23rd Jul 2019
Our
first
port
of
call
was
Olden,
a
very
pretty
village
in
a
pretty
fjord
setting.
We
wandered
ashore
rather
than
take
an
excursion,
we
had
been
to
Olden
before
where
we
did
a
tour
to
a
glacier
which
resulted
in
Virginia
spraining
her
ankle.
We
went
as
far
as
a
small
Church
which
had
antlers
on
the
ends
of
the
pews.
Virginia
looked
at
socks
in
the
souvenir
shops
but
resisted
temptation.
The
soft
toy
Beatrice
we
brought
with
us
was
photographed
in
various
spots.
The
second
port
of
call
was
"Åndalsnes",
a
bigger
but
less
pretty
place.
We
hadn't
been
there
before.
We
patronised
a
chemist
for
Virginia
to
get
nail
varnish
remover,
and
a
supermarket
where
we
got
water
and
notebooks
to
write
things
in.
Happily
English
is
fairly
well
understood,
and
credit
cards
usable
rather
than
having
to
have
Euros.
12th Mar 2015
At
3am
in
the
morning
we
were
awoken
by
kettles
and
telephones
and
bottles
flying
around
the
cabin.
A
storm
the
captain
had
told
us
about
the
evening
before
had
persisted
and
grown
into
a
Force
12
hurricane
which
we
all
felt
as
he
turned
the
ship
to
approach
"Alesund".
Good
stuff,
want
to
know
one
is
on
a
ship
at
the
mercy
of
the
elements.
We
did
our
first
excursion
to
Giske
and
Godøy
with
oddly
people
of
Scottish
extraction
as
guide
and
driver!
"Alesund"
is
in
a
complex
of
islands
linked
by
bridges
and
particularly
tunnels,
some
of
which
have
been
blasted
deep
under
the
Fjords.
Norway
builds
tunnels
even
for
a
few
school
children
to
get
to
school.
Dusty
as
cars
have
iron
studs
in
their
tyres
for
snow.
A
man
walked
illegally
along
one
such
tunnel,
the
coach
driver
honked
and
we
later
saw
police
going
to
arrest
him.
20th May 2007
We
had
booked
excursions
before
we
sailed.
One
could
save
money
here
by
buying
train
tickets
etc
oneself
when
one's
there.
We
didn't
spend
all
the
Norwegian
money
we
took
as
Norway
proved
to
be
a
very
expensive
place.
So
expensive
Norwegians
catch
ferries
to
Newcastle
to
go
shopping.
Stavanger,
our
first
port
of
call,
was
rather
closed
up
on
the
Sunday.
An
Italian
guide
led
us
round
an
Iron
Age
Farm,
picturesque
wooden
buildings
in
Gamle
(Old)
Stavanger,
and
where
three
massive
swords
stand
to
mark
Harald
Fairhair
unifying
Norway
centuries
ago.
The
Iron
Age
Farm
was
informative
from
how
they
prepared
woad
to
dye
their
wool
blue
to
Norse
myths
justifying
the
blond-haired
enslaving
the
darker
haired.