Tag Archives: Alesund

Bergen, Alesund Norway and New Years Eve

Bergen

As promised here are some photos we took while walking the town of Bergen, the 2nd largest town in Norway.

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These old buildings stand at odd angles

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A view inside a shop, all were closed on Sunday

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1702, and not a street number!

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Open and tempting, though we did not.

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Radisson Blu, extremely busy for a wonderful breakfast

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Radisson Blu Bar and Social Club, empty early morning

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Live King Crab, chose your meal!

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The classic view of Ellen, Bryggen, Bergen, Norway

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Boarding the Hurtigruten Ship, Trollfjord

Alesund

I would love to regale you with tales of Alesund, the Art Nouveau capital of Norway, but I cannot.   After a late buffet breakfast aboard ship, we slept through lunch, through shore time at Alesund, and to the announcement for 1st dinner.  Jet lag and our colds had us “down for the count”.   

New Years Eve

There are regular announcements about upcoming events aboard the Trollfjord. One mentioned pre-booking champagne for tonight’s new years eve party by visiting the head waiter at dinner.

We are assigned first dinner seating at table 61.   There we met Dave and Kristen.  Dave is from Battle Creek Michigan.  His daughter, Kristen, is from Chicago.  It was fun for us getting to know them.  Dave is a retired high school science teacher who also coached football.  In his mid 70’s he is healthy and in good physical condition.  Kristen is a management consultant for a Chicago firm.  She is observant and sharp minded, though socially easy going.  The four of us are booked on the “most northern tram ride in the world” tomorrow.  Dave mentioned he’d enjoyed the sauna that has three windows opening onto the sea, and the open air Jacuzzi. The wind-driven rain, mist, and foam was quite cold beating in his face. Once we’re feeling better, we’ll hit the Jacuzzi.

After dinner, which included an abbreviated crab salad, lobster bisque, reindeer with potato, and a wonderful chocolate fudge with a dollop of ice cream.  Serving size was perfect (small). Dehydrated from our flights and colds, we drank a number of carafes of water.  Beer and wine is extra and not included in the cruise.  Wine and beer packages are available, but are only a “good deal” for those who drink a bottle of wine or two beers a day.  Until I’m feeling better, it’ll be water for me.  After dinner I did speak with the head waitress about pre-ordering champagne and it turns out that a complementary glass of prosecco will be available and that pre-ordering is for a full bottle for the evening.  We didn’t pre-order.

Sometime later in our cabin, we awoke to an announcement: “festivities beginning in the piano bar”.  It was now 11PM, we had slept for a few hours.  We found the piano bar and not a hint of a glass of prosecco.  The party started with a pianist and guitarist playing two Norwegian songs followed by our expedition leader singing Summertime.  The pianist and guitarist were accomplished musicians.  Our tour leader butchered Summertime, in an intentionally light hearted way.  Her performance was so startling and unexpected, there was a moment of stunned silence following her performance.  I immediately began clapping, others joined in, and an awkward moment was averted.  Her “singing” broke the ice.  Others were now free to sing along with abandon however they wanted.  In our search for bubbly we missed the sing-along lyrics sheets and “winged it”.  Strangely, my cold deepened my voice and gave it an unexpected timbre.  We had a fun time.

The party moved to the observation deck to watch the fireworks that literally encircled the ship and to have that glass of bubbly.

Happy New Year!

Tomorrow we have our first excursion: a trip on Trondheim’s historic tram, “The northern most tram in the world”.  We tucked into bed with an alarm set for 7 AM to be sure we have breakfast and time to change to catch the excursion bus at 8:30.

More pictures and some video will show up tomorrow, goodnight!