A day in Norway

Today started cold, cloudy, and windy with a light rain. As I write in the mid-afternoon on the stateroom veranda, it’s still a bit windy but the sun peeks out from the clouds occasionally making the water and hills that surround me cheery.

Cheery hills with a few spots of blue sky and snow-topped mountains in the distance.

Norway is beautiful in the sunshine. The little town we are visiting, Alesund, was devastated by fire in 1904 and rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style that was popular in Europe in that era.

Alesund’s Art Nouveau architechture

We had an excellent view of the city and the three cruise ships in port today from Aksla mountain on the edge of town. This vista is accessible by foot, if you’re willing to take the 418 stairs up; by bus, which was our choice; or by via ferrata. Follow the link if you’re interested knowing what that is.

On the left you can see the Zuiderdam (closer) and the Nieuw Statendam (further). In person it’s clear that the Nieuw Statendam is a couple of decks taller, but they look far more similar here than they feel from the inside. It’s exciting to see the Nieuw Statendam again after disembarking her in Rotterdam a few months ago.

In a little over an hour we will leave and be on our way to Akureyri, Iceland, our port for July 3rd. I don’t anticipate having much to say about tomorrow as it will be a sea day and I likely won’t purchase internet access. There likely won’t be much interesting to report anyway. But we’ve got exciting plans in Iceland, so stay tuned.