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Published: June 23rd 2023
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First: The photos from yesterday have been added to that blog.
Hello from Andalsnes Norway. We had an early excursion today, so we got up at 6:00 AM. Wow, who sets an alarm for 6:00 when they're on vacation. We got dressed and up to the Horizon Court for a quick breakfast, and then down to the dining room to await our tour. They gave us a head start to the bus, but the walk was long enough that everyone else beat us to the bus. We actually got the seats in the back of the bus.
Today was a scenic ride around the Norway mountains. Happily, it was not raining, although that had been the forecast. Unhappily it was cloudy all day without any of the sunshine we've had the past several days. At least it was comfortable, needing just a long sleeve shirt, but no jacket. But we did get to see a lot of terrific scenery.
First we stopped at a scenic rest stop, but it was so cloudy that we only stayed a few minutes. There were supposed to be bathrooms, but they were locked. Then we headed up into the mountains for a
camping lodge where we were given some cakes and coffee. Then we had another couple of scenic stops, culminating near the top of the mountain. Maybe we weren't at the very top, but he said we were about 850 meters above sea level. The road up the mountain had 11 hair-pin turns, and many places where it was difficult for the driver to squeeze past oncoming traffic. But the best part of the drive was that it followed a river, which came from a series of waterfalls, primarily fed from melting snow. That little story doesn't come close to describing the great views we saw, and hopefully the clouds didn't obscure all the pictures. Anyway, it was a fascinating drive through the Norwegian mountains. Afterwards we arrived back at the ship.
Along the way our guide told us a collection of interesting facts. Did you know that Norway is the 3rd largest country in Europe, following only Germany and Spain? However only 20% of Norway is suitable for people to live, due to the mountainous terrain and having the largest glacier in all of Europe. Norway has 100,000 kilometers of coastline. The population of Norway is 5.2 million people,
and they are expecting 6 million tourists to come visit this year. According to our guide, tourism is the most important business to Norway, followed by Petroleum and Fishing. It seems like elsewhere we had been told the same 3 but in a different order, but this was his story today. Andalsnes translates to Spirituality, and throughout the excursion he kept pointing out places that were good for mediating. There were a lot more vehicles on the mountain road today, partly because the school year had just ended 2 days ago and people were quick to start their vacations while the weather was the warmest.
Once we were back on the ship, we went up to the grill and had burgers at a table in the Horizon Court. Then we went to the cabin for the afternoon. Well, David did go into town to look around and to take a few more pictures. But we spent most of the afternoon, watching a funny movie and then taking a nap.
The time when everyone was supposed to be on the ship today was 3:30. At 3:45 David was watching from the balcony as we were preparing to leave port.
They blew the ship's horn 3 times and started taking in the gangways. All of a sudden someone came running along the boardwalk, waving his arms and yelling like crazy. There were many people on their balconies watching and cheering as this played out, but he finally got to the gangway and on-board just before we sailed. He was pretty lucky!
At dinner this evening Janet had Corned Beef and David had Fish and Chips. They were good as expected, but nothing real special. However this is a good time to point out that our table in near a window in the dining room. As we sail during dinner, we are treated to great views of the scenery passing by the ship. This evening was especially good because the further we sailed up the fjord toward the sea, the sky cleared, and the sun shone brightly. This would have been great weather for our day's excursion, but it just didn't happen. We still had a good time and saw a lot of great sights.
After dinner we went to the theater and watched a very energetic violinist who played a wide range of pieces and we enjoyed it
a lot. Now we are back in the cabin and will work on today's pictures and will try to attach a few for your pleasure. Good night.
Joke: What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo? Answer: A pouch potato
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