Saturday, August 14, 2010

Like a Circle in a Circle

Amsterdam is a wonderful city, especially good for people-watching. We did our share of that today.

The day began with the Dance of the Passports. Continuing passengers were to meet in the Ocean Bar at 9:30 to go through Dutch immigration. Dutifully, we and Roxanne and Ed reported as instructed. By the time our ‘friend’ Richard collected everyone and paraded us to the terminal, the Dutch officials had left and we were dismissed to go on our merry way.

On the way out of the passenger terminal, MA saw some Delft-style canisters she wanted to buy but decided to get them on the way back so we would not have to carry them all day. We followed the instructions we got from the Information kiosk in the terminal and walked to Centraal Station, the main railroad terminal in Amsterdam. We dodged bicyclists and trams [light rail] on the way. Even with the traffic, the walk took less than 15 minutes. We wandered like lost souls until we found signs for several Hop On-Hop Off boat tours. With nothing to guide us, we picked the kiosk with the shortest line. We paid 20 euros apiece for unlimited trips for one day and set out to find the boat.

We were expecting a boat like the one we rode at the Falkirk Wheel [was that really almost three weeks ago?]. Of course, we were disappointed when we discovered that the seating was in U-shaped banquettes around small tables. The boat was crowded when we boarded and we were lucky to get two seats in the same banquette. Unfortunately, we had to share with strangers who seemed to take their share and some of ours, especially when he twisted to take pictures. MA ended up riding backwards, which she hates, and both of us were very uncomfortable.

This version of the bateau mouche had some explanation of what we were passing but it was given sequentially, so we had to wait through 4 or 5 languages before new information was given. On many HoHo buses passengers use ear phones and choose their preferred language; this method allows for more information in a shorter time frame. Anyway, many of the passengers and all of the children departed at the stop for the zoo and we followed shortly thereafter.

The City Hall stop was a transfer point to the other route this company used [All of the tour operators seem to follow a similar pattern]. In order to stretch, we decided to transfer to the other route. The new boat would pass the Anne Frank House, Centraal Station and several museums plus the Heineken brewery before returning to City Hall. We had a half-hour before the next boat came and went to the first café we saw and got Cokes. What else? We were among the first on the next boat thanks to a little insistence on our part.

This second boat was bigger, had bench seats which faced either forward or backward, separated by a table. Better still it was not crowded and we and Roxanne shared a forward facing seat. Ed sat farther forward so he could get better pictures which we plan to steal later. At the next stop, a family with two little girls sat with us and we divided our time between watching Amsterdam and the girls. D took as many pictures of the children as he did of the city.

The canals form rings around and through Amsterdam. There are many bridges and short tunnels to allow automotive traffic to pass overhead; there are also a number of small draw bridges. We saw canals of all sizes and widths. Some were narrow enough that only small boats could traverse them. Others could accommodate large barges two abreast. Everywhere we went, there were bicycles and outdoor cafes. It is a lively place.

Of course, some areas were more crowded than others. Just as families got off at the zoo on the first leg of our adventure, lots of passengers departed at the Anne Frank House stop. As we cast off, we could see a long line of tourists waiting to enter the best known house in Amsterdam. Barbara and Marvin were planning on visiting today, but they had reserved timed tickets before leaving the US.

We stayed on this bateau until it returned to the City Hall stop. By now, it was 1:40 and we had been loose in Amsterdam more than three hours and were hungry. By design, we returned to the same café where we had stopped earlier and got lunch. Both couples chose the same things to eat – a plate of “snacks, Dutch style” and Cokes. The drinks arrived first and we were dismayed to discover that they were not Coke but were Pepsi. Horrors! We asked for, and received, lemon slices to hide the Pepsi taste and all was right once again.

Our snack plates held more food than we could eat. There was a dish of both green and black olives smothering several garlic cloves; mixed nuts; fried cheese; chicken tenders [sort of]; the Dutch bitterballen which are fried with something gooey inside; cheese cubes and sliced wurst [sausage]. We could not finish all of it despite how good it all was.

We returned to the quay to get the first boat back to Centraal Station and arrived just as the boat pulled up. The four of us were the only ones to board this boat which had a different seating configuration from the other two. This one was just rows of forward-facing seats. We were comfy but confused. What had started as a very unpleasant tour had become a wonderful day. The fact that it was warm and sunny made it an even better way to spend our day.

Once back at Centraal Station, we made our way back to the Prinsendam at 3:45. By the time we came through the terminal, looking for the canisters from the morning, we found that the vendor had closed up at noon and the open stall had nothing like what we wanted. When we boarded the ship, we were hot, tired and happy. We found a surprise waiting in our cabin – two plates of chocolate candy surrounding a marzipan rose – a thank-you gift from the ship to those continuing on to the Baltic.

We couldn’t relax, though. There was a mandatory boat drill at 4:15 and we were afraid that we would fall asleep if we lay down to rest. Instead, we went to the Ocean Bar for ice water while we waited. Our boat drill supervisor was Syarif, the headwaiter who chose us for dinner with the Hotel Manager. He walked through the bar while we waited but said we had to come outside even though we were sitting in plain sight of the life boat. We didn’t want to create a fuss, so trooped outside when it was time. He didn’t even call our cabin numbers as he was checking attendance since he knows us and Roxanne and Ed so well by now.

The ship started out of Amsterdam harbor at 5:00 and headed toward the North Sea and, eventually, the Kiel Canal [more on that in tomorrow’s entry]. The captain expected to reach the Amsterdam locks to the North Sea around 7:30, so we hoped to see the process begin while we had drinks in the Ocean Bar. .MA went for a nap and D went to the Ocean Bar to “oopdate” the journal. He also went to see the Dining Room table assignment officer to arrange for a good table in the morning so we can see everything as we enter the Kiel Canal.

Once again, the captain was early and we entered the locks around 7:00. We watched some of the process from the room and Ed and D took pictures before we went to the MDR. Dinner tonight [eggplant cannelloni/prime rib] was quieter than the last three weeks without Barbara and Marvin. We have kept the same table and wait staff, so it could have been worse. After dinner, we went back to the room and read before going to sleep. Tomorrow won’t be such an early morning, but we have to be in the MDR at 9:00 to watch as we enter the Kiel Canal.

Tomorrow – The Kiel Canal

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Semi-final Frontier

Today’s program calls this Day 22 which it is technically. We boarded on Friday, July 23 but did not sail until the next day. Tomorrow, we dock in Amsterdam [Day 23?] to take on supplies and new passengers. We have no specific plans yet, but we do have several walking tours on D’s Kindle and there are always canal tours. Although we would like to revisit the Anne Frank House, our knees are no longer willing to climb the steep, narrow stairway behind the famous book shelves.

We have continued to talk excitedly, especially with Roxanne, about last night’s dinner. Being in the center ring of the MDR Circus was not the only intimidating aspect of the evening. The table itself brought a sobriety which we had not exhibited in three weeks.

The Table of Honor is a round table which can hold 10 people although there were just nine of us last night. It is right in the middle of the larger of the two areas of the La Fontaine Dining room and it was set as if for royalty. All of the plates were in the Rosenthal Versace Medusa pattern, dark red with a figure of Medusa’s head staring out as if it was statuary. The crystal was from the same pattern. Water goblets a foot tall and matching, but shorter, wine glasses [both red and white] with Medusa’s head in three dimensions at the bottom of the glass where it meets the stem.

To fill these wine glasses, the wine steward [sommelier] had selected an Australian white and a Napa valley red. He had decanted the red an hour before the dinner so it could breathe, as they say in the wine business. While the white was poured straight from the bottle, the red came from a clear glass decanter which looked a little like a flat, glass teapot on drugs. Wine was served at the beginning of the meal and then again when the entrees were served; thus, people could drink white at the start and switch to red if their meal called for it or vice-versa. It was oh, so terribly refined. Even the water was poured from fresh plastic bottles. Damn the recycling problem, full steam ahead.

One thing we talked about was the recycling situation on shipboard. In years past, there used to be a separate receptacle in each stateroom for the recycling of paper. Our cabins have not had this for several years although some at the table claimed that there were separate sections in their trash cans. Fermin talked at length about recycling on the Prinsendam. Crew members go through each trash can to pull out anything which can be recycled – paper, metal, glass, etc. Batteries from cameras and the like are also collected. The waste is then crushed and/or bundled pending its removal at an appropriate port and any money made from its sale is set aside for the crew. As a result, there is much less waste on board than there used to be, a positive for the pocket book and the conscience.

Trivia today was a disaster. The winning teams tied at 15 correct and we were not even close to that with our paltry 11. Even if we had made better decisions when answers were offered, we still would not have won. [The blue jay is a member of what bird family? Who plotted a revolution against Elizabeth I in 1601? Which continent has 5 of the world’s 10 longest rivers?]
MA had her nails done this afternoon, so lunch was very light, but we did go to the Indonesian tea at 3:00 with Roxanne. Eko, our dinner waiter, took care of us and recommended several pastries with names he did not mention. There was a pancake, as he called it, wrapped around coconut and brown sugar and another pastry which was sticky rice rolled in coconut. Roxanne had a meeting at 4, so we split up and went back to the cabin to read. MA is determined to finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo today.

Dinner tonight was sad. Barbara and Marvin are leaving us in the morning and the table will not be the same. Quieter but not the same. Of course, we will be able to see them when they return to Florida, possibly for good, in September. After last night’s formality, it was good to laugh and giggle again. [MA had sesame noodles and D had chicken again]

All through dinner, we could see what we assumed were oil rigs in the distance. At one point, Barbara took a picture of what we think was a little house in the middle of the North Sea; perhaps it is a caretaker’s cottage for the personnel who oversee the rigs. Most of those rigs seemed to be nothing more than a few pipes sticking out of the water, probably not real wells. We could also see a number of “Christmas trees,” full deepwater oil rigs. After the recent events in the Gulf of Mexico, we weren’t sure if we wanted to cruise so close to any of these oil rigs. Luckily, none exploded while we were in the vicinity.

We made sad goodbyes to Marvin and Barbara and made arrangements to meet Roxanne and Ed in the morning. All continuing passengers must vacate the ship to satisfy Dutch immigration officials. Since we have to go ashore to present our passports, we will start our exploring when the Passport Dance is done.

Tomorrow – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

And the Band Played On

We arrived in Kristiansand, Norway, around 7:00 but the ship was not cleared for passenger departure until 8:00. When Thom announced the “all clear,” we got up and dressed. We skipped breakfast this morning because there was a chance of rain and we wanted to miss it.

It turned out to be a warm sunny day and we were over-dressed. The 61F temperature quickly rose and we regretted wearing a sweat shirt and sweater, respectively. D even took off his Herstein University hat from time to time just to cool off. We walked into the little town, following others who pretended to know where they were going. Map in hand, we passed through the commercial dock and over several small bridges. From one of them, we could see what appeared to be a small marina which turned out to be an area of restaurants and bars [and a fish market]; several of the restaurants were accessible by boat and it was this that we had seen from the bridge.

Further on, we passed a sculpture garden in a public park and we decided that we would investigate this on the way back to the ship. Following the map, we made our way to Markensgate, a pedestrian shopping street. Although there was little “old’ architecture, there was plenty of shopping and even more restaurants and sidewalk cafes. We looked through several book stores and hunted once more for the elusive souvenir box from Norway but bought nothing. We were tempted by a wooden moose which had a baby moose inside [like our nesting penguins from Ushuaia] but it was over $30, more than we wanted to spend.

We walked a little way into an urban shopping center. Like Paragon in Singapore, it was a modern indoor mall spread over several floors in what was once several buildings. We rested there for a few minutes as we watched people pass by. On the way out we stopped at the first of the book sellers and had a nice chat with the young man working there about e-books and I-phones. He admitted that his telephone was as old-fashioned as ours.

We turned toward the cathedral and found ourselves in another pedestrian area. There were more bars, restaurants and coffee shops here, most with outdoor seating. Additionally, there were local vendors in the middle of the “road” selling crafts and vegetables. We saw some produce which was unfamiliar but were able to identify most of it. There was abstract artwork in the middle, too; it reminded us of some sculptures we had seen at the Pompidou Center in Paris when we visited Jon during his junior year in 1991. In the center of the next intersection was a pigeon-festooned fountain which stood directly in front of the cathedral.

We entered the cathedral just to see how a Lutheran cathedral would differ from a Catholic one. The answer is that this one was austere, to put it mildly. Although the exterior was stone, the interior was all unfinished wood. There were very few decorations on the walls; only two small stained glass windows in the front; and an oil painting at the back of the altar rather than the expected cross. The side windows were also stained glass but were somewhat monochromatic with nothing pictured on them.

The most amazing thing was that there was a full symphony orchestra rehearsing in the front of the cathedral. We have no idea what they were playing or who composed the piece, but it was haunting. D’s guess was that it was, perhaps, written by Carl Nilsson, the only modern Scandinavian composer he knows. The piece was dominated by lots of low strings and brass with lighter sections reminiscent of folk melodies. We stayed and listened for almost 30 minutes.

Once we left the cathedral, we encountered a beach volleyball game in progress in the square. We had passed by the spot on the way to the cathedral and taken a few pictures but did not realize until later that this was part of a special two-week competition. On the way back, D took some more photos especially for Ed.

We wandered more of Markensgate and then headed back in the direction of the cathedral to grab a soda at one of the cafes. We had expected to get lunch either on the ship or at the marina we saw on the way in. The waitress didn’t know about our plans and brought menus and we ended up having lunch there. We found that there were bagel sandwiches and we each ordered bagels with chorizo, mozzarella and tomato pesto which may have been plain tomato paste. The sandwiches, while not authentic Norwegian, were really good and the Cokes struck just the right note on the hot day.

After lunch we started back to the ship. We made good on our decision to see the sculpture garden only to discover that it was a sand sculpture exhibit probably tied to the beach volleyball competition. MA’s favorite was the one with a bent-over troll who was flashing a bit of plumber’s butt. We continued back to the ship by way of the fish market and passed the new concert hall which is under construction. It should be completed by the fall of 2012. Kristiansand has a variety of cultural activities including live theater, symphony orchestra and opera all of which will utilize the new venue.

The rest of the day passed like a sea day – we got drinks in the Lido; read our Kindles; chatted with Roxanne before trivia; and posted the blog from the previous two days. We came in second at trivia again, but the prize was key rings so we weren’t too upset. [What is the hardest substance in the human body? What is the largest joint in the human body? In The Sting, which actor got stung?] A player on another team asked to join us for the next segment because the rest of his team is leaving in Amsterdam and we agreed to let him. There are only three sea days on that part and we figure to be ashore during trivia time on the other days. Stay tuned.

At dinner tonight [manicotti/veal parmesan], the dining room manager Syarif [Sha-REEF], came to the table to tell us that we were all being invited to a private dinner tomorrow with Fermin, the Hotel Manager, quite an honor since he is second only to the captain on the ship. The Hotel Department has the largest staff of any division on the Prinsendam and includes the food, beverage and housekeeping departments among others. It covers almost everything not involved in moving the ship. Tomorrow is also the last formal night of the first segment, so it should be quite festive.

Tomorrow – Oslo, Norway.

Thursday, August 12, 2010 [Happy 34th Birthday, Emily]

Around and Around They Go

First thing this morning, we found an invitation to dinner with Fermin, just as Syarif had promised. We were to meet for cocktails at 8:00 in the Explorer’s Lounge. We still did not know why we had been chosen but assumed we would find out eventually. D joked that this was when they would tell us about our upgrades for the next segment, but we knew better.

We lolled around until meeting Ed & Roxanne at 10 to search for the HoHo bus. We had decided to make the whole circuit before deciding what we wanted to explore today. We saw an open HoHo pull up across the street and went to investigate. This particular bus was not picking up passengers but the driver was heading to the Cruise Passenger Dock next to us and volunteered to take us there; this saved us about five minutes of walking. We paid our money and climbed aboard while there were still seats available. We sat downstairs on the double-decker to avoid a tortuous spiral staircase to the upper deck.

Little did we know that the full round trip would take almost two hours. We saw much of the city and its tourist high points: Ibsen’s house; the artist Munch’s house; City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded; the building where the Nobel judges meet; the university’s law school; the Palace and other government buildings; and, most important to D, Vigeland Park, home to a fantastic sculpture garden. This is a must-see when we return on the next leg of the cruise.

By the time the bus returned to our starting point, there was really no time to go back. It was already 12:15. If we allowed another two hours for the bus to run its route; added a half-hour in case we just missed one; and took time for a local lunch of any kind [TGI Friday’s, anyone?], we would have only an hour to look around. This was simply too little time to do anything; in addition, Ed did not feel up to going back into town, so we checked out the little shopping area set up at the cruise pier and, lo and behold!, we found the elusive Norwegian Holy Box of MA; our lives are complete, at least for a few days. Then we walked back to the ship and got lunch in the Lido.

After lunch, Ed and Roxanne went back out to see and photograph some sailing ships which were docked near us. D went back, too, to get information about the tram to Vigeland so we don’t have to spend a small fortune for the HoHo. Just as Jay had written on Cruise Critic, tram #12 goes directly there and we can pick it up at the nearby City Hall. Now we are hoping for continued good weather like today’s.

D also crossed the street from the information booth and wandered through Akershus Fortress without going into any of the buildings. The old fortress guards Oslo’s harbor and contains the Akershus Castle or Slott [similar, probably, to the German schloss for castle]; a museum memorializing the Norwegian Resistance movement from WWII; and a military museum. Like the Tower of London, it is obviously a collection of buildings, not just one big one. Even some of the architecture is similar to the Tower’s.

There were uniformed ceremonial soldiers armed with automatic weapons at guard houses, and several were seen pacing off obviously prescribed routes. Others were seen marching into the Castle as if they were going off duty. It was all very stylized and the movements and costumes reminded D of the changing of the guard in Athens. Perhaps the highlight was seeing how the cannons were arrayed to defend Oslo from the Prinsendam.

When D returned to the ship, MA was napping, so he transferred the newest pictures from the memory card in the camera to the computer. When MA got up, we went to trivia where we stomped all over the opposition. We had 21 of 24 points today, at least 3 points more than any other team. [What four movies were the Beatles in? In The Wizard of Oz, what is Dorothy’s last name? What kind of rock is marble?]

Just before 8:00, we met Ed & Roxanne to go to the Explorer’s Lounge. When we arrived with, we were greeted by Syarif who led us to an area plastered with “reserved" placards. We were greeted by Assistant Cruise Director Kevin, whom we usually see at trivia, who kept Fermin’s seat warm for him. Shortly after Fermin arrived, two Canadian women of German birth joined us. The eight of us were to dine with Fermin. First, though, there were drinks and canapés. Even D had a glass of white zinfandel!

The conversation was stilted and stayed that way through most of the evening. We were all on our good behavior especially because we ate in the exact center of the main dining room as if we were important. There were even assigned seats with place cards. We didn’t want to embarrass ourselves or anyone else. Things loosened up toward the end but it was still a generally uncomfortable meal.

The food, however, was marvelous. There was a specially printed menu which mirrored much of the formal selections but actually had fewer courses. We had a choice of shrimps cocktail or steamed mussels for an appetizer and then either rack of lamb [D], lobster tail [MA] or fresh Norwegian halibut as an entrée. There was no soup/salad course.

At one point, the dining room got dark for the traditional march of the baked Alaska. When we started cruising 25 years ago, this was a big production with waiters parading into the dining room carrying the flaming ice cream confections. All of the diners would clap in time to the Radetsky March. Then, the flaming ice cream gave way to sparklers being stuck in the baked Alaska. Now, even the sparklers have disappeared in a wave of liability lawyers, so the waiters carried these things around in the dark while everyone hooted and clapped. It has lost its magic.

We, however, did not get the plebian dessert. We were served a white chocolate shell with chocolate mousse next to a puddle of sauced berries. It was decadent. That was followed by coffee [cappuccinos for us] and then gourmet chocolates [which we declined]. Dinner wound down around 10:20 and we returned to the cabin to read and type, respectively. We did find out why we were invited – the choice had been left to Syarif who, as noted before, seems to like us. Since Syarif will be with us – or we with him – for the next two weeks and then again next spring for 60 days, maybe we will be picked again. Maybe next year we will dine with the captain. Now that would be cool.

Tomorrow – our last sea day before Amsterdam

Monday, August 09, 2010

Bergen in a Nutshell

Probably the only nuts involved in today’s tour were us. We should have had our heads shrunk for planning a 10-hour tour [which ran late].

After breakfast in the room, we met the rest of our group at the Stuyvesant Room at 9:15. We were early, of course, but the others were right on time. As soon as we left the ship, we found two taxis at the gangway, so we piled in and headed for the Bergen, Norway, railroad station. The ride was interesting but expensive. In fact, we have found everything to be expensive when translated into US dollars. The ten-minute ride cost the group almost $22 for each of two cabs. A bottle of Coke at mid-day cost $5. That’s a bit pricey, but that’s the way it is.

We were almost an hour early for our train which wasn’t scheduled to leave until 10:28, so we sat and talked amongst ourselves. Jay and Sharon sat with us while we waited. At one point, D cajoled MA into buying a T-shirt which says, “Norway in a Nutshell.” It wasn’t until we got back to the ship tonight that we realized that we had been charged 199 Norwegian krone instead of 119. That difference is almost $15. We decided to try to call or even write when we get home because the cab fare will be double what we were overcharged. We hope it was just a clerical error.

Anyway, we were taking the Bergen in a Nutshell tour. Jay had promoted it and D made the arrangements. We took a train from Bergen to Myrdal; another train from Myrdal to Flam; and a boat from Flam back to Bergen. That amounted to three hours of train rides; five hours on the boat; and two hours between segments for a snack.

We had reserved seats on the train out of Bergen, four pair on opposite sides of the aisle. The seats were so comfortable that we wanted to take them with us for the flight back to the States. We saw beautiful countryside, streams & rivers, small waterfalls and lots of tunnels but not any fjords. There were so many tunnels that Roxanne gave up counting when she reached 27 in the first 30 minutes.

The fjords, pretty much by definition, are water-filled valleys, remnants of glacial action. We were climbing well above sea level, so we saw valleys and mountains [and tunnels!] but none of the famous fjords. We enjoyed the ride and the view [when there was one] for two hours.

Myrdal, our transfer point, has no town to speak of. There was no place to go except the station which contained a lunch counter and the mandatory souvenir shop. We grabbed a Coke and what we thought were chocolate teddy bear cookies; the cookies turned out to be chocolate covered marshmallow bear cookies which we shared. We had also brought some pastries from the ship and Ed & Roxanne brought homemade sandwiches made from bits and pieces of the Lido’s buffet breakfast. Marvin and Barbara split a hot dog. Our Coke and cookies cost 58NOK, about $10.50. But it’s vacation.

The train to Flam appeared right on time, coasting quietly to a stop in front of a mob of people. Seats on this train are not reserved and we were grateful to find seats at all. A uniformed attendant on the platform assured us that they do not over-sell the train, but that was little consolation as we searched for seats. The six of us were split up in pairs, so it wasn’t too bad. The seats, however, were not the comfy ones we had had earlier. Instead, they were three across with little room to move. Again, it could have been worse – at least the seats were padded.

We ended up in the middle of a group who had their own guide. She was very helpful to us as well. We think her group boarded the train in Flam and simply rode it round trip so they could see on the way back whatever they missed on the way up. And up is the proper word. Myrdal is 2800 feet above sea level. The ride up was so gradual that we didn’t feel the rise. The trip to Flam, on the other hand, can be quite steep and the pitch is accentuated by the squeak of the brakes keeping us from hurtling to the bottom. The ride is only 20 kilometers but takes an hour and, remember, drops 2800 feet in that 20 km. It also contains twenty tunnels one of which has a curve of 180 degrees.

We made two stops on the way down to Flam. At the first, passengers were invited to exit to the platform to take pictures of Kjosfossen waterfall which has a drop of 305 feet. It is not the wide river torrent that Gullfoss and Godafoss are, but a cascade from a single stream high on the mountain. D obediently went out and took pictures and was there when a woman in a red dress started to dance around high on the falls. Those of us on the platform knew something was up when the music started. It could have been Enya for all D knows, but it was that type of sound. The guide told her group that it is a re-creation of an old local legend. We thought it was another part of the Bergen Nut.

Once down the mountain, we were in Flam, a picturesque village obviously on the water. There were lots of places for tourists to spend their money, but our group decided to eat again. Barbara found ice cream, her passion; Ed got a hot dog and split the fries with Roxanne who had gotten a bowl of local raspberries; and we got meatloaf sandwiches, which were really good, a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and a bottle of water. We finished in plenty of time but Barbara got antsy and went to wait in line for the boat.

By the time we joined the queue, it was sizeable. We had no trouble finding seats in the front, but the upper deck, which offered the better vantage point, was full. Once again, the seats were roomy and comfortable and the ride started well enough.

We sailed from Flam into the fjord and headed west. The day was beautiful and had turned sunny when we reached Myrdal. It was actually hot when we left Flam. We were enthralled by the fjord. Steep moun-tain cliffs; evergreen trees; and bare rock faces and outcroppings made the view unforgettable. Marvin, Ed and D went outside on the front of the boat to take pictures and Marvin stayed there for three hours. The whole front of the lower deck applauded his fortitude when he finally came in.

It was quite windy out front and it was often hard to stand still much less hold a camera steady. Jackets billowed so that people looked like the Michelin Man. Camera straps were flapping and lens covers became lethal projectiles. And then it started to get cloudy. And then threatening. And then it cleared up before we got to Bergen.

We decided afterwards that three hours was long enough for this boat ride. The cabin was filled with noisy children and adolescents; there were crying babies; and it was just too too long. There was an express boat from Flam to Bergen at 3:10, but our tickets specified the 3:30 boat. We were supposed to dock in Bergen at 8:40 but, to add insult to injury, were twenty minutes late. Perhaps the best part of the last hour was watching the television which was turned on in the bow of the ship. Nothing was in English but we watched a cooking show and tried to figure out what the Nordic Rachael Ray was doing. At least one recipe was for shepherd’s or farmers pie. And the word for pepper is pepper. When we couldn’t figure it out, we made things up and had a good time, but, again, it was the nutshell tour.

Tired and hungry, we found [expensive] taxis easily and were back “home” by 9:15. As soon as we got to the cabin, we pulled out the room service menu and order Caesar salads and cookies. D went to update the journal before he forgot anything and MA read before turning her light out.
We have only a half-day in Bergen tomorrow and have no plans. We’ll just see what happens.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Oh, Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?

We slept late today and did not finish breakfast until 10:00. D went in search of a telephone number for the store where we bought the T-shirt yesterday in hopes that the salesperson would issue a credit based on their conversation. He approached the port security “officer’ who was just a twenty-something. D had seen him texting from the cabin window but discovered that he had been playing video games to pass the time; his main purpose is to check IDs when people return to the ship. At 10:00, everyone was leaving and no one was returning.

The young man was very cooperative. When he could not discern a telephone number on the sales slip, he pulled out his cell phone and asked a friend to look it up. After he dialed the number, he handed d his phone. The woman who answered the phone was less than friendly and even less helpful. She claimed that her father owned the store; that she knew nothing about it nor its operation; and that he was out of the country and could not be reached. Click.

After thanking the security person, D went in search of a telephone book but saw no phone booths. He did find a door open to one of the adjacent office buildings and went in. On the second floor he rang a doorbell and surprised a woman who was working there. She was skeptical at first that she could be of any help, and said that she had no telephone directory, but led the way to her office and began a computer search. The short version is that she found a phone number which turned out to be the same one the security man had offered. D thanked her and returned to the ship. We will call the credit card company when we return to Florida, but it is a lost cause; they will say it is our responsibility to read the sales check and that there is nothing they can or will do. Once again, Norway proves to be very expensive.

The sun was shining and the day warming up when D left the ship, but, by the time he returned 20 minutes later, clouds had rolled in and the skies had become threatening. MA decided she was not that interested in going out. It was almost 11:00 and we would have had to be back by 2:00, not enough time to really do any sight-seeing and get lunch, so we stayed aboard and read. We had lattes and ate lunch in the Lido where there was a barbecue by the pool. We had a short conversation with Captain Gunderson, the main captain of the Prinsendam, who lives in Bergen and stopped by for lunch. Trivia followed and we lost again, our streak broken. [What is the name of the author of the Mary Poppins books? Who was the first billionaire? What word is the Spanish equivalent of princess?]

We read some more after trivia and then, at 5:00, we went to the Crow’s Nest for a meeting of those passengers who are continuing on the next segment. There are not too many of us, perhaps 40 [at the most]. We returned to the room to get ready for dinner [channa masala curry for both]. Back in the room. D wrote in the journal while MA got ready for bed and read. D is going to see at least part of the Filipino crew show tonight before retiring.

The Filipino show has extra significance for us this year. Of the six numbers being performed, our favorite bar server is featured in three. Hernelia is the only female performer in the troupe but we assume she is also talented. D wants to get her picture.

Hernelia is an interesting young woman. This is her first tour with HAL and she says it will be her last. She wants to go to nursing school, preferably in the US if she can get a student visa. We have talked to her in detail about her life. She grew up dirt poor after her father abandoned the family when she was 5 years old. As a child, she wanted to become a doctor and took the entrance exam for a special program at the University of Manila. Four thousand applications were received for 60 positions in the accelerated program which shaved two years off of the normal program. Hernelia was number 32 of the 60. She asked her father, who came from money, if he would help her with the expenses and he refused and forced her to get a business degree instead. We don’t know what she did between graduation and Russian along with some Chinese, Hebrew and other languages. She told of going with a HAL group on tour in Russia and surprised everyone by being able to translate for them, especially when the passengers needed restrooms.

Hernelia is only one of several interesting crew members. We wrote about Thom Faulkner, the Cruise Director, last year. We are as impressed with him this year as we were then. His assistant, Kevin, was on the Grand Med as well and is just as even-tempered and low-key as he was. He normally moderates the team trivia competitions and has to be firm but diplomatic. We enjoy joking with him and give him Goetze’s Caramel Crème candies [often called bull’s eyes in other parts of the country] when we have done well. He has made comments which led us to believe that other teams think we are bribing him, but it has not paid off yet. We usually sit close enough so he can hear our sarcastic comments, but he still tolerates us. And he has said that he will still be on the Prinsendam next spring when we sail her again.

The there is Blue Tarp Guy. We think he is German or perhaps Dutch, based solely on his accent. He often goes around wrapped in a blue tarpaulin which makes him look like a Florida roof after a hurricane. Some days he is dressed almost normally except that he wears blue slippers instead of shoes. There is always at least one eccentric aboard. Last year there was Hat Lady who made, named and talked to her hats. Or the hippie and his wife we referred to as boogie and his wife. They had never left the 60s. As Bill Cosby said years ago, “There’s a nut in every car.”

We used to dread Japanese tourists because they were almost as pushy as the Germans, but they have all been replaced by the Dutch. There are many Nederlanders on board; the trip for most passengers ends in Amsterdam which is not all too far from London. We have overheard them complain about the number of Americans on the ship. One couple went so far as to correct our table manners while we were eating the Lido the other day – we should use our knives to continually push food onto our forks and shovel food in instead of keeping one hand in our laps; we should eat toast and sandwiched with a knife and fork they way God intended; and so forth. We love our Dutch friends but the rest have made a bad impression.

And finally, there is the question of celebrating Ramadan on shipboard. We asked Eko, our waiter, how it would be observed since we were so far north. At the time we asked him, he did not know but was awaiting word from someone. When we asked again Tuesday, he said that the Muslim crew members would begin observing Ramadan at 2:30 Wednesday morning with breakfast and prayers. The waitstaff’s day normally begins at 5:30 anyway, so this isn’t so much worse. They will eat their evening meal at 10:00 which they do anyway since the late diners usually finish then. The interesting part of this is that the schedule was sent from HAL’s main office in Seattle. The inference we made is that the hours would remain the same whether we were above or below the Arctic circle; the same hours will be observed on Alaska cruises as well.

Tomorrow – Kristiansand, Norway

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Things That Go Bump in the Sea

We continued heading south today. Temperatures hovered around 60F and we are looking forward to warmer [or warm-ish] weather in Bergen tomorrow and Tuesday.
Since it was a sea day, we relaxed and ate breakfast in the MDR at a table for two. Quite cozy. While we ate, we watched a large group of passengers circle the deck as part of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The HAL Race has become a tradition in the past several years; in fact, D almost took part on the Grand Med last year. He paid the money and was in the group photo but didn’t actually walk.

We were due to cross the Arctic Circle this morning. As the captain put it, “It’s that dotted line near the top of the map. I will try to put the ship between the lines.” Sure enough, just as the walk began, the ship crossed “the line” with a little bump; he must have been steering from the wrong side of the boat on the wrong side of the Norwegian Sea. Okay, there was not really a bump, but the Susie G. walk started as we left the Land of the Midnight Sun. Of course, Thom was out there walking in a jacket and shorts.

We read until lunch time when we went to the MDR. We again were seated at a two-top and had just ordered when Ed and Roxanne were seated at the two-fer next to us. For those who keep track, M had chicken korma and D had a Mediterranean salad. It was almost 1:00 by the time we finished and trivia was set for 1:30. It is amazing how avid the participants are. By 1:00, many of the tables were filling up, but Ed had left the table early to get our regular place. We actually switched tables last week so Barbara, who uses hearing aids, could take a more active role. Oh, we won again today but gave one of the picture frames which were awarded to Hernelia, the waitress in the Ocean Bar. She appreciates being part of the team and we’re grateful not to have to shlep more stuff home, especially picture frames. [What is the name of the tree which connects Heaven and Hell in Norse mythology? What singer was the first to have five top-ten hits on one album and what was the name of that album?]

After trivia, D tried unsuccessfully for half an hour to post the blog and gave up in despair. We did check D’s e-mail and MA’s Facebook [loved the new pictures, B!] but blew almost 40 minutes of airtime. Back in the room, we read before MA’s manicure. D finally got the blog to post from the beauty salon.

Dinner with the regular gang tonight [vegetarian spring rolls/veal cordon bleu] although we are discussing going to the hoity-toity steakhouse before Marvin and Barbara leave Saturday because Marvin has given up on puffin and now wants lamb chops.

Tomorrow we have an exhausting day planned in Bergen so will go to bed early.

We have been warned that there is very poor internet access in Bergen, so we’ll post again
Tuesday night or Wednesday.

Tomorrow – Bergen in a Nutshell

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

To Infinity and Beyond!

Longyearbyen [longer-be-in] was named after an American [Longyear] who came here at the turn of the Twentieth Century and started the coal industry. Although he and the American Coal Company were gone before the end of the 1910’s, coal is still important to Longyearbyen. The name has nothing to do with the length of the winter nights even though they are endless.

The town is situated on the island of Spitsbergen, the largest and most populated of the islands in the Svalbard archipelago. There is no evidence of volcanism here, no hot water geysers or dormant volcanoes, just barren mountainsides and fjords. The hills are a combination of arctic tundra and plain rocks. There is little native vegetation and only one type of dwarf tree which was imported. It is even more barren and godforsaken than Lanzarote. Even the captain called this area “austere.” Still, it is an important place.

Tour opportunities were not great in Longyearbyen, especially so since we didn’t want to go in a zodiac or an ATV, so we arranged a tour with Spitsbergen Travel. The proposed itinerary was short on details:

The trip I offer you is a longer sightseeing tour with a private guide. The trip will go around Longyearbyen, Gruve 7 mountain, seed bank, Bjørndalen, Lunch osv. For one day 04.08 I can offer you can offer you a private tour and guide from 09.00 – 14.00 ca 4-5 hours sightseeing and lunch(dry teck, very good) in Bjørdalen(outside).

The six of us met before 9:00 and went outside to meet our guide. We were early, of course, so it followed that he was a few minutes late. We waited in the cold of Spitsbergen which was enjoying what here is considered a balmy summer day – 45 degrees Fahrenheit. This is one reason we moved to Florida.

Our guide today was Eric, not Eric the Red but Eric from Wisconsin who summers here working as a guide when he is not in school in Colorado. At least we had no language problems. We told him the first thing we wanted to see was the seed bank and he sped off on roads which are, for the most part, not paved. It seems that the rise and fall of the tundra/permafrost makes it futile to pave the roads which would just need constant resurfacing and repairing; the only paved roadways are in the village itself and even these are not immune to the earth’s actions.

Little did we know that visitors can not visit the seed bank. Silly us. The seed bank is officially the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Conceived by Bill Gates, it is a repository of seeds from all over the planet. Following a strict protocol, countries can submit seeds for inclusion in the seed vault which is built into a hillside above Longyearbyen. In the event of a nuclear war, survivors would have access to these seeds to start growing crops again. All that is visible of the Vault is a concrete entryway and a small sign. We were hoping for a visitors’ center with displays explaining the project, but security is tight.

As Eric explained the seed bank to us, we saw several reindeer grazing nearby on the little bit of vegetation available to them. The reindeer are one of only four native species in Svalbard. The others are the polar bear; the arctic fox; and the ptarmigan, a small bird made famous by Jack London. We did not see any of the others, although there were sea birds aplenty, but there was a sign warning about the presence of the “ice bears.” Even a tourist brochure handed to us as we left the ship this morning warns to stay away from the bears; it also suggests not traveling without a gun and the ability to use it. Eric told us that he was armed for our trip, but we assumed it was nothing personal.

We drove around the airport which currently has flights only by SAS. The original airport, built in the ‘50s, used to average 2 flights per year for its 20 years of operation. Now, passengers and perishable cargo arrive daily while bulk and non-perishables arrive by container ship. Spitsbergen and the rest of Svalbard are far from self-sufficient.

We also saw the remains of the tram-like buckets used to transport coal and coal miners to and from the mines. In addition, we saw a switching station where three of these transport lines came together. Only Gruve 7 is still open. It supplies the coal needed for the electrical power station. The other mines have closed as costs rose and the coal supply dwindled. Interestingly, the mine openings for the closed mines we saw were all halfway up mountainsides and Gruve 7 is on top of a mountain high enough that we drove through clouds to get to it.

That mountain was in Bjørdalen, a glacial valley outside of Longyearbyen. We had driven across the flat valley floor to get to the mine. Along the way, we saw both public and private dog kennels which were nothing more than wooden enclosures for the dogs inside chain link pens. It is illegal in Longyearbyen for the dogs to run free. Since Eric had two dogs with him, we saw the kennel up close when he left the dogs there for another guide to fetch for another tour. The arctic dogs are bred to work and need to be exercised regularly. When we left the kennel, we saw a team of about 12 dogs pulling a sleigh full of tourists down the highway [which was paved in the valley]. We saw another team doing the same thing later.

In addition to the mine entrance, the top of the mountain had a research station with giant parabolic antennas. Scientists are supposed to be studying the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights, although Eric said that we were too far north for them to be seen in winter. Still, the effects can be studied. As a group, we decided that Spitsbergen would have made a good setting for a James Bond film – mountains, coal mines and cars, glaciers, tundra…We weren’t sure of how to get young girls in bikinis into the plot, but we are thinking about it, especially Ed and D.

We skipped lunch because there were still things to see and too little time to see them. Eric’s boss owns the Svalbard Airship Museum, so we were able to visit without paying. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, this area was a hotbed of airship activity. Airplanes had yet to be developed, but dirigibles had been. Explorers built their elaborate skeletons in large hangers, covered them [of course] and outfitted them with fuel, food and water so they could fly over the North Pole. Most were not successful. We read details of one such venture in 1909 in which the airship had 6 months of supplies for a flight which ultimately lasted three hours. Some of these pioneers were more successful; one even managed to fly from Svalbard to Alaska over what was labeled on the map simply as “uncharted.”

When we returned to the ship, we asked Eric what “dry teck” was since D had never gotten a response from the tour’s vendor. All we knew was that he kept writing that it was very good. Eric showed it to us and we were a little disappointed. We thought it would be some local delicacy like reindeer jerky. Marvin was hoping for something made with puffin which he has been looking for in several countries now. Sadly, dry teck is more like a military MRE [meal ready to eat]. It is dehydrated food which is mixed with boiling water to create a hot meal. They may be a delicacy for the hikers and campers, but we were glad not to partake.

Other brief notes on Longyearbyen: There is a university here which specializes in physical sciences. Norway is committed to making this a vacation and recreation area now that the coal industry has collapsed. All new buildings have to adhere to a bright color palette so the town looks a little like Key West. Remains from any human activity prior to 1946 cannot be touched, so there are piles of rubble from collapsed mine structures all around, not to mention the old power plant. Materials for recycling are separated and baled for shipment to the mainland for disposal. There are glaciers everywhere. It is a spare but beautiful place.

Back on board, we grabbed lunch in the Lido and then went to trivia which we lost again. [What dance did Fred and Ginger popularize in Flying Down to Rio? What epic blockbuster set all-time records for viewership when it was first shown on television in 1976?] Back in the room, MA was looking through our assorted papers and documents when she discovered that her visa for St. Petersburg had the wrong birth date! D checked and he had made the mistake, not the agency in SPB. To make things worse, we had no internet service because we are too far north! What to do?!? We were still in port and were able to get a strong 3-G signal on the Kindles, so D used it to email the agency. At this point, we have no answer and no internet, so we may have to wait a few days for an answer. By the time this is posted, we may have the answer, so keep reading.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Speechless

We slept in this morning and missed most of the breathtaking Magdalenefjord. We saw the stark beauty of the mountains interspersed with glaciers and snowy peaks. Multiply what we saw by a hundred and that’s the Magdalenefjord.

Trivia wasn’t much to write home about. We had fun and great answers but only some of them were the right ones. [Who won the World Series in 1994? What does quasar mean? On average, how many penguins does a polar bear eat each day?] It was after trivia that the day turned from a normal sea day into something truly spectacular.

Captain Albert had told us yesterday that he was going to try to find the polar ice shelf for us. Considering that there was a sea day on the schedule between 2 ports less than 5 hours from each other, we knew he had to do something. Sure enough, during trivia time he announced that we would be at the edge of the polar ice between noon and 4:30. It was actually closer to 12:15 that we were within photographic range and we crept closer and closer until 1:00.

Of course, we went on deck to see this even though it was a bit chilly. We donned our blue HAL vests [with the sleeves attached!] and spent a half hour on deck as we nosed through bits and pieces of broken ice. By 1:00, we were ready to go inside and get lunch, an Indian curry buffet. As we sat at a table by the window, we watched the ice shelf slowly recede because the ship was turning around and heading south. The Prinsendam has a reinforced bow [or “pointy part” as the captain calls it], but it is not an ice breaker and the captain was not going to chance getting trapped even on the edgy part of the ice floe. So we watched the polar ice as we ate lunch and reminisced about watching Gibraltar while we ate breakfast on the Rotterdam in 2001.

It would have been nice to stand on the ice since we had walked on Antarctica in 2004. The symmetry was still enough to leave us in awe. We were within 500 – 600 miles of the North Pole, closer than the ship got last year. Global warming and, more especially, the Iceland volcano shrank the ice cap so we had to go farther to find it. Even so, it was amazing to stand on deck and realize where we were. How many people had tried to reach the Pole and failed? How many had not even gotten this far? What can possibly top today?

Of course, D took lots of pictures, but amateur digital photography cannot capture the white of the ice cap or the blue of some of the ice any more than it can catch the magnificence of the glaciers. No one else viewing the pictures will understand unless they have been here.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Polar Bears and the Prinsendam

Our port today was Ny-Alesund which we think means “New Alesund” since there is an Alesund farther south. This bit of Norway is on Spitsbergen just like Longyearbyen. They are not very far from each other and we could have been here in a matter of hours were it not for the polar ice cap detour.

Ny-Alesund is a research station. Today there were 40 full-time residents but the number can shrink to as few as a dozen during the Arctic winter. Scientists from as many as a half-dozen or more countries spend time here studying the Arctic ecology, wildlife, glaciers and whatnot. They are almost completely isolated even from Longyearbyen. There appear to be no roads in or out so the only ways to get here are by boat or small aircraft; the local airport cannot handle large planes.

Originally, this was a mining town and the remnants of the coal operation are visible as one walks through it. An old engine and coal cars are prominent as one enters the “compound.” What was once the North Pole Hotel is now a gym and fitness center. Another building serves as the [part-time] pub and the school has been recycled into the town store. Of course, the labs are fairly new as is some of the housing. There is also a visitor center which shows in back-lighted panels photographs of native wildlife and explains some of Ny-Alesund’s mission.

In planning this trip, D found an e-mail address for the King’s Bay research station and enquired about tour opportunities. The response made the point that there were no tours because there were very few tourists but that the occasional cruise ship stopped by. We were told that we would have to walk to the visitor’s center [but not how far] and that we should bring rifles as protection against polar bears. Well, the walk was short, but the bears were missing so it worked out. D saw several of the “locals” heading out this morning and, sure enough, they appeared to have rifles on their backs. Last week, there was a polar bear attack farther north, so the danger is ever-present.

MA stayed on board today and didn’t really miss much. The King’s Bay station is surrounded by a large glacier [King Glacier?] which seems to split into four or five parts around hills/mountains. We think that at one point the glacier covered all of these mountains and that they have appeared only as the glacier melted and receded. Some of the fingers no longer reach the water, but several still do and exhibit that peculiar ice-blue reminiscent of Aqua Velva.

We tied for first in trivia but lost a tie-breaker to team which had eight members to our five. After trivia, the six of us went to the Viennese strudel fest and gorged on pastries; today was just a carbohydrate day. We surprised Ed with birthday presents from us and Barbara & Marvin and with a birthday cake. Indonesian wait-staff sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he was a good sport about all of the hoopla. When we told our dining room captain that we would be back in the spring, he told us to let him know the exact dates so he could put us together for dinner again. Ed & Roxanne are taking the second half of the cruise and Barbara & Marvin are thinking about doing that, too. The dining room may never be the same if the six of us are together again.

After dinner, we gave the casino a few dollars in the slots just to do something. The internet service is still not operational because of our position, but D went to the Ocean Bar to update the journal anyway. We are hoping to make a connection tomorrow so we can find out about St. Petersburg and the future of our marriage.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Hail and Farewell

The water is almost smooth today with only a slight ripple as we head from Spitsbergen to Bergen on the Norwegian mainland. Skies are clearer and brighter and we can see puffy clouds in the distance instead of a constant cloud cover. We are heading away from the Arctic and should cross the Arctic Circle tomorrow. We will soon say goodbye to the midnight sun.

There were celebrations of different kinds today. We won resoundingly in trivia and won the coveted HAL coasters. [Who sang the theme song for the television show Rawhide? Who is the patron saint of music?] We may try to make up silly answers for the rest of the trip unless we see really good prizes.

The second celebration was a bit more serious. Ed and Roxanne joined us as we committed Henry and Pokey’s ashes to the sea. For those who don’t know, Henry was D’s great-uncle for whom he acted as principal care giver from December 1997 until Henry’s death in December 2004 at age 97. Pokey, whose real name was Elizabeth, was his wife; she died in 1990. Both donated their bodies to the Maryland Anatomy Board for medical research and both were eventually cremated. We have been custodians of their remains.

Henry and Pokey loved England and we thought at one point about making Lake Windemere in the Lake District their final resting place. We would have preferred someplace closer to England than the Norwegian Sea but decided that they wouldn’t care; it is the thought which counts. We had asked Richard in Guest Services to facilitate this for us and he, in turn, contacted the captain. Yesterday we received the message that the captain could accommodate us at 2:00 this afternoon.

We met the captain at the Front Office and followed him down one flight to deck 7 and then through a maze of exterior stairways to the rear of Deck 5 where we slid our biodegradable container and its contents through an opening and watched as it floated for a moment and then was lost to sight. After a brief stop in our cabins to wash our hands [an old ritual], we went to the Crow’s Nest for a drink in their honor.

Although this not is a Grand Voyage [note the capitals], we are being treated grandly. The dining room captain cannot do enough for us. When we were in the Ocean Bar yesterday watching the approach to the polar ice cap, we asked if hot chocolate was going to be available on deck for those who were braving the cold. Instead of telling us that it was available, he fetched three mugs of hot chocolate and brought them to us in the lounge. When we mentioned that we will be traveling on the Prinsendam again next year, he told us to give him our sailing dates so he could arrange for us to share a table. He has also made plans to move us to a table for four when Marvin and Barbara disembark in Amsterdam. And he made sure Ed’s birthday cake was delivered last night.

Others have been equally solicitous. Roger, the Beverage Manager, continues to sit with us when we come for a pre-dinner drink. We have learned a lot about his life as well as about his job. Richard, of course, has become our new best friend. He even offered to print a document for D on his own laptop [although the staff at the Front office did it when D asked]. We don’t know why everyone is going out of their way for us, but we are enjoying it without taking advantage. Yet.

Tonight is formal night again. The menu and decorations feature a Norwegian theme, so there will be lots of fish.

Tomorrow is another sea day and all of us hope there is finally an internet connection. Stay tuned for the answer to the question, “Will MA be able to leave the ship in St. Petersburg?”

YES!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Monday Evening Quarterbacking

Perhaps the best part of sea days is sleeping in. With nowhere to go and no way to get there, we didn’t have to get up in the proverbial dark and fetch a tray from a room service steward. We ate a leisurely breakfast in the MDR with two other couples from Oregon and London, respectively, and ate like civilized adults, finishing around 10 a.m.

We met Roxanne for trivia a bit past 11:00, but Ed had a massage scheduled and Barbara slept even later than we did, so there were just three of us at the table when we were approached by an elderly couple who asked if they could join us. While they didn’t add much to the competition [and we rejected one of his correct answers], we discovered that they are next door neighbor’s of one of D’s former teaching friends, Dick Wasserman. The last we heard of Dick and his wife Betty, they were living in New Smyrna Beach, FL. Now, apparently, they are in Arizona. D gave the husband his card to give to Dick, so maybe we’ll hear from him when we all get home. And this is why your mother said to where clean underwear.

We lost the trivia match by just a few questions. As usual, some of the correct answers floated around the table and, with a few different decisions, we could have one our personal Holy Grail of prizes, the coasters. We still have almost four weeks to work on that goal.

Since we had finished breakfast so late, we were not ready for the Asian buffet which began right after trivia. We gave the casino some money by playing slots, but there are no games that really catch our fancy as there have been on other ships. We found the same thing on the Prinsendam last year, and the selection has not changed. D has not been playing blackjack, either. Eventually we went to the Lido and got sandwiches for lunch, then returned to the cabin for a long afternoon nap; even D napped for a change instead of writing the journal.

Tonight was another formal night, the third of six on this segment of the cruise. There will be four more on the Baltic leg of the trip. The Black and White formal night is a tradition here. The dining room is decorated with black and white crepe paper balls; the chairs have white covers which make them seem like ghosts; and there is the captain’s Black and white Ball, which we skipped, in the show room. After dinner, though, we returned to the room and read until almost midnight.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Land of the Midnight and Mid-day Sun

We have continued to be lucky with the weather and the seas. While there was a little motion this morning as we chugged toward the Top of the World, Longyearbyen, Norway. Yesterday and today were cloudy but bright and there has been no rain. In Iceland, we had predictions of rain for all three ports, yet there was nary a drop. We got wetter at the waterfalls than we did from rain [and some of us got soaked at Geysir when it erupted]. Likewise, the seas have continued to be almost perfectly flat from day one.

When we sailed to Antarctica in 2004, we were advised to book an inside cabin, which we did, in order to avoid the 24-hour day. We are now so far above the Arctic Circle, that there is no night. In summer, the earth’s axis slants toward the sun and light falls over the North Pole and down on parts that lie in shadow. It is the curvature of the Earth that creates night. With the Sun practically overhead, there is no curvature and, hence, no shadow. It is day time all the time. In Longyearbyen, the sun is above the horizon for 127 days and nights [well, days and days]. Conversely, when the earth’s axis is tilted away from the sun, the North and Longyearbyen have endless night. And remember that the Southern hemisphere is the exact opposite – when the north tilts toward the sun, the south tilts away and vice-versa thus creating opposite seasons in the two hemisphere’s. Since the equatorial areas are in the middle, they have very little change in daylight or seasons. Thus endeth today’s science lesson.

We didn’t bother with breakfast this morning and stayed in the room until it was time an invitation-only Indonesian lunch. Roxanne and Ed were also among the 130 people invited. We were told last night that the invitees are those passengers who are staying aboard for the Baltic cruise. We have been joking with the wait-staff and the dining room supervisor, Tommy, about having real Indonesian food, but to no avail. Tommy has even gone so far as to say that the tempe they serve, even to the crew, is not good. So we were pleasantly surprised to see an invitation to a “private Indonesian luncheon honoring HAL’s Indo-nesian heritage with a special ‘rijsttafel.’” It is scheduled at the same time as trivia, but we are being brave.

In Indonesia, a former Dutch possession, rijsttafel is more a ritual than a meal, according the captain in his introductory remarks. While ours was a series of fixed plates, he said that authentic rijsttafel is a series of small plates brought to the table one by one and that there could be as many as forty different dishes or variations. Ours was shorter so there would still be time for Bingo.

We started with rice crackers[karak gender] and then an assortment of steamed vegetables [celery, carrot and bean sprouts] accompanied by a peanut sauce[bumbu gado-gado]. This was followed by soto ayam, a chicken consommé with vegetables and flavored with coconut. The entrée was nasi goereng, Javanese fried rice, accompanied by spicy shrimp, chicken satay, Sumatran stewed beef, chile-spiced green beans and banana fritter. Dessert was pudung nasi saos, rice pudding with brown sugar sauce. There was also cheap ship’s champagne.

Our assumption that the guests were passengers continuing on the ship after the stop in Amsterdam seems to have been erroneous. Captain Albert said that the group included some who were continuing, some who were 4-star alumni and some who had traveled often with HAL. The bottom line is that we are not sure what the criteria were for selection but that we enjoyed the food and conversation at the table.

The captain also said that he hopes to spend some time tomorrow after we leave Longyearbyen searching for North Pole ice. We are certainly not going to the Pole, but he hopes that the ice floe has moved far enough south for us to at least touch the edgy part and get some pictures. Time will tell how successful his efforts will be.

This afternoon we went to a cupcake afternoon tea, a variation on the usual tea which is presented each day we are at sea. After dinner tonight, we will wander through the casino to avoid the cast show which we didn’t like last year and have no desire to see again.

Tomorrow – The Top of the World [and dry teck]