Sea & Stavanger

Well day 2 of the cruise had a very early and late start. Sadly, I awoke at about 2am to discover I have a cold. Boo. Thankfully I was able to get back to sleep, and stayed that way until 11am! (Guess I needed it). My cabin attendant was not impressed and he gave me a bit of a lecture as I was leaving around noon, telling me he had to have the rooms done by 1pm. Once I explained that I was feeling unwell he backed off. Plus it was a sea day! A perfect day to sleep in and relax. 

I'd well and truly missed breakfast, and wasn't sure I could sit through the MDR, so I headed to the Windjammer. Lunch was a little random, but these were my choices. I highly recommend the hummus! 

Still a little sleepy I headed to Cafe Latte-tudes to try the coffee. I'm a little disappointed that they put everything in take away cups. There was an impressive (complimentary) cookie selection along with the coffee.

Those who have read earlier posts know that my feet got a huge work out last week. Lots of standing and dancing the night away, so I took them up to the spa to be treated to a pedicure. There is a lovely view from up in the salon where they do nails and hair. Though a word of warning, don't take the stairs in the disposable shoes! It may end in tears. 

Spent the afternoon getting some more rest, and then it was dinner time! It was a formal night last night, and being sick I wasn't in the mood to dress up, so I decided to try another speciality resturant. This time I headed to Chops. I had a lovely waiter from Turkey, and decided to play my usual game of 'use as many words in the waters language that you know'. He was pretty chuffed when I thanked him in Turkish. He even taught me a few new words during the meal. I decided to start with the goat cheese salad.

Next up, you can't really go to a steakhouse and not have steak, right? 

I had selected a different cut, but my waiter assured me this was a more tender cut of meat and he was right. It was lovely. For dessert I went with the Chops speciality - the red velvet cake.

I will say that there was not a lot of flavour in the cake for me, but given I have a cold it could be my taste buds at fault, not the cake.

They had announced that the following day, when we were due in Stavanger was Norway's National Day (Constitution Day), so my plans all went out the window as many things I had intended to visit would be closed. I decided instead to go and book a ship excursion. Before I went to the desk though I thought I would check the tickets in my cabin that were for Friday. Glad I did, I had FOUR cabins worth of tickets in my envelope. I took them all back and handed them in, explaining they were given to me by mistake. Disturbingly, the staff seemed shocked by the honesty of returning them. The poor girl at the counter told me that she had been coping abuse all day because people were not happy Tuesday was a holiday in Norway. A tip - either do your homework on your destination, or roll with the punches. It was not the shore excursion desk's fault May 17 is a national holiday!

With that it was back to my room for another early night. This little fellow greeted me when I got back. 

Up nice and early this morning. This was the view from my cabin as we sailed into port. Rows of lovely little fishing houses.

I chose the Stavenger and Surroundings tour for the day. The first stop, after a great drive through the countryside, was at Byrkjedalstunet, which was originally famous for its goat cheese, but now it's candles. We stopped for a traditional pancake, which was served with local farm made jam and sour cream. 

The venue for morning tea was amazing, we were in a cave! 

The cave said trolls, the candelabras said Dracula!

Outside there was a number of traditional Norweigan houses that we could look at. These guys need to mow their roof...

The gift shop also had an amazing display of stuffed local wildlife.

We had a number of stops to admire to scenery and take some pictures. 

The scenery was all very dramatic and spectacular.

We also visited Gloppedalsura, Europe's largest rockery.

Our guide told us this was a great picnic spot in the summer, and the home to a rare spider.

We then headed back towards town. By now, everyone was starting to arrive in town in their traditional dress ahead of the day's parades. It was very festive. Lots of colour and singing, and amazing to see everyone all dressed up. I even saw bow ties on dogs!

By the time we got back, we had company!

By this point the cold was starting to make me feel a little worse for wear, and I decided to head back to the ship to rest up a bit. Had wanted to nap, but this is really haunting me...