No Trolling: A Norwegian Saga Day 4 - Ålesund

[Stewboy]

Day 4 - Wednesday 1st June 2016

Superhumans
We woke up this morning 500 miles north of where we were yesterday and at 9:05 - an hour and half later than we should’ve done! Under-the-breath swearing and panic ensued; Isabella was abruptly woken from her slumber and we all got changed faster than Clark Kent.

“Why the rush?” I hear you ask. An excursion to Sunnmøre Open-air Museum and Mount Aksla setting off at 9:30…. yes, I said 9:30. So we had 25 minutes to get our stuff together, get ready, get breakfast, get coffee and get to the D Lounge.

Cabanas was our destination for breakfast as usual. We hot footed it up to deck 9, hit the breakfast buffet - we can’t do a 4 hour excursion on empty stomachs can we? - and wolfed down as much as we could, as quickly as we could.

We finished up, grabbed coffee made it to the D Lounge by 9:35 - Go Team Sear. A superhuman effort from all three of us!

Checking in, we found a seat, sat down, and then promptly got back up again as we were off. There were plus and minuses to this: Plus - no hanging about; minus - that coffee we’d got about 5 minutes previous was still hotter than the sun, but we downed as much as we could before we had to dispose of it.

We filed off the boat and onto the waiting coaches. First impressions of Ålesund were less than favourable - we appeared to be docked in the middle of an industrial estate; half fish, half furniture warehouses! Fortunately the views improved as we made our way through the town, I’m glad we made the journey by coach rather than by foot though.






Raring to go


Coach selfie


The port

[Stewboy]

Sooooo-na-mura
The coach drive to the Sunnmøre Open-air museum (or “Sooooo-na-mura” as our tour guide over-pronounced it - always followed by an inexplicable chuckle) only took about 20 minutes, and upon arrival our tour guide led us off the coach and through the museum - made up of 50 well-preserved buildings, displaying various Norwegian architectural styles and lifestyles from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The museum’s website describes these as a collection of “Small houses that provided shelter to the family in feasts and everyday life, cow sheds, houses for food storage, old schools and others... visible reminders of the daily work on farms and at sea – everything from mountain huts and barns to boathouses and fishermen’s shacks.”

As she led us round, our guide had to interrupt her commentary to take various phone calls; apparently she’d parked her car badly at the port, blocking something or someone, which meant someone had been despatched to collect her keys!

The weather was mild and we had a nice time looking round the various huts and houses and at the boats in the boat hall. Isabella was very well behaved at the museum and on the coach, which was nice!


Sooooo-na-mura

[Stewboy]

Mount Aksla
After about an hour we were back on the coach and heading to our next destination: the Fjellstua Utsiktspunkt (Fjellstua View Point) at the top of Mount Aksla (Shoulder Mountain). The mountain is in the centre of the city and the drive up is on narrow winding roads. Once at the top we spent some time admiring the different views across the city and getting the obligatory selfie. Unfortunately we weren’t the only coach load of tourists and the viewing area was getting crowded as the next coach arrived.



















After about 15 minutes we were back on the coach and heading back down the mountain. We met another coach on the way down and Jo couldn’t bear to watch as the coaches squeezed past each other on the narrow mountain road. The scenery up and down the mountain is really lovely, and there are some lovely houses all the way up, including a quaint farmhouse at right at the foot of the mountain. The relentless line of coaches back and forth must be a nuisance, but probably a very necessary one for the local economy.






Jo couldn't bear to watch!

Off the mountain, the coach did a tour round the attractive Art Nouveau city centre and our guide gave us a potted history including the Ålesund Fire of 1904 which destroyed most of the city centre and meant new legislation that banned wooden houses from being built in the centre of all Norwegian cities. After a 15 minute drive we were back at the boat, having thoroughly the museum and the trip up the mountain.


This is where the Ålesund Fire of 1904 started


The house with the flag was the only house that survived the fire!






Back 'home'

[Stewboy]

Fish Extenders
Now it was time for lunch. We dropped our stuff off at the room and headed to Lumiere’s for lunch - Isabella’s choice. We were seated immediately and ordered the following:

• Me: Salmon with dill / cheese and bacon burger
• Jo: Bruschetta / cobb salad / apple strudel
• Isabella: Corn dogs and fries / prince and princess cupcakes

Salmon


Burger


Bruschetta


Salad


Strudel


Corn dogs and fries




Cupcakes

The food was nice but the service was inexplicably slow; it took half an hour for the main course to arrive after the starters and the restaurant wasn’t even remotely busy. The long delay between courses meant that it was gone 2:00 by the time we were done - too late for Isabella’s nap. Fortunately, she’d had a nice lie in this morning anyway (!) so with some time to kill, we decided it would be a good time to give out our fish extender gifts.

Our gifts were bookmarks that we had designed ourselves and personalised for each person in our group with their name and favourite Disney character (which we’d got from the fish extender group list). Jo had also written a note for each stateroom and after all the generous and lovely gifts we had received we hoped that our gifts were enough!

We made our tour of the staterooms - Isabella putting the gifts in the fish extender; me photographing the moment for posterity (and the trip report).


An example of a sheet of pre-cut out bookmarks





























After about half an hour we were done - a great way to see more of the ship and appreciate all the different door magnets and fish extenders that people have taken so much time over.


You rang?

Now it was time to do some scavenger hunting! Following the clues in today’s Navigator we set off to find the three Frozen scavenger hunt items. It was essentially the same as on the WBTA so we had an advantage. Once that was done we had a quick look at the cruise photos in shutters, having a good laugh at one particular photo of me from day two!




Isabella had had enough of mum and dad and wanted to go and play in the club, so we dropped her off and decided that we’d have another go at booking our next cruise! We headed to the Disney Vacation Planning desk and, after a short wait in which we watched grown men being beaten by children at some kind of golf tournament in the atrium, we booked our four night Bahamian Cruise on the Disney Dream in August next year as part of our 2017 Walt Disney World holiday - pre-trip report sometime next year!


Indoor golf

Next cruise booked, and one step closer to Castaway Club Gold membership, we picked Isabella up and went on deck for a slice of pizza from Pinocchio’s Pizzeria. “But wait, isn’t it almost dinner time” I hear you cry. Well, no, because tonight the new Tangled show is on in the Walt Disney Theatre so we’ve decided to eat later at Cabanas table service so that Isabella could enjoy the show at an earlier time.

After our slice of pizza - and let me just clarify that was a slice (or two) each, not one between three of us - we got ourselves a hot drink from deck 9 then went for a wander.


Pizza

[Stewboy]

Tangled
Because of the Tangled show O’Gills had had a makeover to look like the Snuggly Duckling so we went to have a look. We sat down and finished our hot drinks, and then Jo went off to sort some washing out. I kept Isabella occupied by letting her play one of the Disney games on my iPhone, her favourites at the moment are Palace Pets and The Lion Guard (both available on the app store). When Jo returned we got ourselves two drinks of the day and did some more relaxing - we are on holiday after all!






We meant to get more photos of the Snuggly Duckling makeover...

It was now about 5 o’clock - time to head back to the room and start getting ready for the show. Isabella put on her Rapunzel dress (obviously!); Jo and I got changed and we were ready to go - we didn’t want to be late! As we left the room we noticed yet more gifts in the Fish Extender, which we added to the rest of our haul.


Rapunzel off to see Rapunzel


We bumped into the Goof (or 'the liability' as some call him)

We made our way to deck 4 and the Walt Disney Theatre; by 6:10 we were seated, drink of the day in hand After a bit of a wait - once again the Disney games came in handy - the show eventually started. The start was shaky, some of the singing was a bit off key, but there were technical issues which were probably to blame and actually caused a 5-10 minute break early on in the show. Once those issues were resolved it got better but didn’t reach the heights of the Twice Charmed show. In fact, it’s really just a rehash of the film (sans Pascal) and although we all enjoyed it I found it somewhat lacking. Still it’s early days for the show and I’m sure it will improve over time.




Ready for the show

The show finished and we left the theatre, making our way up and aft to Cabanas. The deal with Cabanas in the evening is that you can go in anytime between 6:30 - 8:30 and the menu is a selection of whatever is being served in the three main dining rooms that evening. The servers are in training for the main dining room and the atmosphere is more laid back.

We ordered the following for dinner:

• Me: Princess Tiana shrimp & jambalaya / Roast turkey / Sundae
• Jo: Princess Tiana shrimp & jambalaya / Roast turkey / Bread & butter pudding (from the kids’ menu)
• Isabella: Chicken tenders & chips / Bread & butter pudding

Dinner was nice but Isabella was very tired by now, so once we’d eaten we headed back to the room via a cold and windy deck 9 to get coffee.

Back at the room we all got ready for bed, Isabella was asleep by 9:30 and Jo and I were asleep by 11.






Cabanas


Shrimp


Turkey


Sundae


Chicken tenders


Bread & butter pudding


Tonight's towel animal


Day 4 by Isabella

Tomorrow we’re heading into Geirangerfjord and up Dalsnibba mountain - expect more scenic photos, even tighter bends, and a very early start for one of our party!

TFR

[Dogwalker]

Great day!
We did a lot of the same stuff in Alesund last year but used the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus
Agree with you about the Tangled show, it just doesn't quiet hit the mark.
We are boarding the Magic tomorrow and I am now craving the pizza on deck, love that stuff!

[Stewboy]

Originally Posted by Dogwalker

Great day!
We did a lot of the same stuff in Alesund last year but used the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus
Agree with you about the Tangled show, it just doesn't quiet hit the mark.
We are boarding the Magic tomorrow and I am now craving the pizza on deck, love that stuff!

See more...

Hope you have a great time, and don't have any issues getting down to Dover

TFR

[penguin19]

Sounds like a lovely day, looks beautiful in the town

Really enjoying your cruise reports, really makes me want to book 1

[Buffton]

I have just been catching up on your report having loved reading all your previous trip reports! Detailed and fun, as usual! Isabella has grown so much. The gift giving thing is such a cool idea, I love everyone's door decorations.
Thanks so much for writing this, it's giving such a good idea of what the cruises have to offer.
Lizzie

[Redrach1903]

Sounded like a nice excursion and some beautiful scenery!

Loving that you have next year booked already! Waiting for the PTR for this year though Hint hint

Shame the show was a bit lacking!

Love the bookmarks you guys made. Very thoughtful. Have to admit that I don't think I CBA with all that gift stuff! Lazy cow! Ha!

Thanks for sharing