1) Pepe at Peppe’s Pizza
2) scary evacuation sign—Aaahhh!
2) scary evacuation sign—Aaahhh!
3) leaf with raindrops
4) friendly Norwegian snail on top of dam
5) Just exactly what happened to cause this kind of destruction?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 16--Kristiansund
Today we are in Kristiansund. It is named for the Danish-Norwegian king Christian VI from 1742. The old name of the village was Fosen from the Old Norse word for hiding place or hidden port.
The coat of arms is from 1742 and shows a waterfall even though there is no waterfall in the area. Two myths try to explain this. One, that the old name fosen was misinterpreted as Fossund which means waterfall strait. The other says that there was a mix up of the shields for Kristiansund and Molde when the officials in charge of giving the coats of arms had a party to remember the momentous occasion and became too drunk and hung over to remember which was which, so Molde got the one with a whale (which are scarce in that area) and Kristiansund got the waterfall.
This is the summer vacation place for Norwegians. Beautiful houses here. After an initial rain shower, the day was bright and sunny. We decided to do our own walking tour of the city and stopped in at the Kirkelandet Kirke (church). Built in 1964 to replace the church that was destroyed by Nazi bombs, it is Norway’s most daring modern church building. Its unusual angles, unique use of symbols, and bold architecture express the idea of “quartz shining against a backdrop of roses.” The 30 meter interior wall with its 320 panels of stained glass was stunning. The panels grew lighter as you looked upwards, supposedly giving the idea of the “celestial light of heaven.” I loved it. There were tapestries in the entranceway, which picked up on the idea of the stained glass from the interior wall. The outside of the building’s sharp angles and soaring points were very unusual for a church.
Then we walked past the kirke and up the hill to Varden. This old lookout post stands 78 meters above sea level and offered spectacular 360-degree views of the shipping fairway, Grip, the coastline, all of Kristiansund, and the fjords and mountains of Nordmore. The tower was built in 1892 to mark the 150th anniversary of the town. But there was a diagram inside the tower showing five pictures of the tower, from its beginning until 1976. Then it had a picture of the tower in May 1976 which basically showed it being blown to pieces—with no explanation of how this happened. Lightning? That would be my guess. The third picture showed there was nothing here from 1976-1982. Then a drawing of October 1982 showing it falling apart again. Then the 8th of May 1983 showing it standing tall once again. Quite a history. I would love to find out about it and hope to do research when I have more internet time.
From atop the tower, you could see a lighthouse out on some tiny islands and to the SW there were snowcapped mountains. As we went back down the hill, there were beautiful flowers, glistening raindrops on plant leaves that sparkled like diamonds, and a very interesting Norwegian snail who must’ve worked so hard to get to the top of the dam we walked across. There were tree trunks that looked like they decided to take root again and swans and ducks sharing a small lake. On the city streets we saw very interesting manhole covers that showed a fisherwoman, the church, and other symbols of Kristiansund and the dates 1742-1992. Must’ve been some 250th anniversary party if they even redid the manhole covers.
Ray spied an interesting building—the Nordvest SpareBank. He said they should share since they have a spare one and we have totally destroyed ours.
In the window of a store was a t-shirt that said, Hvem I Svarte er Harry Potter? (Maybe Have you seen Harry Potter?)
We also took pictures of Ray in front of Peppe’s Pizza! I took some good shots of our ship from the dock. Didn’t really realize how big it was till now.
I took a picture of the Klippfiskkjaerringa, the town’s most famous and popular sculpture. It was a gift to the town on its 250th anniversary in 1992. The Klipfish Wife is a tribute to klipfish workers. (Klipfish is split, salted matured dried cod.) It was unveiled by HM Queen Sonja. Kristiansund is famous for its klipfish export but also for exporting timber, fisheries, shipping and the shipbuilding industry. Today it is a base for the oil and gas industry and for its opera and rich cultural life.
We had lunch in the Garden Café then took naps!!! Real naps. I slept for over an hour! We walked on the promenade deck then went to dinner in the Grand Pacific Dining Room where we had requested Monica once again, but her section was too busy. She saw us and came over to talk to us though. This is her fifth contract with NCL and she is hoping to get a promotion or she will stay home in Transylvania, she guessed. She is a genuinely nice person. We had a window table to watch the Captain navigate his way out of the strait. It is quite interesting getting this huge ship in and out of narrow channels.
The show tonight was a recreation of the West End hit, “SHOUT!” with songs from the 60s. The performers were okay, but, having seen so many of Laura’s productions, I have to say that this was nowhere near as good.
NCL has this neat little gadget that is part of the room number outside your door. It has a wheel that you turn to say one of four things: Welcome, Turn down bed, Make up cabin, Do Not Disturb. I have to say, after being on other ships, that this little gadget is great. This way you never have to be disturbed with knocking and someone calling out, “Housekeeping!” Other cruise lines could learn from these people.
Okay, we are back in the cabin but plan to go up on deck at 12:30 am as we cross the Arctic Circle. Good thing I took that nap! But we are probably going up earlier than that as SUNSET IS SET FOR 11:43!!! And sunrise for 3:14am! Tomorrow—the Svartisen Glacier.
***pictures from top: Outside of Kirkelandet Kirke; interior showing the panels; Varden Tower; our ship the Norwegian Jade docked at Kristiansund; view of the city.
The coat of arms is from 1742 and shows a waterfall even though there is no waterfall in the area. Two myths try to explain this. One, that the old name fosen was misinterpreted as Fossund which means waterfall strait. The other says that there was a mix up of the shields for Kristiansund and Molde when the officials in charge of giving the coats of arms had a party to remember the momentous occasion and became too drunk and hung over to remember which was which, so Molde got the one with a whale (which are scarce in that area) and Kristiansund got the waterfall.
This is the summer vacation place for Norwegians. Beautiful houses here. After an initial rain shower, the day was bright and sunny. We decided to do our own walking tour of the city and stopped in at the Kirkelandet Kirke (church). Built in 1964 to replace the church that was destroyed by Nazi bombs, it is Norway’s most daring modern church building. Its unusual angles, unique use of symbols, and bold architecture express the idea of “quartz shining against a backdrop of roses.” The 30 meter interior wall with its 320 panels of stained glass was stunning. The panels grew lighter as you looked upwards, supposedly giving the idea of the “celestial light of heaven.” I loved it. There were tapestries in the entranceway, which picked up on the idea of the stained glass from the interior wall. The outside of the building’s sharp angles and soaring points were very unusual for a church.
Then we walked past the kirke and up the hill to Varden. This old lookout post stands 78 meters above sea level and offered spectacular 360-degree views of the shipping fairway, Grip, the coastline, all of Kristiansund, and the fjords and mountains of Nordmore. The tower was built in 1892 to mark the 150th anniversary of the town. But there was a diagram inside the tower showing five pictures of the tower, from its beginning until 1976. Then it had a picture of the tower in May 1976 which basically showed it being blown to pieces—with no explanation of how this happened. Lightning? That would be my guess. The third picture showed there was nothing here from 1976-1982. Then a drawing of October 1982 showing it falling apart again. Then the 8th of May 1983 showing it standing tall once again. Quite a history. I would love to find out about it and hope to do research when I have more internet time.
From atop the tower, you could see a lighthouse out on some tiny islands and to the SW there were snowcapped mountains. As we went back down the hill, there were beautiful flowers, glistening raindrops on plant leaves that sparkled like diamonds, and a very interesting Norwegian snail who must’ve worked so hard to get to the top of the dam we walked across. There were tree trunks that looked like they decided to take root again and swans and ducks sharing a small lake. On the city streets we saw very interesting manhole covers that showed a fisherwoman, the church, and other symbols of Kristiansund and the dates 1742-1992. Must’ve been some 250th anniversary party if they even redid the manhole covers.
Ray spied an interesting building—the Nordvest SpareBank. He said they should share since they have a spare one and we have totally destroyed ours.
In the window of a store was a t-shirt that said, Hvem I Svarte er Harry Potter? (Maybe Have you seen Harry Potter?)
We also took pictures of Ray in front of Peppe’s Pizza! I took some good shots of our ship from the dock. Didn’t really realize how big it was till now.
I took a picture of the Klippfiskkjaerringa, the town’s most famous and popular sculpture. It was a gift to the town on its 250th anniversary in 1992. The Klipfish Wife is a tribute to klipfish workers. (Klipfish is split, salted matured dried cod.) It was unveiled by HM Queen Sonja. Kristiansund is famous for its klipfish export but also for exporting timber, fisheries, shipping and the shipbuilding industry. Today it is a base for the oil and gas industry and for its opera and rich cultural life.
We had lunch in the Garden Café then took naps!!! Real naps. I slept for over an hour! We walked on the promenade deck then went to dinner in the Grand Pacific Dining Room where we had requested Monica once again, but her section was too busy. She saw us and came over to talk to us though. This is her fifth contract with NCL and she is hoping to get a promotion or she will stay home in Transylvania, she guessed. She is a genuinely nice person. We had a window table to watch the Captain navigate his way out of the strait. It is quite interesting getting this huge ship in and out of narrow channels.
The show tonight was a recreation of the West End hit, “SHOUT!” with songs from the 60s. The performers were okay, but, having seen so many of Laura’s productions, I have to say that this was nowhere near as good.
NCL has this neat little gadget that is part of the room number outside your door. It has a wheel that you turn to say one of four things: Welcome, Turn down bed, Make up cabin, Do Not Disturb. I have to say, after being on other ships, that this little gadget is great. This way you never have to be disturbed with knocking and someone calling out, “Housekeeping!” Other cruise lines could learn from these people.
Okay, we are back in the cabin but plan to go up on deck at 12:30 am as we cross the Arctic Circle. Good thing I took that nap! But we are probably going up earlier than that as SUNSET IS SET FOR 11:43!!! And sunrise for 3:14am! Tomorrow—the Svartisen Glacier.
***pictures from top: Outside of Kirkelandet Kirke; interior showing the panels; Varden Tower; our ship the Norwegian Jade docked at Kristiansund; view of the city.
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