Excellent Eurodam Norse Legends 8-15 August

[brazilgirl]

We didn't try Caneletto ...suppose it was no big loss. Flam looks very pretty. Looking forward to the rest of the review..

 

We will be sailing on the Westerdam next year. It seems you enjoyed the Veendam quite a lot. Did you prefer it to the Eurodam?

[shrimp56]

We didn't try Caneletto ...suppose it was no big loss. Flam looks very pretty. Looking forward to the rest of the review..

 

We will be sailing on the Westerdam next year. It seems you enjoyed the Veendam quite a lot. Did you prefer it to the Eurodam?

 

It's apples and oranges. I was surprised at how much I did enjoy Eurodam. I thought it would feel too big, but it didn't. And any 'dam ship is a 'dam good ship.

[brazilgirl]

It's apples and oranges. I was surprised at how much I did enjoy Eurodam. I thought it would feel too big, but it didn't. And any 'dam ship is a 'dam good ship.

 

Glad to hear. I am sure we will enjoy the Westerdam very much.

 

 

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[limace]

Enjoying this so much-this is definitely on my bucket list!

[shrimp56]

Thanks! I'll continue when we get home on Monday.

 

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[shrimp56]

We woke up sailing into Hardangerfjord. We had ordered room service breakfast and although it arrived safely, it was much too much food. I realize they delivered what we ordered, but they sent 2 of everything. We also decided we preferred wandering down to the Lido ourselves for breakfast. But it did give us sustenance to enjoy our trip up the fjord from our balcony. The highlight was the Furebergfossen, but there was much to see before that.

 

My favorite fjord photo

 

Some of the artwork in our cabin

 

Salmon farming

 

Small town in Hardangerfjord (note church)

 

Reflection

[shrimp56]

Furebergfossen in the distance from our balcony on deck 10

 

The road leading from the town through the rock cliff to the waterfall

 

Furebergfossen

 

The bit of diagonal gray on the mountain under the clouds is a glacier

 

More reflections

 

Sometime during the morning we emerged from our cocoon and when we did I ran into a fellow roll-caller, Alan, who asked if we had heard that Mark of Mark and Clyde had taken ill and that we had left them in Flam, where Mark was to be transported to the nearest hospital. Of course I hadn't, but we figured out that explained the previous evening's delay as well as why Mark and Clyde didn't show for cocktails.

 

My next move was to call the other Mark and Jesse. I reached Mark on the phone and he hadn't heard and said that Jesse was in the Explorations Cafe. So up I went to find Jesse there as advertised. If I haven't mentioned it already, Jesse is a medical doctor, so I thiought we could leverage his status to get more information. While we were plotting I was on google maps looking for hospitals near Flam and narrowed to search to two. I sent Dr. J. off for info. Of course because of the HIPAA Privacy Rule he didn't get any, but the nurse DID tell him the name of the hospital. BINGO! And it was one of the ones we had located so it was easy to find the telephone #. It took us two calls to finally get to chat with Clyde, who let us know that Mark was ok and that they would be rejoining the ship in Stavanger. PHEW! I told Clyde that the next time if they didn't want to have drinks with us just tell us. LOL FYI here's the hospital website: http://helse-forde.no/omoss/avdelinger/medisinsk/lerdal_sjukehus/Sider/side.aspx

Edited September 11, 2013 by shrimp56

[RuthC]

In the terrible heat & humidity of summer, every day I have screamed to myself "Why am I not in Norway???" . Your pictures have only served to reinforce that thought. Thanks, I think.

Glad you hear that your friend was well taken care of, and was planning to return to the ship. Good news.

[shrimp56]

In the terrible heat & humidity of summer, every day I have screamed to myself "Why am I not in Norway???" . Your pictures have only served to reinforce that thought. Thanks, I think.

 

Glad you hear that your friend was well taken care of, and was planning to return to the ship. Good news.

 

Well now you know what cruise to book for NEXT summer:)

 

Yes, we were so relieved that Mark was fine. A lot of celebrating followed his return to the ship, involving strange colored cocktails LOL

[RuthC]

Well now you know what cruise to book for NEXT summer:)

Yeah, well, next summer is all booked up. I have two cruises to Alaska planned.

But there's always the summer of '15! :D

 

Last year, Eidfjord and Hardangerfjord were new to me, and I enjoyed both the visit to the small town, and the gorgeous ride down the fjord at the end. It was a beautiful evening.

[shrimp56]

Yeah, well, next summer is all booked up. I have two cruises to Alaska planned.

But there's always the summer of '15! :D

 

Last year, Eidfjord and Hardangerfjord were new to me, and I enjoyed both the visit to the small town, and the gorgeous ride down the fjord at the end. It was a beautiful evening.

 

You were fortunate to make Eidfjord. Thanks to Captain De Vries we were able to sail part way up Hardangerfjord. I think we were all grateful.

 

We may pass each other in Alaska. We are trying to arrange a family trip there for next summer.

[brazilgirl]

In the terrible heat & humidity of summer, every day I have screamed to myself "Why am I not in Norway???" . Your pictures have only served to reinforce that thought. Thanks, I think.

Glad you hear that your friend was well taken care of, and was planning to return to the ship. Good news.

 

I often feel this way in the summer...I should have married a Norwegian , not a tall , dark and handsome Brazilian! I am not a tropical girl at heart!

[shrimp56]

Having found out that Mark was ok and that they were on their way back to the ship, next on the agenda was an afternoon visit to our backup port, Haugesund.

 

Ironically on the way in we saw a small medical ship and rescue helicopter also heading to Haugesund.

 

The obligatory Dance of the Tour Buses

 

Haugesund is a small Norwegian city with some 20th century Norwegian architecture, an interesting church, a shopping street and a few old houses.

 

The city has only been welcoming cruise ships since last summer and I must say they bend over backwards to make you feel welcome. Friendly people and free shuttles buses go a long way towards keeping a cruise passenger happy. Some of the tours had been rescheduled from the morning, but we decided, after some to-ing and fro-ing to just take a look at Haugesund.

 

City Hall

 

The shuttle sign

 

An older house

 

A beautiful backyard

[shrimp56]

We wandered the shopping street, browsing here and there, but finally headed for the church.

 

Vår Frelsers kirke (Church of Our Saviour) was built in 1899 and consecrated in 1901. Its plain exterior hides a lovely interior.

 

The beautifully detailed ceiling of the church, very much of the period.

 

The church's interior. It reminded me a bit of Alte Nikolaikirche in Frankfurt, Germany on the inside.

 

 

The church had organized the perfect way to get people to understand they were in a place of worship. The woman in the picture would give a brief history of the church, then read what amounted to "prayers of the people", both in English, which was followed by some live organ music. There would be a pause of a few minutes, then the cycle would repeat. It was beautiful and very effective.

Edited September 11, 2013 by shrimp56

[shrimp56]

Eurodam from downtown Haugesund aka the ship that looms...

 

One of our shuttlebuses.

 

My desert notable for the pineapple "fan" and the tequila content.

 

Thus endeth our unplanned visit to Haugesund. While it has some charms, I'd recommend taking a shorex if you dock there.

Edited September 11, 2013 by shrimp56

[jimbri]

Your photos are great! Thank you for sharing.

[shrimp56]

Early morning docked at Stavanger

 

Stavanger was the stealth port. It is a center of the oil industry, which didn't sound too hopeful, but it ended up being a charming and friendly place. Of course it didn't hurt that we were having lunch with a Norwegian friend, who just happens to live here! We were meeting her at 12:30pm for lunch, so the plan was to head through "Gamle", that is, Old Stavanger, to The Canning Museum. (Yep. Canning. Stavanger was a major port for receiving and canning sardines), then on to the old cathedral.

 

Looking down on Gamle Stavanger from our balcony

 

Gamle Stavanger across the street from our ship. The tall smokestack was our quarry, The Canning Museum.

 

 

Gamle Stavanger was up the hill from the dock. It was full of small white clapboard houses festooned with flower pots and window boxes. The humid and often rainy climate made keeping them green easy.

 

The Canning Museum

 

The Canning Museum turned out to be an old canning factory, pretty much left as it was, except for the substitution of semi-translucent and flexible plastic sardines. Otherwise the place would have stunk! There was one rack of the real thing near the old smoking ovens. Our admission would have also gotten us into the Maritime Museum if we'd had the time.

 

Edited September 13, 2013 by shrimp56

[Copper10-8]

The train stopped in a tunnel about half-way to our destination. Well OUR part of the train was in the tunnel. It was a photo-stop to see the Kjofoss Waterfall. There is sometime a woman who dresses up as a spirit and dances on the rocks. I didn't see her, but several of our companions did......................

 

The Kjofoss "huldra" ("hulder"), part of old-Nordic mythology. Legend has it she lured men into their doom by stunning beauty and sweet songs:eek:

Great review!:)

[brazilgirl]

Very enjoyable !

 

Love the dancing temptress in the waterfall.

[shrimp56]

Thanks for the comments folks. I don't mean to be dragging this out, but life has a way of getting in the way LOL

 

Cooper10-8, some of our group saw the temptress. I was meekly on my way back to my train car in the tunnel.

[shrimp56]

THE CANNING MUSEUM

These pictures are pretty self-explanatory. They either have to do with smoking and drying the sardines, making the cans, or filling and labeling the cans.

 

 

 

 

 

These are the only real sardines in the museum

 

Edited September 13, 2013 by shrimp56

[shrimp56]

After the museum visit we walked along Øvre Strandgate through a small park with statues that seemed to be based on storybook characters to the town center and the cathedral.

 

 

Walking through Old Stavanger with its cobbled streets, white wood-framed houses with flowers everywhere.

 

 

This house entrance was more secluded than those right on the walking street.

 

 

The walking street was enforced by these stone humps. No words were needed LOL

 

 

One of the storybook statues in the little park between Gamle Stavanger and downtown.

 

 

The lake in Byparken, right behind the cathedral.

[shrimp56]

Next we wandered around Byparken to Stavanger Cathedral, aka St Swithins, which was begun around 1100, and finished in 1150. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1272, "renovated" in 1860, in the process removing much of its "medievalness." In a 20th century restoration much of the 1860 restoration damage was undone. It is the oldest cathedral in Norway and retains much of it's historic "feel."

 

 

The cathedral front. We missed the back, which is much more impressive with 2 towers.

 

 

The pulpit, finished in 1658 was amazingly ornate from the Triumphal Christ on top to the poor dude on the bottom who carried the entire weight on his back.

 

 

Some of the amazing decorations in the cathedral, including Adam and Eve post-fig leaf.

 

 

A beautiful window, probably early 20th century.

 

 

Wanted to sneak in an extra image. On the left one of the gilded chandeliers, on the right an angel holding a light next to the hymns & readings for a service.

 

 

When you look back towards the entrance you can see some of the more medieval elements of the cathedral.

Edited September 15, 2013 by shrimp56

[Cruisin Kay D]

Sally, what fabulous pictures and wonderful commentary on your Norwegian trip!! The fiords with their precious little towns are quite charming & so beautiful; and the water is so amazingly calm.

I have been eager to go there too, and looking at some cruises for next summer....but your pictures make me feel like I was there with you!!! Thanks, Sally!!!

[shrimp56]

Thanks you for your wonderful comments, Kay. It IS a wonderful cruise, but even better if you can go further north on the coast. Geirangerfjord is the bees knees and I love Trondheim and Tromso.

 

Back to our story...

 

As we left the church we noticed a Green Market, so went to investigate. The sunshine made everything look delicious! Prices are in NOK so one "stick" of broccoli was about $0.63 USD. We needed to amble towards meeting our friend for lunch so we wandered towards the Bryggen or "warehouse" area.

 

 

Leave it to Burger King in Stavanger to have cruise ship specials!

 

 

Our target was Sjohuset Skagen. I had found it during a web search and liked the location and the menu. Since our friend, Heidi, had just moved back to Stavanger from the UK, we went with this choice and were not disappointed. The restaurant is a rabbit warren of many levels, with much of the original warehouse intact.

 

 

I found this watercolor near the WCs. It shows the restaurant with Valbo Tower in the back.

 

 

You can get a sense of the interior from this picture.

 

 

Heidi and I both had the Fish Soup, which contained shrimp, whitefish and 2 of the yummiest blue mussels. They may have been farmed, but, as we saw in Hardangerfjord, fish farming is done in a very healthy and sustainable manner. http://www.fisheries.no/aquaculture/aquaculture_species/Farmed-mussels/

 

 

We had a lovely time catching up with Heidi, but she had to go back to work. DH took a taxi to the art museum to see an Impressionism exhibit and I shopped a bit and strolled back to the ship.

Edited September 20, 2013 by shrimp56