Cruise Updates

 Yes, there is a ton of down time on the cruise so why haven’t I blogged. Probably travel fatigue or blog fatigue. Next stop Stavanger.  This is an amazingly large town much larger than I first thought. We booked a tour to the Iron Age farms and the Ulstein Abbey.  This was a mistake as time was limited and Dan was interested in seeing how tools were used and what type of tools were created.  This dates back to the 900’s (if memory serves correctly).  The visit was brief our ship guide actually interrupted and cut short the site guide. Less than optimal visit. The second part of the tour was to Benedictine Abbey. This was a little more interesting. This optional excursion was disappointing especially when you compare to the included tour which also included a trip to the oil and gas museum which Dan had an interest in. The museum was a little too far to walk to get back to the ship for our paid excursion.  

Norway discovered oil which along with timber has become its greatest asset and source of financial independence. Lots of off shore rigs in the North Sea. 

The next day we arrived at Flam. This is a tiny town at the end of the longest deepest fiord in Norway. Flam is home of the start of the Flam railway which is billed as the prettiest most breathtaking in the world.  Beside a ship dock, railway there are 3 hotels, 6 restaurants and probably 10 gift shops.  Our ship had lots of excursions which included train rides.   We have booked the same train in 2 days as part of our Norway in a nutshell tour which we take in 2 days.  We did do an excursion to the overlook which provided a breathtaking view. Too bad there were 3 other buses of people. 

The upside is we have had no rain since our day in Karlstrona. Blue skies and mild temperatures the downside is I have several long sleeve shirts and not too many short sleeve ones.  This morning I was doing laundry as this is the last time before we head home. I had a little laugh at the lady also doing laundry as she didn’t want to pack dirty clothes for her trip home. I am happy to be wearing clean clothes to go home in and do laundry. Next stop Bergen.