Trip to Norway

Garth and I just returned from 8 days in Norway to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. It was a nice change in pace and a great way to escape the summer heat in the Holy Land and experience some cooler temperatures. We flew from Tel Aviv through Istanbul and then into Copenhagen for our first night.

It was nice to have one night in Copenhagen before we boarded our ship the next day.

We boarded the "Serenade of the Seas" around noon on Saturday. If you haven't taken a cruise, you owe it to yourself to take a cruise at least once in your lifetime. It's hard to imagine that a ship holding nearly 2,500 passengers, 900 crew members and 12 decks can float!

Sunday we were at sea and lots of activities were planned on the ship. The weather was overcast but passengers enjoyed the hot tub, the two swimming pools, racket ball, and every corner of the ship was serving something to eat. It is no wonder everyone comes back with a few (or more than a few) extra pounds.

There was a great workout room to work off those extra calories but did we use it???? (No!) My excuse was we came here to relax and not to work.

The dining room was very nice and every night we ate at the same table with some of our new friends. One of the best parts of any trip is meeting wonderful people who become good friends by the end of the cruise.

Judy & Bill from the South in the US.

Russell and Shirley from the East coast in the US.

There was always something going on in the Centrum (main area of the ship): live music, disco dancing, art auctions and even an aerial show from the highest deck.

Looking up in the Centrum . . see the glass elevators.

Our first stop was in Norway's oil capital, Stavanger. It is the country's 4th largest city which is nestled between mountains and beaches. The town is very picturesque and we decided to take a shore excursion despite the cloudy weather.

Since it was overcast we couldn't see the tops of the mountains but we did see a waterfall and a goat!

We stopped along the way and were served some Norwegian waffles. They were delicious and here is the recipe: 2 eggs; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 400 ml soured milk (buttermilk); 200 ml plain flour; 1 teaspoon ground cardamum; 100 ml grated brown cheese (I have no idea where to get it); 25 g butter for cooking. Blend everything to a smooth batter and cook in a waffle maker. The waffles are not fluffy like Belgian waffles but more flat and very moist. They are served with fresh strawberry jam and sour cream. Now if I could just figure out the conversions, I would be all set to make some.

Stavanger, a city with Viking roots, has emerged as a cultural hot spot in Norway.

Whitewashed wooden houses line cobblestone streets while local artists live and work inside the 18th century structures.

Bergen was a beautiful city which we explored on our own. Bergen's charming medieval architecture and the rugged glacial scenery was beautiful along with the wharf along the harbor.

It was also where the great composer, Edvard Grieg, lived.

There was also an open air fish market which is still very much the soul of the city.

We visited this very old cathedral and went inside.

It had a nice pipe organ and if we had been in town that evening, we could have attended an organ concert. Darn!

This is one of the most beautiful paintings of Christ we've seen in a church.

Looking down the street from the church.

Every city has lush parks with lots of flowers. The day was perfect and the weather was really pleasant.

Whenever I see flowers like this, I am reminded of Mom Holyoak because she always took great pride in her flowers.

Norway is famous for their beautiful woolen sweaters.

Street musicians added to the charm of this city.

People on the street stopped to look at this man supposedly levitated in mid air. (There's always a trick with illusionists . . . now if we could only figure out how he did this!)

After a delightful day, we returned to the harbor where our boat was docked.

The moose is a symbol for Norway and we saw moose images on clothing everywhere so Garth bought some moose socks!

We took a bus excursion to some neighboring islands at Alesund. A massive fire at the turn of the 20th century destroyed the old historic town and residents rebuilt it in what has become as the city's signature: Art Nouveau architecture.

We visited a lighthouse and walked to the top for a nice view of the area.

On the ground floor of the lighthouse they were serving sweet cakes and pancakes to visitors.

There were 94 stairs up but going down was even harder because they were so steep.

We visited one of the oldest churches in Norway.

Of course, I was looking for an organ in the church.

Even though the organ was very small, it was still fun to have the opportunity to play it. I played some Bach and then played "Take Time to be Holy" and visitors began to hum along. It's a really lovely Irish tune I found in a book when we arrived in Israel.

Alesund was a lovely place to visit. Geringer was really, really beautiful and this is what we expected to see at the beginning of our cruise. We took a bus excursion which took us down to Hornidal Lake, the deepest freshwater lake in Europe.

We drove to the top of the mountain and were dropped off to walk around for a while. We were above the clouds and it was unusually beautiful. Notice all the little piles of rocks. Those are supposedly trolls that were turned to stone. Trolls were originally creatures in Norwegian legend. They were thought to be huge, evil and dangerous and generally lived in forests, mountains, in caves or among rocks. They were often referred to as hording large amounts of gold and silver, which they had presumably stolen.

We were glad we brought a few layers because at the top of the mountain it was windy and really chilly.

Trolls of every kind were in the gift shop. They are so ugly I am not sure why anyone would want to buy one but maybe for conversation?

I was really tempted to buy some woolen slippers until I saw the price. Everything was very expensive in Norway.

According to some stories, when a troll was exposed to sunlight he turned to stone. In fact, one famous legend has it that the stone crags are the remains of two armies of trolls that once fought a great battle until sunrise caught them and turned them into stone.

Despite the clouds, this scene was picture post card perfect. The "Serenade of the Seas" is one of the two boats you see in the harbor.

There were so many switch backs I was really glad I took some motion sickness meds.

Battery operated cars were available to rent for $100/hour with a 2 hour minimum. One car holds two passengers. Seriously?

After our excursion, we returned to the boat and had a little lunch then ventured out to walk around the town of 250 residents. Can you imagine what it must be like when the tourists leave and it's winter?

As usual, Garth headed for the first art gallery (and the only one) we saw.

Judy and Bill relaxing.

The harbor was small at Geiranger so it was a short walk to our boat.

This was the view as the boat left Geiranger.

Last shots as we were leaving the harbor.

Our last sunset on the boat. We had a great time and this will always be a wonderful memory as we celebrated our 50th anniversary.