Stavanger

There are many advantages to travelling on your own, and I have certainly learnt more about myself over the past 2 years or so and gained more confidence and independence travelling on my own, but there are certain situations when it would be nice to have a travelling companion (and not just for the company). One of these situations is when things go wrong in a non-English speaking (or an English-as-a second-language) country, just so that you're not alone in your ignorance of what is going on.

I boarded my train from Oslo to Stavanger early on Thursday morning, and it left the main station in Oslo on time. About an hour or so later, as we were pulling into the station at Drammen, there was an announcement over the PA in Norsk, during which everyone else on the train groaned and started standing up and collecting their things. I was pretty sure that not everyone could be going only as far as Drammen, so I asked the guy beside me what was happening. Apparently there was a problem with the electricity along the line, so we were all going to have to catch buses the rest of the way to our destination.

We all crowded at the entrance to the station, waiting for the buses, and a rail worker kept making more announcements, instructing which bus people were to get on. Again, all the announcements were of course in Norsk, so I had to keep going up to the man to ask him if I had to be on the bus. This is where a travelling companion would also be nice, so that you could share the duties of being the annoying English-only-speaking tourist. After about an hour of waiting, the bus I had to be on arrived and we were finally on our way.

After all the waiting and bus catching, I thought for sure that I was going to be in Stavanger much later than scheduled, but in the end I was only about 2 hours late.

I met my friend Ryan at a coffee shop in town, and we walked up to his house, via the supermarket. Whilst in the supermarket, I was handed my wallet by a man who was walking past me and he told me that it wasn't a good idea to walk around with my bag open! Oops! Obviously it was unintentional and luckily I had only lost the book I was half-way through and the bookmark that was in it. I was a little disappointed to lose the bookmark as it had been a present from a friend, but I consider that I was VERY lucky that that was all that was missing.

After dinner, we walked around to Ryan's friends Joel and Emma's house where we had to pick up Ryan's spare key and have a glass of red. Joel and Emma have a lovely black Labrador called Cooba, who I had castrated when they lived in Launceston. I don't think he remembered me without my scrub top though!

The next day while Ryan went to work, I walked to the tourist office to see if they had any suggestions on must-see places to visit in Stavanger. I was just flipping through a brochure when I noticed an advertisement for a cruise down Lysefjord which only went at 12pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at this time of year. It was 11:45, so I rushed down to the Vagen and found the boat and got on board. Luckily, more than the minimum number of passengers (15) required arrived on board, so the cruise was able to go ahead.

Apparently Lysefjord is one of Norway's most beautiful fjord's. I certainly can't disagree with that as I didn't see any better on my trip to Norway. It was a beautiful day for a cruise along the fjord as the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the water was calm, and visibility was excellent.

We of course cruised past Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock). Unfortunately, due to the time of year, I was unable to actually hike up to Preikestolen as it would have been icy and a little dangerous (although the lady at the tourist office thought that it would probably have been possible with the right gear). I guess I will just have to visit sometime during a summer season to experience that.

Preikestolen

Preikestolen

We also cruised past a waterfall where the guys on the boat collected a bucket of water so that we could all have a taste! Swimming around the base of the cliffs near the waterfall, we also glimpsed some seals.
The boys collecting water from the waterfall

You will just have to believe me that the ripple in the water in this photo is a seal!

On the cruise back to Stavanger, just as we were entering the harbour, I also spotted a dolphin!

I had a very late lunch when I got back to Stavanger, then wandered the streets a little. I found my favourite street: Ovre Holmegate, where all the houses are painted a bright, candy-colour, in stark contrast to the rest of the white buildings in the town.

In the evening, I met Ryan at Joel and Em's, where we had a drink (well, the boys had got a head-start and had several), then went out for dinner at a sushi/noodle restaurant. Afterwards we had a few drinks at a bar, before walking back home. Along the way, Joel and Ryan decided to play silly-buggers at the lake which had recently been frozen over, but was thawing. I asked Joel if he thought the ice could take his weight - he didn't think so, but Ryan thought he'd try it out and ended up with one leg ankle-deep in ice-cold water!

The next day, Ryan and I met another one of Ryan's mates, Mitch, who had also studied in Launceston. The three of us went sailing with a few of their friends, just outside of the harbour on one of the guy's (Alex) father's yacht. Unfortunately, the day was pretty much the opposite of what the previous had been: wet, dull, cold and visibility was poor.

The boys didn't mind seem to mind though, as they can drink in any weather, and so the day of sailing turned into a booze-cruise. I also partook in a couple of (very STRONG) Irish coffees and a glass of red wine, which I regretted later that evening, as it was Mitch's Birthday the coming Monday and we all went out for dinner with a few more of Mitch's friends at a lovely restaurant. As I had been drinking that day, I was already experiencing a mild hang-over by the time we reached the restaurant, so didn't feel like eating much of the beautiful food which was brought out. Thankfully, I had recovered a little by the time dessert was brought out, so was able to sample that, and then continue drinking a little more.

After the restaurant/bar closed, we lined up at another bar, where I felt like the shortest person that had ever walked the earth (I was surrounded by people who were 6 ft and over), before we decided that we couldn't be bothered waiting in line anymore. We went to another bar where we didn't have to line up, and continued drinking and dancing until that bar was closing and we walked home.

The next morning, Ryan and I visited Ryan's boat, then went to the Petroleum Museum, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. I thought so anyway, Ryan didn't think it all that enjoyable, but he works in the industry so probably didn't learn anything new. Afterwards we visited Ryan's friends Regina and Ulf (who are Swedish), who had made some special Swedish buns for Mardi Gras. They had never made them before and had been nervous about how they would turn out, but they were delicious! The filling had a special almond paste in them which Regina had to import especially from Sweden, but which made the buns more interesting and special than an ordinary cream bun.

Ryan and his pride and joy!

The next day, whilst Ryan was back at work, I walked into Stavanger again. It was another sunny day and I didn't feel like spending it in a museum, so wandered around Gamle Stavanger and around the Vagen.

Gamle Stavanger

In the afternoon, I went sailing again with Ryan and his friends, again on Alex's dad's yacht. It was a much better day for sailing that afternoon, and I enjoyed it much more than on the Saturday. Of course, being such a beautiful day, the boys had a few beers as well...

Alex (in yellow), teaches Colin and Peter about tell-tails and sailing

Me, with Alex teaching Colin how to steer in the background

Adam and Ryan cracking jokes

The beautiful sunset

Boys will be boys...

The following day, I went to what is one of Stavanger's must-see museums: The Canning Museum. This is housed in the old Canning Factory in Gamle Stavanger, where brisling used to be brought up from the boats in the harbour, smoked and canned. They still fire up the ovens on certain days so that you can sample the product, but not on the day that I visited unfortunately.

After lunch, I went for a walk around Mosvangen, a large lake and park near Ryan's house.

The weather was very "atmospheric" on my walk around Mosvangen

The lake was still frozen enough for the birds to walk on it

This was a tree next to the lake, onto which people had tied baby dummies. I asked Ryan if perhaps women who wanted to become mothers did it, but he didn't know what it was all about. If anyone does, please let me know...

The next day I went for a long walk around the shoreline on the east side of Stavanger, and nearly drowned in a downpour! Of course, just as I was walking back to Ryan's house, the weather started to fine up again.

Looking down towards Vagen

Breiavann

Breiavann

That night was my last in Stavanger, so I took Ryan out for dinner at an Indian Restaurant to thank him for letting me stay at Watts' B&B Stavanger.

The next morning I caught the train back to Oslo. The journey back to Oslo was thankfully more relaxing than the journey to Stavanger!