Fjords and Kilts and Hot Springs, Day 5 -- Stavanger, Norway

Day 5 -- Stavanger Mostly sunny, high 80

First things first. It rhymes with "anger". 
This was the third stop in Norway and the shortest, by far. The all-aboard time was 12:45 p.m. So most of the excursions were pretty early in the morning. Ours met around 7:30 or 7:45, so I skipped the gym because I just didn't want to get up quite that early. We had an early breakfast at Cabanas and then went straight to our meeting spot. 

We did the Lysenfjord Cruise, which was simply a boat ride up the fjord and back. It was beautiful, but the guide said that she expected to see wildlife and we didn't actually see any. There's a section of the fjord where goats live wild, but they've become accustomed to the boats because people feed them. We expected them to come out to see us, but they didn't. The environment looks a lot like Alaska, I think, with lots of trees, although the fjord seemed more open, with wider spaces for fields along some stretches. Here are a few pictures:









There were even a few waterfalls along the way. In fact, our boat pulled up very close to the side of the fjord so that our guide took a big bucket, filled it from the waterfall and gave us all a bit of the water to drink. That was kind of cool, I have to admit. 





About halfway through the sailing, we stopped at a little clearing with a small building and some bathrooms. The gave us waffles with strawberries as a snack, then we headed back to port. In all, the excursion lasted about 3.5 hours.



After getting back to the port, we decided to walk through some of the shops near the pier and look at the area a little bit. I felt it was a gorgeous little town. (I say "little", but it's Norway's 4th largest city.) But the shops were absolutely mobbed. We walked through one store and had to fight our way out. I would've loved to walk around the town a little bit, maybe go see the church, but nobody else was up for it, and the line to get back on the ship was very long. The local port security people were taking forever to let people into the port area. It was pretty much time for lunch, so we decided to get back on board the ship, rather than wander the streets.

Some pictures of the town:











While we were waiting in line to re-board the Magic, it was hot. It was 80, or maybe a little warmer. And once we got home to New England where the temperature reached over 90 for three or four days in a row, 80 doesn't seem so bad. But standing in the sun on the first really hot day of our trip, people were feeling the heat. So the cruise staff, including Natalie, our Cruise Director, was walking up and down the line, handing out cool towels and water for anybody who wanted them. It was a nice touch!

Once we got back on board, we headed to Cabanas for lunch. Honestly, nothing really appealed to me. I probably ended up with chicken fingers and fries. After lunch, we did nothing. It was an awesome, completely relaxing afternoon. The girls found a spot in Quiet Cove and I headed to Deck 4 to read (and maybe nap) for a couple hours.

On our fjord cruise, our guide mentioned that Stavanger has grown because of the oil industry's growth there. And sure enough, as we left port, we passed a few oil rigs. 





For dinner, we were back in Lumiere's. For appetizers, Kath had the escargot, which she always loves. I had the shrimp and lobster. The shrimp were good sized and there was a "medallion" of lobster. There was a tiny bit of sauce, but most of the flavor was just the seafood, which was good. I also tried the ham and cheese croquettes, which were kind of like long tater tots with some ham and cheese in them. They were ok, but I didn't love them.





For the second course, I had the French Onion soup, which was not overly salty and I liked it a lot. Kathryn and Molly had the cucumber salad with dill and sour cream. This was really odd to me. There was a pile of shredded lettuce, another pile of what looked like cabbage, and a little pile of cucumbers with dill sauce all in one bowl. It looked like you were supposed to mix it all together, but they really just wanted the cucumbers and dill.

Soup:



And the wierd salad:



For my entree, I had the Chateaubriand roasted filet steak, which was delicious, but was huge! It was way too much for one portion. I also had a small side portion of the roast duck, which was very moist and I enjoyed it a lot. Kathryn had the Conchiglia pasta with bits of lobster in it. The red pasta sauce was not very flavorful. It was just ok. She also shared a side order of the roasted rack of lamb with Molly. The menu said it was prepared "medium", but Kath asked for it rare, and they were able to do that for her. Molly's main entree was the evening's regional item, which was mini potato dumplings. Very similar to gnocchi, as you might guess. It was a disappointing dish, however. There was not much flavor to the dumplings or sauce and no color in the dish. It wasn't terrible; it just wasn't interesting at all.

The duck:



Potato dumplings:



Rack of lamb:



My filet (it doesn't look big, but it was!):



For dessert Molly and I had the peanut butter mousse, which was excellent! Loved it. Kath had the Grand Marnier souffle. It was delicious, but our server did NOT pour the sauce over the souffle for her. We were literally stunned. I later asked a different server if the policy had changed, and he said no, the server is definitely still supposed to pour the sauce. 

Mousse: 



The show in the Walt Disney Theater was "Hector Is Magic!" We passed. Looking back on it, I probably should have gone to these shows, just so I could give a decent report on them. But honestly, nobody in our group was interested at all. So we sat up on Deck 9, because it was still really warm in the evening. After some soft serve for our second dessert, I headed back to the cabin to finish reading Harry Potter 7 on the verandah. 

Side note about the soft serve: they provided a nice variety of flavors over the course of the cruise. There was always vanilla and chocolate, of course. But they also served banana, mango, strawberry, and blueberry at various times. I really liked the chocolate/blueberry twist.