Norway

   

 

Ok Folks, you get photographs this round. Why? Well we were on vacay on a cruise in Norway and the scenery is unbelievably beautiful.

Also, I was writing this post on an iPad! There’s no keyboard feel so typing takes considerably longer with more typos.

Mea Culpa!

OK, so on with the show! Journey started a week ago last Saturday, flew Houston to London. 16 hours later in the evening,we met our tour guide. Checked in to the hotel and did a front leaning face plant on the bed. Awakened by a phone call. It was light out. Our son and family were in the lobby to take us to the ship. (They are going with us). Could have swore we’d only been asleep 5 minutes or so. 

Got to the ship. It was pretty easy to determine which was the Disney ship.

                                 

On board and checked in, bags unpacked and ready to sail.

Little J, LJW and Miss B got a welcome aboard from Chip and Dale. This is a Disney greats you. You might have ascertained by now. 

 

Good for a chuckle however.

Monday we spent a day at sea, overcast sky, but the North Sea was fairly calm (in North Sea terms).

 But the Fjords were AWESOME!

 

 To gain an understanding of size.  That white dot just to the right of the center of the picture is a 33 foot Sailboat about 3000' away.  The Fjord mountains are huge!

Tuesday, we arrived at our first (of 5) port, Haugesund (pronounced h aa oh j ee sz uu uu n d) At least that's how THESE folks do it.* I’ll leave it to your imagination. The ladies (4 plus a 4 yo) decided shopping was the mission of the day. It was fun and kind of cool looking as well as temp. At least until it started raining. So we flagged down a cab and RTB’d.

When we woke up Wednesday, we were docked at a medium sized town named Olden. The town wasn’t as old as its name, so we decided to visit the local aquarium.

This fine fellow was pretty old.

Not as old as Sarge, but there’s a strong resemblance!

Just kidding!

Anyhow it was a pretty interesting “kettle of fish”. No pun intended …..RiiiggggghhhhTTTT!!!

So we’re now headed to Alesund, which is down a LONG fjord. Another nice, neat, friendly town. But tonight is “Pirate Night”.  All passengers and crew are expected to be in pirate garb.

 

So the Ladies did. Lots of fun!

Last town visited was Stavenger. Unfortunately, I acquired a digestive problem requiring a close radius to a facility, so didn’t go downtown. The gang said it was nice, clean and the shopping was good.  I got to look at a sailing ship from our veranda when I wasn't.....well, you know.

So the next day we’re back on the North Sea headed to London followed closely by a run through the airport and a 16 hour flight back to Houston. Mrs J decided caution was required so reserved a hotel room in Austin for the night before we driving ourselves to finish the  RTB.

 

Although the flight home was boring, we were in Business Class which was extremely comfortable. (A reward which Mrs J had been given by her travel agent company). However, we were sitting one cubicle behind another. So not a lot of conversation.

 

Upon rising in Austin, a shuttle lift to the airport parking lot and a 1.5 hour drive home and an early to Bedtime, we're back in business.

 

What a great vacation! Friends, Family, and Wine Tasting.  Doesn't get much better than that. 

All in all, a lot of fun! Peace out y’all!

 

*For whatever reason, Haugesund was the only one sounded out on that website that I could find on the web.