Olden, Norway - Day 10
Sounding like a broken record, we woke up to a perfect blue sky. The sun was shining beautifully on the little farms and houses directly across from our balcony. With the binoculars I looked across at the farmers baling hay and got a look at how they wrap them in plastic. So cool! A little farmer was gathering up something in his patch of field and once his little wagon was full he detached the gathering arm (no official farm term in my head to explain it except occasionally when you see mowing on the side of the road and it’s like a little arm that goes up then down with the mower attached). Anyway, after it was detached he would head home to unload, then come back for more. Could not have been more than just a few acres for both the farmer baling and gathering. Very cute scene. THIS, my friends, was a wonderful “make-up” day for missing the Faroe Islands.
Breakfast was the usual, so we won’t go into more detail there, but afterwards we walked around the town and I got some nice shots of little flowers growing along the road and of the town. I got several shots today of homes or buildings with grass on the roof. (They say they put goats up there when it gets too tall...unless to tour guide today was pulling my leg). We shopped at the souvenir shop and headed back to the ship for a SMALL lunch. Fruit salad and we split a lamb gyro. Just right. We headed out to catch our tour and we were in a sparkly purple bus and the driver and Guy chatted a bit as we were there early. Our guide was a young kid from Germany who was here working as a gap between college and a real job. He wasn’t too good as he didn’t know much about the area, but he told Guy later that it’s hard to find locals from Norway that want to do this type of work. Apparently they all have pretty decent jobs and/or money, so being a tour guide is left to kids. Our driver was an older guy and we felt in capable hands. Had it been the other way around with the knowledgeable Norwegian talking and the young German kid driving I would have not been so happy. ;)
I took LOTS of pictures as we drove along the tiny little road on the way to Briksdal Glacier. Photographing from the bus always stinks, and there are usually a few good ones...but the main point is they are a reminder of what we saw today, so for that they will suffice. Frequently we had to stop to let other buses by as the road was only big enough for one at a time. Once a bus had to back up into a pull over for us to pass. That is the photo from today where we looked head on with another bus.
At Briksdal Glacier we had to exit the bus and ride up on 8 person John Deere Gators. We followed in a row up the winding road to the lookout point. At one point we went over a bridge where the water from the glacier was pouring down. We got a bit wet, which was fine. The weather today was in the low 70s and full sun. So the misty water felt pretty good! At the top, we walked up about a quarter mile to the observation point. The glacier was small now, but to think about how big it was even 100 years ago. Crazy! I took a picuture of the glacier over the years, so check it out. Global warming...blah blah blah. The way I see it is God knows what he’s doing with his Earth. I’ll let Him be in charge there.
Who WASN’T in charge was the guy who let his 70+ year old wife take her shirt off and walk around in stretchy pants and a black bra. Yes friends, I suppose she thought it looked like workout gear, but I’m here to tell you that it was a straight up, 100%, bra-zeeer! So EWW! I saw her not only once, but had the pleasure (and confirmation) twice. Oh...to have no inhibitions. Actually, I’ll keep my inhibitions.
After LOTS more pictures we headed back to the cafe where they served cakes and coffee. All of it was super delicious and I went back for a second helping (Guy and I were sharing to begin with..so no judging!) We still had about 30 minutes before we got on the bus, so I walked down to get a few shots of the giant stream and chatted with my mom, while Guy stayed back and talked with our guide and got even more sun on his face. Yeah, “I went to Iceland and got a tan”. Don’t think you hear that very often. And again the first words out of the guide’s mouth “You all are so lucky with the weather”. Amen to that!
The bus ride back was the same as the way up, but I got to see everything again from the other side of the bus and the sun was striking beautifully on the mountains. We stopped for a quick photo-op and one last look at the glacier. He pointed out another small glacier to the right as well. I asked one of the boys driving the gators if there were waterfalls all the time. He said pretty much all summer, of course sometimes more than others, but none in the winter. Everywhere you look there is a waterfall. It’s so commonplace the ewwwss and ahhhss have somewhat subsided. I’m thinking the people who live here MUST be very happy. I hope they know what a beautiful place this is. I’m sure they do, but again, seeing it day in and day out numbs the senses some I’d think.
Tonight’s dinner was in the Italian restaurant again. The menu doesn’t change, so we chose mostly new items. We split a Caprese salad and Guy had the calamari again while I tried the chilled smokey tomato soup with a goat cheese crostini. Excellent. But for those of you who know me, sadly my sinuses today were letting me taste at about 40%. Next I had the sea bass with perfectly cooked mushroom risotto and Guy had the veal limone with cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce. I gave him a bite of mine and yes, it was the winner. But as she cleared our plates Guy was telling her how good mine was and she asked if he’d like one. He hesitated for about 0.3 seconds and said Yes! So I had coffee while I watched him eat. Again. Of course since this might be our last time in the Italian restaurant I told him he HAD to have the Nutella panna cotta while I ate a scoop of walnut and a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. He said he’d save me half, but when I looked back over he was scraping the sides of the little tiny dish. Both the server and the busser joked that they’d bring him ANOTHER! He said not to blog about that. Ok..sure. ;)
Tomorrow there is an 80% chance of rain in the PM. However, morning promises no rain while I’m on my fishing adventure. I hope not, but will take whatever is tossed at me!
Breakfast was the usual, so we won’t go into more detail there, but afterwards we walked around the town and I got some nice shots of little flowers growing along the road and of the town. I got several shots today of homes or buildings with grass on the roof. (They say they put goats up there when it gets too tall...unless to tour guide today was pulling my leg). We shopped at the souvenir shop and headed back to the ship for a SMALL lunch. Fruit salad and we split a lamb gyro. Just right. We headed out to catch our tour and we were in a sparkly purple bus and the driver and Guy chatted a bit as we were there early. Our guide was a young kid from Germany who was here working as a gap between college and a real job. He wasn’t too good as he didn’t know much about the area, but he told Guy later that it’s hard to find locals from Norway that want to do this type of work. Apparently they all have pretty decent jobs and/or money, so being a tour guide is left to kids. Our driver was an older guy and we felt in capable hands. Had it been the other way around with the knowledgeable Norwegian talking and the young German kid driving I would have not been so happy. ;)
I took LOTS of pictures as we drove along the tiny little road on the way to Briksdal Glacier. Photographing from the bus always stinks, and there are usually a few good ones...but the main point is they are a reminder of what we saw today, so for that they will suffice. Frequently we had to stop to let other buses by as the road was only big enough for one at a time. Once a bus had to back up into a pull over for us to pass. That is the photo from today where we looked head on with another bus.
At Briksdal Glacier we had to exit the bus and ride up on 8 person John Deere Gators. We followed in a row up the winding road to the lookout point. At one point we went over a bridge where the water from the glacier was pouring down. We got a bit wet, which was fine. The weather today was in the low 70s and full sun. So the misty water felt pretty good! At the top, we walked up about a quarter mile to the observation point. The glacier was small now, but to think about how big it was even 100 years ago. Crazy! I took a picuture of the glacier over the years, so check it out. Global warming...blah blah blah. The way I see it is God knows what he’s doing with his Earth. I’ll let Him be in charge there.
Who WASN’T in charge was the guy who let his 70+ year old wife take her shirt off and walk around in stretchy pants and a black bra. Yes friends, I suppose she thought it looked like workout gear, but I’m here to tell you that it was a straight up, 100%, bra-zeeer! So EWW! I saw her not only once, but had the pleasure (and confirmation) twice. Oh...to have no inhibitions. Actually, I’ll keep my inhibitions.
After LOTS more pictures we headed back to the cafe where they served cakes and coffee. All of it was super delicious and I went back for a second helping (Guy and I were sharing to begin with..so no judging!) We still had about 30 minutes before we got on the bus, so I walked down to get a few shots of the giant stream and chatted with my mom, while Guy stayed back and talked with our guide and got even more sun on his face. Yeah, “I went to Iceland and got a tan”. Don’t think you hear that very often. And again the first words out of the guide’s mouth “You all are so lucky with the weather”. Amen to that!
The bus ride back was the same as the way up, but I got to see everything again from the other side of the bus and the sun was striking beautifully on the mountains. We stopped for a quick photo-op and one last look at the glacier. He pointed out another small glacier to the right as well. I asked one of the boys driving the gators if there were waterfalls all the time. He said pretty much all summer, of course sometimes more than others, but none in the winter. Everywhere you look there is a waterfall. It’s so commonplace the ewwwss and ahhhss have somewhat subsided. I’m thinking the people who live here MUST be very happy. I hope they know what a beautiful place this is. I’m sure they do, but again, seeing it day in and day out numbs the senses some I’d think.
Tonight’s dinner was in the Italian restaurant again. The menu doesn’t change, so we chose mostly new items. We split a Caprese salad and Guy had the calamari again while I tried the chilled smokey tomato soup with a goat cheese crostini. Excellent. But for those of you who know me, sadly my sinuses today were letting me taste at about 40%. Next I had the sea bass with perfectly cooked mushroom risotto and Guy had the veal limone with cheese ravioli in a tomato sauce. I gave him a bite of mine and yes, it was the winner. But as she cleared our plates Guy was telling her how good mine was and she asked if he’d like one. He hesitated for about 0.3 seconds and said Yes! So I had coffee while I watched him eat. Again. Of course since this might be our last time in the Italian restaurant I told him he HAD to have the Nutella panna cotta while I ate a scoop of walnut and a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. He said he’d save me half, but when I looked back over he was scraping the sides of the little tiny dish. Both the server and the busser joked that they’d bring him ANOTHER! He said not to blog about that. Ok..sure. ;)
Tomorrow there is an 80% chance of rain in the PM. However, morning promises no rain while I’m on my fishing adventure. I hope not, but will take whatever is tossed at me!
Water pouring from a glacier... grass growing on roofs... yummy Italian foods... I'd have a hard time not bragging to someone that you'd had the best of ALL the Olden Days.... :-) :-)
ReplyDelete