Sunday June 4 Haugesund

Wow, yet another glorious sunny day! Our port is Haugesund, a city with a population of 37k. Originally a center for the production and export of herring, today is ship building, oil and gas services and fishing. 

A most fascinating thing is the FSPO under construction just down the way from our ship. Its huge! Its a Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel, owned by Shell, which will be towed out to the Penguin Oil field in the UK North Atlantic. I've never seen so much plumbing!

Our excursion this afternoon took us to the Ryvarden Lighthouse. The 30 minute drive to the trail was beautiful.  Well kept homes, many summer ones. Almost all deciduous trees; reminded us of N. H.! What had been billed as a "walk" turned out to be a 1.3 mile "hike" on a nice gravel road, but up and down, some of it quite steep! Sam could only make it halfway and was escorted back to the coach by the driver (very kind man). I went on ahead and found the lighthouse, which did not compare well to the ones we know on the Oregon Coast! It reminded me of the top of Cadillac Mtn. It was a very scenic hike but a lot more strenuous than we expected.

Our tour guide told us about Norway's efforts to electrify everything, since all their power comes from renewable sources. For example, in 2022 75% of new cars sold were electric. Here's how: no sales/excise tax on new cars; electric cars pay no tolls, can park for free, and more. An electric car costs a third of a new gas car!

Dinner tonight in the dining room. Great food and great service!

She made my omelet every morning

Monday June 5 Sandnes/Stavanger

This morning finds us docking at Sandnes, next to two giant canes which remind me of Starwars characters. Yet another clear blue sky day! (How lucky are we??)

Our excursion this afternoon took us around the Stavanger area, including drives along the coast where one will see beautiful white sand beaches!  We saw lots of new road construction projects. Off the two lanes, the roads in the area are narrow with lots of round-a-abouts. Everything looks prosperous!

Our guide, a young lady from Croatia, was excellent. She explained that oil had been discovered off the coast of Norway in the 1960s. Since then, Norway had become "rich". Oil money has been stashed away for their future. There is over a Trillion dollars in the oil fund which is used for infrastructure, education, free health care, etc.

One of our stops was at a monument, featuring three large swords stuck in the rock, commemorating the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872 in which Harald Fairhair became the first King of Norway. (Fairhair's story is interesting - a legend, probably). Another stop was at a telecom tower called Ullandhaugh Tarnet which afforded great views of the city.

We saw many examples of new roofing tiles in residential homes. They look shiney! We were told they are made of ceramic with a special coating to allow snow to slide off.

From our ship was can see an interesting apartment/condo complex on the far hill. We wonder how that works? Out in the country it reminds me of "home" (New York, that is), rolling green hills with windrows of freshly cut hay.

Great dinner in the Dining Room tonight - Salmon and Weiner Schnitzel. More dancers on the World Stage tonight.

Tomorrow we explore Kristiansand.

Tuesday June 6 Kristiansand

Early excursion today to tour the countryside around Kristiansand and visit the lighthouse at Lindesnes. This the southernmost lighthouse in Norway, at the end of the "South Cape". Now this lighthouse is more like it! Looks very much like the ones we're used to on the Oregon coast. 

It was a 1 3/4 hour ride through beautiful, rural countryside with views of the ocean and many small lakes. It reminds us of NH and Maine. The roads are very good, although pretty narrow and it makes for tense moments as trucks and RVs and our coach meet! Our tour guide today was great. She spoke excellent English, with a sexy accent, of course, and had lots of good information. We also had a docent at the lighthouse who told us the history of the place. After we climbed around on the rocks, we were treated to coffee and apple cake.

Upon our return to Kristiansand we were directed to the "shopping street", Markensgate. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, lots of people in the square, cafes everywhere. We checked out the Kristiansand Cathedral then settled on the "Montana Grill" for an order of poutine.

After lunch we walked around the square and tried to find our way back to our ship. We got "lost"! Its a maze of alleyways and security sensitive areas around the port and the container yard. We finally came across a friendly looking local and asked for directions. Turns out, he's the owner of the Sorlandet, the three master we saw at the pier. He could not be more helpful. He finally decided "you can't there from here" and drove us over in his car! He was a life saver!! The Sorlandet is a the oldest three masted sailing ship in operation. It used for charters and a "sailing school".

Our entertainment tonight was an encore performance by the "Pianist with the Hair". He is so talented and a riot!

Weather today was incredible! Never a cloud; temp up to 73.

What we learned today about Norwegians is that they are generally well off; they "all" have boats and summer cabins. They love outdoor activities like hiking, cross country skiing and "being in nature".

Our cruise is almost at an end! Tomorrow we'll be in Arhus, Denmark.