Where East Turns West: Welcome to Norway! (Stavenger, Norway)

Today we visited Stavenger, Norway. I have been looking forward to visiting Norway for quite some time. In fact, the opportunity to go to Norway was one of the driving forces behind me returning to the ship for another contract. Fortunately this will not be my only visit to Norway. In fact, over the next several days we will visit three more Norwegian ports. We will also visit Norway several more times during the summer. Let's cut to the chase though. Here is a rundown of my day in list and picture form.

1. I left the ship around 10:45 am and went for a run. I ran for about 2 hours and 50 minutes. My run was a mix of roads, trails, and bike paths. The pedestrian/bike system in Norway is quite good!

2. During my run I stopped at a convenience store and bought a bottle of "YT". I think it was some sort of sports drink. It tasted quite good. I don't speak Norwegian and the lady at the store only said a couple of words in English, but I figured it out.

3. On the way back to the ship I stopped and took a dip in the ocean. And in case you're wondering, the answer is YES! The water is COLD!

4. Once back on the ship I did some work and went to a spinning class at the gym. The spinning class was great. By the end of the class I had a nice puddle of sweat at the base of my spin bike. I looked around at other people's bikes but they didn't seem to have this same accumulation of moisture. Where was all the sweat? Maybe their bikes were defective.

5. Today I went out on the deck at 10:12 pm and the sun was just setting. I looked out a window after midnight and there was still some light left.

6. A guest collapsed on the ship today and I helped to alert the right people. It was nice to help out. Hopefully the man is OK.