Stavanger

 March 5, 2023

“I’m a bit biased, as I married a Norwegian, but Norway is an incredible country.” – Edd China

Me, too, Ed. Norway is fascinating and its history and culture shaped incredible people who are deep enough to require a lifetime to know.

Likewise, Norway's special sites are worth more than one visit. Stavanger is one such place. 

Fair winds and following seas...Now that we're back in the southern part of Norway, we're enjoying blues skies and calmer water!

We first visited Stavanger on our Queen Mary 2 cruise in 2019. Back then we did a fjord cruise to view Pulpit Rock and enjoyed our first Norwegian pancakes. This time, we traveled to two historical sites--an Iron Age farm and a medieval monastery.

My favorite Northman!

The Ullandhaug farm pre-dates the Viking era (793-1066), but the way of life probably did not change much from this 350-400 AD farmstead to the time when all the Christians of Europe joined in the fervent prayer "Deliver us, O Lord, from the fury of the Northmen."

Actually, the reason the Northmen went raiding had to do with agriculture. There was not enough arable land along the fjords, so to avoid chopping farmsteads into increasingly tiny pieces, only the eldest son could inherit the family farm. Second sons and on down the birth order had to shift for themselves or rely on the largess of their older brother, so they began to look west to Bretland and the incredibly rich, weakly defended sacred sites.

A layer of birch bark topped with sod kept the family dry.

The longhouse at Ullandhaug is a reconstruction on the original archaeological site. From its stacked stone foundation and packed earth floor to the birch bark covered with sod roof, the dwelling is authentic in every detail. Twenty-five or more people would have lived here communally, probably an extended family group. Everyone in the household would have responsibilities. Believe it or not, the children were in charge of making sure the fire didn't go out!   

A hand mill used for grinding barley, oats and emer wheat. So much stone ended up in the flour, the Iron Age Scandinavian's teeth were worn down by the bread they ate.  

From Ullandhaug we rode across the city of Stavanger and into the countryside to the medieval monastery of Utstein.

Such a peaceful setting 

Originally a stronghold of Harald Fair Hair, the monastery was built as part of the Augustinian order in the late 1200's and in its heyday had as many as 12 "silent brothers" in residence. There were twice as many non-holy persons working on the grounds, building, cooking, and farming. Because it was a silent order, there were peep holes build into the walls from the kitchen to the dining hall. No one at the table could call out for the next course, you see, so the staff had to spy on the brothers during their meals!  

In case that's not creepy enough for you, there is supposedly a resident ghost at Utstein. In the 18th century, the monastery fell into the private hands of Christopher and Cecilia Garmann. Sadly, Cecilia died in childbed at the age of 25, but not before extracting a promise from her husband that he would never remarry. Christopher remained single for 20 years before succumbing to the charms of a woman 36 years his junior. To escape Cecelia's notice, he arranged to marry his new wife, not in his home chapel, but in the Stavanger Cathedral. However, the vindictive first wife was not to be scorned. After the ceremony, Cecilia's apparition appeared to him on the cathedral steps. Christopher died 8 days later. 

Cecilia and Christopher Garmann in happier times

Some have reported seeing a woman, or rather the tail of her long, full-skirted white gown slipping just around a corner as they entered one of the upper rooms. So Cecilia's ghost still hasn't found any rest.   

At least that's the tale as it was told to me. I suspect it's been embellished for tourist consumption. 

Don't miss the montage for more of these fascinating places. Maybe you'll catch a glimpse of Cecilia that I missed! 

Flam, or the Land Where Trolls Still Walk...

 March 4, 2023

Flam--Rhymes with Foam

This is our second visit to Flam. The first was in 2019 on board the Queen Mary 2. We're delighted to be back because Flam is tucked away, deep in 90 mile long Sognefjord, home to the DH's Norwegian ancestors. Three brothers came to the US in the 1800's, not through Ellis Island, but through Chicago via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence seaway. From there, they settled in northern Iowa, but Norway was still in the family's hearts. Norwegian food and traditions, hymns and prayers were all part of my husband's growing up. My father-in-law spoke only Norwegian at home until he went to school.

A little skiff of ice lines the shore

Our excursion today was the Flam railway, a truncated version of the trip we took in 2019. Then we rode up to Myrdal and transferred to another train that would take us to the alpine town of Voss. Today, we did a much quicker up and back. Probably a good thing since the train that connected in Myrdal was coming from Bergen/Oslo and was delayed by snow by a good two hours. 

There's a newer Disney-esque version of Flam down by the waterfront. The Old Town pictured here is several miles up the canyon.

The railroad continues to be a source of amazement for me. There are several tunnels, some originally hewn from the rock by hand, and one which completes a 180 degree turn inside the mountain. The views are spectacular, no matter what time of year. 

How lovely to see a patch of blue sky after many days of grey. The dark horizontal streak up on the left side of the mountain face is a partially exposed railway tunnel. We could see out of those dark windows in a few minutes!

Up top, we got out of the coach to stretch our legs for a bit and before the cold drove us back inside, we chanced upon this little fellow, the nearest thing we saw that suggested there were trolls about...

The big mystery is where someone got the cherry tomatoes to use for his eyes!

I'll let the DH's photo montage tell the rest of our scenic story:

Back on the Venus, we were greeted with cups of hot chocolate and then went down to the thermal suite to warm up in the thellasotherapy pool. The show, after another excellent supper, was a one-woman wonder from Heather Clancy, our exceptional cruise director. She sang everything from opera to the blues with devastating conviction and has such incredible comedic timing, she is simply a treat on every level. 

Good night, Sognefjord. Your sons in the US and their progeny still remember you, even those who've never been there.

Cabin 3021

Itinerary update: We have lost the stop at Alesund due to turbulent seas. Better safe than sorry and in our case, we don't feel the loss too profoundly because we were blessed to visit Alesund in 2019 on the Queen Mary 2! 

"You can have more than one home. You can carry your roots with you, and decide where they grow." ~Henning Mankell

We've been a pair of vagabonds since the day we married. The DH and I have lived in 9 different states, all four contiguous US time zones. I used to say our frequent moves were just extended vacations on which we happened to drag along all our stuff. As long as we are together, there is home. 

So it's no trouble for us to be happy setting up housekeeping on a cruise ship for long periods...or short as in the case of this trip. And Viking makes it easy to settle in to our cabin. 

Here's a little video tour of our V2 stateroom on the Viking Venus. Let apologize in advance for my heavy breathing. I sound like an old plow horse because I'm "winging it," i.e. walking around while talking without the help of my oxygen concentrator. Sorry about that.

One thing I neglected to show was the other side of the closet where it's a nice long space for hanging dresses and pants. There's plenty of storage. Though to be honest, the location of the closet is the one design flaw I see in the Viking balcony cabins. I much prefer to have wardrobes located across from the bathroom instead of jammed up against my side of the bed! 

Do you have a favorite cruise cabin? Or any other vacation place you like to call home sometimes?

Trondheim, Norway's First Capital

 March 3, 2023

I once stood on a street in Trondheim, Norway, looking up at a statue of a Viking. There came to my mind at that time a fable of the Norsemen that when a man won a victory over another, the strength of the conquered went over into his veins. Therefore, in this sense, adversity is good, for it produces in us a source of strength as we learn to conquer our weaknesses. —Alvin R. Dyer

The sun never seems to climb into the sky. It just floats across the southern half, hugging the horizon.

I don't know if Mr. Dyer is right, but it takes tough-minded people to live above the Arctic Circle and even in Trondheim, which is considerably further south. You have to really like winter and be okay with brief cool summers. Perhaps this explains why my DH's ancestors found happiness in the upper Midwest! But I recently learned a new Norwegian saying: "There is no bad weather. Only bad clothes!"

The River Nidelva. It's only 19 miles long from its source to the sea but there are 6 hydro-electric plants along its course. Norwegians refer to their hydro-electric power as "white gold."

Trondheim is where the first Christian king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason was crowned and the custom continued after a fashion even after Trondheim was no longer the capital. The current king Harold V, was coronated elsewhere, but he was consecrated (which means the crown was displayed beside him while the priest put his hand on the king's head) in Nidaros Cathedral.  

Midmorning in Old Town and the shadows are still long.

Nidaros is the world's northernmost gothic cathedral. Construction began in 1070 and it was finally completed around 1300. The bones of the building are pure poetry, but we only viewed it from the outside during the day. We returned in the evening for a special organ concert arranged by Viking! They do this sort of thing so very well. One of the many reasons we love Viking!

The organ is built into the structure with ranks of pipes distributed throughout the entire space so when the extremely accomplished organist played antiphonal portions of her pieces, there was a true call and answer from one end of the nave to the other. To give you a sense of scale, the largest of the pipes in the photo below were 11 meters (36 feet) tall! Sitting there, enveloped by glorious sound and soul-lifting architecture, I had the odd sensation that the entire cathedral was one big organism and organ was its lungs.

 I was transported! 

Hope you enjoy the DH's Trondheim montage:

Let There Be Light

Cloudy with showers

 "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." ~ Hamlet, Shakespeare

Norway has an extensive system of barrier islands that protect its coast. We wound our way through these channels to escape the tail of the hellacious storm still plaguing the far north.

The sun struggles to break through!

We left Narvik convinced we'd lost our chance to see the Aurora Borealis. Even though we'd hoped to be wakened last night with a three dings from the bridge announcing they'd been spotted, we slept uninterrupted. No lights for us as we streamed southward. 

So we did the next best thing today. We watched a lecture about what causes the Northern Lights. People have pondered this question for ages--even the Greek philosophers wrote about them!--but it is only in the 21st century that we have the definitive scientific answer. 

To create a borealis, you need an active star for a sun with lots of flares and spewing of solar material into the void. Your planet must also have a electromagnetic field, which we thankful do, otherwise life would be impossible due to the solar radiation bombardment. (This is why I always shake my head when people start talking about colonizing Mars. Even if we could get there, we'd have to live exclusively underground lest we be fried by that radiation.) 

Back to the lights...when solar particles hit our biosphere, the planet's magnetic field draws them to both of our poles, concentrating them in those areas. The colors created are the product of interaction with the elements in the atmosphere--oxygen for green at low altitudes and red in the very highest, hydrogen for blue, helium for purple.

And our eyes are not always able to perceive the lights, even when they are present. However, another lecturer explained that our cameras can! Because the human eye has cells designated as rods and cones, rods for night vision and cones in daylight, we don't see faint colors in the dark. It's more like gradations of grey. The camera, however, has no such limitations and can "look longer" in one place to amass more data about what it's seeing.    

Don't get too excited about this picture. It was from the lecture, not from our experience. 

But we spent a restful day on the Venus, visiting the spa, reading, listening to live music, and generally basking in each other's company. 

He loves his creme brulee!

And, as the DH says, no day is wasted if it ends with creme brulee! 

Our onboard entertainment team presented an ABBA review in the theatre, which is always fun. As a Scandinavian band, ABBA is afforded a place of honor on Viking ships and along with the Beatles always gets a tribute show! Most of the music is fluff and would likely have passed into oblivion if not for the success of the Momma Mia franchise, but I can't deny the heartfelt cry of "The Winner Takes it All!" 

We went to sleep satisfied that we'd had a "close encounter" with the Northern Lights, if not an actual one, by learning so much about them and our cruise was certainly not wasted just because we hadn't been able to see them.

Then at a little after 11PM, 3 dings sounded in our stateroom and the captain announced that the lights had been sighted off the port side. If we wanted to see them, we were urged to go to Deck 9.

Pandemonium!

Imagine for a minute a whole ship's company of eager sky-watchers stampeding for the port rails, jostling for a place. Then imagine a few who'd skipped the photography lecture trying to snap pics of the sky with their flash on! There was so much light pollution on the ship itself, the added flashes only made things worse. The DH and I eventually worked our way down to Deck 8 with a bulkhead to our backs to create a little darker space. 

To the naked eye, the lights appeared as ripples of grey or very light green. I learned to hold my phone still for about 10 seconds so it could grab as much color as possible. 

Managed to get some reds and blues along with the greens in this "celestial city!"

Eventually, I could see movement in the sky, albeit in undulating shades of grey, and knew where to direct my camera's eyes to capture something.

Even the lights of the small town in the distance couldn't outshine the aurora! 

All this goes to show that we are constantly surrounded by things of which we are not always aware. I'm not talking about just natural phenomena. I'm talking about the spiritual realm. All we can see, hear, touch, taste or smell is not all there is. There are things beyond our ability to perceive. Truly, there are more things in heaven and earth...

Here is the DH's Northern Lights montage. Enjoy!