Stavanger, Norway

First stop on the Norway cruise is Stavanger, Norway – a city that Troy has consistently referred to as ‘Strat-Avenger’ (which is hard to unhear, once he’s said it a few times).  Our excursion, to an iron farm and the national petroleum museum started at 11:45 and we arrived at around 7:30 AM – plenty of time to head out early and explore, in advance of our excursion.

Well, it would have been anyway, had we not slept in until 11:15.  Let me just say in our defense, our cabin is really, really dark.  And we lost an hour switching time zones.  And we didn’t have an alarm set (or an easily accessible clock).  Also, I’m tired, and Valerian left me with a lot of questions the night before.  It’s a thing.

So, ripped from the headlines (i.e. ‘The Princess Patter’), Stavanger’s clear skies and mild climate are sure to put a song in our hearts.  It is believed to hold Europe’s largest collection of wooden buildings, and we can hear the music of the land that has been sung since the 13^th century [end quote].

After a hurried breakfast of pizza, we met up with our tour group and headed to our first stop, which was at a monument constructed to honor the unification of Norway, which, according to our tour guide, was done for love.  You know the story – guy loves girl, girl feels like guy has less status than the other royal families in Europe, guy pledges to unite the 13 or so Norwegian states to prove his love.  Anyway, the monument was three giant swords, plunged into the beach.  Photos to come :)

The iron age farm (Jernaldegarden) was a bit underwhelming.  Squatly placed in the shadow of three apartment buildings (possibly college dorms), we saw two buildings that had been reconstructed from the iron age.  We were met by a docent dressed in 13^th century fashion, which led us to believe that he might also share some iron age knowledge.  Instead, he helped us to file into one of the buildings and never really said anything while we waited for something to happen.  Nothing really did.  We sat for a while and then filed out.

The next stop was much cooler – it was an abandoned telecommunications tower that we could climb up part of to get a sense of the countryside.  Great views, despite some blustery weather and low-lying clouds.

Our final stop was at the national petroleum museum.  Clearly, Norway has made some money through petroleum, as this was a very well-constructed, interactive, interesting museum (I will admit to not having especially defined expectations).  Lots of stuff to play with, lots of cool exhibits and models and whatnot.  Apparently, the petroleum industry employs about 13% of Norwegians, and a huge amount of the revenue from the industry goes straight to the country via taxes.  Norway has then used ~4% of that revenue per year to enrich the citizens (infrastructure projects, educational system, etc.).

After our excursion, we got some lunch and went to trivia.  Our winning friends found us again, and asked if we wanted to join them.  We did, but unfortunately our collective wisdom did not carry the day.  We got 15/20, which still feels pretty respectable.  The rest of the evening was more or less uneventful – dinner was good, drinks and live music were good, and despite sleeping a lot already, we called it a relatively early night.

Tomorrow, we’re hiking to a glacier in Olden!