This morning I woke up while arriving in Ålesund, Norway. I took some photos and videos during the arrival.
I took some pictures of the city from the pool deck on my way to/from breakfast.
I got a (not) toasted bagel. I was disappointed, but those industrial toasters only seem to be warmers.
I was the first one off the ship at 8:00 AM (I guess no one was in a hurry to get out in the rain, especially when it was a bit chilly). I took a picture of the Aida ship arriving.
I had booked the hop on / hop off bus as I wanted to visit a museum that was further than walking distance and I also wanted to visit the viewpoint, but not need to climb up 418 steps (yes they have numbers on some of them). The first bus left at 8:30 and I was the only one on.
Since the open air museum wasn’t supposed to open up until later in the day I skipped that stop and went up to the viewpoint looking over the city and harbor. Visibility was less than spectacular.
I got back on the bus and took it all the way around to get back to the ship so I could listen to the guide. When I got back to the ship I gave up on my SLR and drone for the day, so I dropped them off at the ship and kept my GoPro (waterproof).
I wandered around the Art Nouveau district a little while to kill some time to not arrive to the Sunnmøre Museum too early.
I got back on the hop on / hop off bus and got off at the first stop, the Sunnmøre Museum.
The museum has 56 old buildings (relocated), some of which still have the old style roofs that have plants on top. They also have several open to walk inside.
I did a bit of hiking while walking around the houses to a viewpoint of the city, although it wasn’t possible to see much with the fog / rain.
I walked around the church over to the medieval museum (which was closed). There was a sign that said they have posts where the archeologists found supports for medieval buildings).
I walked back to the Sunnmøre Museum to complete the tour of the rest of the buildings and the boat house.
They also had some church huts, which were similar to ones made by the German settlers in Texas. The purpose was to keep their Sunday clothes there and have a place to stay when they traveled to go to church every Sunday from their farms/houses.
There were some other antique items, like an old Chevy bus, workshop and general store.
Finally I toured the boat house. There were some large replica Viking boats and also some nice boats outside as well.
I took a picture of a building which used to be a bank next to the bus stop before leaving.
I got back on the bus and got off at the next stop (the viewpoint). The weather had gotten significantly better. In fact it got pretty clear while I was there (not as clear as when I was there in 2016).
After taking a billion pictures from the top I walked up a little more to explore the WWII pillboxes. The audio guide on the bus said they were too difficult to remove (reinforced), so they just left them there.
I also took some pictures of the sign showing the 418 stairs to the bottom. The last number on the stairs is 408, but there are 10 more after that.
Along the walk down there are several nice viewpoints, as well as a canon.
I found a nice flower on the way down.
At the bottom there was a monument to Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Finally I was back in the Art Nouveau city center.
I walked over to the old church. I tried the door, but it was locked.
It was much clearer now and I really wanted to go back to the viewpoint to take more photos, but I was running out of time, so I just went back to the ship.
I took some photos and video of the sailaway, which was pleasant.
Tonight I had dinner at Le Petit Chef and friends, which by the way was a $55 upcharge. The menu is a prix fixe menu, however they did have one alternative option on the opposite side of the menu.
I tried my best to take video of the experience. There were ceiling mounted projectors that played a video (simultaneously for all the tables) that went along with the prix fixe menu (not the alternative options). I decided to go with all the standard menu items plus the French Onion soup.
The animations were funny and I forgot to take a picture of the Marinated Tomato Salad (I’ll try to get a screen grab from the video). However the cut of meat included (sirloin) wasn’t really worthy of a $55 upcharge. I understand that part of the cost is the video presentation, but I would have expected at least a ribeye. Even retail a pound of beef tenderloin is only $25, so if they served an 8 oz filet it would cost no more than $12 a person, probably more like $5-8 at wholesale prices.
In the French Bistro they also had a large collection of the champagne bottle cages fashioned into different styles of chairs.
After dinner I enjoyed the entertainment on the ship (and some colortinis).
I took a short video on the back of the ship at nearly midnight and it was still very much daylight, especially with it being the longest day of the year.
I took a picture of the TV showing the front of the ship at 1:30 AM – it was still daylight, or at least not dark.
