Stavanger and Lysefjord

Getting together with a high school friend who I haven't seen in years! That was the plan for the weekend. Keith, his wife and her two sisters were coming to Norway on a cruise around Great Britain. Sunday, the ship would be in Stavanger, which is at the southern end of Norway. I was excited to see them. I bought a boat ticket for the 5 hour trip south, reserved a hotel room, and made plane reservations to get back to Bergen late on Sunday so that we would have all day Sunday to be tourists. Keith and Sondra bought us all tickets for a boat tour of Lysefjord. BUT, Friday night Keith lets me know that their ship has changed routes to avoid a storm. They would go around Great Britain in the other direction, and not get to Stavanger until the FOLLOWING Sunday. My tickets were paid for, it was less than 24 hours till boarding, so I couldn't cancel them or change days. I went for my weekend by myself. Sniff.

Gamle (old) Stavanger is lovely, with great flowers.

New Stavanger is also lovely, as shown by the Stavanger Concert House

I love this bridge, and the beautiful harbor

Combining old and new; was Burger King really established in 1883?

Sunday morning - cruise Lysefjorden!

Lysefjorden means "light" fjord, because of the light granite sides.

The boat is fast, so the wind-chill factor is high!

"Twas a misty, moisty morning, and cloudy was the weather..."

The sod roof must have had a problem...

We nudged right up to the edge of the fjord several times!

 They collected waterfall water for us to taste. It was delicious. Listen for the Grieg music!

Here's the point of the cruise - to see Pulpit Rock from the bottom!

When we got back to town, I dashed over to the Canning Museum. Before Norway "invented the oil", the main business for Stavanger was canning brisling. No dummies, they renamed them sardines. The tour was really entertaining! Look for King Oscar sardines in the grocery, especially if they are packaged in Poland, where they moved production because of labor costs. Try them! The process is: Leave live fish in fresh water for a couple of days so they empty their bowels, then soak for a few minutes in salt water, then hang them on sticks through the eyes (22 fish per stick, 32 sticks per frame). Next smoke them for about 3 hours, cut off the heads, pack them in cans that are just smaller than the size that the US would charge customs on, and sell them. They got patents for the cans, too. Remember those keys that you would clip onto a metal tab, and roll off the lid?

Those sardines are rubber, but we could pack them. 

Marketing geniuses. There are thousands and thousands of labels, for every nationality and era.

Sunday was a festival day downtown, with roller-skis to try, environmental booths, weights to lift, and people doing some sort of Middle Ages entertainment.

Now comes the sad part. It started raining, and I hoped to get an earlier flight, so I spent 4 hours hanging out at the airport. Getting home was once again, wonderful!