Stavanger

July 8th
Stavanger, Norway

I had a tour set up for today entitled “Introduction to Stavanger,” which had me off the ship early in the morning. Our first stop was at some long houses that were inhabited 1500 years ago, where we were shown how the people used to live and farm. It was an interesting stop and I think I even learned a little something. Our guide showed us how they made fire, clothes, food, and explained the design of the houses, all very interesting. And at the end, I even saw some sheep roaming the farm area. Yep, sheep, I find that exciting. After a couple less interesting stops we returned for a city for an overview, also not as exciting as the sheep.
The tours are kind of getting a little annoying at times. I always feel like I have to heard these people around and watch after them as if they don’t know how to take care of themselves or follow simple directions. This tour was no exception. Aside from the various people asking me detailed questions about Norwegian culture, of which I had no answer for, I had one woman in particular who stood out above, or I guess below, the class. This lady comes up to me asking if there’s water anywhere…while we’re stopped at a closed down TV tower to look at the city. Well, there isn’t any in the bus and the tower has nothing go on inside it, so I say no, not at this moment. She gets upset and tells me that if she doesn’t get water in 30 minutes so that she can take her medication “we’re going to have problems”. Now really, you would think that a middle aged woman with a condition that will cause “problems” would have enough sense to bring a water bottle with her on a tour that obviously extends through her scheduled pill time. So a couple stops later and well past her half hour time limit, I ask if she found any water, just because I’m a thoughtful guy and all. She says yes, asks where she can find Coffee at our current stop, and because she can see the ship, eventually breaks off from the group and doesn’t return. I just don’t understand what’s with some of these people, and why I have such a talent of finding them. Anyways, the tour ended with a walk through the town and I got back on the ship for the day. There wasn’t much more for me to see off the ship, and considering the prices of everything in Norway, I just couldn’t justify getting off for a coffee or tea. We had a show that night and that’s about all. Seeya!