Sea Day and Faroe Islands

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Not much to post from our last sea day yesterday. It was pretty much our normal sea day pattern. Bingo was played in the Crows Nest because the cast was practicing their next show in the Queens Lounge. That meant they had the old time cage with the Bingo balls and she had to call it without a microphone and to top it off they had a drink class scheduled at the bar behind us at the same time. Well at least Mom won the first game. We’ve been teasing her that the hair cut she got earlier that afternoon made it easier to see the board! It was another formal night followed by a Ventriloquist named Don Bryan. He was very good but could update some of his material. He did a small section with a Tennis Ball that I thought was very funny. He had cut a mouth in it and then added eyes with Velcro (above or below the mouth depending on whether he was smiling or frowning).

Today we were in Torshavn the capital of the Faroe Islands which are part of Denmark. However, they have their own language and currency and like Iceland were settled by the Vikings. The weather was fantastic. Probably in the 60’s with mostly blue skies and a few puffy white clouds. Erin and Dennis didn’t have a tour scheduled so just took the shuttle into town. Mom and I had the Countryside of Gota tour which was a 5 hr tour of …. The countryside. It was very scenic and though similar to some of our tours in Iceland it was interesting to see the differences. We drove out of the city and along the fjord where there were many beautiful waterfalls just coming off the mountains to the road (they must be so used to them they didn’t even point them out) and lots of sheep (though these are Faroese sheep which are different than the Icelandic sheep we’d already seen). I’d always thought sheep were white and curly but these had long hair and were all sorts of colors even black/white striped or spotted. They have more sheep in the Faroe islands than people but they don’t export them (except the wool) and actually import more lamb meet since they eat so much of it. I actually like lamb but not sure I’d eat it that often.

After driving thru 2 tunnels and over the only bridge that goes over the Atlantic our first stop was at a modern church. It was very unusual and all of the decorations were done in glass by a local artist. Even the pulpit was done in blue glass. The alter was all clear class so as not to distract from the large Art glass behind it. Hopefully the picture came out and I’ll post it. The church took 10 years to build as they had to raise the money for it. The pews were made from imported Oregon Pine which Mom appreciated. They raised the money for them from Bingo. We then headed to an old farm house from the 1700s (I think) that was still lived in till the late 1950’s. Actually they didn’t have electricity in the islands till the late 1950’s. Hard to imagine since that’s even after I was born. There was also an old church similar to the ones we saw in Norway and Iceland. We then headed to the Wool Mill. I saw a sweater I liked but their credit card machine wasn’t working and though I could have borrowed cash from Mom didn’t want to use that much cash at this point in the trip. He offered to drive me to the ATM but I really didn’t need the sweater that bad. Must have really hurt business to not have that working.

We drove back but instead of the tunnel we used the old mountain route and made several photo stops. All in all a very pleasant day.

We made it back in time for Bingo but none of us won so headed to dinner then a quick trip thru the casino (very quick neither Mom or I hit anything there tonight) and then to the show. It was a singer named Jeff Hooper who did a lot of old Swing and Big Band songs. He also did a few impressions and it was a very enjoyable show (well more for my mother due to the age of the songs but still good). Tomorrow we have an early arrival/tour in Scotland and have to tender so will try to get this posted now.

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Photos

Typical houses
They can buy 2 walls and then build what they want between them. They like bright colors

Glass church
this is the glass art work displayed behind the alter in the modern church

Oregon Pine
Mom with the Pews made from Oregon Pine

Map?
Strange statue/map of the islands with a man standing on it but sideways? When we first saw it didn't know it was a man since we just saw his head coming out

Beach
This is their big beach where they had a music festival last week

Bridge
the only bridge over the Atlantic that connects two of the Faroe Islands

Comments

[Janet]

Sea Day
Sharon, that was interesting about the sheep, didn't realize they were different colors. Thanks for sharing your day. Take care, Janet