Kristianstand, Norway (Tuesday)

Beautiful day today! 60’s and sun this afternoon. View from the ship this morning:


From the most rain days in Bergen to the most sun here in Kristiansand.

This is my kind of nature! They had a sign that made a point to tell us the calf died of natural causes so wasn’t slaughtered for this display. No comment about the moose….

This is a vacation destination for Denmark, Sweden and Norway. 

I do attract nature: this swan was way across but came over to pose when I took out my phone.

This is where they process the “catch of the day”, then sell it at the Fish Market, below.

Every time I see fish being processed or live in a  tank, it makes me want to eat less seafood….
This Slow Bridge has little mirrors decorated by over 5,000 kids, noting what is impotant to them. (Brad, I didn’t see any Plus logos or stickers….)

Cool bird houses in the park.

And then we ran into Top Gun, right in the middle of Kristiansand!😂🏐

This fortress was only involved in one battle in Napoleonic times. It’s now an event space.


Norway is a “right to roam” territory so basically you can camp or dock your boat just about anywhere. Even private property is not off limits as long as you don’t disturb the owners and respect the environment. We heard one guide say you could spend 2 nights but that sounded pretty flexible. This is an example of a boat that can be rented that has beds, a kitchen, head, etc. Unless it’s a private Marina, you can dock anywhere.


No explanation necessary….



Also a couple of skate ramps in the park. 

And the requisite Cathedral!

The old section of town still has some of the original houses. (We didn’t have the best guide today. He basically said, “these are the old wooden houses.”


Fun shopping area in the town center (stores open today!). We stopped for a cocktail before heading back to the ship.


We did the tour and Deb and Dave explored on their own. They found a big vase (?) and some great triple rye bread that Dave’s mom would love. They ate it on her behalf!



And Deb took a great shot of the Opera House/theater. The whole front and roof are beautiful Norwegian Oak.


First good shot of our ship. 900 guests and typically about 350 crew.


Dinner in the regular restaurant tonight; forgot to take food pics. 

Til i Morgen (until tomorrow)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Headed to Bergen

Image
Back to Viking for another ocean cruise - this time to Norway, Denmark and fly out of Amsterdam. Viking Shores & Fjords. Dave and Deb Scroggie are friends from elementary school (!) and we are all turning 70 this year (they already have...I've got MONTHS to go...) so we're celebrating with a trip through the Fjords that should be beautiful! Our Viking Tour agent, Max, tells us that there is a new Entrance/Exit System (EES) in Europe. We will likely be in line for awhile at the Frankfurt airport to copy our passport, our photo and provide fingerprints to the system. Once in the system, this should be good for 3 years, so at least we'll be covered for Scroggie's next cruise and our's next year. (We land in Frankfort at 5:45 a.m. and have a 5-hour layover, so we should have enough time to stand in line!) There is also a global oil crisis due to the war in Iran, so we are keeping fingers crossed that our flights are not canceled either way.  Scandanavian countries h...
Read more

Half Day 1: Bergen, Norway

Image
Took advantage of the dry day and walked around town. We’re here until we board the ship on Saturday. The hotel is beautiful. Drinks in the lobby bar. Dinner at Marbat close by. Traditional Norwegian food: brisket, chicken fricasee, dumplings with lamb and sausage. Streets of Bergen. Deb and Dave are figuring out directions. Dave Scroggie is no help.😂 And of course there is a Starbucks and a McDonalds! It’s daylight here til about 10 pm but we did not make that…. Full day here tomorrow, Friday.
Read more

Flights!

Image
The vacation starts in the airport! We left DTW at 4:00 pm, got into Frankfurt at 5:45 am. The EES process took only 45 minutes, then 3 hours til our next flight. Uneventful 2-hour flight to Bergen. 3 hours later, luggage, transfer to hotel and in a room! L Deb and Dave flew First Class in the pods. (We were in the cheap(er) seats in Premium Economy.) We asked why the question mark. Our guide said they don’t know — perhaps the artist wanted people to talk about it! Apparently Bergen gets 240 days of rain each year. We’re here for a half day today, full day tomorrow and just Saturday morning. It’s not raining now so that’s as good as it’s going to get here! Here’s our predicted weather😂: Norwegians (and my friend Sheila) say that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing. So, we are armed with rain gear! Weather should be nicer once we leave here 🤞 but for today, it’s beautiful. Unpacking and looking for food today.  Hotel and Bergen pics follow.  
Read more