Maps and food notes

Here are some maps of the Urke area and some notes on the food served. 

Urke and Hjorundvandring

Once we turned around and entered the fjords, it was way less rough, even calm. After a varied and tasty breakfast including lots of meats and cheeses (I refrained from these) oatmeal, eggs, lots of fruit and delicious melons, plus an array of croissants and pastries (I did not refrain), we attended a briefing on the two stops today - Urke with the three fjords and Alesund.

Betty and I have signed up for 5 excursions, so we won’t be going out every day but will have some days to ourselves to explore. Today was one of those. We took the tender boat to Urke and then walked into the small town of 57 people. The snow covered mountains were all around us and even though it was raining very hard at times, the beauty was breathtaking. A woman in the small grocery store told of leaving for several years but then returning because she was homesick. An interesting point was the grass (some quite high) on some roof tops. Apparently it has to be trimmed periodically. With what, I’m not sure. It looked very pretty and probably acts as insulation. 

 The tender boat we took to the Urke dock - about a five minute ride.

 A sod roof-topped house.

 View of a fjord.

FYI - Trash collection in Bergen

Vegard, our AirBnB host in Bergen, explained about trash collection when I asked if he wanted us to empty the trash before we left. Apparently, the city has just put in a new system. It consists of two trash receptacles outside on the street for which residents have an orange fob (the same one that wouldn’t allow me to put the keys in Vegard’s mailbox) that responds to that resident’s street and  trash can. We know this because we tried the fob on other trash receptacles, and the fob did not allow us to open the trash can.

Once you’ve pointed the fob (see video below or if it won’t load for me, I’ll email it) at the icon on the side of the trash receptacle, you are able to open the door and put in your trash. But the coolest part is that this trash is then sucked down and under the street into a system that then moves it to a central place to be packaged and separated. It’s also known as AVAC and used in a lot of countries including Sweden. There is a trash can for trash and one for recycling.

Sea Legs

There was much more movement of the sea on the ship than I expected, but Betty and I are fine. I did take a motion sickness pill last night just in case although I’ve never had a problem. But there was a definite swaying/rolling in the bed which I actually really like.

This morning, spray from the white caps was landing on the windows. Then we got an announcement that the ship was turning around to help a ship in distress. The turn-around was quite rocky but exciting that we were off on a mission to help. 

Then another announcement that the other ship was fine, and we would continue on our journey. I suppose we may be called upon to help another time, perhaps. 

The ship comes into port quite often as it is a ferry so some passengers are traveling from Bergen to other ports like you would on an American ferry. At some ports we’ll have time to disembark and scout around (this afternoon/evening is one such port). We also signed up for some excursions which will be longer and more involved. 

There is a briefing about today’s ports, so I need to go get updated. Later, mates!

Dinner

Dinner tonight was open seating and a buffet. Otherwise, breakfast and lunch are buffets and open seating while dinner is served at a specific time. We chose 6 pm for dinner. 

The buffet was extensive with a great explanation (see below) of why they chose certain foods. 

The explanation may be hard to read, but maybe you can click on picture to enlarge it?

Cabin

Our cabins are on 6 deck, one deck below 7 which where the Exploration lounge is and where many expedition briefings will be held. I thought the rooms would be connecting but they’re just next to each other. Oh, well. There is a phone and we can text via wifi, so it’s fine.

Embarkation

We were able to get a taxi to the Hurtigruten Terminal with the help of the taxi website and also our host. So, unfortunately, two arrived. But they seemed to understand stupid Americans. The next challenge was getting the key in to the mailbox as Vegard had requested. It wouldn’t fit. So, I finally left the trash can fob (more about that later) in the apt. And took the keys off the ring and pushed it into the very narrow slot.

Embarkation was very smooth and we waited in a lounge on deck 7 until our rooms were ready at 6 PM. Next came a tasty buffet dinner (see photos and info regarding some of the dishes). A safety meeting and an info meeting followed which was quite entertaining. The safety meeting reminded me of the freezing water and possible danger, but this is Hurtigruten and they know their way around these white-capped seas. Last year when Viking got into trouble, Hurtigruten did not go out that day, stayed in port as they knew...

The spray is hitting the window now. Very dynamic. I love it!