Cruisin' Norway With The Brits!

Y'all, I was the only one on the ship that said "Y'all!"

It was Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.

We sailed out of Southampton, which is near London,

so I guess it's reasonable that it was loaded with Brits!

One day there was a darling little boy on the

elevator, probably about 11 or so, and I don't

remember what I said to him, but he looked so

puzzled and asked, "Where are you from?"

I said that I was from Texas, and I think I

might as well have said "Mars."


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Click on the pictures to make them larger--especially the one of the ship!
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Here I am on the plane to London--very excited!
(I got better at selfies.)

With my new London tote and my Kindle!

And here is a screenshot of the time I arrived in London.
They said it was 6:30 A.M.

Here's my first view of the ship.

And of my room!

Both were "lovely." (Used quite often by the Brits.)

And off we go!

Our first stop was Bergen, Norway.

I was very jet lagged and had been there before,

so I only barely got off, hoping for a picture of the ship.

Someone was so inconsiderate as to leave those green
shipping things in the way!

Geiranger Fjord...One of my 7 Wonders of the World.

We entered the fjord very early in the morning.

It is so quiet, so pristine, so majestic.
The huge ship glides along noiselessly.


I happened to look outside just as we were passing
this waterfall--called the Suitor. 
(I'll explain later)

The little village at the end of the fjord.

From my vantage spot.

And here I get my postcard picture!

Good thing I had learned to do a panoramic shot, since 
the Indy was too big for a regular photo!


I saw my first real drone here.
It was owned and operated by Ian and Victoria,
who became my friends.
See it there?

Ian flew it over the ship--

and waaay up high--

and right back down!

I guess you can tell that I was fascinated!
Ian is going to send the drone footage to me!

Back home.

We didn't sail from the fjord until about 7:00 P.M.
We passed the Artania as we left.

Here's my selfie as we cruised away.

I had left dinner early so that I might be sure to see the
Seven Sisters waterfall from my balcony.
As it turned out the captain did a 360 with that big
ship so that both sides could see equally.

So actually the Seven Sisters is not as impressive as
the Suitor--right across from it--that I photographed
this morning.
Get it? Seven Sisters and their Suitor?



Cutest towel animal EVER! 
He's reading the Cruise Compass for tomorrow!

Next...

I hopped on this little train--there really

are several cars behind this engine--

and went sight seeing.

The best viewpoint in Alesund.

That's the Independence over my shoulder.

My lunch on my balcony in Alesund was quite

an event.

I got a very nice ham and cheese sandwich and

fancy coffee and brought them back to my balcony.

Unfortunately I dripped mustard on my top and

had to rush into my cabin to try to remove it.

When I came back out...

Not so nice any more.

Leaving Alesund was such fun.

I took about a hundred pictures of this!

Which was just for us!

Only about the third time this has happened to me

in my sailing life.

My only official excursion was in Stavanger, Norway.

I took this small boat through the Lysefjord.

(We chuckled over the name of the boat.

It would actually be "Fjordspeed" in English.)

This waterfall up close and personal was fun.

We sailed into a cave which was hard to photograph.

But this animal lover's favorite stop was this:

The goats recognize the sound of the boat and come

down to be fed.

Note that in the closeup the goat has a piece of bread,

fed to him by the crew.

Then we stopped for this:

Waffles with strawberries and cream.

Almost as good as seeing the goats!

It was pouring when we got off the little boat.

Fortunately I had brought my umbrella,

which I had had to buy onboard because I

left all my umbrellas at home!

Here I am with Ian and Victoria (drone friends) 

on the Royal Promenade.

And then it was time to return to Texas.
Bye bye chaps!

It's been lovely!