Wanderings and Ramblings : Olden, Norway

While the world pauses to watch the World Cup Opening Ceremonies (which, by the way, other than the abysmal sound quality, I am thoroughly enjoying), I am going to return to blogging about our cruise through Norway. After Alesund, we headed back south, stopping in the lovely little village of Olden, which is also the nearest port to the Jostedal Glacier.

Many of our fellow travelers had tours to the Briksdal Arm of the glacier arranged. As per usual, we were more casual with our plans. This was partly just in keeping with our norm, and partly because we had a minor logistical challenge. I am quite proud to say that Marika has been chosen to represent USA Girl Scouts Overseas as a delegate (one of only two "girl" delegates for our council, the other being from Japan). With this honor comes responsibility, including attending several online meetings and webinars. It happened that the very first one of these was while we were on the cruise. We were happy that it was on a port day (internet can be spotty at sea, not to mention expensive) and during the day time (1:00 pm). It DID mean we needed to be somewhere quiet and with a reliable internet connection midday (the ship, while in port, was perfect) and we needed to plan around that.

So, as per our norm, we started off the morning with breakfast, and then a nice walk right off of the ship. I did notice bike rentals right on the pier, and the paved paths and roads in this area would be excellent for the casual rider; I think there is a good chance that I will rent a bike on a return trip.

We walked along the wide path, past the small town:

and out to the "New Church;" a pretty wooden structure, very different from the churches we see in Germany, but really calming and lovely in my opinion:

Then we meandered back towards the ship, walking down to the river for photos on our way, so that we would arrive in plenty of time for Marika to set up for the webinar.

I snapped this photo of just how low the doorway was with the way the ship was docked, because I thought it was funny (to be fair, Dave is 6'5"):

Marika ordered room service and set up on the balcony to enjoy a webinar with a view. WOW. What a way to "work!"

After lunch (which the rest of us enjoyed in the Windjammer cafe), we headed back off the ship. We decided to take the trip being advertised there on the dock, 25 Euro to take a bus to the glacier and waterfall and went into the tourist office to pay. There were these cute little rock trolls there that reminded us of the Frozen movie:

We sat up on the (cold) open top of the bus for the views. It as not very full and I think we may have literally been the only non crew on the bus. It was pretty fun being out on tour with the crew, including our own excellent stateroom host.

Marika, the sock hater, was in flip flops up there in the arctic breeze, brrr!

Here is some of the view from the top of the bus. It was a pretty, though chilly, ride:

We stopped along the shores of one of the twin lakes, with a VIEW of the glacier way off in the distance. Hmmmm. Apparently we were a little confused about what we were buying. It was still fun, and we would not have been able to walk so far with the midday meeting, so it was okay and worthwhile, but not a mistake we will repeat again.