The Video

For those who didn't get enough pictures in the blog, here is the video:

Conti Vacation

About the music:

La Marseillaise is the French national anthem.  Originally called “War Song for the Army of the Rhine" it was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795. The name of the song is due to first being sung on the streets by volunteers from Marseille.

An American in Paris is a symphonic tone poem by the American composer George Gershwin, written in 1928. Inspired by the time Gershwin had spent in Paris, it evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s and is one of his best-known compositions.  Gershwin composed An American in Paris on commission from the New York Philharmonic. He scored the piece for the standard instruments of the symphony orchestra plus celesta, saxophones, and automobile horns.

Far and Away performed by Enya is selected for the lyrics.  The French would be disappointed that Ireland’s best known female solo artist is singing about their scenery.  Enya continued to enjoy steady success during the 1990s and 2000s; her 2000 album A Day Without Rain sold 15 million copies,^[4] and became the top selling new age album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[5] She received the world's best-selling female award at the World Music Awards in 2001.^[6] She is also Ireland's best-selling solo musician.

I Can See for Miles is a song written by Pete Townshend of The Who, recorded for the band's 1967 album, The Who Sell Out.^[2] It was the only song from the album to be released as a single, on 14 October 1967. It remains The Who's biggest hit single in the US to date, and their only one to reach the Top 10 .  The day we visited the Tour de Eiffel we could see for many, many, many miles.

Free Man In Paris is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1974 album Court and Spark, as well as her live album Shadows and Light. It is one of her most popular songs. The song is about music agent/promoter David Geffen, a close friend of Mitchell in the early 1970s, and describes Geffen during a trip Geffen and Mitchell made to Paris with Robbie and Dominique Robertson.  It is reported that Geffen spent so much time with Joni Mitchell that it perturbed singer and song writer Carly Simon, who also sought attention from the music mogul.  Her frustrations are expressed in the lyrics of the song, You’re So Vain.

Sun King appears on the Beatles White Album and is credited to Lennon and McCartney although interviews with the artists suggest it was largely Lennon’s song.  The lyrics are the result of horseplay and joking during a recording session.  Louis the XIV called himself the sun king because, according to history, he said the sun shone upon him and his kingdom during his 72 year reign.  The Palaces at Versailles used half of the Frances gross national product during their construction.  A staff of 5,000 or more worked on the properties.  The view from the hall of mirrors out to the gardens that show the reflecting pond is 8 miles in distance.  The national mall in Washington looks just like it.

Song at a French Café is a typical Parisian melody.  The combination of accordions and string instruments like the mandolin are heard often in traditional French melodies.  Although our drivers in France were likely to listen to Maroon 5 on the radio and sing with the lyrics, street artists play accordions to entertain the tourists. 

When I Grow Up is one of the company numbers from the musical Matilda.  Written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. It is based on the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It concerns a precocious 5-year-old girl who loves to read and how she overcomes family and school obstacles and helps her teacher to reclaim her life.  It debuted in the West End in London which is where we saw it during our stopover in London.

Closer to Fine was written by Emily Sailers of the Indigo Girls.  Indigo Girls is the second studio album and first major label release by the Indigo Girls. It was originally released in 1989 on Epic Records. It was reissued and remastered in 2000 with two bonus tracks.  The album received mostly excellent critical reviews, and went gold after six months and eventually went platinum. The duo was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy (losing to Milli Vanilli), and won one for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. The selection of the lyrics in this section of the video is done because the artist is suggesting she is confounded by certain mysteries of life.  She probably did not have Stonehenge in mind.

Norwegian Wood is another Beatles song, also written largely by John Lennon.  He told an interviewer the song is about the women he used to sleep with (while married to Cynthia) who would take him up to their flats and try to pass off cheap paneling as fine Norwegian Wood.  While that has no real meaning to our day in Bergen it is probably one of the better known references to Norway in music.

The Secret Garden, a musical, yields the melody that sounds like the one heard as our train from Flam chugs towards the Kjosfossen waterfalls.  That melody is also played on loud speakers when tourists come to gaze upon the water.  As part of the performance young ballet students from the Norway School of Ballet, dance on the rocks at various parts of the falls.  While there is more than one dancer it is supposed to appear as if it is the same woman who appears and vanishes.  They portray a mythical creature called a Huldra in Norwegian, a temptress of the forest.  For the ballet students it is their summer job.

Peer Gynt Op. 23 is the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play of the same name, written by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1875. It premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 in Christiania (now Oslo).  Edvard Grieg is Norway’s best known composer and Henrik Ibsen is Norway’s best known playwright. 

Back Home

The only bad thing about traveling a long way from home to vacation is that you have to travel a long way from home.  The vacation was great.  Excellent in fact.  Travelling in an airplane for 7 hours is not easy.  I suppose it could be better if they didn't treat economy or coach passengers like cattle.  There are now two different types of economy seats on United Airlines.  Economy and Economy plus.  About 6 or 7 rows of seats get about 5 extra inches of leg room.  For that privilege the passenger gets to pay an extra $140 per seat per direction.  They got that leg room by taking it out of the other economy seats. 

For those of you who enjoy the bulkhead seats or the seats over the wings, forget it.  Those are economy plus.  There are even two different types of first class sections.  First class and Business class.  Tres expensive!

If the seats had a bit more leg room travelling for 8 hours in an airplane would not be as bad.  It might even be comfortable.  I say all this with full knowledge that operating margins for the airlines are small.  It seems like they make lots of money.  They collect lots of money but they also spend lots of money to stay in business.  They do not make lots of money.

We spent lots of time in London -- on our ship.  Truthfully we were only in England one day this trip, but our cruise ship was dominated by passengers from the United Kingdom, a first for us.  Two of our table mates at dinner were English.  Most people around us in line to get on board (or anything really) were British.  Our driver to the airport was British.

Some things we now know to be true.

They don't much like being part of the European Union.  If it were up to the public in the United Kingdom, and it may ultimately be just that, they would not be part of the EU.  They do not like being told what to do, especially as it relates to social policy in Britain.

There are just as many concerns about fracking in the UK as there are here.  The consensus is that it would be great to figure a way to get all that energy out of the ground safely, but it isn't as safe as energy companies want people to believe.  Not just yet.

NIMBY (Not in my back yard) is just as popular there as here.  Especially as it relates to wind farms.  A healthy section of British taxpayers are vexed by the idea that part of their tax dollars subsidizes a wind generator on someone's property and then that someone gets to sell excess power to the "grid" to further reduce that individual's energy costs. 

One interesting view from our driver to the airport concerns health care policy.  The United Kingdom has had what we call Obamacare for 50 years now.  His view.  It's not perfect, but it works pretty well.  He also said that the first 15 years everyone complained about it.  Now they'd never give it up.  Fortunate British subjects get a private health bonus as part of their employment benefits.  For regular care they use the national health system.  For discretionary medicine like a hip or knee replacement they use their private health plans.

Good to be home adjusting to Eastern Daylight Time.

Home

Great vacation.   Good to be home.

North Sea Sunrise

Port side balconies face east when the ship is travelling south.  At about 6 AM the sun began its sleepy climb above the ocean’s surface to illuminate the North Sea.  You can tell it’s the North Sea because an oil platform is clearly visible on the horizon as the sun pushes up above the fog layer.

 

 

 

 

Here are some fun facts about Norway.  A few are repeats.

·        It is roughly the size of New Mexico.

·        Population is 4.8 million people.

·        The form of government is a constitutional monarchy.

·        Their first king was “borrowed” from Denmark.  They picked the youngest son of the monarchy there and asked him to be king. 

·        Their standard of living is pretty high.

·        The North Sea provides plenty of oil to Norway, some of which they sell, but they keep quite a bit in reserve.

·        Hydro power is plentiful because there are waterfalls everywhere.

·        Every citizen gets free health care and a pension provided by the government.

·        Their effective tax on income is roughly 45%.

·        Their VAT tax (sales tax) on goods sold in stores is 25%.

·        Now you know how they pay for the health care and pensions.

·        There is a shortage of labor in Norway so they import workers, primarily from Eastern Europe and the largest percentage is from Poland.  Most can afford to buy a house back in their home country (in cash) after working in Norway for three years.

·        Norway is not part of the European Union though they have trade agreements with the EU.

·        Norway hunts seals and whales. 

·        The big cities, near the ports, experience a mild winter because the Gulf Stream keeps their harbors relatively warm.  Inland is a different story with cold and plentiful snow. 

·        Norway is having trouble keeping young Norwegians in Norway, especially those who grow up on farms.  There are many abandoned farm houses and farms.

·        It isn’t unusual to hear of a Norwegian who must walk ten or fifteen minutes from their parking space to their house. 

·        In the mountains they get so much snow that some of the ski places open in June because the roads aren’t passable until then.

·        You see Troll dolls, statue and souvenirs everywhere.  I think they are ugly but people must buy them.

·        1 Krone equals 18 cents U.S.

·        Gas is about 14 Krone per liter.  There are roughly 3.8 liters to a gallon.  That means gasoline is 9.50 per gallon but most of that is Norway’s revenue since they own their oil.  Because the standard of living is high gasoline is “cheap” in Norway economic terms.

·        Solar power isn’t a practical option in Norway.  Wind power might be.  Harnessing the motion of the ocean for energy is something they are developing.  They don’t really need to do that since hyrdo generates more than enough power for the country.

·        The handmade sweaters are expensive and very heavy.

·        Norwegians do cross country ski but they end up doing it in the dark or on lighted trails because from November until May they have far more darkness than sunlight. 

·        There are houses in the middle of nowhere with no other house for miles and miles.  There are no roads near those houses.  Sometimes there is no electricity.

·        Water from glacial streams is pure enough to drink without purification.

·        Glacial melt near Olden is from parts of the glaciers that are at least 5,000 years old.  A company in Olden bottles that water and sells it with a stale date stamped on the bottle.

·        Norwegian raspberries are very large and very delicious.

 

Stravanger

It’s our first, real, rainy day.  We had some overcast days at the beginning.  We had a little shower in Bergen, but we did not have continuous showers until today in Stravanger.  However, we took a boat ride into the fjords and the boat is enclosed unless you want to step outside. 

The fjords look different with the mist hugging them. 

 



 

One thing we’ve noticed so far in Norway.  Either their wildlife is very bashful or they are afraid.  When we cruised the fjords in Alaska we saw many, many whales.  Not here.  Not a one.  Of course in Norway they hunt whales and eat them.  The same is true of seals although we did see one today.  Whale meat is on the menu of some restaurants right next to steak and chicken.  However, we did see some mountain goats today.  I think these are AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) goats.  As soon as they saw the boat they ran down from their perch on the cliff to pose for cameras.  Or, it could be that a crew member threw two loaves of bread onto the shore.

 

Because this boat is smaller than our cruise ship they can maneuver it in very close.  At one point the front of the boat was under the waterfall. 

 

Tomorrow is a sea day as we head back to Southampton. 

Hellesylt to Geiranger

Up until Thursday our land excursions were independently set up by Jan using resources she researched online through Cruise Critic and other resources.  Our experiences in 10 cruises are that this approach not only saves money, but you get a better quality tour.  In Hellesylt there was no option for that.  It’s very small and the only way you can get off the ship is if you book an excursion through Princess.  In fact, Hellesylt is merely a drop off.  The ship drops anchor and discharges passengers.  Then it immediately sails to Geiranger where the tours meet it.  In Geiranger passengers can set up independent tours, but not in Hellesylt.

Based on information Jan received from other Cruise Critic passengers who previously sailed to our ports, in Hellesylt the Princess tour was thumbs up and not to be missed.  We can report that is true.  The sights you get to see are unlike anything else.  It was a long tour.  Departure at 8:15 AM and we joined the ship at 5:00 PM, but the time passed quickly.  The bus never drove more than 20 minutes before stopping.  This was not a shopping tour.  It is primarily a sightseeing tour.

If you sight see spectacular sights it helps if you earn spectacular weather and that was easily true of Thursday starting with sunrise in the fjord. 

 

Hundreds of other passengers also decided to do what we did, but it was well organized.  Within a few minutes of gathering in the ship’s theater our group made its way to our bus and we left Hellesylt.  I cannot show you everything we saw Thursday.  You will have to wait for the video for that.  Even with communications restored this morning there isn’t enough bandwidth to upload all the images.  There isn’t even enough bandwidth to tell you all the stories, but we started seeing beauty immediately upon departure.

 

 

As the tour winds on, and it definitely winds across many hairpin turns, the bus climbs.  The roads are narrow and the skill of the driver is an asset especially when we see another vehicle headed towards you, but eventually you are 4,900 feet above sea level at Mount Dalsnibba.  Yes, it is chilly.  It is crowded with other buses from our own ship and others, but still worth the view.

 

Even as the bus descends to Geiranger the views are still unmatched.

 

When the ship finally departs the Geirgangerfjord there are still things you will never see elsewhere.  This is called the Seven Sisters.  For those who are very precise you will only count six waterfall.  Either one sister had an argument with the others and moved away or during the summer, even in a land with millions of waterfalls (literally) one of them ran dry. 

 

There is still more to see.  This afternoon the ship arrives in Stravanger where it is already clear to us the weather will not be as beautiful as Geiranger.  No matter what sky conditions await we are certain to see things we haven’t seen elsewhere.

Sunset, Moonset

Does not need words.....

Those are images from last evening.  I haven't had a chance to deal with all of our travels today, but I can promise that by the time you wake up tomorrow you'll see some incredible images.

The bottom image is moonset.  The moon is setting about 10:45 PM currently.  You can see how much daylight remains.  We are headed to our last port of call and because we arrive after lunch we get to sleep in!!!