Norway

 Aug 6

Since we left Copenhagen, we have had terrible weather. It’s chilly, windy and wet. Our first day Aug 4, it was a sea day and we got to know the ship. We get up every morning and get the days trivia quiz, crossword puzzles and sudoku and try to finish the quiz over breakfast. August 5 we stopped in Vik (the name Viking came from here). We had signed up for an excursion called Fjords and Glacier. We tendered to the harbor and boarded a bus that travelled along the fjord to the glacier museum. We watched an unfortunately unnarrated film taken with a drone beneath a helicopter that caused some vertigo. We then perused through the small museum where you learned about glaciers, prehistoric animals, the iceman, Ozi, and some children focused scientific processes about the glaciers blue color and how it travels along the slope of the land by the sheer weight of it and carved the fjords. From there we traveled again to the actual glacier and enjoyed a beer and a photo op. We then traveled back to our ship. In both directions we missed the ferry by mere seconds, only to wait 1/2 hour for the next one. The ferry ride was only 15 minutes. As a result, we had no time to go into Vik. Too bad. 

That night, our captain announced the fearsome weather on our journey ahead, so the decision was made to stay safe in the fjord and skip our next port, Olden. Instead on the morning of August 6, we woke up to the village of Skjolden. We ferried to it after breakfast, but we didn’t have the luxury of time to do anything there. Our ship was pulling out at noon to make our way to our next destination, Åndalsnes. As we travel back along the fjord, we are enjoying the beautiful views, Norwegian strawberries, some cocktails and complete relaxation. 

A few brave people have just entered the hot tub. Tomorrow in Ålesund, we are scheduled to go Kayaking and need to wear our swim suits. 

We did have a fabulous guide in Vik who played some Norwegian folk songs, and songs from a Norwegian composer. She told us about the now 40000 Sami people who are indigenous to Norway who speak in a dialect that is very unique and played a song by a young man. She told us about the color of the buildings in Norway. Deep red (originally whale blood) that today is used for buildings that house animals or yellow (originally sulphur) that are now used by retirees or white (originally zinc) used by families. These are primarily the only three colors you’ll see as you travel through the fjord landscape.  The people here have sheep and goats to manage the landscape and in summers, they are moved to the highlands. They retrieve them once the snow starts. In the meantime , they wrap their hay (maybe?) in bales of white plastic. This prevents the wildlife from feeding on their livestock feed when the snow comes. But occasionally they’ll slash one open to attract the deer that they will then hunt. She told us about how there is evidence that thousands of years ago, the indigenous people fashioned skis and that snow skiing is a very ancient form of transportation here. Olympic skiers today are completely choked up when they win a skiing competition against a Swede and there are songs with funny names that they sing about those wins. Wish I could remember. And she told us about how oil was discovered in the Norwegian continental shelf not too long ago that has made a huge economic impact on Norwegians. They get most of their electricity through hydropower. Everywhere you look there are waterfalls and they harness that to power their country. They grow apples, plums, strawberries and other fruits and due to climate change, are starting to experiment with grapes because with the effects of the Gulf Stream and their very long summer days, they can grow sweet grapes to turn into wine. They are expecting the Mediterranean vineyards to suffer the effects of climate change and are positioning themselves to be ready for the opportunity.