No Trolling: A Norwegian Saga Day 3 - Stavanger
 

Day 3 - Tuesday 31st May 2016

Petrol heads
Today we were at our first port of call - Stavanger, the Oil Capital of Norway. Those that have read the pre-trip report will know that Jo wanted to pay a visit to the Norsk Oljemuseum AKA the Norwegian Petroleum Museum; the city's most visited museum and the only petroleum museum in Europe. I was less excited about the prospect but it wasn’t an organised trip so we could at least take our time and there’d be no need for rushing

We were awake by 8:25 in time for our 8:45 room service - three croissants, milk and coffee. The view from our porthole offered up some lovely views of the town - we were right there. Being in a starboard stateroom definitely offered up some great views on this cruise.

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View from the porthole

We got ready and headed up to Cabanas for a proper breakfast and more views, this time out over the bay. After the usual mix of hot food, pastries and fruit washed down with coffee we were ready to venture out into the city. We made our way down to the gangway on deck one to exit the ship - it was now about 10:45. We took a leisurely walk to the museum using Google maps taking in the sights of Stavanger on the way; it’s a lovely city with some lovely little streets. We reached the museum at about 11:15 and were glad to get inside as, surprisingly, it was a really warm day. I say “surprisingly” because we expected Norway to be really cold and rainy.

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View from Cabanas

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Cabanas breakfast

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Back on dry land

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The streets of Stavanger

We headed inside the museum and, once we’d paid our entrance fee to the really friendly member of staff, we were handed a sheet of eight items to find hidden within the exhibits. This was a really nice idea to encourage kids - and indeed adults - to explore all that the museum had to offer. The exhibits were a mixture of real objects from North Sea oil operations: drill heads, lifeboats and the like; ultra modern interactive exhibits; and amazing scaled models of oil platforms and vessels. There was also an area showing the development of oil from the remains of plants and animals as well as one that showed off how much the Oljefondets Markedsverdi (The Government Pension Fund Global - a sovereign wealth fund run by Norges Bank Investment Management that, according to it’s website, “is saving for future generations in Norway. One day the oil will run out, but the return on the fund will continue to benefit the Norwegian population.”) was currently worth; over 7000 billion kroner (600 billion pounds).

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The Norsk Oljemuseum

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"We need to find these"

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Checking out the lifeboat

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Buckle up

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Interactive exhibits

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Some drillheads

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Jo points out her favourite drill head

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Some of the models

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The fund

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This crow had taken up residence in the museum to have her babies

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"I'll just push this one here, it'll be fine..."

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"Er, apparently some idiot pushed the wrong button!"

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Captain Isabella has it under control

We ended our visit with a short child friendly 3D film about oil which was very interesting, fun and informative, and then Isabella let off some steam in the oil rig play area. As we left the museum we handed in our completed sheet at the desk and Isabella got to choose a mineral - now known as her Lucky Mineraled.

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Fun in the play area

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Lucky Mineraled

Despite my initial skepticism my lovely wife had been proven right and we had a thoroughly enjoyable hour and a half exploring and interacting with the various exhibits. Highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Stavanger.

Making our way back to the ship, we stopped for a quick look in a souvenir shop but left empty handed. We were going to have a look around the market square area but, as it was lunch time, we decided to head back to the Magic to get some food. Seems like everyone had the same idea and we had to queue for 15 minutes in the sun to get back on board.

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Look, Burger king

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Some of the many trolls around Stavanger

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Having a rest

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Pretty in pink

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Mum and dad by Isabella

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Isabella liked this piece of art

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Return to the Magic

Donald Duck #1
Once back on board we headed to Cabanas - where else - to get some lunch. We found ourselves a table outside to enjoy the sun, the views and the visiting seagulls. We were well and truly in cruise mode now and having a great time.

After lunch we spent about 10 minutes up on deck 10 admiring the views once more and having a post-lunch coffee. By now it was almost 2:30 and time for Isabella to have a nap. We went back to the room and put her down; she didn’t go to sleep but I did!

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A seagull stopped by for lunch

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Another Sear family selfie

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Isabella took these two photos :grin:

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Views of Stavanger from on deck

After Isabella “woke” she watched some TV - A Bug’s Life was on - while I finished my notes and Jo tried to work out what Isabella’s mineral actually was; we’re still not 100% sure - we should’ve just asked at the museum - but Jo’s best guess was that it is biotite.

Daisy and Donald were due to be meeting in the atrium on deck 4 at about 5:30 so we got changed and headed down, autograph book in hand. As we left the room we found some more gifts in our fish extender, this time from Joanne, the organiser of the Facebook Fish Extender group, and her daughter Alice. We’d bought some spare bookmarks with us so we thought we would stop by their stateroom on the way and drop them in their fish extender.

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FE gifts from Joanne & Alice

On our way back to the atrium the boat begun to leave Stavanger so we popped out on deck to watch as we sailed away. Finally we joined the queue to meet Donald and Daisy, which was quite long. We waited about 10-15 minutes then it was our turn to meet them. Isabella got autographs and photographs, one of which we ended up purchasing and now is displayed proudly in our living room :)

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Isabella with Daisy & Donald

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The dining room proudly presents...
It was now our favourite time of the day…. dinner time! We didn’t have far to go as tonight we were in Lumiere’s and it was our favourite menu too - the French Dinner. We entered the restaurant and were led to our table. Ashley, Pete and Hayley were already there (not their real names remember ;) ) - Hayley and Isabella were very pleased to see each other; Hayley had a magic wand which she let Isabella have a play with. Isabella tried to return Hayley’s ring from last night but Hayley said that she had actually given, rather than lent it to her. The two girls were very cute at dinner times :)

Jo and I decided to start dinner off with a Double Crowned cocktail: Crown Royal, Chambord, Cointreau, Cranberry Juice, Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice. It was delicious. Then to eat we ordered the following:

Jo & me: Gaston’s Escargot Gratinée / French onion soup / Herb-crusted roasted rack of lamb / Grand Marnier soufflé

I neglected to make a note of what Isabella had, but let’s assume it was mac and cheese although it could have been a burger. I guess we’ll never know!

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Jo and her Double Crowned cocktail

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Isabella's water

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Escargot

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French onion soup

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Herb-crusted roasted rack of lamb

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Soufflé

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Sorcerer Isabella

We then finished dinner off with a cup of coffee before dropping Isabella off with Hayley at the Oceaneer’s Lab, before heading to the Disney Vacation Planning desk to try and book another cruise - we had our eye on a Bahamian cruise to tag onto the end of our 2017 WDW trip. Unfortunately there was too much of a queue so we headed down to the shops instead where Jo bought an exclusive Disney Cruise Line Pandora charm for her bracelet and a Chip (from Beauty & the Beast) mug.

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Jo's Pandora charm

We received a message on the Wave Phone (think Nokia circa 1999) from the club saying that Isabella wanted picking up. We headed back but when Jo went in to get her Isabella was playing happily - Hayley was nowhere in sight - so we left her to it and popped to Keys for a drink. Jo ordered a vodka and cranberry and I had a Captain Morgan’s spiced rum and diet coke. It was nice and relaxing although it wasn’t long until we got yet another message for Isabella to be picked up. This time we thought she probably meant it as it was getting on for 9 o’clock. We finished our drinks and made our way back to the kid’s club where I found her once again happily playing on the iPads in the Oceaneer’s Lab. This time I made it clear it was time to leave. It later transpired that what she had actually been trying to tell the CMs on both occasions, was that she wanted to go the other kid’s club - the Oceaneer’s Club. She had forgotten that she could get there herself via the connecting corridor so we explained it to her so that next time she’d know what to do.

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Drinkies

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Love this wallpaper

Leaving the club we rejoined Jo. Isabella got upset because she wanted to go to the Oceaneer’s Club still but it was too late and time for her bed - she was obviously tired.

Back at the room Jo gave her a bath while I did the coffee run. I also bought back some snacks - a hot dog and some chicken tenders - as we were feeling peckish…. as I said earlier we were well and truly in cruise mode now ;)

Isabella went straight to sleep after her bath and Jo and I watched the rest of Deadpool (great film by the way) on the iPad before going to sleep at about 12.

Next stop: Ålesund

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Tonight's towel animal - a bear (?)

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Day 3 by Isabella

I've been waiting for day 3 to appear! Stavanger looks lovely. We are very tempted to try a Disney cruise as our first cruise 😃

Another great day! It's amazing how much food you can eat on a cruise isn't it! I blame the sea air ;):grin:

Another great day! Isabella is a pretty good lil photographer. That French onion soup looks delish!

Thanks for sharing and that museum did look rather good ...

Stavanger looks lovely and the petrol museum looks interesting. Love the photo of Isabella with Donald and Daisy. Looking forward to next instalment.

Another fantastic read and great photos especially the ones by Isabella :grin:

Looks like an interesting place. Were you not tempted by Norwegian delicacies?