August 12

Today we were invited to a special Scandinavian lunch for world cruise travelers. Each table was hosted by a ship’s officer. We sat with one of the three first officers, Stephjan from Croatia and 3 other couples.  We learned a lot about the ship, for instance, the leftover food is ground up and emptied into the sea while we are moving – food for the sea life.  The first officers do a 4 hour day shift and a 4 hour night shift every day and they are on for 10 weeks. Stephjan has 2 young sons, 7 and 9, at home and although he loves his job and decided on it as a career at 14, he wouldn’t encourage his sons to do it.

A few thoughts on leaving Norway:

Any country that welcomes us with a moose is on my happy list!

Arrival in Kristiansand, Norway

This is one of the charging parking lots for the electric cars.  The owners also do not pay for parking or the tolls on the toll roads.  As I mentioned before, the government wants to encourage electric cars.

This picture of a cobblestone street on a hill leading to the fortress in Oslo (Akershus fortress) has different cobblestones in the middle.  This was to make it easier for the horses to climb and descend. I am not sure it does the same for people!

This picture of the empty chairs sculptures facing the Oslo harbor is to commemorate the Norwegian Jews who never returned home and were killed in Auchwitz.

There have been lots of fires in Norwegian cities, as well as in other European cities.  So the corners of the buildings and most of the streets are not real corners, they are rounded so that fire equipment can make the turns. This has lessened the losses.  Most of the buildings are also not wood any more, except the ones kept for historic reasons.

So we say goodbye to Norway and on to other European adventures.

Building on a corner in Oslo