The last Norwegian ports

Monday, June 22

A leisurely day at sea as we sail slowly south, down the coast of Norway. We begin to gain a few hours of dark each night. Our fellow-passengers on this part of our voyage have been an interesting lot, and worthy of a little character assassination:
• The table of eight across from us: a Scottish father …bald on top but sporting a fairly long gray pony-tail …who on formal nights he is sure to be seen in kilts, with his knife sheathed in his long white socks; his fairly robust wife, in clothes that outline her zaftig figure; their two almost-as- robust daughters, with their mousy spouses; and two well behaved grandchildren(about 5 & 3) – one per daughter. We fantasize that it’s some major anniversary, so father funded the trip for all of them to enjoy Norway together.
• The table of six behind us – a very gay, male, German couple; two older Indian women traveling alone – which is itself interesting; and one straight couple who sits between these two pairs. They found it hard to find common ground for conversation for the first days, but came to appreciate each other as the trip continued.
• Our table of two – alone with our favorite waiter, Rusty, his assistant Allen (who worked below deck in the engine room for quite a few years and is now ‘promoted’ to the dining room) and Miroslav, the wine steward who has become more friendly as we continue to travel with him and order wines at the rate of one/night
• The table of four across from us– two up-and-coming business men with receding hairlines and their chatty wives. They seem to know each other, they obviously love sports, and spend a good deal of time hopping up and down to go to the bathroom or to check sports scores. We theorize that their bladders are smaller than most, or their beer consumption is greater than most.

Since we don’t actually get to engage these people in direct conversation, we can busily create personalities based on nothing but what we see. We’ve met various New Yorkers who are on board for the whole 25 days like ourselves: two of our favorites are Kay and Betty, close friends from the Bronx & Queens, went to college together, and now travel together. Their humor is sharp, their stories engaging and we try to have a drink with them if we find ourselves at the Commodore Club at the same time. But for the most part I am less interested in getting to know new people and find myself quietly reading in various nooks and crannies of the ship. So far I’ve finished two novels, two mysteries and am finding my Kindle quite the loveliest thing in the world.

Tuesday, June 22

Alesund, a sea port on the northeastern coast is our next port of call. Amazingly, the weather is only slightly over-cast and there is actually a bit of sunshine which puts us all into better moods. Even our tour guide, Trude, commented that this summer was unique and dreary. Normally at this time it should be warm and sunny, but 2010, not so much.

We had a two-part tour, with the first portion on a bus, as we traveled around Alesund and learned its history. It was a fishing town built primarily of wood. In 1904, a huge fire which began late at night, during a freezing gale, devastated the entire town leaving the residents homeless, jobless and possession-less. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who had vacationed here in the past, sent ships filled with supplies and building materials to re-build the city. And ,since it was done all at the same time, it was designed and built in the architecture of that time: Jugenstiel - also known as Art Nouveau, or Liberty Style, and its curvy, flowery motif could be seen in every major building in the rebuilt area.

The current residents of Alesund are mainly in the fishing industry and were it not for oil in the North Sea, would be considered to be quite poor. Trude, who reminded Bob of Marj, was a lively woman in her late 40’s, divorced with four children. She told amusing stories about Norwegians and their fairly negative attitudes; their need to be outside; their love of sport; and the pride they all take in their country. Since Norway re-gained its independence less than 120 years ago, it‘s citizens appear to be fiercely proud, very industrious, and very independent. They have chosen not to join the European Union and enjoy their self-sufficiency. Of course, anything is possible if you’re soaking in petrol-dollars and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 120 years.

With our bus tour over, we all clambered onto a ferry boat, one of the many that ply the waters among all the islands and inlets around Alesund. We rode up into a lovely glacier/fjord, and then sailed back to the ship which we boarded shortly before it took off for our next, and las,t port of call – Bergen.

Wednesday, June 23

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day sailing up the fjord to Bergen.! We had almost forgotten what that could look like. Our tour for this glorious day was again in two parts – part one showing us the town itself with its famous fish market, its store fronts all along the harbor, as well as its modern architecture. We then drove outside the town to meet up with a wonderful old steam locomotive in the town of Garnes. The train, built in the early 1900’s is now preserved and maintained by train enthusiasts who act as conductors, tour guides and engineers. Our destination was a small town named Midttun. Our journey was a fairly short one hour, during which time we covered eleven miles. The train has lost its importance thanks to more modern roads, tunnels and bridges which make the trip between the two cities far more expeditious. But as our tour guide told us, rail lines are maintained because as time goes on, people understand that trains are more ’green’ to use and so new trains are being brought into service as people’s love of cars begins to abate.

Our fellow passengers for the tour were obvious train enthusiasts, but they also were a cranky group worrying about who had the best window seats, and who didn’t; whose windows opened and whose didn’t; who had hogged too much space, and who hadn’t. And, on, and on, and on. We looked out the windows as a pretty river, and the world passed us by – children in schoolyards (on the last day of school) waved at us, people sitting on their balconies near the train tracks waved at us. Sunny weather put most everyone in a more festive and cheerful mood.

Eleven miles later, we alit from the train and we re-boarded onto our buses to be driven back to the ship. Bob and I grabbed a quick lunch and headed back out to explore on foot. The harbor area, a natural port, and a magnet for tourism, was crowded with tourists and locals alike. We wandered through the fish market where we saw HUGE crab legs, piles of shrimp and salmon as well as smoked whale meat. (Norway along with Iceland and Japan continue to hunt and eat whales). We moseyed through the stalls, listened to buskers playing various instruments, and then wandered down the quay to look at two old sailing vessels – one rigged very much like our beloved Star Clipper ship.
We had been warned by friends that Norwegian beer was not only expensive, but also quite bad. But we had to try some, so we stopped at an outdoors pub and had a pint each of Hansa beer – for a mere us$25.00. That is what I’d call highway robbery. And, as promised, it wasn’t very good.. . but it did the job of quenching thirst!!

Back to the shuttle bus, which decanted us at ‘our’ ship, and that was it. Bye-Bye Norway. Tomorrow is a day at sea as we sail towards Southampton. With clocks turned back an hour, we were ready for a day on British soil.

Before today, I had concluded that I didn’t need to return to Norway any time soon. The landscape is astounding, but how many fjords does one really need to see. But after today with its sunshine and crisp fresh air, the country took on a new look and who knows, we might return again.

Thursday, June 25

Arrival in Southampton, with errands to run! We waited for most guests to depart, and then we hopped on a shuttle, which dropped us at the West Quay shopping mall. We had only a few necessary acquisitions: McVittie’s dark chocolate biscuits, and Crunchy Nut Cereal. Both found at ASDA, and a few necessities at Boots. We also visited W. H. Smiths’s for newspapers, and Starbucks for a latte and tea.

The big excitement of the day was that Princess Anne was to come on board for a few hours with an entourage of about 700 people. We know she didn’t come to see us since there were portions of the ship that were entirely off-limits to us while she was on board.

And now begins the lovely sail home with a new group of travelers, and our friends from Hereford, and Cheshire, on board with us. It should be a wonderful crossing.