The End of Our Trip, But Not The End of Our Blog

Our trip has come to its conclusion and as much as we have enjoyed the places we visited and the things we did, the best part was being together.

We hope those that have been following it have been enjoying sharing our experiences. We took 3305 pictures/videos during the trip, so you have only seen a fraction of them, which is probably more than enough. We have tried to capture the places we visited and the good times we had, but time did not always allow us to share the detail we would have liked to. Stay tuned for a few more posts with a few more details.

Here is Mike adding something to the blog while we waited at Heathrow airport for our flight home. Our flight arrived early and we even able to make the local 4th of July fireworks (on July 7).

 

Farewell To The Ryndam

It is Friday, our last night on the Ryndam, so we thought we would share a few views of the ship.

Our stateroom worked out great. It was a good size with a sitting area and lots of storage. Our suitcase and backpacks fit under the bed.

Another view. The only TV we watched was the view from the bow of the ship or the channel showing our path and current position.

They had a class on towel folding. You can see our stateroom attendant Danny in the middle.

The hallway outside our stateroom. We were in the center of the ship, so the view is the same looking down the other direction.

The main pool area. There is a retractable cover so they can open or close it depending on the weather.

Roxanne gets us more coffee.

Here is the "Front Office" and the main place to go for help.

Hanging out in The Crow's Nest. It is in the front of the ship, with a great view. We relaxed there some and went there for dancing a few nights, after the Ocean Bar closed.

Roxanne in the Crow's Nest, looking out towards the bow of the ship.

We hung at out the Ocean Bar every night, where we danced the night away. The group playing there, The Neptunes, was great. The dance floor was small, so it was tough to navigate if there were a lot of people dancing. Most of the time there were only one or two couples dancing. We danced the waltz, the rhumba, and the cha cha, along with some slow dances. Not that it is going to our heads, but we did get compliments from 4 different people on our dancing. Out dance instructors should be proud when we tell them.

This is The Neptunes. They also call themselves The Peter Nickalls Trio. They played a wide variety of music, all of which we enjoyed listening to, and dancing to (if we knew the dance that goes with the song). The piano players family was also on the cruise and was there listening every night. He hurt his right foot on a hike at one of the ports and was forced to use his left foot for the piano pedals for a couple of nights.

The happy couple on the last night of the cruise. Farewell Ryndam!

 

Cooking At Sea

Friday was a day at sea, on our way back to Dover. The Ryndam and many of the Holland America ships have added a Culinary Arts Center in the last few years. They use them for demonstrations by one of the chefs on board and they also offer hands-on cooking classes, which we signed up for. There were eight of us in the class, making four separate recipes. We were divided into groups, with each group making one of the dishes. Initially Roxanne was with one group, but it worked out easier for her to join me on the dish I was working on.

• Cheese-Fried Piquillo Toasts (we made this)
  
• Saffron Shrimp and Stuffed Cherry Peppers
  
• Green Gazpacho with Shrimp
• Paella Salad

Here is the Culinary Arts Center, set up for our class. On the left you can see Party Planner Donna, who hosted the events here, which also included craft projects.

This is us with Chef Andy, who did the demonstrations and taught the cooking class. He is from the Philippines, where he attended a Holland America culinary arts school. He did an excellent job with his instructions and cooking tips.

Roxanne placing the peppers on the top of the toast. The bread was toasted and then we spread goat cheese on the top. We rolled strips of the two types of peppers with more goat cheese in the center, then dredged them in Parmesan cheese. After this was done, they were put in the oven to finish them off.

Here you can see most of the class working on their dishes.

We had a great time working together. We even got to keep the aprons, to inspire us when cooking together at home.

Chef Andy showed Roxanne some easy techniques for garnishes to add to your plate for better presentation. This one is with a lemon wedge.

A closer look, with the finished product shown in the upper right.

Our finished dish. It was delicious!

Here is the finished plate, not including the Green Gazpacho. At the end of the class they took us up to the Pinnacle Grill and served us the dishes we prepared. It may have been the best meal we had on the ship.

Roxanne, Chef Andy, and our completed plates.

 

Bergen and the Knitting Factory/Museum in Salhus

Our last port of call of call was Bergen, Norway. It is the second largest city in Norway. There were several cruise ships and many cargo ships in the port when we were there. The highlight of our day was a trip to the Norwegian Knitting Museum in one of the first textile factories in the country, specializing in high quality knitted underwear. We had to take one bus from Bergen and connect in Åsane for another bus to Salhus.

Watch for more details. We are in our plane, ready to fly back home. What a Great trip!

This is along the Bryggen Hanseatic Wharf in Bergen.

Outside The Museum of the Norwegian Knitting Museum (Norsk Tricotasje Museum) in Salhus, about 20 km (~12.5 miles) from Bergen. We took the number 3 bus from across the street of the fish market to Åsane Terminal. From there we took the number 35 bus to the Salhus Kai stop. It was a short walk to the museum from there. The museum is in an old factory, dating back to 1859, that was operating until 1989. There primary product was high quality knitted underwear. Many of the machines still operate and they demonstrate their operation during the tour.

This is a view from the deck off the back of the museums entrance. The museum is right next to the water.

This is looking in a different direction, towards where the ferry used to dock here.

These are some of the carding machines there. The carding machines are used to clean and align the wool fibers before spinning them into yarn.

This machine winds yarn from the spools to the larger cones, to prepare it for the knitting machines.

This machine is used to knit socks.

A circular knitting machine for knitting a continuous round knitted fabric. This machine still works and is used to knit fabric for sweaters they have assembled and sell at the museum gift shop. Roxanne is examining another example of what they knitted, using a knitted tuck pattern exclusive to Salhus.

A view from the old ferry dock.

Back in Bergen a quick smoked salmon snack before we had to return to the ship.

From the deck of our ship as we sailed away from Bergen.

Relaxing on the deck at the end of a beautiful day in Bergen.

While the weather was very good during the entire trip, this was one of the few times we could wear shorts. I think we could get used to this life of leisure.

One of the towel animals our stateroom attendant left for us. This was probably the most complicated.

 

Geiringerfjord

Wednesday morning we arrived to Geiringerfjord which in entering from our ship, the view was spectacular. Of all of the landing points, this seemed to have the excursion which intrigued us. We signed up on the ship a few days in advance- for the RIB (rapid inflatible boat) ride through the fjord. Our ship had nowhere to dock, so the cruise ships all drop anchor in the harbor and then let down several of their tenders (lifeboats) this is how you get to the shore and back to ship. There were several cruise ships in this relatively small harbor (alcove) so it is a wonder how they all maneuver around, plus all those tenders hauling a few thousand people to shore.

Roxanne on shore at the dock area. not much of a town. it must close for the winter as not much going on when the crise ships leave. many campers make their way down the winding road to camp at shore area. and their are many tourist gift shops. the fjords here are the attraction! They rise so high and equally deep as the cruise ships can pass within feet of the edge line.

Many people arrive by ferry from other towns, and even their bus!

The buses drive off the ferry and then load on their passengers from the ferry and off they go driving up the hill and down- just for the view.

We loved this boat, a tour of the fjords in a "Viking" boat - horned helmets mandatory along with the Viking captain- a bit wild - swords, shields and all. Quite entertaining.

However, we decided on another venue of touring this incredible fjord- and these outfits were mandatory. A little hot at first, but glad we had them on once in action. Note the sunglasses too.

Mike all strapped in, in his attire.

It's really hard to describe what we saw as the walls of these cliffs are so sharp, steep and high. The boat goes fast and next to the walls and waterfalls. This area was all formed by the ice age glaciers.

Two of the RIBs went at the same time so we photographed the other boat from ours so you can see the speed and perspective of the fjord.

Here is a video of the other RIB boat.

A quick photo of ourselves as the boat was flying through the fjord.

Another video from our boat. This gives you a better idea of the ride we had.

This is the "Seven Sisters" waterfall.

A view looking up the waterfall.

Roxanneat the self the waterfall.

After the ride, we were definitely having a bad hair day, but it was a great ride with great views of the fjord.

This is the building where we changed into and out of our protective suits.

Roxanne leaning over the railing, watching them raise the last tender.

A view from above of people getting out of the tender and back into the ship.

Mike relaxing back on the ship as we cruised back out of the fjord.

Saying goodbye to Geiringerfjord.