The Bergen Trip to Pick Up Kimber

Sidney and I were at home for about 36 hours before boarding another ferry to go to Bergen. The ferry is a relatively short trip from Stavanger, about 4 hours, which is nearly the same or less time than it would take to drive to Bergen. It isn't really that far, but there are three car ferries you have to take along the way, which increases the "car" travel time significantly. Bergen is a very walkable city, so a car isn't needed there anyway. One other note about the "fast" ferry to Bergen - buy your tickets online before you go. They are a lot cheaper that way. You do, however, need to buy the child's ticket on the ferry.

Sidney and I did a little walking around and a little shopping once we arrived, then went to the hotel for a little dip in the pool. We'd had an early morning, and had to get up early the next morning to pick up Kimber, so we got to bed and had a good night's rest.

I tracked the progress of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl online during the evening to make sure Kimber was going to be there on time. As there wasn't much wind, and it was a head wind, progress appeared steady and on engines, so I wasn't worried about a late arrival.



We woke up, got dressed and headed down to the dock at around 7:30, and about 10 minutes later saw the ship coming into the harbor. As there were about 5 cruise ships and large ferries in town, as well as several "working" ships, the harbor was a bit crowded, but her ship came in nice and steady and actually docked right on time at 8 a.m.


Kimber was easy to spot on deck in her lime green rain jacket. She also spotted Sidney and the two exchanged waves and blown kisses while the ship finished tying up.



After tying up, setting up the gangplank and going through customs, Kimber finally got the hug Sidney had been saving for her. Kimber was obviously very tired from the trip, so we headed back to the hotel for breakfast and a little rest before going on the next part of our adventure in the afternoon.

Our afternoon and evening were set aside to do one of the most famous trips in all of Norway, the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. This tour is designed to show the things Norway is famous for in a short amount of time, traveling by trains, bus and boat.

We started by taking a train from Bergen to the ski-town Voss. There are several tunnels along the way, as well as some beautiful lakeside and riverside scenery. At Voss, we got off the train and boarded a bus for the next portion of the trip.


The bus meanders through a valley before turning to go over a mountain pass and descend to a fjord below. The road, known as the Stalheimskleiva road, was one of the more spectacular portions of the trip, as it is the steepest in Europe, with an 18% grade. There are less switchbacks than in Lysebotn, and the descent is not as far, but the road is much steeper than Lysebotn.


There were several waterfalls along the way, including two beside the road with the switchbacks and one near the fjord that is the tallest (not tallest free-falling) in Norway.



The bus stops at Gudvagen, where we had a short break before boarding a ferry to take us through the fjord to our next stop. The ferry passage takes you through one of the narrowest fjords in Europe before heading into the main part of Sognefjord, which is Norway's deepest and longest fjord.



Along the way, we passed several small villages and farms. One village has the smallest stave church in Scandinavia, which can hold less than 20 worshipers at a time. There is also a farm, known as the Ladder Farm, because at one time that is how one had to get there.



As we came into Flam at the end of the ferry ride, we passed a cruise ship turning around to head back up the fjord. This should give you some idea as to how deep and large the fjord is, since it can handle ships of this size.

We had a bit of time in Flam before the next part of the trip, so we had a little picnic and some play time for Sidney at the local playground. We walked around a bit and admired some of the RV's that were parked in the area (this seems to be a really popular RV destination.)



We then went for the next-to-the-last, but probably most famous portion of our tour - the Flam Railway. This is the steepest normal gauge railway in the world, with an ascent of 864 meters over the 20 kilometer length. There are 20 tunnels along the route, making about six kilometers of the 20 kilometer distance themselves. There are also waterfalls, beautiful mountain scenery, and even photography stops along the way!



One major attraction along the way is the Kjosfossen waterfall. It has a free fall of 93 meters, and is one of the stops for the train for photography. You can see the shadows of everyone taking pictures in my shot here. Another stop was to let another train pass, and was over a really pretty hillside.

After arriving at Myrdal at the top of the route, we boarded another train on the main rail line for the trip back to Bergen. It was almost a two hour train ride, and didn't arrive in Bergen until after 10:30 p.m., so Sidney fell asleep along the way. By the time we reached Bergen, rain had started to fall, so I carried Sidney back to the hotel and Kimber carried the backpack. We then settled in for a nice, well-deserved night's sleep. One brief note on Norway in a Nutshell - if you have lived in or traveled in Norway for a longer period of time, the dramatic scenery does not have the same effect as if you haven't experienced much of Norway before. It is still a good trip, and the Flam Railway and Stalheimskleiva road are absolutely unique experiences, so we would still recommend it to anyone that hasn't done it.



The remainder of our time in Bergen was spent doing some things Kimber had not had a chance to do, since she wasn't with Sidney and I on our trip here in February. we visited the Haakon's Hall, the royal banquet hall from the 12th century, as well as the Rosenkrantz Tower, which is where Norway's first set of written laws was laid out.



We also rode the Floibanen, which is the funicular to one of the seven mountaintops surrounding Bergen. The view from there was quite different than it was in February when we were in Bergen, mostly because there weren't several feet of snow on the ground. One other major difference is that the city is really crowded with cruise ship passengers walking around in large groups during the summer. This detracts from the feel of the city itself, as part of the charm is in the narrowness of the passageways between some of the older buildings in town. I would certainly recommend Bergen in the off-season for cruises, as there is still just as much to see and do then.

Kimber's Sailing on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl

My adventure on the tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl started early Saturday morning when Kirk and Sidney dropped me off at 6 am. I boarded the ship, and received my hammock and went down to the forward accommodation o rest until everyone got up. Breakfast was served at 7:30 am and then we mustered on deck. For some reason there was confusion about what number I was assigned. I had my hammock at 36 but it was assigned to someone else. However, I liked the spot as there wasn’t anyone to my left and a space before the next person to my right. I ended up getting to keep that spot. Also, the forward accommodation is the dining area. So everyone in there has to remove their hammock before breakfast and can put it up again after dinner.

Once we mustered, we were assigned watches. The forward accommodation is assigned the blue watch 0800 to 1200 and 2000 to 2400. This seems like the best watch because it is almost normal hours. Also, both watches are in daylight. This accommodation has that watch because we can’t leave our hammocks up during the day. The aft accommodation is divided in half with one side having 1200 to 1600 and 0000 to 0400 watches and the other half having 0400 to 0800 and 1600 to 2000 watches. People in the aft accommodation can leave their hammocks up all the time. There are roughly twice as many people in the aft accommodation so again I was happy to be forward. Cleaning of the common areas is also assigned by watch group so we had the dining area.



At the first muster, we were told about emergency situations and provided details on eating times, watch times, and other assignments. We departed at 1300 in a parade of ships sailing out of Aalborg. There were people along the sides of the fjord for miles- all the way out to the sea. The parade was really quite amazing.


I also took an interesting picture of a coal-fired power plant with a wind turbine in front. Denmark has wind turbines everywhere with the highest percent of wind power in nearly any country.

So a little about the accommodation- there is no separation for men and women. There were a couple of families or couples and they would be side by side. The rest of us were all mixed up. I happened to be with two sisters and their friend. The disadvantage of my location was that it was by the aisle and door, so people frequently walked through and they weren’t always quiet. There is approximately 2 feet between hammock hooks. Everyone also has a small locker in which to place clothing. Six or seven hammocks can hang in each row, with room for 150 hammocks total. We had about 100 people so there were a few welcome empty spaces. Privacy and personal space did not exist. And, since almost everyone (men and women alike) slept in nothing but their underwear, I have now seen more men in their underwear than I care to.

Many trainees were already on board from either the night before or the race. The ship was second in the race in having the fastest sailing time but being penalized for an error during the race start. Fortunately the ones who had sailed in the race could help us new trainees.


During our first watch, the experienced trainees took duties while we learned the layout of the ship, the schedule and our duties for watch. The watches I had over the course of the voyage were fire watch, helm, and buoy watch. The fire watch walks around the ship checking on the other watches and making sure everything is in order (trash cans aren’t full, freezer isn’t defrosting, no one is hurt, etc). The helm, which I will describe more in a minute, maintains the ship’s heading. The buoy watch stands aft and makes sure no one falls overboard. There is also a lookout who stands forward and rings a bell if there are any other boats, etc. in the water in front of the ship as you can’t see from the helm which is aft. If there is an object starboard, that is one ring, an object port is two rings, and an object forward three rings. The helm acknowledges the object with the same number of rings back. Each person on a watch group was assigned one of these watches for an hour during each watch period. If you weren’t on an assigned watch, you were required to stay on deck to manage sails, ropes, maintenance, etc.


I enjoyed the helm the most. I had the helm twice, once under sail and once under engines. The response of the ship to the rudder and how the rudder responded to the wheel were quite different in the two cases. Under sail, we were only going about 4 knots while under engine, we were going 10 knots. You basically have to make small adjustments for the rudder to maintain a constant heading. It sounds quite easy but it required a lot of attention to the compass and orientation of the rudder. And the rudder doesn’t respond the same under sail as under engine. The wind has an effect as does the tilt of the ship.

In general, the food was very good. There was cereal, sliced meat and cheese, bread, and something hot for breakfast. Cold cuts, bread, fruit and something hot for lunch and a hot dinner. There were also two coffee breaks- one morning and one afternoon. It was a little strange to sleep above where you ate, or eat below where you would sleep.


The organization was a bit of a challenge. Everything felt very disorganized most of the time. Sometimes the crew would be very good about explaining something in English and sometimes not. Also, we never had an idea of what was coming next. You would suddenly just get grabbed to do something. It is a little hard to explain but I would definitely have gotten way more out of the experience on an all-English voyage. I missed a lot of explanations and information by not speaking Norwegian. It was also lonely. There were a few families and a lot of young people. But only six of us were non-Norwegians or non-Danish- Two Russians, one other American and two Dutch. If we had thought about it, Kirk and I could have done it together and that would also have been more fun.



Unfortunately, the wind was not conducive to sailing much. We spent about 60% of time under engines and only got to sail for about a day. Sailing is a lot of work. The sails have to be put up and then moved or frequently adjusted to maximize the wind. And all these adjustments require a lot of rope pulling. And each rope usually needs at least four people to pull it. Putting up the biggest sail required nearly the entire ship to pull ropes at once. It was a huge amount of work plus a lot of knowing when to pull, ease off but maintain pressure on the rope, and finally drop it when commanded. As Sidney puts it, a huge amount of “teamwork” is required.




I also got to climb the rigging and help stuff one of the sails. In order to climb the rigging, you have to be able to do a pull up. The reason is that when you climb, you have to hang at 45 degrees backwards to climb over the crow’s nest. This is quite a strain on your arms. And while at this angle, the shorter of us can’t use our legs and have to basically support our body with one arm while moving the other one. Between this and pulling rope, my arms and back are very sore. Additionally, I went out on the yard arm and helped pack the largest sail. While doing this, you are standing on a wire, holding onto the yard arm, lifting a very heavy sail and packing it (like stuffing a pillow in a case), all while 35 meters above the sea. Everyone else, who is heavier than me, is also on the wire when they push the sail in the wire moves a lot - quite an uncomfortable experience the first time. Both climbing the rigging and going out on the yard arm were very mentally and physically challenging experiences. They were down right frightening at first but I think I would welcome that challenge again.

Night life was challenging for me as well. Although we had a good watch time, I am a light sleeper, so I did not get much sleep for three days- maybe three hours a night. There are always bells ringing, people walking around, and people on deck working or moving sails. Plus sleeping in a hammock was new. These aren’t the hammocks you buy at the outdoor store for the patio. They are cloth and rope and you have to pull yourself up to the ceiling to get in. It is like sleeping in your own taco. Once I was in, I couldn’t see out except for the ceiling without sitting up. I got out the same way, pulling myself up to the ceiling and jumping out. I think I could sleep in a hammock again as it wasn’t uncomfortable, just the situation around me with so many people, etc.



I think I would sail again but with some conditions. One is to be with someone I know. As I said earlier, I really was lonely. Second is to be on a English-speaking vessel. I think I would get much more out of the experience. But I am not about to turn sailor, although by the time I return from offshore next week, I will have been on a ship, boat or ferry every day for 10 days. No wonder the land wobbles!

I go offshore Thursday through Monday. Kirk and I leave for Houston to house hunt Wednesday and return the following Wednesday. I go offshore again after that. Sidney starts school August 16 and we think we will leave Norway September 17. After our two days in Bergen, which Kirk will write about, we have two more “must do’s”. We want to go to Kristiansand to the zoo and to Flekkefjord and ride the bikes (called dresins) that run on the old train rails.

It seems strange that our one way flight to the US is only six weeks away. The time has flown by. We will do a future post on our thoughts about the experience so stay tuned. But we sure have had fun.

Legoland and Tall Ships

Sidney and I returned from Denmark yesterday evening after dropping Kimber off at her ship.


We took advantage of this trip to Denmark and visited Legoland Billund (the original Legoland.) I have to say that of all the amusement parks I have visited, it was probably one of the best for a kid Sidney's age and size. There were only three rides in the whole park she wasn't allowed to ride. The rides weren't anything like Six Flags or Cedar Point, but they were enjoyable and well-maintained.



The most interesting parts of the park are the sculptures made of Legos everywhere. These aren't just models molded to make it look like they are made of Legos - these are real Lego models! Many have over 50,000 pieces and took over a year to build. Mini-land is a group of cities, villages and other such things, some with motorized elements. They even have a Lego model of an oil rig with working cranes and service vessels sailing around it.


Another interesting group of models are the animals along the log ride. The buffalo were particularly cool.

We finished out the day by enjoying a barbecued rib dinner in the western town of Legoredo. The ribs weren't bad, and there was a live country band (though the blend of Texan and Danish was a little funny.) At least they had the right spirit.


The next day we went down to the harbor in Aalgard to see all the ships there for the Tall Ship Races. It was a fantastic sight! There were sailing ships of various sizes from many different countries. There were probably 40 or more ships there in the harbor, lining both sides of the waterway.











After walking around a bit and visiting a museum, we took a harbor tour to see the different ships. It was worth it to see them all from the water, as the perspective is completely different.






We then walked to Kimber's ship, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl. We looked around the deck a bit and she spoke with a ship's officer to determine when she could come on board. She decided to give up one night of sleeping in the hammock on the ship in lieu of sleeping in a bed at the hotel, and set her check in time for the next morning.

We walked around the shopping area of town a while (sorry, Norway, but the shopping there was better than Stavanger) and had an iced coffee. It was quite warm, so the iced coffee was really nice. We then went back to our hotel for an interesting dinner and a quiet evening.

I say interesting dinner because it is funny what we have come to enjoy here. Our dinner consisted of crackers, sardines, canned salmon spread, canned grape leaves, cheese spread, and various other canned and packable items. I brought them with us because they didn't require refrigeration and it is cheaper than eating out. It was very enjoyable and quite filling.

Oh, and the drink machine in the hotel also had cans of beer for the same price as a 0.5 liter soda. Amazing.

We dropped Kimber off at 6 a.m. yesterday and Sidney and I went to the ferry for our ride back to Norway. We will board another ferry tomorrow morning to Bergen and will meet Kimber when her ship docks Tuesday morning. We have something special planned for Bergen, so keep coming back to read the blog!

Lillehammer in 24 Hours

Kimber went to Lillehammer on Saturday with Jennifer and Jennifer's daughter Kaitlyn. We left Stavanger at 9 pm on Friday night and were back in Stavanger at 9 pm Saturday night. Jennifer and Kaitlyn left to fly back to the US on Sunday morning. Hence the title of this post.



We arrived in Lillehammer at about 1 am on Saturday morning as we flew from Stavanger to Oslo and then took the train, about a 2 and 1/2 hour ride, to Lillehammer. We started our day at 8 am by going up to The Olympic Park. This is where the opening ceremony for the 1994 Olympics were held and where the ski jumping competition was held. We took the chair lift to the top of the ski jumps and walked the stairs down. The plastic grass is what the jumpers land on in the summer.




We even got to see some people practicing on the smaller ski jump. If you look closely at the next two pictures you can see the jumpers.





Also at Olympic Park, we tried the bob sled and ski simulator. Those down hill skiers must have some really strong legs. The simulator demonstrated how fast and rough the courses are. And I am not sure how they react so fast. It has to be nearly impossible to see. The bob sled simulation was a warm up to our next adventure.

After Olympic Park, we took the bus to Hunderfossen. Our mission at Hunderfossen was to ride the Wheel Bob. We found amazingly sweet but very tiny strawberries on the walk to the bob sled park. They were the size of a pea but perfectly ripe and so tasty. Ont he return walk, we found blueberries. Kimber could still be out there eating. This is a wheeled bob sled that runs on the 1994 Olympic bob sled track. There were two sleds on the track when we arrived and we got to see them go by. Then it was our turn.


You wear a helmet and weight lifting belt to support your back. Then you board, three per sled with a professional driver. They remind you to keep your back straight, head up and forward, and to breath. Also, if the sled flips, don't panic and hang on. In 70 seconds, which goes by like 20 seconds, you are done.

It was totally awesome. Very bumpy but not nearly long enough. I asked the driver how they manage the bumps multiple times per day. She said it isn't as bumpy in the front and is much smoother on ice. Jennifer was concerned with the smell of hot rubber but I figured even if the thing turned over, we were safe.


After the wheel bob, we made a mad dash over to Hunderfossen for Jennifer and Kaitlyn to try the ropes course. I sat outside the fence an watched them, occasionally reminding Kaitlyn how to manage her ropes.


We concluded with riding the train back from Lillehammer to Oslo and a short flight home. The best part for me was at the end though when I had Sidney and Kirk home at last!!