Holiday Diary from Norway

[MetalRenard]

So... Last year I went on a trip to Norway and I just realised I never posted this thread. It's been sitting in my "drafts" folder for a year. It didn't get posted because I got bored sorting out all the photos then forgot about it. With that in mind, I haven't gone through and added the photos beyond the 2 that I had already added, sorry. Hope you like the holiday diary anyway, I wrote it ON the ship.


Norway, land of trolls and waterfalls
What a holiday... If you ever get the opportunity to go on a cruise, take it! I've seen some amazing things and met some
great people. On the second day I decided to keep a diary of sorts to share with you all here on Save-Point.
Without further ado, here it is with photos and all!

P.S. I've down-scaled and cropped some images to use them on this page but the bigger images I'll just add links to. This is to make sure everyone can read this, even if they have a slow connection. I'll try and keep the entire thing below 1mb in size.

Day 1 - Arrival
And so here we are! First day on "The Princess", a massive cruise ship filled with 5000 souls of which 3000 are others
just like me, on a great adventure. [ins. photo of our balcony] We're on our way to Norway to see some spectacular
sights such as waterfalls, mountains and fjords, but more on those when we get there in just over a day!

When we arrived at Southampton we could see the ship from a mile away. It's huge! You can only really appreciate
how massive these things are once you're standing right next to them. Obviously the first thing I wanted to do
was explore... I spent the first few hours exploring the ship from "Fore" to "Aft", every one of the lower "public"
decks and floors, nooks and crannies. The ship has all kinds if events happening too such as parties, live music,
quizzes/competitions, karaoke... I'm quite taken aback by it all, it's amazing. So far I have 2 favourite parts of the
ship. Right at the top there's an observation tower that is far above the rest of the ship and offers spectacular
views. At the fore you can lean over the edge and watch the ship cut into the ocean as it advances, water bellowing
around it in white ripples. So very romantic...

It's 6:22pm right now, and we're about to head off to eat dinner in one of the many restaurants. You can eat as much as
you like, whenever you like, anywhere you like. What a luxury! Well, time for dinner. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about
what I did tonight and how breakfast goes in the buffet, plus our first full day on the ship before reaching Norway!

Day 2 - Aboard the ship
Dinner last night was amazing! We had a 4 course meal; I had fresh spring rolls (the best I'd ever had), a soup, a
wonderful grilled salmon steak with vegetables (exquisite!) and a luxurious chocolate brownie desert covered in a
chocolate moose. Actually everyone made fun of me because it came in the shape of a heart... And it was called... the
"Love Boat." Let me tell you, it was pretty difficult to ask the waiter for that one but well worth it in the end! (I
couldn't get a photo because my phone was out of battery and charging in my room, sorry!).
As for sleeping, I slept like a log and was out cold within minutes of my head hitting the pillow despite having a great
book to read ("Use Of Weapons by Iain M Banks). Waking up was something else entirely...
I was told before we left I would be able to sleep until 8am. What they conveniently forgot to remind me of is the fact
that Norway is an hour ahead of us... So I had to effectively get up at 7am! I will be getting up at 7am for the rest of
the trip it seems. I can't complain though because it means I get to take my time having breakfast...
And what a breakfast! The buffet adapts what's available to the time of day but never closes. I got an almond-covered pain
au chocolat, an English tea, so fresh fruit and a small piece of cake in the style of where we're visiting. The food is to
die for!
I'm waiting for 11:30 when there's a lecture on the places we're going to visit over the next 2 days, Bergen and Flaam.
Later on I'm going to go and listen to a string quartet play. They have three different sets and I hope to hear all three
before we get back home. For now though, I'm going to sit up on my balcony, read my book and enjoy the sound of the ocean
around me with the fresh sea breeze... A slice of heaven!

Day 3 - To Burgen and beyond...
Well I didn't get to see the string quartet last night... It was our first "formal" night and I had to wear my suit. We
had a lovely dinner seated around a table with 4 other interesting people who were all very nice. Afterward we went to see
an on-board show, "Destination Anywhere". It was great, dancing, music, a few laughs, I had fun!
Anyway, I just woke up (6am UK time) to have a look outside (hence the apparent lack of enthusiasm). We're going to go
through the smaller waterways between the many islands around the area for the next 3 hours until we arrive. I'm going to
go to the ship's bow to watch them go past! Got to run!
[ins photos]
...
Back from Bergen now! We went up on the funicular (a kind of mountain train) to a height of 350m and had a wonderful view
over the city and its docks.

Another image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2802...Bergen.jpg

While we were up there we walked around the forest and came across a funny little poster...


Once we'd got back down to the city, we walked through the famous fish market then up Bryggen road which is classified as
a "World Heritage" because of its historical importance for the area. We also visited the museum there to see how the people
of that time lived. Did you know they used to lock the apprentices up at night like prisoners and that they burnt down
repeatedly so they probably wanted to avoid a re-enactment...

I'm back in my room to have a little nap now, I'm really tired after all this walking. This evening will be more relaxing
and we're going to eat in the buffet rather than a posh restaurant. Tomorrow we're off to Flaam, an incredible little town
inhabited by no more than 500 people. Our ship holds ten times more, and we're all going to borrow their train to go up
the fjord to see some waterfalls and trolls... See you tomorrow for the next update!

Day 4 - Flaam...boyant
I forgot to speak about the lecture! Well it was good, we learnt a lot and managed to do something pretty cool... Normally
the cruise organisers set up the visits to each location for you but charge an insane amount of money for each. We decided
early on to go it alone and because of that we found out we might not be able to take the train in Flaam. Thankfully we
found others who were in the same situation and organised our own trip, gorilla style! Tony and Leslie went the extra mile
for all 14 of us and booked the train from Bergen so many thanks to them!
I've got a bit of a head ache right now from all exercise and lack of sleep so I'm going to keep this short.
Flaam is... incredible. One of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. We went up on the railway with our small group
past waterfalls, pictoresque hamlets and even saw the Troll Queen... Who looked like anything but a troll.
Breakfast and lunch were awesome, as usual. We're heading back up the fjord away from Flaam now and I managed to get some
breathtaking pictures.
We're going to chill out tonight and watch Iron Man 3 in our room. The mountain air tired us out.
Here's a selection of photos from today's trip to fill in the gap!
[pics]

Day 5 - Olden Freezy-Peaks
Have you ever seen a glacier before? I have. Today!
[ins pics]
We got off of the ship via tender (small boat that also serves as a life boat if necessary) because another ship had
parked in our spot. Actually it's the ship we almost took instead of this one but didn't.
[ins pics]
We got straight onto a coach and skedaddled along the valley floor to the bottom of a mountain. More pics!
[ins pics]
We then walked up on foot and WOW! View after view! No need for words, just look.

Aaand now film (Wreck It Ralph), meeting the captain and formal dinner... See you guys later!

Day 6 - I thought one was bad enough...
Last night was nice. We keep bouncing into people we've met which is great. A few smiling faces are always a welcome
thing. It was a formal night too but I don't know if I'll have a photo of that, I didn't take my camera. Dinner was good
though, and we sat with more new people. I like sharing a table with people we don't know because it's a great way to meet
others, you don't get many opportunities on a ship like this, surprisingly. Needless to say, since the population is
mostly "older" people I haven't been able to really chat with many people my age either, but I'll survive. My sister's in
the same boat (pardon the pun) as me since she's even younger.
As for right now... Most of today will be spent at sea. We're only going to be stopping for a few hours at... Geiranger
(Gay-Rain-Gar)... Yeah that! But I'll get into that later once we've actually seen it.
Because of this traveling we're having a lazy day. I woke up at 8:30! That's the latest so far. I'll have to go and do
something soon but for now I'm just reading and listening to music while watching the island outside my window go past.

Oh and the title of today's entry. Seven Sisters.
[ins pic]
Yes, here it looks like there are six but they start as seven at the top.

Day 7 - Rainy Day in Stavanger
Geiranger was amazing! I stood under a waterfall, freezing cold water toppled from fifteen meters above onto my head. I
also got to see some spectacular sights.
[ins pic]
We went on a coach trip up both sides of the mountain.
[ins pic of troll bus]
Last night's show was of a magician and he completely defeated my brain with his slight of hand tricks. Cards were flying
about, tons of coins appearing out of nowhere... Very impressive.
We're also having our first very rainy day. It did rain a little on the first few days but nothing like this, it's quite
heavy. Nowegian weather has done itself proud, I got soaked despite my rain coat!
Stavanger isn't that interesting really, it's not a tourist city and it doesn't have many attractions. I did buy a muffin
from some kids who were raising money for charity though, that was nice.

Day 8 - Last day, on board the ship
Last night there was a party on the ship, balloons were dropped from the ceiling and people danced. [ins picture]
Looking back on the trip there are a few funny things I would like to point out to you. Some of you probably know that
this year I'm doing the PGCE to train as a teacher. Well half of the people I spent more than thirty seconds talking with
turned out to be teachers! That's kind of weird, but a funny coincidence. (In fact only one group of people I chatted with
didn't have a teacher among them).
Special mention for the ship's crew and staff who work tirelessly to provide for all of us and have done a tremendous job.
I've had a really fantastic time.
Today we have a few activities on the ship as we sail back towards Southampton and then we're leaving the ship tomorrow at
8:40am, (UK time... Phew!). I must admit that I'll miss this easy-going life style but at the same time it will be nice to
be home again with my dogs in the quiet of the East Sussex countryside.


Thanks for reading this far if you have, I hope you enjoyed it all; the photos too, of course.