Day 9 - Rule Britannia

Today we were docked at the port of Newhaven, in the Lieth district of Edinburgh.  

Becky and I are planning on spending a week in Edinburgh in October this year, staying in the city centre.   So we didn't see the point in joining any of the many excursions heading into  town  to go to the castle or any of the other attractions in the centre.

Instead we walked along the seafront for just over a mile to Ocean Terminal,  where the Royal Yacht Britannia is now docked and  is open to the public as a museum.  We toured the whole ship, which was fascinating and took a long time.   

By the time we'd seen  everything we were a bit peckish,  so we went to the Royal Tearoom onboard for tea, scones and some Victoria  sponge.  Yum!

After raiding the gift shop and going for a lovely  walk in an area called the Shore, we headed back to  the ship to attend the historical lecture  about Scapa Flow, where we will be docking tomorrow.  Eating,  drinking cocktails and soaking in the hot tub made up the rest of the day.

Day 8 - Aberdeen

Docked in a commercial  port near Aberdeen  this morning with a nice view of an oil rig that's in port for maintenance.   

We were booked  on the city tour in the afternoon,  which was a good thing as it rained all morning  and  finally cleared up about an hour before our tour started.  So we spent the morning onboard just chilling out and reading. 

Our first stop on the tour was Duthie Park, which still boasts its original Victorian layout  including  bandstand. It also houses an extensive  greenhouse  complex  that's probably the 2nd biggest in the  UK after Kew.  

After that we went to Kings college  chapel and the cathedral.  

Back onboard at 4.30 we had an early  meal and quite a few cocktails before  sobering up enough to win the trivia quiz  in the Explorer's  lounge. 

Day 7 - Hello Lerwick

Lerwick, population roughly 7000, is the main town of the Shetlands.  I've  never been  to  the Shetlands before  and they are not that easy to get to even if you're  from the UK,  so it was nice to stop there as part of this cruise.

We docked early and had our first day for  a while  without rain.  Although there were a number of excursions being offered around the island (mostly  involving Shetland ponies), Becky and I decided to walk into  town and have a look round by ourselves.  Despite being so remote it was much like any small town in the UK with a Boots and a Tesco.  

The buildings are quite quaint and we found a nice cafe to have some homemade treats and a coffee.  We walked along the seafront and  visited  all the gift shops. We also saw the Viking ship made for the up helly aa festival,  which was anchored in the  harbour.  

We stopped  at Fort Charlotte and managed to make it back to the ship just as it started to rain.

After all that walking we spent the rest of the day having  a  late afternoon tea and hanging out in the hot tub.

Day 6 - Bye Bye Bergen

We stayed in Bergen overnight  after boarding and there were excursions  available today. However,  when we got up it was tipping it down and continued doing so all morning.   We were booked on an afternoon  excursion, but the bad weather and the fact we'd already  seen most of Bergen  during our pre-cruise extension left me feeling like it wasn't worth it. So Becky went on her own and I hung around in the atrium having a drink and listening to the pianist and reading.  

Becky came back soaked at about 3.30pm and after our emergency evacuation training we went up top to watch our departure from  Bergen.   It finally stopped  raining so I was able to take a few photos. 

Day 5 - All Aboard the Viking Jupiter

Becky and I were up early  to put our cases out for transfer to the  ship.  After breakfast  we took a short walk to the harbour for some last minute  gift shopping in an effort to  get rid of the remainder of our Norwegian currency.   

At 11.15 we took the bus to the ship.  Despite having spoken to the Viking reps at our hotels in Oslo and Bergen there was still some confusion  about whether  I was going to be able  to  board with my Canadian  passport and no ETA.   I'd  had to explain at length that the ETA form won't let you apply if you admit to having uk citizenship.  So, as a uk citizen,  even without  a uk passport,  I can't  get an ETA.    I had to go through  this explanation  yet again  with the boarding  staff, but I was at least allowed to  board.

Later on, I received a phone call in my cabin from the purser to say that they'd spoken to the UK border people and it was OK and I didn't  need an ETA  because I was a UK citizen.  Don't you just love it when you spend 5 days telling people something and then they repeat it back to you as though  they are giving you new information. 

Ah well, I'm just grateful that it's all worked out in the end and losing my British passport  didn't turn the trip into a complete disaster.  

Here is the view from the ship.

Day 4 - Bergen

Today was our first full day in Bergen and we went on an excursion which took us to a couple of museums.   Bergen  was, at one time, the capital of Norway and also the largest wooden city in Europe.   Despite the wet climate this meant the city burned down  many times.   When  they finally decided in the late 17th and early  18th century  that building with wood was perhaps not such a great idea, the wooden  buildings started to be removed.  Old Bergen museum is home to around 50 of these buildings that were moved here.  For those readers from Wales,  it's a similar  concept to St Fagans

During a tour of town in the bus we passed the UNESCO  world heritage site of the few remaining  wooden warehouses that were part of the city  occupied by the  Hanseatic league.  Finally we ended up at the Bryggen museum where I bought a nice new hat in the gift shop to help protect me from the local weather.   It really  does rain a lot here.  They even have a special local word, opplett, for the  short gap periods between  showers. 

After the tour, Becky and I walked down to the harbour and ate at the fish market again. This time Becky  ordered the whale steak and I had a taste.  It really tastes remarkably like beef steak. 

After that we got an early  night as boarding is tomorrow and we have to put our cases out early 

Day 3 - Scenic train to Bergen

We had to be up at 4am this morning and set out for the train station at 5.20am to catch the train to Bergen.    Part of the journey was at elevation - where the countryside was still covered in snow.   

The photo below is of the landscape around Fiske, which is where the scenes of the ice planet of Hoth (from the Empire Strikes Back) was filmed.   The only missing are some imperial walkers...

On arriving in Bergen we took a walk around the city centre and ended up at the fish market in the harbour where we had a very nice fish meal.

It's Saturday night and the nightclub on the ground floor of the hotel seems to be the "happening place" in Bergen which means that all I can hear is thump thump thump from downstairs.   

Day 2 - Touring Oslo

Our first full day in the city.  We were taken out on a coach to see various sites in the city such as the royal palace, Akershus fortress and the building where the Nobel prizes are awarded. Unforunately,  the bus did not actually  stop at any of these places, just drove past.  So it wasn't possible to get good photos.

The first place we stopped was the Vigland sculpture  park, where the most famous  sculpture  is called the angry boy.

After this we stopped at the maritime museum and were given a presentation about Viking ship building.  The museum  is "learning by doing", so they are in the process of trying to build  a Longship using the same materials and tools as the vikings would have used.

Not having slept well because of worrying about my lost passport,  we were pretty  tired by the time our coach tour was over. So we decided to eat at the hotel and  get an early  night.  We have to be up at 4am tomorrow to catch the scenic train to Bergen. 

Day 1 - Disaster strikes

After successfully arriving in Heathrow and meeting up with Becky we spent a night at the Hilton in Terminal 2.   The trouble started the following morning when we headed to T3 to check in for our flight to Oslo.   First of all the automated bag drop didn't work properly.   It claimed to have checked in my suitcase and even printed out a receipt for  the "checked-in" suitcase.  But the conveyer never moved - the bag just sat there.  After 5 minutes it said there was an error and told me to go and see a member of staff.  With this issue eventually sorted out we went through security nearly 3 hours early and sat in the terminal reading for a while.

Heathrow being Heathrow, they never manage to call the gate for a flight until about 40 minutes before it's due to take off.  In keeping with this, the gate for our Oslo flight was not called until 6.50m, for a flight that took off at 7.30 - and it was a 10 minute walk to the gate.   When we eventually got to the gate at about 7am, I couldn't find my UK passport!  I rushed back to security - but they said it hadn't been handed in, and after another 10-15 minutes of rushing around every shop/restaurant I'd been in I had to head back to the gate or I wasn't going to make it before the flight took off.   Never have I ever been so happy to be a dual citizen - as they allowed me to re-check-in using my Canadian passport and I was able to board the flight to Oslo.   

I'll still need to sort out an ETA for our cruise stops in the UK now that I'm traveling as a Canadian citizen and I'll need to sort out getting a new UK passport when I get home.  But at least I'm not having to give up and go home without being able to fly out to Norway and board the ship. 

So we made it to Oslo about 10.40 and met the Viking rep at the airport who arranged our transfer to our central Oslo hotel.   The rooms weren't available yet,  so we walked into the centre of town and did a bit of souvenir shopping and sightseeing.   

After that it was back to the hotel to pick up our room key and unpack - only to find that they'd made a mistake with the room and we'd ended up with a double bed instead of 2 singles.   It's a good thing we're sisters and spent most of our childhood sharing a room and/or a bed.   They claim the hotel is full and there's nothing they can do about it.  

We went out about 5pm to the Norda restaurant and had reindeer lasagne and brown cheesecake (made with that Nordski caramelized cheese) and a LOT of alcohol to help us relax after such a stressful day.   

Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly. 

Off to Norway

Headed out tomorrow for a week in Norway,  followed  by a cruise and finally  a week in  London.   

But before I go, it's Victoria  Day here in Canada today and everyone is out enjoying the tulip festival.  So Happy Victoria Day!