Find Ethel & Colin in Norway

Continued adventures while traveling on the Grand Princess, September, 2008


Tuesday's port was Bergen, Norway, and we arrived just after a period of 90 straight days of rain! Our impression, though, was of a picture-postcard town -- blue sky, sun, and moderate temperatures. There is a funicular tramway going up the local mountain and the view from the top was wonderful. Bergen has a very pretty harbor, many old buildings dating from its beginnings as a fishing port and trading center, and plenty of parks and green spaces. Ethel went to an ATM to get krona (the local currency) and pushed the button for the least amount (so she thought) and ended up with thousands! Exchange rate is about 6nk to $1. Anyway, coffee for the 4 of us was 26krona so we just spent wildly! At least we have two days in Norway in which to spend all this moolah.

Wednesday we awoke to a panoramic view of the 32 mile long fjiord we were traveling to reach the little village of Geiranger, also in Norway. Everywhere we looked were waterfalls streaming down the steep cliffs and as we ate breakfast on our balcony, we were treated to a real-life travel channel -- sort of a composite of Lake Louise (in the Canadian Rockies), and the Inland Passageway (Alaska). At Geiranger we were met by a local driver and taken on a "3 hour tour" up and down the mountains. The views were outstanding, highlighted by a recent snowfall that provided marvelous background for our photo-ops. In fact, we couldn't go to the uppermost overlook because the road was blocked by snow drifts.

Now we are crossing the North Sea again, far north, heading for the Faroe Islands (part of Denmark). In our continuing adventure we will discover how much more of the Viking exploration route is yet to come! Life on board the ship is really rough -- someone takes care of our room, does our laundry, cooks and serves our meals, and we only have to exercise, sleep, and send emails. This ship is really bigger than we like -- 2600 passengers, 1200 crew -- and this means the service is less "personal" than we have had elsewhere. But we are seeing some wonderful places that we would never see otherwise and have met some really great people, in addition to the ones we already knew.