Today my good friend Pedro left. He had been my neighbor last contract and we grew close on this. He was my bestie on the ship! It was really hard to say goodbye to him and adjust to life on the Vision without him. I normally always go over to his cabin for movies or just to talk. And I went off with him basically everyday. I hope someday I will get to hang out with him again; we’ve talked about Disneyworld or traveling to certain places. Thankfully we can keep in contact with modern technology!
After the difficult parting with Pedro, we grabbed Holly and headed out in Copenhagen. Our first stop was the Little Mermaid statue, from Hans Christian Anderson’s tale. I had seen her sister statue last year, because the original had been moved to China for the World Expo. We continued wandering; Holly eating her sugar covered nuts like always. We stumbled upon a church with a beautiful sculpture and water fountain. I spent some time trying new artistic angles for my photographs of the monument. Beneath the bridge near the church, a swan rested in her nest. I have never seen such a big nest before! It was probably the size of my bed!
Further into town we came across the military quarters. The entrance gate and houses stood brilliantly out; the radiant red paint a shocking contrast to the grey cement and surrounding green scenery. On a hill we found a windmill plopped in the middle of the park. Jessica and I took some fun pictures of us cart wheeling in time with the windmill. I chased a giant bumblebee, trying to get close enough to take pictures of the ginormous fluff ball.
When we made it out of town and into the city, we found the Rosenborg castle, which displays the crown jewels of the Royal Family. We walked in the beautiful gardens; stopping to take pictures beneath the exquisite pink trees that reminded me of the cherry blossoms in Japan. Jessica and I joked that this would have been a perfect place to take senior pictures. I’ve found a lot of bare trees in Europe, they look like the whomping willow! I’m wondering if people plant them because they are easier to manage, being leafless. They may be more manageable, but they aren’t much for looking at! On the grounds of the castle, we watched soldiers march around, dressed fully in uniform and protecting the castle from tourists. Sean and I asked one guard if he could take a picture with us, and he laughed a little, despite himself, and said, “I’m sorry, I can’t stop marching!”
After touring the castle, we ate sandwiches from an adorable bakery and headed back to the ship.
Bergen was our next port of call. This was the cutest little mountain town, a lot like Estes! It had a McDonalds in an old fashioned building, and we joked it must be the world’s first Mickey D’s! Sean, Jessica, and I decided we were going to hike up one of the various trails on Mount Floien. It was a pretty easy hike; meant for the tourists, and certainly nothing for the Colorado experts. When we made it to the top, we had a gorgeous view of city and the fjords below. We headed back down into the town, and walked through the fish market. There were giant shrimp and king crab, the biggest I’ve ever seen. They were even selling smoked whale! Jessica got her seafood for the day, because it’s the recommended local cuisine. We stopped in the 7/11 for the best ice cream sticks EVER, Sean bought vanilla ice cream with caramel filling and a chocolate shell. Jess tried a fruit one, and I tested both of theirs ;)
Outside on the streets, there were several kids in decorative red pants, running around, talking into a megaphone, or even crawling on the floor and screaming. We were in the university area, and these might have been the drama students. We later learned that the awesome red pants they designed themselves were their uniforms! I wanted a pair!
We headed towards St. George’s museum, a hospital that fought against leprosy. It was closed at that time but apparently you can tour where they kept and cared for the diseased people. On our way back to the ship, we passed a perfectly square castle and stopped into a souvenir shop. We found an elk hoof knife! Sean and I took pictures next to the adorably ugly Norwegian troll and their funky “telefon” booth. We also looked in the old merchant homes, buildings that have been there for years. They were leaning quite a bit, but still in tact. It was wonderful to get back into nature today and out of the tourist trap for a bit.
One of the most well known fjords in the world is the Geiranger fjord, which was our next stop! :D We had been told that sailing into the fjord was an experience in itself, so we got up early for a few pictures and breakfast in the Windjammer, before scoring a tour of the bridge for my brother (thanks to my awesome higher-up-connections!) The bridge offered a breathtaking view as the titanic mountains and the fjord swallowed up our ship. It was quiet, serene. One officer told me that this fjord can hold five cruise ships at a time! I was astonished that we could even make it in! The water below is deep enough to house our ship, which seems impossible.
Once off the ship, we began our hike to Storseter Waterfall. About halfway up, we reached the Vesterås gard, a goat farm on the side of the mountain. There were so many goats! You could hear them wandering around with their goat bells swung around their necks. Although the farm was closed, you could walk along the path in the goat pasture. I have never been that close to a goat in my life! I tried to pet babies ones because they were so cute and wooly, but they were too scared to leave their mother’s side. It was a funny scene to have goats scattered along the path, like rocks The goats must have thousands of visitors a year, they were more cautious of us than curious, it seemed like they couldn’t care less we were there. The ones with the horns scared me!
Along the path to the Storsæterfossen (the waterfall), we came across a pile of hardened snow. Now, being from Colorado, Jess, Sean and I took no real interest in this ice mound. But Drew is from Australia and had never seen snow in his life! It was the funniest thing to watch him apprehensively walk on the snow, feel its cold sting, and even make his first snowball. He was a kid again; seeing for the first time on of God’s greatest gifts. We all watched him with great amusement as he explored the pile, laughing at his surprised expression when he sunk in the snow. It was awesome to be there for someone’s first experience of what is so common and even annoying at times for me. He had such joy for something so simple. :D
When we finally reached the waterfall, we took in the vast mountains around us, and the valley way beneath. We climbed into the cavern where you can walk under the flowing waterfall! The rush of the water was so loud and it was an exhilarating experience to be walking under it. We stayed there for a while, enjoying the beautiful weather and the gorgeous view of Norway. I had never thought of Norway as being pretty, or that it would be a place I would want to travel to and hike. But I must say, Norway had entered the top of my list for Europe!
Back on the ship, we had a lovely dinner in the dining room, complete with spectacular view of the fjords as we sailed away. We weaved in and out of mountains. It was a peculiar sensation because the ship doesn’t quite look like it will fit in the narrow channels between the mountains, but it always does. This was certainly one of my favorite ports.
The next day was a sea day, and I spent it with my brother eating and laughing, enjoying our time together. We had a delicious last meal in the dining room and got him all packed for his trip back to Thailand. I was dreading the next day, when I would have to say goodbye.
But of course, the next day did come. We were docked in Copenhagen again. Luckily, Sean had a night flight so he spent the day with Jess and me! We checked at the train station where he needed to go, how often things were running, etc. Once he was confident he knew what to do to get to the airport, we headed deeper into the city.
We stopped for internet at a coffee joint named Baresso. Here my brother helped me find some great deals for my trip with Jess to London! (I have the best family EVER.) We ate amazing pastries from a random bakery and laughed because we couldn’t figure out where the line started or ended, only to later learn that you had to take a number, so there was no physical line. There were a lot of local starring at us like headless chickens running around! At least most of these ports have English speakers!
After about ten more minutes of walking we literally stumbled upon Christianshavns, a self-governing town since 1971. We saw a group of people heading all heading in one direction so we decided to follow them, not sure what to expect. Christiania is a real hippy town. They aren’t a part of the EU; they have their own rules and even their own flag with three yellow dots, the symbolism of that…I don’t know. I’ve heard a rumor that there’s a waiting list for a home in this area of about 25 years. The graffiti was beautiful works of art and we found a market in the center with bargains on various things. Further into the town there were “no cameras” signs, possibly to keep anyone from duplicating it. We didn’t get to spend much time here because we needed to drop Sean off at the station and get back to the ship, but Jess and I decided we would return to do some more shopping and exploring of this unique town plopped in the middle of a major city.
Dropping Sean off at train station was incredibly hard, because it began to sink in that I don’t know when I will see him next. I will never forget him telling me how proud he was of me and that he loved me and would miss me. In the reality of it all, I of course cried all the way back to the ship. I am completely determined to go see him soon if he isn’t coming home for a while, no doubt about that. Until then, emails and blogging will have to suffice.
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