Partly cloudy and windy / High of 18° / 25’796 steps
We arrived bright and early after a night of dancing, some things in my life stay constant. I got the day’s map from a tourist information worker who looked like he’d rather be anywhere but there. It’s cold with minimal sun and the wind cuts straight through my jersey so I can understand. I follow everyone else, but especially the group who looks like they’ve been here before. We go through the empty fishmonger district, over one bridge and then over another. I manage to find a spot out of the wind long enough to actually look at my map. I plan my itinerary out and start walking. I decided to start out going down the shopping street, firstly because it’s the opposite direction to the recommended walking tour and also because I’m hoping to find a nice windbreaker. All the stores are closed, it’s only 9:30 so I continue my mental itinerary to the old town. The buildings are beautiful, made of white painted wood,the only remnants after a fire burned down most of the town. I don’t take many photos as most of them are obviously someone’s house, their inhabitants in their windows and even on their patios. I do manage to find the most amazing place that offered both Chakra alignment and spray tan.
I head out of old town and over a bridge and figure out pretty quickly that this is the residential zone so I double back over a different bridge. I’m heading back to the shopping district as I’m definitely cold now. I stop in at the Starbucks to wait for 11am, the time listed on the doors that the stores open on Lørdag. Now if you speak Norwegian, you’ll probably notice that means Saturday and our ship got into port on a Sunday. No matter, I’ll just have to keep moving. I head off in a different direction, kind of over this small town with only tourists and one weird guy hanging out in front of the Macdonald’s. I head down a street with three different tattoo parlors, I think I just have a sixth sense for them, and eventually end up in the back corner of the little town. There’s some beautiful street art on the back of a building and as I continue along there’s a whole tunnel full of graffiti.
I come out on the other side and spot the other thing I have a sixth sense for : trains. I spot the electric lines and all of a sudden the hunt for the train station is on. I have to make a detour due to road works, some things in my life really do stay constant, but I get to the train station that has FIVE platforms. There’s not a train in sight much to my disappointment.
I’ve officially had Enough™ of this town and head back to the boat. The sun has come out during my little morning adventures and I see that the “front” coastline is actually quite beautiful and has a couple of interesting points. There’s some fountains, a dock of ducks and then I get to a fort. I go up some stairs to a little observation point where I see a whole bunch of kites. I go the long way around to where I saw the kites so I could have a little selfie pit stop. It turns out to be a whole festival, so I plonk myself in the grass and watch as one tiny lady handles an eagle shaped kite that is almost twice her size. It’s warm in the sun and I’ve managed to phase out the wind so I nap a little in the grass.
The sun goes behind a cloud, that’s my cue to change activities. I quick stop next to the Starbucks to use their wifi reveals that there’s not a single sports bar in this place. Resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to watch the Formula 1, I go back to the fishmonger district to try and find something to eat. I go to the restaurant that has the least amount of people and manage to get a waitress who’s from Bordeaux, the same place as one of my friends. We chat a little but I’m chased off the terrasse by an overly curious wasp and she has to deal with the worst clients possible: cruise ship guests. I then go back to the boat for free drinks because seeing triple digits on my bill once again really has traumatized me.