Fjords Glorious Fjords

 Monday, June 29

If you’ve ever hung out with me at all, you know that I’m a Broadway musicals fan from way back and if you’re familiar with the musical Oliver, you probably know about the song “Food Glorious Food” so I struggled with whether to call this post “Food Glorious Food” (they are feeding us non-stop!), or “Fjords Glorious Fjords”. Based on what we’re seeing this morning, “Fjords Glorious Fjords” makes more sense.

And, if you’re on Facebook, a lot of this particular post will be redundant to what my dear friend and travel companion Mona is posting there (with me tagged). I say that because most of this post will be photos that speak for themselves. You don’t need a lot of narrative to appreciate how spectacular the sites are. And the water is much calmer. I spent a lot of time outside this morning in the observation area; there’s quite a pleasant breeze.

A moment of silliness in the fjords—
note our new (necessary) puffy vests.
Still sunny, but a little bit cooler on the water today. 

There are snow capped peaks…

Small hamlets….

 

Unbelievable vistas….

Scenic photos with friends, in particular Larry Abbott our guide from Japan in 2006!!!!!….

Before lunch, we played a state capitals trivia game; we were convinced that our team would take first place.  We got 11 1/2 points, but the winners had 13 points because they were correctly able to identify the capitals of Albania, Madagascar, Kazakhstan, and Croatia (which we could not)! That aside, we did demonstrate our competitive chops. It was really fun.

This afternoon, because we’re at the inner end of the Nordfjord and as a smaller ship we want to avoid the monster ships at all costs, we took the tenders to the port in Loen — a lovely little town of 300 people year-round. Its source of income is tourism. While there were several excursions offered, the three of us chose the "troll cars" and a hike to the Briksdalbreen Glacier — "one of the most visited glacier arms in Norway and part of the largest glacier system in continental Europe." According to my friends at Wikipedia, a glacier is a persistent body of natural ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving under its own weight.

We packed the tender full and found out that are lovely cabin steward, Nikka, was on the boat with us because she had been given the afternoon off.

She is Filipino and is so excited to be going home this coming week after having been on the job on this boat for six months. She is sweet and excellent at what she does and readily agreed to taking a photo with us.

Once we got on the tender, it was literally a 3 minute ride to the dock! We then got on the bus for a 45 minute ride to the glacier. The scenery was spectacular. The glacial lake was a beautiful color of teal. Our guide told us that Lake Louise (in Alberta, Canada) is also a glacial lake and I remembered that—seeing the lake this afternoon. She also told us that she has been asked if the glacier lake water is safe to drink to which she replied only in small amounts because the particulates in the lake (that cause it to take on the teal color) are the equivalent of Pepto-Bismol— so not recommended.  

We saw countless waterfalls

...and there were several instances where the glacier came into view. Just wow.

 

When we arrived at the Briksdalbreen Center (with the obligatory gift shop), there were several troll cars lined up for our ride. 

As if choreographed to create the perfectly authentic Norwegian experience, the rain started coming down the minute we got out of the bus and walked toward the troll cars. And while it wasn’t exactly a downpour, it was steady. Good thing we were prepared. Everyone had their hoods up; otherwise, we would have been absolutely soaked.

We rode on the troll cars for about 15 minutes until we reached the landing space at which point we were sent in the direction of the glacier. It was actually a 15 minute rather rigorous walk, which was good because we’ve been mostly eating. And a little bit of cardio was totally worth it because the glacier up close and personal was stunning.

After the visit to the glacier, we were given the opportunity to walk back to the visitor center, and we jumped at that opportunity. It was a half hour walk— primarily because we had to keep stopping to take pictures.

We all gathered in the cafeteria area of the visitor center for a cake snack. We were told there would be small pieces of many types of cake and that this is a tradition to have with tea or coffee in the late afternoon. The pieces weren’t exactly what I would call small, but the cake was extremely delicious and we all indulged. I sampled the four types of cake. No Judgment, please. Gotta do as the natives do. 

We got back on the bus, got on the tender, went to our rooms and then of course, went down to the dining room for dinner. And what do you know? Tonight was the night of the big cheese spread. I’m not a cheese lover, but I’ve included the photos here because it was truly over the top.

We took out a regular seats in the dining room under the watchful eyes of our favorite waiter, Joe.

And proceeded to order more food. "How do we do it?", you may ask. I have no idea, although I do know that I will be proceeding with a juice diet as soon as I return home. This evening, the amuse bouche was a tiny lentil salad with hummus.

I ordered the crab remoulade which was in an unexpected presentation in a delicate pastry rollup— very delicious.

My next course was Ahi tuna (probably not locally caught, but I couldn’t resist) with pepper, shallot, marmalade, chermoula, carrots, and panisse. I have no idea what that is, but it was very tasty.

All three finished our meal with coconut Pavlova and tropical fruits. Unfortunately, this dessert was extremely delicious, but it was also extremely unnecessary as I truly overdosed on sugar today.

Tomorrow morning we go to Alesund for an art Nouveau architecture tour and Wednesday is our last full day on the ship. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Watch this space.

Love,

wendy

PS: In case there was any question about Norway being "the Land of the Midnight Sun", here is what it looks like through my cabin window at 10:17 pm: