our awesome world adventure

The ship docked in Bremerhaven and we took a bus to Hamburg, 170km away. Two and a quarter hours each way was tiring and pretty boring really. But here, an important first impression …

While self important morons in Canberra think climate change is a fudge, the Danes and the Germans really are getting on with using wind (and even solar) energy. As we drove through endless corn fields like this …

… we saw hundreds and hundreds of these …

… in fields, in towns, beside farms, in industrial parks (and in the ports) …

… all over the place!!

… no mindshare in these parts for fruitloops that think proximity to wind turbines ruins your health!!!

… this, after having passed countless wind farms in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark …

Score 1 to the Germans (and the Danes) … Abbott and a few others should come and take a look!

The bus dropped us at the Hamburg Rathaus(!) … (=Town Hall, for those whose German is deficient.)

… We walked/explored … first, to the fascinating old warehouse district …

… spot the hooks? … still in use to load and unload from the upper floors …

… then down to the chaotic (recreational) port on the Elbe River … tourists everywhere … then up to a lookout over this harbour (but wait for more on that below …)

Through some ordinary neighbourhoods, then to something a bit fancier … including shops …

To Binnenalster, a pretty, small lake, right in the heart of the city …

We had lunch “with” some locals (most of whom seem to smoke!) … and were surprised how cheap it was!!!

Afterwards we found Aussenalster … boating central!

… and on the way back to the Rathaus, these – some of the few buildings of any merit (at least from what we saw) – but then again, Hamburg did take some terrible damage in WWII.

So Hamburg was OK, but not place to rush back to … score another 0.5 to the Germans.

But then, our third impression. We associate German with order, discipline, tidyness, cleanliness … Right?

Not in Hamburg …

Here’s the lookout over the harbour … (and this was not an exception).

And here’s the very extensive rubbish infested weed patch beside the lake right in the middle of town …

The city is a mess. Rubbish. Weeds. Broken glass. Cigarette butts by the million. Grafitti. In this, we were told, one of the wealthiest cities in Germany. The city fathers (and the residents) should be ashamed of themselves!

Back in Bremerhaven the harbour was buzzing with a congress(?) of tall ships … maybe more than 30 …

We found our way right into the city and returned the car. (A few hesitations, but no wrong turns!!) Our taxi found the ship docked right next to the old castle. The rain had gone!

So after a much needed cuppa we went walking. First to explore the castle …

… taking aim at our ship???

Akerhus is a seriously big, and beautiful, fortress …

… with great views over the harbour and the city.

This, a gorgeous walk down from the main part of the castle towards the main gate …

… and all these buildings within the precinct apparently still used by the Norwegian military …

Outside we walked through some very posh areas. This square a mix of residential and business …

… where we found this, and had some fun (much to the amusement of locals in the cafe adjacent) …

Then we found the lively centre of town … shopping …

… and time for a drink and a snack for dinner …

Then on further down the main street … buzzing, beautiful …

… a festival in progress apparently …

… at the far end, the Royal Palace … a small, yellow Buck House by the look of it …

Outside the Concert Hall these guys were playing some great music …

Back down to the harbour, where an extraordinary assortment of old vessels ply their wares for tours on the harbour/fjord.

By the time we sailed at 11pm we were well asleep …

In the morning we packed up and set out early from our hotel …

We followed our (2 dimensional) map up the mountains from sea level to 1500 metres in no time flat … through countless tunnels.

… this little bit was interesting … from left to right, three long tunnels and rising a couple of  hundred metres!

Quickly we were in high snow country …

Excellent place for a picnic! … not in the rain today! … (spot the fishing shack)

Further on, and lower, Geilo, a HUGE ski resort town …

More towns and high country farms …

… with churches …

… and wild running rivers … we got out and walked around here … poor Jan slipped on her backside and cried!

Then to a beautiful picnic spot for lunch … for a close up look at the endless birch and Norway pines …

… do trolls live down here?

The old suspension bridge and this stone bridge (of which many) used to serve the main road!

Further down the long slope to Oslo the rain got heavier … and to our surprise, lots of wheat farms …

… and so to Oslo …

Hardangar, “queen of the fjords” is close to Bergen. We decided to spend time there to check it out for a couple of days.

We drove out of Bergen about 3pm. A taster along the way …

… through pretty villages and past churches like this …

… we reached the fjord at Mundheim …

and drove along the shore for miles …

… to the town of Norheimsund …

… we drove on, but it was getting late. We needed to find a hotel to stay at. “Let’s jump on this ferry at Kvanndal and try out the old hotel over there somewhere!”

We ferried into the village of Utne …

… and found this hotel built in 1722 …

… one of their sheds! …

Next morning we explored the village …

… hmmm, what’s the weather going to do???

Then on the road again …

This is serious orchard country …

… and these were just too good to be true!

Through towns and villages, and past waterfalls … endless photo opportunites …

… and then to the very new engineering marvel – the Hardangar Bridge …

and it’s associated tunnels. This one 7.8k long …

… complete with a roundabout at a road junction inside the mountain!

We drove a long loop to Grandvin where a lake feeds down to the fjord. This was our only short break of sunshine … and there was not a breath of wind …

… figure this one out!

Then up a farming valley …

A quiet winding road …

… and this waterfall – Skjervsfossen

Over the mountains to Ulvik …

… and back to the main fjord and home for the night in Eidfjord

We sailed in early in gloomy weather (again!) … and for the first time in port, met another ship!

Bergen is a gorgeous little city, tucked into a natural amphitheatre at the end of a fjord quite a long way from the coast (as you will see below) …

The old town is called the Byrggen, composed of amazing old multi-purpose wooden buildings …

Complete with narrow “streets” …

… slightly wider streets …

and little “town squares” at the back …

Commerce has taken over. Lots of expensive shops. Places to eat and drink out front along the waterfront …

We wandered the streets and found a handsome European city …

… a big town square …

… and beautiful gardens

We rode the famous finicular 320 metres to the top of Mount Floyen with these locals …

… and admired the fabulous view of the main little harbour

… and the main part of the city …

We grabbed something for lunch at the vibrant fish market and went off to get our car for 3 days off the ship exploring Norway on our own …

In the stormy North Atlantic, remote between Iceland, Norway and Scotland, the Faroe Islands are a knockout. Judged by National Geographic “the world’s most appealing islands” … I’d say that’s hard to argue. And we only just touched the surface!

Except for one short break, it was a bleak showery day. One can only imagine the views in bright sunshine.

First to historic Kirkjoubour.

We found the oldest inhabited wooden house in the world … 17 generations of the same family!!

No … she’s not a resident!

Next door the ruins of St Magnus cathedral dating from the 13th century (under major preservation work, so no good photo)

We drove along valleys like this all day …

And I doubt anyone could possibly count the waterfalls … running well on a wet day …

Up one remote wide valley, single track road in the mist and rain …

To Saksun … a village of about 10 houses …

… and a church …

Then north to Eidi for a sandwich and banana …

Time to explore the wild north coast …

Spot the tour bus over there!

We found the gorgeous village of Gjogv … (pronounce that if you can!) … you could spend a whole day just here …

At the bottom of this farming valley …

… and here, one of the best examples we saw of the traditional Faroe house …

Drive on …

More waterfalls …

Past the villages of Funningur …

… Kvivik(!) …

… and Leynar, which even has a sandy beach …

Then back through one of more than a dozen impressive road tunnels (some very long) to Torshavn …

A busy little place of about 20,000 … (we checked the view at the town’s lookout with these two locals!)

The old Torshavn still has numbers of traditional houses and narrow lanes near the busy harbour …

This one hanging out the fish to dry …

… and impressive small public buildings …

Back to the ship (docked at a remote fish factory!) and off we go … past waterfront towns …

… and away from the setting sun …

Next morning we woke to this view from our cabin … a great day in store.

We braved a ship’s bus tour around the “golden circle”. Past pretty farms in bleak landscape …

To Pingvellir … the place where the European plate and the North American plates are visibly drifting apart.

We walked down the “Rift Valley” …

The wind was cold. “Not happy, Jan!”

This stream seemed to emerge from nowhere … then on down to a huge lake.

Then on through strange rocky landscapes … with what looked like moon dust blowing in the wind …

… to Geysir (that gave it’s name to all geysers in the world)

Boiling water ponds in an eerie landscape …

we watched people watching the geyser going off about every 5 minutes …

… then went closer … ponder this freak and lucky photo as the next eruption started …

… blew up to this in a small fraction of a second …

… and retracted to this …

Then on to Gullfoss, one of Iceland’s many great waterfalls.

A huge rush of milky glacial water …

Then past more orderly farms …

… and a lava field before returning to Reykjavik for another little adventure …

… but that’s another story!

Bad weather meant we missed the remote Icelandic port of Isafjordur. No matter, we diverted to Reykjavik and stayed overnight: what a bonus it turned out to be!!

In the morning, way in the distance (straining the telephoto lens), and over a strangely green sea … a fishing boat and a snowy mountain … this MUST be Iceland!

What an impressive little city is Reykjavik. More than 200,000 of the 330,000 Icelanders live here, and the place seems to hum. On the way into town from the port, modern buildings, excellent roads and infrastructure. Construction activity. Clean, pacey and orderly.

An impressive glassy Concert Hall on the waterfont …

We walked and found locals enjoying the short summer outdoors …

Past impressive older buildings (clad with corrugated iron to protect them from snow, ice, and salt attack in the winter!)

… and lots of interesting little houses …

Up the hill to this huge, impressive, modern Lutheran church …

… and up its tower for great views of the city (see the modern buildings on the waterfront).

Jan indulged her favourite pastime (in beautiful shops, I might say), but everything was pretty expensive …

After checking out the celebration of gay pride in the main street …

… we bumped into new shipboard friends Tom and Deanna Jones …

… and walked together along the main shopping street …

We dined (on fish of course) with the Jones’ here …

Every local we spoke to was delightfully friendly and helpful, (… and spoke perfect English). They also obviously have a sense of humour. We saw a few “folk” like this …

… and came across this.

We couldn’t read the plaque, but my guess it must have had something to do with bankers with rocks in (on?) their heads … a subject very close to Icelanders’ hearts since 2008!

More fog …

We arrived and floated on the spot for three hours waiting for the fog to lift sufficiently to tender ashore safely. But, as is often the case with morning fog, the day was spectacular …

Nuuk is the capital and biggest “city” … about 18,000 population (Greenland total is about 58,000!). The population looked pretty young … lots of kids playing outdoors, and babies in prams. And the surprise was the number, quality and size of the modern buildings. Deloitte even has a big sign on one of them!!

We climbed the stairs from the pier …

“Can we go shopping first, and then sightsee?” … “Sure”, I said. The centre was modern and busy. But the shopping was mostly like Campbelltown – western and practical, or stuff from Denmark – not what Jan was hoping for.

So we climed that hill over there for a better look …

A classy looking “skyscraper” …

Modern apartment blocks …

The old “cathedral” …

Spectacular mountains in the background …

… and the older part of town near the waterfront …

… which we walked through. I found another strategic rock to climb …

… for this pretty view …

… of houses along the harbour front. Dulux must do really well with the housholders here!!

And, lots of colourful older, bigger wooden buildings too. Nuuk was first settled in 1720. … not sure why!!

… but, it is in a beautiful setting …

Evening (and the overcast) came and we sailed away …

… for a couple of hours past this … a bit like a freezing desert …

… bare rocky islands and snowy mountains …

Coming out of Newfoundland and heading north, we encountered hours and hours of heavy sea fog. The fog horn blasting for 5 seconds every 2 minutes gets a bit wearing after a while!!! The ship slowed down.

Such was the delay that we had an itinerary change and a missed port for Greenland. Paamuit then Nuuk, instead of Nuuk, Paarmuit and Qarqortoq. The compensation was that the weather was brilliant, as you will see …

If you want to see and even taste crystal fresh air, come to Greenland …

We weaved amongst the icebergs …

… past rocky islands …

… pulled up offshore … and came into an almost impossibly hopeless tender wharf in Paarmuit (population 1600 in an area of about 250 acres). All the buildings are wooden, but there’s not a solitary tree grows in Greenland!

First, a walk to the top of a nearby hill. We could see where the ship was waiting …

… and admired the extraordinay view …

This photo is on the iPhone 6 panorama (actually 90%+ of all photos on the blog are from the iPhone!)

… life is tough on the hills – this is all that grows …

I went higher …

… for a view of the whole town …

We came down off the rock …

… and walked past this gorgeous wooden church …

… past colourful houses and admired the flowers, struggling in the harsh environment …

These were the tallest plants in Paamuit …

… and the dandelions grow really well.

All the houses look pretty cosy and well kept … and very colourful.

Overhead a reminder of “civilisation” …the main track between Europe and America.

Then, when we left – icebergs!!!

We didn’t get very close to this monster (stretching to the limit my telephoto lens capability) …