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We are in a little city named Molde (pronounced Mole-duh), Norway's city of roses. It rained lightly for most of our tour today, but we were mainly in the bus so it didn't matter too much to us. The pictures are grey-on-grey, but that just adds atmosphere and contrast to yesterday's sunny shots, right? Now that we're about to leave, the sun is shining again so we hope to get some nice shots of the snow-capped mountains on our way out.
Out bus tour took us out of Molde and through many farming villages to the Atlantic Ocean Road, which was finished in 1989 and has many accolades from various sources ("engineering marvel of the decade" etc). The road is a series of bridges that allow auto traffic to cross a bunch of marshy, boggy land gobs (not the official terms, I guess, but the family engineer is up on the top deck taking pictures right now). They let us off the bus for photos and we climbed around on the rocks and marshy bits (made marshier by the rainy drizzle). Then we visited the fishing village of Bud (pronounced Bood) and walked around on a WWII German Fortification that had been tunneled into the hills on the coastline.
Overall, it was a perfectly fine way to spend the morning, but not nearly as scenic nor historic as some of our other travel days. The most memorable part of the tour was probably our 20-something tour guide named Johanna who sang the Norwegian national anthem and her grandmothers lullaby to us and read us four or five Norwegian fairy tales as we drove through the countryside.
Life on the ship is very pleasant. We are getting nearly our own private waitstaff at dinner the past few nights because our waiters' other tables have been empty. We found out that Olga, our assistant waiter from the Ukraine, has been working cruises for about a year and she really liked Montreal as a port of call. Augusto, our waiter from Colombia, however, has been working cruise ships for 27 years and he thinks this will be his last because "it is a young man's job". He said he has put all four of his children through college and some have Masters degrees now. When he retires he will go back to Bogota, but he doesn't know anybody there any more except his wife because he has been gone for so long. He's a very nice man. We had noticed that he is clearly one of the oldest guys working the dining room, but he hoists his trays like the pro he is.
Every night I look forward to our "date night" at the restaurant. We have a lovely table for two and we start with the bread basket (Mark likes the bread sticks and I usually try the bread of the day). We each get to choose an appetizer, a soup or salad, a main course and a dessert (with coffee for me and hot chocolate for Mark) from the night's menu. There's a wide variety and I haven't had anything that disappointed me yet. Mark has actually been the more adventurous eater of the two of us this year, trying frogs legs and the pastry cigar with diplomat creme, for example. OK, those were two separate examples...otherwise that WOULD be vey adventurous! Mark notes that anything with the words "pastry" and "creme" isn't a bad bet.
We don't see our room attendant, Peter, very often, but he left us roses for our anniversary (!?!), so that was very nice. Every time we leave the room we come back to freshly wiped bathroom countertops and fresh ice in the ice bucket. It's good to be King and Queen for a few weeks!
Last night was really quiet around the ship in the evening and I couldn't figure out where everyone was, but then I realized that the Germany-Italy soccer match was on, so it made more sense. I think they were showing it in the movie theater downstairs as well as in some of the bars we hadn't been walking through.
Oh yeah, the days are really long here. The sun is setting after 11 pm and, really, it's not setting very well. It was pretty light out when I woke up briefly around 1 am. I think the official sunrise is around 3:30 am.
We are grateful to be missing the heat wave back home and for the comments you are leaving on the blogs. We haven't run into Ray's daughter (Mark notes that he doesn't know who Ray is, actually). We miss our little kitties but we know they are getting lots of love and attention from Julie (and other visitors) while we are away. So glad they are keeping up with the blog! Thanks for the notes about Aselund, Mom. Ken, I was just thinking of you a few minutes ago while we were sitting in a lounge area inside because it was really warm in there and Mark and I were sweating in short sleeved Polo shirts while the...older gentlemen?... were in fleece pullovers drinking coffee to stay warm! :-). We have since moved to a table on the deck to cool off. Kari, if you are reading, I know you would have spent some money in the shops in Molde today. They had lots of stylish things as well as traditional dresses for the girls (as I recall they wear in Decorah every year).
Stay out of the heat. Have some ice cream and read a book. We've found it to be a glorious way to spend an afternoon! Love, H and M
- comments
Fran Your photos are so great. I will have to buy your book. The trip sounds so well paced. Is the food good? Do you miss the round lazy susan? There isn't much new around here. It is a little warm. I got the driveway sealed and it looks so good. Yes, nothing as exciting as travel. I love hearing all about your adventures. Have a great day tomorrow. love, mom
Kath We are taking mom on a trip to St. Michael to watch soccer in the blazing heat. She may get to eat pizza with ten sweaty 9 year olds and their families between games. Just in case you thought you were the only ones on a cool trip! Ha! Miss you but love the blog and pix!
Kath P.S. love that my math skills get tested every time I post. Never too early to test for memory loss I guess. Just so you know, I am passing with flying colors so far
momt Sounds like a relaxing, enjoyable trip. You deserve to be treated as royalty once in a while!! We are treating Muppet as royalty as well (only fitting!!) Ray is our neighbor in AZ & lives in Stillwater up here. I know you met him several times. We took my car in to be repaired - haven't had to drive yours yet, but it is sitting nicely in our garage - cleaned & shiny & ready to use! PS As you can see, this old brain is still passing the math tests as well!