Day 10 - Friday June 20th – Day at Sea

Today is a day at sea on the way to our next port of Tromso; today is the last day of spring and at breakfast, the temperature was 39 F. 

But before I blog about our day at sea, I have a current update of what is going now in our world before I get back to our cruise.  So today is Tue. 7/20 and this morning we were back to our regular routine walking three mornings a week and doing yogilates three mornings.  And this morning we decided to walk.  Our route is our usual out the driveway and down the dirt road about one mile each way, takes about 40 min. total.   On our way back after turning around to head home, we pass a house with some new folks who have moved in and we had seen a dog, brown bulldog/boxer mix there before.  This morning as we passed, two dogs ran out toward us and the owner is standing in the yard.  As the dogs charge across the yard, he yells they are sweet.  Sweet my ass, the two dogs kept coming hitting our dog and knocking her off the road and wrestling her to the ground.  Robert and I jumped in kicking the dogs and trying to pull them off our dog, Jenny.  The owner ran over also jumping in and the dogs finally got separated.  The owner was very apologetic but we were both furious.  I think I said some bad stuff. 

We checked Jenny out and did not see any major damage.  Robert had blood on one thumb but we did not see any blood from Jenny.  One of the dogs had her by the neck but she was saved by thick fur and her collar.  We walked the rest of the way home, the three of us, stressed and hoping the rest of the day was going to be better.  I gave Jenny an extra pain pill.  (She gets half dose daily for hips and shoulder.)  She calmed down and rested while Robert showered.  After he went to work, I checked her out some more and found that she had a gash on her and part of left ear split and left elbow scratched, both sources of the blood. 

We decided that we would call the sheriff and report the incident.  When Robert got home, he told me he called sheriff but did not want to press charges so the incident was only reported to the health department and he called the owner of the house.  We know her and she was very upset about her new renters.  Robert also called the owner as well and several neighbors to alert them to be careful.  So the drama played out and at least the dogs are now not going to be free and will be in pens.  For a while, we will take a different route for our morning walks.

Now back to the cruise:    Day 10 - Friday June 20^th – Day at Sea

We read mostly and socialized.  While sitting in the enclosed pool area we crossed the Arctic Circle at 10:30 AM.  Now we are in the land of the midnight sun and hoping the weather gets better.

 

For cocktail hour, we went to the Crow’s nest in the bow of the cruise ship where we can watch us travel through the North Sea.  Robert noticed a couple who appeared to be deaf and he had to go over and introduce himself. They were British so the signing communication was hard for all three of them.  British sign language, which has a two handed alphabet, is different than US sign language, which has a one handed alphabet and is based upon French language structure…noun first and then describe.  

Dinner was formal and again were given jackets by the maître d’.  We were hoping there would be lobster tail on the menu since it was formal night, but alas, there was not.  However, we were told there would be lobster tail the last formal night. 

Mike, Robert, Michael, and Chuck

The day had some sunny intervals, but was generally overcast with intermittent rain showers; the temperature rose to a high of 41 F.  It was still a very good day at sea as we sail further into the Arctic Circle!

Day 9 - Thursday June 19th

Today, July 20th, we returned from camping at House Creek Campground which is only about 30 minutes away from home.  It was our annual camp out with Four Corners Regional Campout group.  It was our first outing with our new camper and it worked great.   (We traded our RV for 24' pull behind trailer.)  So the blog was on hiatus for a couple of days.   



Funny story about our camping outing, well not really funny, kind of sad in a way.  I took day off last Thur. and loaded camper and headed to camp site.  Robert came up after work.  On Fri. I went back and met him at the house so we would only have one car at the camp site. We had our dog, Jenny with us and we were going to leave our cats, Shadow and Midnight alone for a couple days.

However, on Sat. we decided to go back to house to shower as we were running low on water in the camper.  This being our first outing, we were figuring out how it was going to work and now we know we need to carry more water for a 3 night outing.  Anyway, we go home Sat. afternoon, take naps, and shower.  While Robert was showering I let our cats out on the deck and put up the gate to the stairs to keep them on the deck.  After Robert got out of the shower, Shadow was ready to come back in but Midnight wanted to chill on the deck.  So I thought, I will put her back in before we leave.  We left the house about 4:30 to make it back to camp for cocktails and BBQ for the group.  When we came back home on Sun. and backed up to our house, I could hear a cat crying and realized I had left Midnight out when we left on Sat.  She had no water or food or cat box.  She was OK but I was distressed that I did not remember to put her back in the house.   

Day 9 - Thur. 6/19/14 - Back to our cruise:
This morning we sailed in through Trondheimsfjord, to our next port (Trondheim, Norway) arriving at the dock about 8am.   Trondheim is Norway's third largest city and at one time was the capital of Norway.  It is the most northerly cruise port in the fjord region.  Unlike the more southerly fjords we had seen, the Trondheim fjord does not have towering cliffs. Rather, it is an area of rolling hills covered in forests.  The city can trace its origins back to 997 when it was founded by Viking King Olav Tryggvason. In 1070, construction of the Nidaros Cathedral began on the site of the grave of Norway's patron saint St. Olaf and it is the world's most northernmost cathedral.

When we got into port, we did not pull up and dock but instead anchored in the harbor.  This meant that if we were going to depart we would be taking the tenders to shore.  The day was overcast and misting rain and lots of churn in harbor water. 

The fjord is an inlet of the Norwegian Sea and 81 mi. long. It is located in the west central part of the country. The main part of Trondheimsfjord is ice free all year.  Several of the best salmon rivers in Norway empty into Trondheimsfjord. 


We had not purchased a shore excursion for this port so since the weather was so yucky,  we decided to just hang out on ship today.  However, later in the morning,  Chuck decided he would be brave and took the tender to shore to shop for gift trinkets.  We read and worked on a puzzle in the library.  Chuck returned in time for lunch and said he did find an interesting old church.  Chuck and Michael played cribbage in the afternoon and Robert and I read some more and visited with other folks who had decided to stay on board today which was a fair number of folks.  

After dinner, we all went to the theater for the evening performance, “Rock Legends" which was the cruise ship dancers and four very good singers, two guys and two girls.   The pairings when they did duo numbers was excellent. 

When we return to our rooms each evening, our room stewards have turned down our beds.  They leave chocolate and towel art.  The elephant was one of the best ones.  

Tomorrow we cross the Arctic Circle when the sun will not set on us for 5 days as we are at peak of summer solstice.  The midnight sun lasts longer for people above the Arctic Circle, May 14 to July 27.  Sunrise today was at 3:13 AM and sunset was at 11:56 PM.

Day 8 - Wednesday June 18th

This morning we sailed into our next port of call, docking about 8am in Alesund, the fishing capital of Norway.  The weather does not look promising today with forecast of rain and it is already overcast.  Even so the fjords are beautiful.

 

As we left the pier, we got on our shore excursion bus for city tour.  It is 48 F so good to be out of the cold and slight mist in the air and overcast.  

 

Our first stop was an old stone church with neat very old headstones. It was originally from the Middle Ages

probably built around 1250. In 1904 the church was set on fire by an assailant who police report is referred to as "deranged".  

The new church was built within the medieval walls and in the old style, with rich wooden carvings.

Adjacent to the church we then walked through a museum of old houses dating from 1550 to 1850 some of which were relocated from other parts of Norway.  The 19th century houses looked like the ones you see in pioneer villages in the States.  Notice the sod growing on the roof's; this is the way the houses were back then also.

One of the most interesting small buildings was a changing room for farmers who rowed along the fjords from their farms to church.  When they got to church, anchored at shore next to the one room changing  houses, they could then don fresh day clothes before entering the church.

The next stop was a viewpoint, Mount Aksia, for a view of the city and our cruise ship in the port.  The rain started to get heavy so we high tailed it back to the bus.  There were some bunkers at the viewpoint built by the Germans in World War II when they invaded Norway.

 

On our return drive back to the ship, we traveled through the center
 of town along the water's edge.  The town was re-built after a fire in 1904.  The buildings were Art Nouveau style with a variety of interesting facades.  The bus tour guide stated that the buildings in the area were one of the very few Art Nouveau towns left in the world.   

After returning to the ship, we had lunch and naps.  We wanted to catch up on email so we went ashore again to the library just across the street from the pier to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi and internet service.  The ship internet is not very reliable and you have to pay for it, therefore, we try to find the free spots when we are in port.  We also saw a multi-level mall next door to the library so we strolled in and Robert bought a small collapsible suitcase for all of our new clothes. 

View from cruise ship deck of Alesund Harbor

After drinks in the Crow’s Nest, we went to dinner.  Chuck and Michael went to hear David Scofield, a young English pianist.  They left after the second number because he played with a recorded background of a full orchestra. The entertainment on the ship is usually good but there is that occasional poor one.

Sunrise was at 3:36 and sunset at 11:30 so we are still getting about 4 hours of “night”.   Overall, it was a good day.  Yesterday was our halfway point on our cruise.  We have "boat bloat" or big bellies from all the good food.  We will definitely gain a few pounds before this is all over.

Day 7 - Tues. June 17th

We “sailed” through the night and docked in Flam anchoring around 8am.  (Odd term to use, sail, as a cruise ship does not have sails.)  We passed part of the way through beautiful Aurlnadsfjord that is 126 miles in total length and 4,290 ft. deep.   Our ship docked while two other cruise ships had to anchor out away from the dock and then use tenders or small-enclosed boats that seat about 25 people to get passengers to the dock.  After the hordes again departed the ship for their early shore excursions, we got off and walked into Flam from the pier.      (Hint:  If you click on a picture, it enlarges.)

 
This picture is from the dock with me pointing to our stateroom on the “ship” which was located on the bottom level of passengers and the last one in the rear.  (The one with the circle around it.)  We had a nice big window.  There was a deck behind us but not accessible from the rear of the boat near our room.

Flam is a very small Norwegian tourist town, population 450, very beautiful and has a train that goes up the mountain.   Instead of waiting to buy tickets in the port at the train station, we bought this excursions in advance from Holland America cruise line to ensure a seat and ride.  It is good thing we did and not wait to get tickets in town.  With 3 cruise ships in port, everyone wanted to ride the train and unfortunately, it sold out quickly for those who tried to buy in town.  Our train tour is later in the afternoon so we, Robert and Mike, decided that we wanted to hike up the hill to see the town and port from the overlooks but Michael and Chuck returned to the ship.  It was a short hike and the views of the port and small town were breath taking.   We found a bench to rest upon and chatted with two other couples from the other cruise ships.  

After a short rest, we walked down back to town via a different trail, we saw in the distance what looked like an RV park.  Sure enough, it was including park models or cottages.   We were amazed.  The RV's mostly were class C & D types and small travel trailers being pulled by a vehicle and no large class A motor homes.  Look closely; the cottages are on the left hidden in the trees.

Mountain View from hiking trail.

After lunch, we went ashore again and took a train ride on the Flamsbana, a railroad that is 12 miles long and travels uphill with grades up to 18% and 2,815 feet to top of the mountain to Mydral.  The trip takes about an hour each way with wonderful scenery, mountain farms,  villages and many waterfalls along the way.   Did I say many?  Maybe numerous is a better word for all the waterfalls .

But the main attraction was a huge waterfall very close to the train.  The train stopped to let us out onto a platform to take pictures and get wet with spray from the falls.

According to our train conductor, he said the waterfall was haunted by water fairies. While getting wet in the crowd of people, a water fairy came out on one of the rock ledges and danced while music played across the landscape. It was quite entertaining!  Everyone was scampering to try to get pictures and video.  She had a Norwegian name but I cannot remember and could not pronounce it even if I remembered.  

She actually made two appearances.  The second was lower down from the rocks in the greenery.  From here I was able to capture a couple short vids.   Here is the link to one of them on You Tube if you care to check them out:   Flamsbana Train Stop at Waterfall and Water Fairy

We were back on the “boat” by 3pm for cocktails and then dinner.  It was formal night dinner so we borrowed the pants again and ties from Michael and Chuck.  Upon entrance, we were given formal dress coats to wear in the Rotterdam Dining Room.  Michael ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate Chuck's 74th birthday.

Along with a birthday cake, our dining staff sang happy birthday in Indonesian, a different tune from ours and not sure, it was “happy birthday” as one couple said it was sung for their anniversary as well.  We would hear this song several times over the coming days, as it was the custom on Holland America ships for birthdays, anniversaries, and so on.  

It was a fantastic day and the weather continued to cooperate!  It was a beautiful sail away from Flam back through the fjord. Vid on You Tube:  Sail away from Flam - Aurlnadsfjord