Ålesund

Ålesund was drizzily and damp...but charming nonetheless.





We took an excursion out to the islands of Giske and Godøy.

This stone church dates to 1150AD


And we visited the famous Alnes Lighthouse


The view from which is spectacular, even through rain.




Dude and I climbed all the way up (conquering my fear of open heights for a while)


We visited the Mt. Aksla viewpoint to see a panorama of Älesund








AFter lunch, we went back out to explore...





Saw some divers heading out for their explorations...


Remember Vesterålen from the Honningvåg thread? Here she is, docked...

Yet Another Sea Day

Well, after a while, sea day photos look the same.



But the two adorable young'uns of the gang were noteworthy....

Cash for Clunkers Math

A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline. A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year. So, getting rid of each average clunker will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles – so that's 224 million gallons / year

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels of oil is about 1/4 of one day's US consumption.

And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $ 350 million dollars at $75/bbl.

So, we all contributed to spending $3 billion to save $350 million. And we ran up the price of used cars for the people that can’t possible afford the new ones. In all likelihood there will be a rash of repos in about 6 months from the ones that bought and can’t afford.

No further comment necessary.

Longyearbyen

Well, it was about time to call at a port..and we did, on the island of Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard Archipelago...at Longyearbyen.

Maison Cou Rouge may be "The Middle-Of-Nowhere comma Georgia" ™..... but Longyearbyen is the Middle of Nowhere. Period. Truly the Wild Wild North.


Longyearbyen has 1500 year-round residents, half of whom still work the underground coal mines. Various research stations are located here, as well as support facilities for residents.

We tendered over...




Old mine...


Main Street looking one way


and the other.


Yeap- pretty barren.




Not everything is touristy in summer...the hardware store



is a hardware store.




The local church....


And of COURSE I found the local yarn nook!!!


This was the only polar bear we saw...they usually summer on the OTHER side of the island, where the snow is better.



But the signs are still funny all the same. Most residents walk around armed...because you just NEVER know..........



There's a memorial to the miners


Symphony looks lovely from the shuttle bus


Polar bear warning signs mark the edge of "town"



(actually I think it translates as "applies to all of Svalbard")

But it's cool, nonetheless...


I'm not the only one who likes to watch the tenders being loaded back on board















As we sailed away, I looked around the landscape, wondering what these homes must be like in the wintertime- if you can see them at all...



I wonder who lives here.....and how quiet it must be.....



And the Captain pointed out the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, where seeds from around the world are stored in order to protect biological diversity.



And before we knew it, we said goodbye to land


and were headed back to sea.