Tuesday 9 August

Today was the first day we have had that it rained most of the time. Our Norwegian guides were very apologetic but it didn't dampen our enjoyment. We are docked in Sunnfjord & so we were taken on buses to explore the mountain & valley areas along the fjord. We saw a multitude of waterfalls of all different sizes, but mostly running very full & fast. 

Our first stop was to Sunnfjord open air museum which is a collection of buildings that might be found in a Norwegion village in the 1800s. They were small, dark & not very warm, so life would have been very tough in that era. 

For lunch we stopped at a working farm where the family (including 5 children & 2 foster children) served us open sandwiches & cake - all home made. They are a very busy family as besides raising sheep & some other animals, they also had several holiday rooms for guests & welcomed big groups like ours - about 60 people - for meals. 

Our final stop, besides quick photo stops, was an old church going back hundreds of years. We liked the story we were told when shown the baptismal font which is rather deep, that babies were originally fully emersed in it using cold water from the fjord! Nowadays they are fully emersed but in warm water.

Back on board ship we finished the evening with a form of Dictionary with passengers & 'experts' playing. Our team of 8 Hiking Vikings!! didnt get any questions right, but I was excited to know the answer for a question in the 2 team playoff - it was, what is a Morepork? It is a Tasmanian spotted owl - I wouldn't have known that 6 months ago!