We are Harald and Renae;
we live alternately in Tucson, Arizona
and Vienna, Austria.

This is a blog featuring photos of our cruise along the coastline and into the Norwegian fjords on the Celebrity Century.




Click the picture under
of each of the days
for a slide show.
Multiple pictures from the same day link to the same slideshow.


July 26,27,28:Pre Cruise: Amsterdam















We left Amsterdam on July 28, crossing through the lock to the open sea.

Cruise Critic get-together on Day 2














Day 3: July 30: After a sea day, we arrived in Allesund,
near the Geiranger fjord and the Trollstigen road.


Our CC Allesund native: Liv

We took a rental car trip from Allesund
to the Geiranger fjord overlook, using a ferry,
and then drove to the Trollstigen road.






Note the 2 Norwegian Air Force F-16's
doing a low level pass through the Trollstigen valley

Click picture to enlarge (no slideshow link)










Day 4: July 31: Sea Day, crossing the Arctic Circle



Our Tucson connection:

Sheila, (Sheeng) Jim,Jim,Kathy
are all Wildcats
(University of Arizona)







Charles and Ann (UKTOG)
were the only ones to enjoy the
Arctic Circle baptism in the pool










Day 5: Aug 1 : Alta


A sure indicator of high latitude
(Alta is at 70 degrees North):

The satellite dishes have to almost look down to see the TV satellites in synchronous orbit over the equator.





Renae bought the famous Norwegian brown goat cheese


Gudbradsdalsost










We anxiously waited for the clouds to part as the eclipse peaked at 11:44 AM at the 75% level.
Finally at 12:08 the hole in the clouds we had been seeing found its way to the sun.




View of the solar eclipse

Photo
courtesy
Jim Engle









Day 6: Aug 2 : Honningsvag, home of the North Cape



Rounding the North Cape at 6 AM
on August 2, the northernmost point
of our voyage.

In Honningsvag we visited the
Ice Bar





Day 7: Aug 3: Tromso



Most expensive beer ever:

64 Kr, or about 12 bucks

from the northernmost full production
brewery in Europe




Day 8: Aug 4: Cruise into fjord to a glacier


What a view

This side trip into the fjord
made the voyage for us







Day 9: Aug 5 : Molde, a town that looks better than it sounds

We enjoyed a hike up to the top of Mt. Varden, picking wild blueberries.

On the way down we saw the construction of hot water lines, to keep an
athletic field ice and snow-free in the winter.



Galen, our Palmettogirl










Day 10: Aug 6: Olden, a town whose population we more than doubled by arriving






Viewing the greater than 1000 foot glacier tongue was awe inspiring,
truly a high point of our Norway experience

The mirror-flat waters of Olden fjord proved to be ideal for the Century's lifeboat launching drill



Day 11: Aug 7: Bergen

We visited composer Edvard Grieg's home.

A special treat was, as we viewed the home,
the Century's pianist Brooks Aeron,
played a Grieg piece on the composer's
own piano.

We were able to taste smoked whale meat at the fish market, quite delicious


Day 12: Aug 8: Last day, and Amsterdam



Our Irish table companions,
Eddie and Margaret,
celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary
Congratulationns to a lovely couple.
We thoroughly enjoyed our other
4 companions from the UK,
John and Eva ,
Rodney and Robin


And so we've reached the end of a fantastic voyage.
May we see you on a future cruise.


After disembarking we enjoyed getting a tour
of the Amsterdam surroundings from our friends.