Following are the photos of our visit to Olden, Norway. Captions are added when possible.
Here’s the post we published after visiting Olden, Norway, without photos due to the poor WiFi signal on the ship.
Day 5…Norway Cruise…Olden, Norway…Cruise demographics…Dancing while “rocking and rolling”…
We continue to enjoy having a fabulous time in Henderson, Nevada, after last evening’s wonderful dinner at Lucille’s Barbecue with my son and his significant other. It was great to see them again after a two-year hiatus, and the four of us enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks at the popular barbecue restaurant.
Back at the hotel by 8:30, we streamed a few shows, relaxed, and drifted off to sleep by 11:00 pm, again having a much-needed good night’s rest. This morning, we bolted out of bed, got showered and dressed for the day, and headed downstairs to the Lucky Penny for another fabulous breakfast. With our VIP status with Expedia, we get 20% off on all meals at the resort, and they have several good restaurants.
Today, we’re posting photos from our delicious breakfasts that we’ll have every morning while we’re staying here until we depart on Saturday, September 9, to fly to Minnesota, where we’ll stay for a little over a month until we go to South America. There’s been lots of moving around, but we are okay with all of it, especially after a few good night’s rest to recover. There is no jet lag here!
So, here’s the exciting upcoming event…Our dear friends, Rita and Gerhard, who live in Vancouver, Washington, are flying here to see us tomorrow, arriving around 1:00 pm, spending the day and evening with us, and flying back out tomorrow night. What an adventure for the four of us, and how thoughtful and generous they are to make this short trip for all of us to catch up.
As most of our regular readers know, we met Rita and Gerhard in Marloth Park, South Africa. They were (still are) long-time readers of our site and had come to Marloth Park based on our frequent postings about how wonderful it is. They booked a holiday house with Louise (one we had previously rented), and no more than a few days after they arrived, we met them, and our magical friendship began. Rita and I hit it off like we’d known each other forever, and Gerhard and Tom did the same.
Collectively, the four of us have been a great team, sharing our lives, our crazy travels, and the joys of living off and on in Marloth Park. Soon, in October, they’ll be returning to “our old house” and will be feeding our favorite animals, including Nyala Norman and his lovely family. Seeing their photos and hearing about their experiences in our absence will be fun.
Gosh, we’re looking forward to tomorrow and the lively conversations, sharing and reliving many extraordinary experiences together, countless surprises, and special parties we’ve had together over the past five years since our friendship began. When we’ve been apart, we’ve stayed in touch, as we have with many of the wonderful friends we made in Marloth Park.
Many other friendships have developed from our readers coming to Marloth Park after seeing our endless stream of photos and love for wildlife, nature, and the fine people in the area. We are so grateful for all of our readers and have loved the opportunity to develop lasting relationships with many of you over the years.
Once we finish today’s post, we’ll head over to the nearby movie theatre to see the three-hour movie Oppenheimer. It’s a special treat for us to go to a movie theatre when often they aren’t available in many countries we visit for extended periods. We can get the senior rate for the 3:35 matinee for $12.50 each.
Tom loves to eat a big tub of popcorn while I settle for a sugar-free drink since nothing works for me at the concession stands. As a result, Tom won’t be hungry for dinner tonight, and I suggested to Tom that we pick up something for me on our way back to the hotel. I can run into Whole Foods or Smiths for a salad, which will suit me.
Well, that’s it for today, folks. We hope you are all doing well, and for our US readers, be safe on this busy Labor Day weekend. We’ll be back tomorrow with more.
Be well.
In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over a period of days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.
Photo from ten years ago today, September 2, 2013:
There was no post on this date ten years ago. It was a busy travel day to Kenya!
The new post with the photos is located here:
Part 2…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Haugesund, Norway…
Here is the text from our day in Haugesund, Norway.
No words can express how relaxed and at ease we are now that we’ve arrived at the beautiful Green Valley Ranch Spa, Resort and Casino in Henderson, Nevada. Last night, I slept for about 11 hours. I fell asleep at about 7:00 pm and awoke a few times during the night but for short times only. Gosh, that feels good today!
Tom is doing great, and he, too, is happy to be at this beautiful resort with fun get-togethers planned over the next nine days until we depart on Saturday, September 9, to fly to Minnesota for one month. The time is flying by quickly, but we are savoring every moment in front of us.
Last night and again this morning, we ate at the Lucky Penny Restaurant located in the resort. We love their food, and as Expedia VIP members, we get 20% off on food in the resort’s restaurants. Plus, we are entitled to early check-in and late check-out.
I managed to get the resort to reduce their nightly resort fee of $50 to $25 a night, which puts a dent in the cost of meals we eat in their restaurants. We’ll have breakfast here each morning but most likely dine out several nights with Richard and our friends in Henderson. It will all be quite enjoyable.
It’s great to catch up after all the late nights out on a month of cruises. We often didn’t get to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 am, getting up early for coffee and breakfast. I only ate lunch and dinner since the breakfast options on the cruises were limited for my way of eating. Lunch had many excellent options I enjoyed, but I often ate a little too much and wasn’t hungry for dinner.
Fortunately, neither of us ever gained an ounce on the cruises, which we strive to accomplish each time we cruise. It would feel awful to gain ten pounds cruising and then trying to fit into our clothes. For us, with our limited wardrobes, that could be a serious problem.
In a few days, after Labor Day weekend ends, we’ll head to a local laundromat to wash our clothes. We won’t do it again until we get to Minnesota, where we’ll have access to coin-operated laundry facilities at the Hyatt Hotel in Eden Prairie, where we’ll stay once again.
Today, when the housekeeper comes to clean our room, we’ll head out to our bank to get cash and change and then make our way to a pharmacy for a few items we need before we head to Minnesota. We won’t buy much since our luggage is already overweight and we don’t want to add to the weight. We’ll reduce our load by taking some items to Goodwill while we’re here.
In reviewing the photos we hadn’t been able to post, it appears it will be very time-consuming and complicated to return to each post and add the photos we couldn’t post. As a result, we are posting some of the photos under the heading of each town over a period of days, which can be found after each new day, listed as Part 1, Part 2 Norway, for example.
The new post with the photos is located here:
Part 1…Unpublished photos from the Azamara cruise to Alesund, Norway…
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, September 1, 2013:
For expediency and ease, we’ve decided to post some of the photos from our Norway cruise each day rather than go back and add them, one by one, to each post. At the end of each day’s regular post, we’ll include the link to the newest posting of the photos, or you will find them, one by one, after each new day’s post of our experiences in Nevada during this nine-day stay. Captions will be added when possible.
Here is the post with the text from our day in Alesund:
More will follow tomorrow.
Whew! Lots of traveling! Lots of walking! Lots of late hours. We’re a little pooped but holding up well.
Here is our itinerary from the past 31 hours:
Tom just made me a big mug of Crystal Light lemonade with my metal straw and lots of big chunks of ice.
At 5:00 pm, we’ll head to dinner in one of the many restaurants in this resort for a much-needed meal. Most likely, we’ll be back in our room by 7:00 or 7:30 pm, where we’ll shower again, chill out, and hopefully get a good night’s sleep. Whew! It’s great to settle in for the next nine days until it’s time to leave again.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, August 31, 2013:
There wasn’t a post on this date ten years ago since it was a travel day.
At the moment, we are sitting on the sofa in our Embassy Suites Logan Airport hotel. I just made a cup of decaf coffee to enjoy while listening to the Garage Logic podcast on Tom’s laptop with TV news in the background, showing the ravages of Hurricane Idalia. We’re sad for the people of Florida but glad we got out of there when we did over one month ago, on July 28.
So much has transpired since we left Florida, having had the opportunity to visit Norway and Greenland, two locations we never imagined we’d see when our journey began almost 11 years ago. It is 11:30 am, and we managed to get into our room early due to our Hilton Honors membership and Expedia VIP status.
Thank goodness we didn’t have to wait to get the room until the official check-in time of 2:00 pm and had no choice but to wait in the lobby. This is much easier. We’re a little raggedy after a tiring morning disembarking the ship. Our luggage numbers were 22, meaning we couldn’t exit until around 9:30.
We had our last meal on the ship, breakfast at 7:30, grabbed our carry-on luggage from our cabin, and headed to the Sky Lounge on Deck 11 to wait until our number was called. At that point, we had no idea what time we’d be outside to grab a taxi or Uber to Alamo Car Rental at the Logan Airport to pick up the car we rented in order to make our way to Cousin Phyllis today for our 5:00 pm dinner reservation in Stoughton, a 55-minute drive from here.
Thus, we’ll leave here in about four hours to begin the long trek in rush-hour traffic to meet Phyllis at the restaurant in time for our much-anticipated get-together after almost nine years since we last saw her at the end of another cruise to Boston. It will be wonderful to see her again.
Once outside the cruise terminal, we had a little trouble getting an Uber, but finally, one appeared, and we were on our way to Alamo. I waited with the bags in the rental car parking garage until Tom returned with the papers, and we were assigned a car. Within about 45 minutes, we were on our way to the nearby hotel. Again, check-in went smoothly when I pressed for a room now rather than at 2:00 pm check-in.
After getting settled, I decided it was time to prepare a post when we could not do so yesterday. I had blamed it on the ship’s WiFi, but this morning, I got an email from our hosting company, Hostinger, taking full responsibility for the problem. Now that we’re back up and running, we should be able to post going forward until we leave the US in October, about six weeks from now.
Feeling exhausted after the last few days, I don’t feel motivated to write a newsy, informative post about where we sailed in the past few days since our previous post. Mainly, we sailed in the North Sea toward the US with little incidents other than massive fog and the necessity of the captain sounding the fog horn a few times each hour.
The seas were otherwise smooth and uneventful, which made the final few days pleasant. We had lots of fun with countless passengers we met.
I stopped doing the post when I desperately needed a nap. After laying on the bed under the covers, I fell asleep for about 20 minutes and felt refreshed. In less than two hours, we’ll drive to Stoughton. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be at the airport at 5:00 am for our Delta flight to Las Vegas, pick up the rental car, and head to our hotel in Henderson.
From there, we’ll prepare our next post. and in a few days, start adding the photos we couldn’t add while on the first ship to Norway.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, August 30, 2013:
We will be back tomorrow from Boston!
We are docked at the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The seas were quiet last night, and we both slept well after heading off to our stateroom after the “silent disco” in the Martini Bar. Last night was lobster night, but the three-ounce tails were rubbery, hard to cut, and hardly enough for a meal with a dollop of white rice and a few pieces of broccoli.
It was a good thing that Tom ordered three starters, as he had each night: French onion soup, shrimp cocktail with three small shrimp, and escargot with six tiny bits of snails in butter sauce. I never ordered starters and ate my entree, usually with too-buttery vegetables and a protein source, either seafood, beef, or chicken. The flavor was either bland or over-seasoned.
No doubt, under new management, Celebrity has gone downhill since Covid. We were sorely disappointed by many aspects of this cruise. But, if we want to cruise again and avoid outrageous prices and oversized ships, we may not have many options. We’ve ruled out Royal Caribbean due to the massive size of their ships and the abundance of amusement park venues and events.
From what we’ve seen, there are no more than six kids on this cruise, yet every time there’s a movie in the theatre in the afternoon, something we like to do, it’s a movie for kids, not adults. The majority of the passengers on this ship are over 60, and few enjoy superhero movies. Go figure.
In the future, we’ll be looking to do less cruising or spend more time on cruise lines such as Azamara, where we particularly liked the small ship size and number of passengers, under 600. But even that wasn’t as ideal as we’d expected. Everything has changed since COVID, with many service, amenities, and atmosphere cutbacks. We can’t perceive that these factors will improve over time.
Cruise lines are attempting to recover losses after the pandemic, and the only way to do this is to reduce the services and amenities that most appeal to customers. Last night’s lobster night was a perfect example…tiny tails with an extra charge of $16.95 to add a second tail to one’s plate. Sure, in years past, passengers abused the “all you can eat” aspect of cruising and would order three, four, or five tails. But few did, so it balanced out when many didn’t even eat lobster tails.
Tom’s been disappointed to be unable to order a cocktail in the dining room, which should be included with our drink package. But, there’s been no one in the dining room to get him a cocktail, although wine service was abundant. He’s had to leave the table to go to a bar to get a drink when often we’d sit at a table chatting with other passengers for a few hours.
He’s also mentioned that many of the desserts are dry and tasteless, although he seemed to enjoy the Baked Alaska last night. Usually, I’ve just eaten my special order entree and nothing else, no salad, starter, or dessert. Once or twice, I ordered the cheese plate, but generally, I don’t feel like eating cheese after dinner.
Today, we are in Halifax, Nova Scotia, our last port of call on this Greenland cruise, which ends in two days on August 30. Included today are photos we took of the seaside town, and no, we didn’t arrange any tours which were overpriced and retired hours sitting on a bus, something we’d rather not do.
There have been a lot of cases of COVID-19 on this cruise, and we didn’t want to sit on a crowded bus. After finally being rid of the pain in my head and face, there was no way we would expose ourselves to the risk. Plus, we wanted to be healthy to see family for the upcoming six weeks in the US and not be lying in a hotel room with COVID-19 as we had in 2022. Seeing family is much more important to us than visiting a few sites on a bus.
Here’s the information from the ship’s brochure on our current port of call:
“Nova Scotia is one of eastern Canada’s Maritime provinces on the Atlantic. Consisting of a peninsula and off-shore islands, it’s home to puffins and seals and popular water sports like kayaking. The Bay of Fundy, with its famously extreme tides, is a whale-watching destination. Halifax, the capital, dominated by the star-shaped Citadel, is known for its lively waterfront and Victorian-era Public heritage, including Glooscap Heritage Centre, Grand=Pre National Historic Site, Hector Heritage Quay, and the Black Cultural Centre for Nove Scotia.”
1. People from Halifax are known as Haligonians.
2. Halifax is the capital of Canada’s Nova Scotia province.
3. The Honorable Edward Cornwallis of Britain arrived to establish a permanent British settlement in 1749. The settlement was named Halifax, after Lord Halifax, head of England’s Board of Trade.
4. The star-shaped Citadel Fort overlooks the Halifax harbor from its hilltop location. James Arnold, the fifth son of American traitor Benedict Arnold, designed the initial plans for the fort.
5. Today, the Halifax Citadel is Canada’s most-visited National Historic Site.
6. Alexander Keith, born in Scotland, immigrated to Halifax and founded Alexander Keith’s brewing company in 1820. Not only a brewmaster, Mr. Keith was a three-time mayor of Halifax.
7. The Cunard Steamship Line was founded in Halifax in 1840.
8. Halifax is closer to Dublin, Ireland, than it is to Victoria, British Columbia.
9. There are six universities and colleges in Halifax. Mr. Jones is a proud alum of the largest — Dalhousie University.
10. There are 81 college students out of every 1000 Halifax residents.
11. Halifax has more bars per capita than anywhere else in Canada.
12. In 1809, the Royal Navy hung pirate Edward Jordan at Black Rock Beach. They coated his body in tar and left the remains up for almost 20 years. The Royal Navy continued the practice of hanging pirates at Point Pleasant Park’s Black Rock Beach until 1844.
13. When the Titanic struck an iceberg on April 14th, 1912, she was 700 nautical miles east of Halifax. While the Cunard liner Carpathia took survivors to New York, the dead were brought to Halifax. There is a permanent Titanic Museum at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, and a hundred and fifty Titanic victims were buried in three Halifax cemeteries.
14. In December 1917, the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship carrying munitions, collided with the Belgian Relief vessel SS Imo. The resulting “Halifax Explosion” killed approximately 2,000 people and injured 9,000 in the largest artificial explosion before the development of nuclear weapons.
15. The Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbor. There are said to be 32 Volvo cars on the floor of the Basin, where they sunk in 1969 after the container ship that was transporting them sustained water damage.”
We didn’t intend for this post to sound negative. Of course, regardless of the changes we’ve seen on this ship, we still have had a fantastic time visiting with passengers and sharing our stories and theirs over countless hours aboard the ship. Let’s face it, one of the major reasons we enjoy cruising is the socialization, which never disappoints.
We’ve met many interesting and delightful people aboard this cruise and the last, many of whom we’ll stay in touch with in the future. That is such a joy for us, especially when we’ll spend many months with less socializing in South America.
That’s it for today, folks. We’ll be back with more tomorrow.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, August 28, 2013:
With no photos posted on this date, we posted a list of the nutrition information for various nuts, which I can eat in moderation on my way of eating. Here’s the list instead. Please click here for the post:
| Cal | Tot. Carb | Fiber | Net Carb | Sat. Fat | Mono Fat | ω-3 Fat | ω-6 Fat | |
| Almonds | 161 | 6.1 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 1 | 8.6 | 0.2 | 3.4 |
| Brazil Nuts | 184 | 3.4 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 4.2 | 6.9 | 0.05 | 5.8 |
| Cashews | 155 | 9.2 | 0.9 | 8.1 | 2.2 | 6.7 | 0.2 | 2.2 |
| Chestnuts | 60 | 12.8 | 2.3 | 10.5 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.03 | 0.22 |
| Chia Seeds | 137 | 12.3 | 10.6 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 1.6 |
| Coconut* | 185 | 6.6 | 4.6 | 2 | 16 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.2 |
| Flax Seeds | 150 | 8.1 | 7.6 | .5 | 1 | 2.1 | 6.3 | 1.7 |
| Hazelnuts | 176 | 4.7 | 2.7 | 2 | 1.3 | 12.8 | 0.24 | 2.2 |
| Macadamia Nuts | 201 | 4 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 16.5 | 0.06 | .36 |
| Peanuts | 159 | 4.5 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 6.8 | 0 | 4.4 |
| Pecans | 193 | 3.9 | 2.7 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 11.4 | 0.28 | 5.8 |
| Pine Nuts | 188 | 3.7 | 1 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 5.3 | 0.31 | 9.4 |
| Pistachios | 156 | 7.8 | 2.9 | 5.8 | 1.5 | 6.5 | 0.71 | 3.7 |
| Pumpkin Seeds | 151 | 5 | 1.1 | 3.9 | 2.4 | 4 | 0.51 | 5.8 |
| Sesame Seeds | 160 | 6.6 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 5.3 | 0.11 | 6 |
| Sunflower Seeds | 164 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 5.2 | 0.21 | 6.5 |
| Walnuts | 183 | 3.8 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 10.7 |
Yesterday’s visit to St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, was an exciting look inside coastal living in northern Canada. The weather was cool but pleasant, the people friendly, and the town of roughly 114,000. It was a mix of old and new architecture, as shown in today’s photos.
From the ship’s brochure:
“St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, is the providence’s largest city. It was settled by the British in the 1600s. St. John’s is one of the oldest cities in the “New World.” Known for colorful row houses, it has the perfect balance of luxurious city and old-town charm. Guests can wander the streets learning the history of this fishing town, or for the more adventurous, hike up Signal Hill and enjoy the views.”
It was a lovely town filled with old-world charm, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Here are more facts about St. John’s, Newfoundland…
From this site:
“St. John’s, capital and largest city of Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at the eastern end of the Avalon Peninsula. It stands on the steep, western slope of an excellent landlocked harbour that opens suddenly to the Atlantic. The entrance, known as the Narrows, guarded by Signal Hill (500 feet [150 metres]) and South Side Hills (620 feet [190 metres]), is about 1,400 feet (425 metres) wide, narrowing to 600 feet (185 metres) between Pancake and Chain rocks. It was probably visited in 1497 by John Cabot on the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist and was early used as a haven for fishing vessels.
In 1583 a marker was placed on the shore by Sir Humphrey Gilbert claiming possession of Newfoundland for England, but permanent settlement was not made until the early 17th century. St. John’s prospered as a fishing port, despite frequent attacks by the French and disastrous fires in 1816–17, 1846, and 1892.
The city, one of the oldest and the most easterly in North America, now dominates the economic and cultural life of the province. It is the island of Newfoundland’s commercial and industrial centre, a major ocean port, and the base for the provincial fishing fleet; it is also the easternmost terminus for the Trans-Canada Highway and for several national airlines. Among its varied industries are shipbuilding, fish processing, brewing, tanning, and the manufacture of clothing, hardware, marine engines, paint, and furniture.
The city’s two cathedrals (both dedicated to St. John the Baptist) are the ornate basilica (1841; Roman Catholic) and the ecclesiastical-Gothic Anglican cathedral (originating in 1816 and rebuilt after the great fire of 1892). The Confederation Building (1850) replaced the Colonial Building (1860) as the provincial headquarters and houses a military and naval museum. St. John’s is the home of the Memorial University of Newfoundland (1925) and Queen’s College (1841; Anglican), and its Newfoundland Museum displays relics of the extinct Beothuck tribe (Newfoundland’s original inhabitants). Signal Hill Historic Park, once a location for signaling the approach of ships, memorializes several events, including John Cabot’s presumed landfall (commemorated by a tower [1897]); the French-English struggle for Newfoundland that ended in 1762 with the last shot fired on the hill (remnants of the fortifications, notably the Queen’s Battery, remain); and the reception atop the hill at the Cabot Tower by Guglielmo Marconi of the first transatlantic wireless message in 1901 from Europe. From the city’s Lester’s Field, the aviators Captain (later Sir) John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Brown took off in 1919 to make the first nonstop transatlantic flight to Clifden, Ireland.
The Quidi Vidi Battery, which once guarded the entrance to a small fishing harbour east of Signal Hill leading to a small lake, has been restored to its 1812 appearance; the annual (August) regatta, held since 1828 on the lake, is one of the oldest organized sports events in North America. Inc. 1888. Pop. (2006) 100,646; metro. area, 181,113; (2021) 110,525; metro. area, 212,579.
Last night, after dinner, we headed to the theatre to watch the show, a live entertainer who impersonates Neil Diamond. The performance was excellent, and we enjoyed every moment. When it was over, we headed back to our cabin for another good night’s rest. Again, Tom headed to breakfast alone while I stayed behind, got up, showered, and dressed for the day.
When he returned, we put together another load of laundry since we won’t have access to laundry facilities until we get to Henderson, Nevada, where we can do laundry at Richard’s house or a laundromat near the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa, and Casino. This time, we’ll have a rental car so we can get around and do whatever we need to do; renew our driver’s licenses, pick up mail from our mailing service, and get together with Richard and some friends in Las Vegas.
Today, a sea day, we’ll chat with passengers and enjoy another delightful day aboard the ship. In another hour, we’ll head to the dining room for lunch, after which we’ll head back to Cafe al Bacio for a more relaxing time, doing exactly what we want to do.; It’s delightful.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, August 27, 2013:
