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.
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.
View from Cabanas
Cabanas breakfast
Back on dry land
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).
The Norsk Oljemuseum
"We need to find these"
Checking out the lifeboat
Buckle up
Interactive exhibits
Some drillheads
Jo points out her favourite drill head
Some of the models
The fund
This crow had taken up residence in the museum to have her babies
"I'll just push this one here, it'll be fine..."
"Er, apparently some idiot pushed the wrong button!"
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.
Fun in the play area
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.
Look, Burger king
Some of the many trolls around Stavanger
Having a rest
Pretty in pink
Mum and dad by Isabella
Isabella liked this piece of art
Return to the Magic