and cider factory, the local church and a cemetery.

Even though we have not headed too far north yet, we are experiencing very long days and very short nights. Sunset tonight was at 10:59pm and sunrise was at 4:14am. It seems as though the sun never sets and it is difficult to judge what time of day it is without looking at your watch. It is still light when you go to bed and light when you get up in the morning.

We were invited to a cocktail party this evening in a lovely suite on the ship. Two new friends Dan and Elsie from Oakland and Berkeley were hosting the party in Dan’s cabin. Tonight’s dinner was another formal dinner with the traditional escargots, steak and lobster and soufflé for dessert. The entertainment was another show by the Ryndam singers and dancers called Droom. The show is like an enchanted dream garden, where mystical creatures both good and evil dwell. This production was one of the most elaborate we have seen on a ship with extensive costumes, props and video projected backdrops. These new shows are much grander than those we saw when we first started cruising in 1996.

Pulpit Rock

Stavanger Church

Stavanger Waterfront

Norwegian Waffles

June 11, 2014   Stavanger, Norway

 Stavanger is about 30 square miles in size and is the fourth largest city in Norway. Prior to the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1969, Stavanger was known as a canning town with over 50 canneries operating. Since the discovery of oil this city of 125,000 has become known as an oil town. The boom of the oil industry has also made it one of the most expensive cities in the world and one with very low unemployment. The city is comprised of many wooden homes from the 18^th and 19^th centuries. These beautiful old homes are protected by the city’s cultural heritage department as a reminder of its past.

We took a cruise through the Stavanger Archipelago this morning in search of the natural wonder called Pulpit Rock. This protruding rock cliff is unique in that it is square in shape, measuring 82 by 82 feet, flat at the top and rising nearly 2,000 feet above sea level. The rock was formed during the last ice age some 10,000 years ago when the edge of a glacier was believed to stop just above the mountaintop.

The Fjords are beautiful with a variety of terrain ranging from gentle sloping hillsides to steep rocky cliffs along the banks of the Fjord. After viewing Pulpit Rock from the water we stopped at a shore side restaurant for traditional Norwegian waffles served with jam and sour cream. The waffles are thinner and more soft than crunchy than those we are used to at home, but nonetheless delicious.

In the afternoon we explored the city center on foot. The city is built on the hillsides surrounding the Fjords and the charming streets are narrow and winding. We wandered the largest surviving wooden house settlement in Northern Europe where we are able to visit a museum in one of the old wooden houses where several families, as many as 30 people may have lived at one time. Times were tough in this old canning town and housing was expensive. In the city center you find Norway’s oldest cathedral built around 1100 overlooking a lovely lake with swans, birds, flowering beds and park benches.

The entertainment this evening is a one-man show by Jonathan Clark. He is a singer, comedian and vocal impressionist for a large number of stars like Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, etc.

Summer Homes

Lillesand Waterfront

Lillesand Architecture

Another Summer Retreat

Kent and his new pet Moose

June 10, 2014   Kristiansand, Norway

 As a gateway to and from the continent, once a military stronghold, Kristiansand is the fifth largest city in Norway with a population of about 85,000. This area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In 1996 a well-preserved skeleton of a woman dating back to 6500 BC was discovered in the area.

Known today for being the second largest attraction in Norway is the local zoo, attracting over one million visitors a year. Bryggeri is a local producer of beer and soft drinks since 1859. The Hennig-Olsen family has been producing ice cream in the area since 1924.

Kristiansand is also known as the sunniest city in Norway and also known as the floral town of Norway. In summer you will find more than 20,000 flowers in bloom around the city.

Although the forecast called for rain, we lucked out and the weather was warm and sunny until late in the day when we had some light rain. By then most guests had returned to the ship and we were on our way to the next port of call.

Our tour this morning took us by boat from Kristiansand to a town called Skottevik. The 90-minute boat ride took us into many small inlets, around small islands where we could see how the locals spend their weekends or holidays at second homes on the sea. Many of these home have existed here for hundreds of years and been passed down from generation to generation. These homes range from very small cottages to very elaborate looking homes, but most all of them are painted white. White paint was once a luxury item and was brought back to Norway by its sailors. All who could afford to have a white house did. For others it might only mean they would have a white façade but today most of the houses remain white. The landscaping is very picturesque with hills of stone and lush green landscaping.

After the boat cruise we boarded a bus for a scenic drive to the town of Lillesand, named for its small sand beach. The sand beach is about the size of a postage stamp but it is a beach. Lillesand is a charming seaside town of 18^th and 19^th century timber homes, all of which are painted white. The gardens are filled with spring flowers in bloom making for a very inviting spot.

In the afternoon we headed into Kristiansand on foot where we discovered pedestrian only streets filled with shops of all sorts. We walked through the local fish market, checked out the third largest cathedral in Norway, the 1672 fortress and a band playing music in the central square. Souvenir shopping featuring trolls of all varieties seem to be the most popular. You can find troll key chains, statues, figurines, refrigerator magnets, postcards and more.

Tonight’s entertainment was a show by the Ryndam singers and dancers called Heat. The show took you on an exotic tour around the globe via a wall of projected photos and videos. The songs mostly featured fire or something steamy.

You may be asking where all the talk about the people is? Well, we did meet a 43 year old, gay music producer from Nashville who is quite a character. He had just finished working with some producers for Cold Play and Rhianna in London. Since he had finished his work earlier than expected and friends were sailing on the ship he decided to join them. He is quite the storyteller with one joke after the next, always entertaining. Most often found entertaining at the bar or in the casino at a black jack table.

There are a large number of Brits on the ship since the ship leaves and returns to Dover, eliminating the need to fly anywhere. The British enjoy their full English breakfast of baked beans, sausage, bacon, eggs and tomatoes. Beer and tea with milk are in high demand as well. We have enjoyed interacting with the Brits but we are always amazed at how we speak the same language but we often have trouble understating what they are talking about. The expressions and words they use to describe things are often very different from American English.