The journey begins

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Geo: 60.3881, 5.33185

We are flying Air Canada from Houston to Toronto Canada where we change planes and travel from Toronto to Copenhagen Denmark and finally, changing planes again we arrive in Bergen, Norway. A very long day. This will be our second trip with Viking; but, this time an Ocean cruise rather than a river cruise. We'll be visiting, in addition to Bergen, Norway, Eidfjord, Norway, Stavanger, Norway, Aalborg, Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, Berlin, Germany, Gdansk, Poland, Tallinn, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia, Helsinki, Finland and finally Stockholm, Sweden. What an adventure!

We left Houston at 11:30am on April 29th and arrived in Bergen Norway at 3:00pm the next day. Flying into Bergen the views of the snow caped Fjords were absolutely beautiful! Breathtaking is the only word I can think of. The ship is small compared to some ships holding only about 900 passengers. It seems much larger and I keep getting lost of course. Our room is on the 6th floor deck and is very nice. Small with a balcony and very efficient use of space. We have an exotic coffee maker and even a refrigerator that is restocked daily.

After a delicious lunch (I'll have to start taking pictures of my food again,) we unpacked, refreshed and were ready to go. Too much to see to sleep now. We attended an Enrichment Lecture with Dr. Helena Aves: "Norway-From Forager Nation to Oil-Rich Powerhouse learning how Norway's natural resources have played an immense part in its history and its present.

Much of Norway is remote with most of the population in larger cities like Oslo. 13 people per sq mile seems very desolate. There moto has been "We live off of what we find in Nature." There natural resources are Fishing, Timber, Water (hydroelectric plants provide 99% of all power) and by 2020 Norway will link hydroelectric plants to European wind turbines. I don't understand any of it; but, it sounds pretty impressive. They also produce marble and granite as well as coal production. Mineral production in Norway has slowed due to social pressure against mining, but Norway is still the 10th largest coal producer in the world. Operating conditions in the North Sea are rough and inhospitable waters require the development of sophisticated offshore technology. They are even using drones to find oil. I need to research The Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund which has made every Norwegian citizen a millionaire several times over. I plan to corner the speaker and find more of the details on this. Apparently Norway saves and invests the profits from the oil production and it has grown to a gigantic sum. Smacks of Socialism; but, not sure exactly how it works. Will learn more about this. Heavy water production is also a big deal; but, don't ask me to explain it. I can only write so fast.

After the seafood buffet (we do a lot of eating here, which will have to stop soon) and gelato we were entertained by classical violinist Tor Jaran Apold, who performed his interpretation of Norway's greatest composers of the Romantic Era accompanied by a pianist who was also pretty good. I have to say Tor Apoid was easy on the eyes and the music was amazing.

They had a welcome dance afterward; but, Bob was having none of that. He slept through most of the violin concert; so I didn't push it. Hopefully after a good nights sleep he will get his energy back.

They have beautiful art work on the ship and an app that I downloaded tells about each one when you put the picture pin in. There is more to do than there are enough hours in the day and I always make the mistake of trying to do it all the first day.

Tomorrow we go on a panoramic tour of Bergen and I'm sure it will be beautiful if what I've seen so far is any indication. This world is so beautiful, I don't want to miss any of it.

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Photos

The beach
Should of brought his hat!

Beach
Yep I was there too

Bergen, Norway
This picture was taken off the balcony. Even though it is cool, the sun is warm. I may have over estimated the need for gloves, boots and ski jacket.

The palace
Zoom makes it look way closer than it was!

Gold Souk
Very gold gold!

The Gold Souk
The man over Stephens shoulder told him he had a shirt just the same as Stephen was wearing in his shop he could sell him.....Stephen said yours must be a knock off then.....no no he said ...uhuh!