NORWAY
Our week in Norway on the QE2 was wonderful. We loved the QE2 and wish we could have spent longer on her. What made the trip really special was that Ann and Dick were on board! Barry and I were looking at an enormous model of the Mauretania when Barry said there was someone who looked just like Ann and he said “Quick, look round now, while she’s not looking”. I looked round and it WAS Ann and then Dick came out of hiding round the corner. As soon as I had told them we were going on the cruise, they booked also and kept it as a surprise. They had told us they were going away on the boat - and they were! They are hoping to go to Dartmouth as soon as the weather and tides are right.
Ann and Dick had to check in for boarding before us and bought newspapers to hide behind and wore large hats and sunglasses. When we reached the large lounge where people who had checked in were waiting to be called to board, we were called straight through and did not see them. They were also next to us on the way into Southampton (we were early and stopped for something to eat) but their driver ran an orange light so that he wouldn’t have to stop next to us! They were looking out for us but of course we were not looking out for them.
Once on board we had our hand luggage carried for us and were escorted to our cabin. We were forward, in a really handy position, close to everything although nothing is very far from anything else on the QE2. It was so easy in the ports and disembarking at the end of the voyage, not the long queues we had on the QV and we docked right in all the towns we visited, only needing tenders in one of the ports.
Our cabin was huge - much bigger than on the QV. We also had an enormous bathroom, complete with bath as well as a shower, a dressing room with masses of hanging space and further hanging in another cupboard above the fridge. The QE2 was the first ship to offer en-suite bathrooms.
Barry and I went to the Queens Room for white glove service afternoon tea and it was when we were leaving there that we met Ann and Dick. We all went out on deck to watch us sail and stayed until we reached the Isle of Wight before going down to dinner.
Ann had written to Cunard to ask if we could all be at the same table but as we had requested a table for six they said they could not go against our wishes. However, the Maitre d’ rearranged things and put us on a table together. We ate every meal in the restaurant, always together at the same table, and the meals were superb. We had lots of Norwegian salmon and other fish.
We had only two days at sea and on those days we played table tennis, shuffleboard, deck quoits and golf putting but the driving range was closed. Barry won the putting competition and when I collected our prizes with the vouchers we had won, Gun, one of the hostesses who was on the QV, was handing them out and I had a long chat to her. When she gave me the gifts I had chosen, she also gave me a small stuffed lion - guess who will get that! Twenty coupons were needed for that!
We went to a couple of cocktail parties with the Captain but gave the wine tasting a miss. The Captain was very personable, chatty and welcoming to everyone. We had a long talk to the Staff Captain who has married an Australian and they live in Sydney although he doesn’t get home very often.
The entertainment was very good, with some excellent shows put on by the Cunard Singers and Dancers. There was an excellent group - three girls playing the piano, violin and cello - who put on four concerts, also a harpist and several pianists in the public rooms, and other bands.
Our first port of call was the World Heritage City of Bergen, Norway‘s second largest port. I was on deck at 6am, rugged up in woolly hat, gloves and parka. Luckily Ann and Dick had been to Norway before on QE2 and advised us to take all that. It was a lovely, fine, sunny day but small clouds were starting to roll in along the fjord. Once the sun gets up above the mountains, the days are warmer although it was never very warm for us. A couple of weeks earlier it had been very hot. Sunset was at 11.40pm and sunrise 3.30am and it never got really dark.
We took the shuttle bus into Bergen and walked to the market. It looked a pretty town, with cobbled streets and lots of statues and fountains, and no rubbish to be seen anywhere. We walked round the fish market where stalls were piled high with salmon and enormous crabs, and then the fruit and vegetable stalls. The locally knitted jumpers were beautiful but very expensive and probably too hot for Australia.
Barry and I then went up the funicular, two carriages that run on a cable and pass half way up the steep 2,000 ft climb. We looked down on the ship and over the whole of Bergen. Then we walked through the woods where carvings of trolls stood amongst the trees. When we returned to the lookout, the clouds had totally obscured the view, so we were lucky we went when we did. We caught the funicular back down and walked through the narrow streets of the Bryggen, the old part of town near the docks, that dates back to the 1400s. The tiny wooden houses have hooks hanging down on ropes from the upper storeys for lifting goods upstairs. Some of the buildings have been turned into boutiques and artists’ studios selling quality goods and souvenirs.
By now it was raining heavily and we made a dash for the shuttle bus. It was a shame as we had not been able to see much of the town but there was no point getting any wetter. By the time the weather cleared and the sun came out, it was too late to go ashore.
The QE2 will be returning to Norway next month for a Final Voyage but not to Bergen which was a Final Port. There was a band on the dockside playing for an hour or so before they played tear jerkers like ‘Rule, Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ and, when it was time to sail they played ‘God Save the Queen’. We had all been given Union Jacks to wave and, as the lady behind me said, it was all very emotional. Tears were running down my cheeks and there was hardly a dry eye to be seen. Small boats flanked us to the bridge over the fjord and several helicopters flew overhead. A boat sailed alongside firing water cannon all the way to the bridge
The next morning I was out on deck at 4.50am. It was windy and cold but the scenery was stunning. There were masses of snow covered mountains and waterfalls and the steep wooded sides of Storfjorden and Sunnylvsfjorden reminded me of Alaska. The fjords are up to 4,000 ft deep, as deep as the mountains are high. We sat in the middle of the fjord at Hellesylt, with tugs on standby, where some people went ashore by tender to join an overland tour to Geiranger. Spiced hot chocolate drinks were on offer, with lots of brandy in them. I suggested Barry and I share one, but it was so good I bought one of my own!
After an hour we sailed up the narrow Geirangerfjorden, meaning Spear Fjord in Norse, to Geiranger, past the magnificent Seven Sisters Falls - seven waterfalls in one - and, after turning, anchored at the very end of the fjord. From there we went ashore in tenders and Barry and I went on a coach tour to Mount Dalsnibba. The road was continuous zig-zags and hairpin bends but we had a very safe driver. The road took nine years to build as they could only work on it for three months a year, over summer. It is closed in the winter and there is only one new road out of Geiranger for nine months of the year. The road we were on had been open for only three weeks. Dalsnibba means “Top of the Valley”. It took almost an hour to reach the 5,000 ft summit. Every year a marathon is staged on the mountain and a couple of weeks earlier a cyclist had reached the top in an hour and the fastest runner had reached the top in 1 ½ hours!!
Small stone towers, built with stones and small rocks, were everywhere. People build them if they hope to return. We walked around at the top and took photos along the valley with the ship in the distance far below. Shortly before we re-boarded the coach, the cloud rolled in and obscured the view with a total whiteout, so we were lucky we had been able to see the view before it was lost.
Coming down, we stopped by Deep Lake for refreshments and later we stopped at a lookout with closer views of the ship before returning to Geiranger that has a population of 237 and 300,000 visitors annually. Many houses have turf on the roofs which provides excellent insulation. It keeps the houses warm in winter and also cool on the hotter days in summer. After dinner and the show, we went out on deck and stayed there till we reached the end of the 60 mile (100 km) long fjord.
The following morning I was out on deck at 5.30am as we traversed the 100 mile (160 km) long fjord. It was very, very windy but too good to miss. The Sognefjorden branches out into other fjords and we followed the Aurlandsfjorden to the tiny village of Flam. Ann and Dick had been to Flam before and on the bus trip through the tunnels and on the train journey and they walked to the Stave Church in Flam itself, 3 kms inland from the port. Twenty-eight Stave churches still exist and collectively they are World Heritage Sites.
Barry and I took the train to Vatnahalsen and managed to secure a seat by a window that opened so that we could take photographs of the magnificent scenery. The windows were double-glazed with too many reflections. The 22 km journey took us up 866 metres (2,800ft) through twenty tunnels through the rock, all but two of them dug by hand with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. After a few minutes, we passed an open air church service and the vicar turned and waved, along with all the congregation, as we passed. Shortly after that, near the Stave Church, we waved to Ann and Dick by the river. The views were superb, looking along picturesque valleys and across to many waterfalls and a glacier. At the large Kjos Waterfall, with a wide free fall of 305 ft (93m), the train stopped for five minutes so that we could all get out onto a platform to take photographs. Halfway along the route, there are double tracks where the southbound train and the northbound train pass.
At Vatnahalsen, we were given tea and coffee and hot waffles with jam and cream. Barry and I walked along a track to a lake and then to a lookout for more views across the valleys. When a train drew into the station, Barry and I, and a few others, climbed on board and went on to Myrdal. After a short wait there we returned to Vatnahalsen where everyone else boarded the train. It was a pretty run and better than standing waiting on the platform. The train zig-zagged for much of its journey with views across valleys to tunnels that we later rode through, and at one point we could see three levels spiralling up the mountains. Back in Flam, we walked round the tiny town before re-boarding the ship.
As well as the sheer cliffs along the fjords, there are small cleared grassed areas where a few timber houses are clustered. In some areas small houses clinging to the cliffs amongst the trees are only accessible by boat.
Our last port of call was Stavanger, population 98,000, where there were once 700 sardine canneries but that industry has now given way to oil. As with all but one of the other ports, we docked right in the town and walked to the nearby market. There was no fish that day but the fruit and vegetables were superb. Barry and I walked round the steep, cobbled streets of the old shopping area that was quite dirty and covered with graffiti. We came to an ugly area that looked liked a construction site but then we realised it was a playground with hideous-looking climbing equipment. We gave the modern area a miss and walked round Gamle, the Old Town adjacent to the docks where there are weatherboard houses along cobbled streets, several hundred years old. The whole city had many cranes and workmen and much scaffolding over the buildings. The construction season is short in Norway.
I watched the Sailaway with Ann and Dick, feeling quite sad as it was our last port of call and almost the end of the voyage and a farewell to a superb liner. That night Ann and Dick took their “Welcome” champagne, that we had all had in our cabins on boarding, to dinner, but we missed the Chefs’ Parade after the meal, with Bombe Alaska aflame, as we wanted to watch the early show. It was brilliant with another classical concert afterwards.
The sea was calm all the way and especially so travelling south-west across the North Sea. We had a busy day on our last day, entering all the sports competitions, packing, going to a cocktail party but declining an invitation to a wine tasting.
Ann and Dick’s wedding anniversary was the day we returned to Southampton. Barry and I took our champagne to dinner on the last night and the Maitre d’ presented Ann and Dick with a delicious, rich chocolate cake with candle and anniversary greeting. Twelve of the waiters gathered round the table and sang them a love song, so it was a good finale to the trip.
We listened to a comedian after dinner and he was followed by the Singers and Dancers performing an Abba farewell song. We passed through the Dover Strait at 10 pm and could see England on one side of the ship and France on the other. I slept well that night and missed the Isle of Wight and entry into Southampton.
We docked early and disembarkation was very quick and easy. After collecting our car we drove to see my cousin Stuart where we enjoyed a coffee and chatted for a couple of hours before heading off to Lyme.
The day after our return we went to good friends for lunch. We leave in ten days so time is running out and this will probably be the last Blog of the trip.
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