World Cruise Day 142/152 Viking Homelands - Stavanger, Norway - Preikestolen, Hengjanefossen, and waffles - oh, and COVID

Cruise day: 142/152

Ports days: 72
Sea days: 70
Countries: 23
Continents: 5
Ports: 53

I forgot to note yesterday that we hit a milestone where the number of days we have spent in port finally surpassed the number of days we have been at sea.  From here on, we'll have a surplus of port days as this Viking Homelands cruise only has a single sea day.

 Today, our port of call is in Stavanger, Norway in southwestern Norway.  Pronounced, sta-VANG-er, it is home to Norway's oil and gas business.  The port is right in town with houses directly across the street from the cruise ship port.

We were only in port from 7am until 1:30pm today, so there wasn't any time for just walking around and exploring.  Our excursion was a boat ride to see Preikestolen, more commonly known as Pulpit Rock.  We took a short walk down the pier to board our tour boat.

The tour boat pulled up right behind our Viking Star - we loaded up and took off

The weather was nearly perfect today with a mix of clouds and sun and temps in the low 50s.  The most significant change over the last three days was no rain.

Fish farming is big business in Norway

Norway exports 42 million fish meals daily

We spent some time outside taking in the rugged beauty of our trip.

How quaint is this town?

A small flow of water coming down the rock face

We finally approached Pulpit Rock.  It rises 1,982 feet and is topped by a nearly flat 82-foot by 82-foot surface.  It juts out from the rock face forming something that looks like a church pulpit, hence the name. You can just make it out to the right of the center at the top of the rock.

There is a crack between the Pulpit Rock and the mountain and local legend has it that on the day seven sisters marry seven brothers from the Lysefjord area, the plateau will tear itself away from the mountain and fall into the fjord, creating a huge wave that will destroy all life in the surrounding area - so far, so good

See anything on top of Pulpit Rock?

How about now?

There, in the upper left corner

Hikers were up there taking pictures of us - well, at least that's what I think they were photographing - our guide said there is an area where you can hike to the top - it's about a two-hour climb

We left Pulpit Rock and continued ahead to the Hengjanefossen waterfall.

The Captain put the bow right up to the waterfall - the falls drop about 197 feet

Video courtesy of Arlona who was upfront in the mist

The mist was forming rainbows

We caught glimpses of other waterfalls as we motored to our next stop.

We left the waterfalls and headed back toward Stavanger.

Another faint rainbow in the mist

Our final stop was at a local restaurant right on the water.

What will they serve when it is still morning and you're in Norway?

Norwegians love their waffles.  They are always heart-shaped. 

Norwegians serve their waffles with what they call "sour cream" and jam.  The sour cream tasted more like butter to us.  It was a nice taste of Norway.

They had a cute gift shop as well, of course.

Norwegians love their trolls too

After some waffle time, we boarded the boat for the return trip to Stavanger.

I had noticed these stylized Norwegian flags on homes and businesses over the last few days - our guide explained that the official Norwegian flag can only be flown privately on national holidays so this flag is used in its place by patriotic Norwegians

These are experimental fish farms

The lids keep the fish in

The lids also control the air and water as well as prevent disease, predators, and pests from getting in

There was some kind of sailboat training happening

Coming back into Stavanger

The Oil and Gas museum

Yup - that's a velociraptor on the roof

We got back to the ship about ten minutes from all-aboard time at 12:30pm.  We wished we had a little time to walk around.  Then, as we ate lunch, we saw Viking tours still operating at 1:10pm.  Oh well, that's what we get for being good passengers and following the guidelines - we miss time in port.

After lunch, we played bridge with our Saudi Arabia Red Sea Mall adventure buddies, Al & Karin.

This evening, Viking offered the 38 passengers on Homelands that continued from the World Cruise an exclusive tour of the Owner's Suite. Here's a look at the Owner's Suite - all 1,448 square feet of it.

We've all seen this mysterious door on deck 7 in the hallway leading to the Explorers' Bar

The magical room 7001

This is the floorplan of the Owner's Suite - if you look at the top-left of the image moving left to right, that's the owner's closet, then the guest bathroom, and then the entry

Here's a look as you come into the entry door

Controls are built into the walls for audio

The guest bathroom is just to the right of the entry

Stepping into the entry and turning left, you see the large living room

Turning to the right from the entry, you enter the bedroom

Here's a look back at the bedroom

And the wall opposite the bed

The entry into the walk-in closet

The make-up table, dressing mirror, and long hanging section

The en suite bathroom

Double sinks, heated towel bar, and oversized shower

The shower has a main showerhead and body sprays

The bathroom leads to the sauna located on the side of the ship - the glass is one-way, unless, of course, the lights are on and it is dark outside

A door in the sauna leads out to the massive balcony - it is also accessible from the bedroom, living room, and board room

The dining room is located next to the living room

The dining room comes with a stocked wine bar

The living room has huge windows with sliders to the balcony a couch and curved TV

The kitchenette has a small stove and stocked refrigerator

Just off the boardroom, there is a third bathroom

The boardroom comfortably seats ten

It features a fireplace (with realistic but fake fire) that also shows through into the Explorers' Bar

A flip of a switch turns the fireplace translucent so the boardroom is private

High tech touchscreens control the audio-video system

Custom art is placed throughout the suite.

If touchscreens aren't your thing, all the individual remote controls are there as well

Restaurant menus are there for your in-room ordering pleasure

It was very nice of Viking to give the World Cruisers this exclusive tour of the Owner's Suite and see everything the Owner's Suite provides

Tonight, at dinner, I finally got adventurous and gave the sushi a try.  I have to say, it wasn't half bad.

We enjoyed dinner with our friends, Jim & Lynne as well as Cruise Consultant Hamed and Chief Engineer (and hilarious story-teller) Per.  But then...General Manager Wendy stopped by and asked Arlona and me to return to our room for a call from Medical.

The long and short of it is that Arlona tested positive today for COVID.  She will go into isolation tomorrow morning at 9AM for a minimum of five days.  Then, with two negative tests, or a total of ten days, she will get out.  We are not at all happy about this.  The World Cruise was so well-managed with minimal cases.  Then, all the incoming passengers for the Viking Homelands brought a ton of COVID with them.  We're pretty unhappy about the situation.

I have the option to go into isolation with Arlona.  But then, we're both locked up. Arlona wants me to continue with the excursions and at least she can read about it in the blog.  I plan to cancel the 14-hour excursion in Berlin as I can't see doing that without Arlona.  As for Arlona, she has a slight headache, has recently developed a sore throat, and tonight has developed chills. It all came on pretty quickly. The medical team will escort her to a new room on deck #3 tomorrow morning.  I have no restrictions until such time that I test positive, if I ever do.  The fact that I am triple-vaxxed with three full Moderna doses (like Arlona), and the fact that I had a mild case of COVID already (unlike Arlona, who never got it when I had it) suggests that I will likely not go positive.  Only time will tell.

So, a new phase of the trip has begun for us.  Yea, us.