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Published: June 14th 2023
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Welcome to Norway. This morning we docked in Haugesund as our first port of call in Norway. We know that we said we were going to have excursions in all but one of the ports but none of the tenders. Well this is the port we didn't have the excursion. And that was actually good. David has gotten over his head cold but seems to have given it to Janet. Since we did not have an excursion, we were able to spend most of the day in the cabin getting well for tomorrow.
The ship arrived at 10:00 and David got a few pictures sailing into the harbor. Then he brought some breakfast back to the cabin for Janet. Later on he brought down some lunch as well, so Janet did not mingle with the others until the evening. During the day Janet watched a Buzz Lightyear movie and then a number of Neighborhood" TV episodes while she worked on her stitching.
Today was a very sunny day with a clear sky. The thermometer said it was 65 degrees, but it felt warmer. You see, after lunch, David walked into the town and saw some of the nearby places.
He doesn't usually check the "step meter" on his phone, but today he did and it said he was nearly twice the daily goal. So yes, he did see some of the town.
There were a number of statues along the quay, including one of Marilyn Monroe. Her father had been rumored to have come from Haugesund so they put up a statue to her. Apparently that was not true after all, but they left the statue anyway. There were a few statues to fishermen, since that had been the primary industry here for centuries. Only in the mid 20th century did Norway start developing it oil production, and that is now it's primary source of income (followed by fishing and then tourism).
Haugesund has a population of about 30,000 people, which will be compared to tomorrow's port with only 478. So this is a big town. There were many restaurants and hotels along the quay and they have developed one of the more attractive waterfronts in all of Europe. There were frequent displays of blooming flowers as David walked around the town. Although Norway is a member of the EU, it uses its own currency. The Norwegian
Krona is about 10.8 Kr to the US$. Norway is a very long country, and the top actually wraps around the top of Sweden, and even over the top if Finland. This means Norway actually has a border in common with Russia. We were told that to fly from Oslo to the top of Norway takes 5 hours - about the same amount of time to fly from Oslo to southern Italy. We will be seeing more fjords in the coming days, but generally they were gouged out by glaciers during the Ice Age. We were told that fjords can be as much as 1300 to 1600 meters deep below the surface of the water. So those are a few interesting things we have learned about Norway.
Anyway, David also found a large Catholic church, named Our Savior's Church. Apparently, it has a very interesting history, but David did not get there until just 2 minutes before closing for lunch, so he did not get many of the details. The plaque outside says something about "innviet 6.mars 1901 tegnet 1899". The church overlooks a statue dedicated to fishermen, and looks down on the harbor from a high spot in
the center of the city.
Back at the ship it was time for a large Coke and a Salted Carmel Cappuccino for Janet. Although he looked in a number of shops, David did not buy anything today. In the future Janet will be along too. The general opinion is that merchandise in Norway is pretty expensive, partly because of high taxes already included in the price tags. David heard someone talking about paying the equivalent of $10 for an ice cream - he should have waited to get back on the ship where they are free.
Janet was feeling better by dinner time and we went to the dining room. Tonight, was a kind of English Pub style meal. Janet had the Yorkshire Pudding and said the meat was delicious. David had Bangers and Mash and it was very good too. We wanted to see a show tonight which was a tribute to John Denver. He sang some good songs and it was a nice show, we agreed he just wasn't quite the same as the original. But we are glad we went.
Tomorrow will be an early start, so that is all for tonight.
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