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Day 11, and we travel the Atlantic Road, an 8.2 km long highway, build on a total of eight brides and surrounded by picturesque landscape. The Atlantic Road is one of Norway’s most visited tourist destinations and was the winner of the “Engineering Feat of the Century” prize in 2005.

Camping during the summer is very popular in Norway. But it appears that you do have to put up with the mosquitos’

The many fjords protected from the North Sea by the archipelago creates an aquatic wonderland, and it appears that Norwegians are fishermen by nature. I suppose that goes without saying when fishing and the exportation of fish is probably their number one industry. For as far back as they can trace their history, people in Norway have had fishing and hunting as their livelihood. The fishing industry remains one of their major export industries. The main reason for this is that Norway controls some of the world’s richest fishing grounds.

Along the Atlantic Road you’ll find rocky shores and incredible farmlands. This time of year baling the hay is job one.

The countryside is beautiful, and we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. It’s hard to believe this will all be covered in snow in a few months.

I still marvel at how calm the sea has been for our entire voyage. It’s a far cry from crossing Drakes Passage.

We stopped at this spot for a photo opportunity. It was such a beautiful day, and the smell of the sea was intoxicating.

We end our tour back in Molde, where we rejoined our ship. Since we missed a meal the night before, we had a bottle of wine in our cabin from our wine package, and we enjoyed it as we relaxed in the lounge on this evening.

We enjoyed seeing the sun, low on the horizon, and noted that it was almost midnight, and still daylight out. It was Monday, June 16th, and tomorrow we would be back in Bergen. Traveling the Atlantic Road was our final shore excursion.

In Bergen, there was a beautiful clipper ship tied up at the dock. I wished that we had more time in Bergen, because it would have been fun to take a ride on that city tour bus, one of those popular Hop On - Hop Off busses.

We hadn’t made a reservation for a night in Bergen. We needed to spend the night because the only flight on British Airways from Bergen to London was at 11:30 AM, and since we would not be getting off the ship until after that time, we had to spend the night. Our concierge helped us with a reservation. Most that he found were really expensive, and then at the last minute he found a room at the Citibox. I know, the name gave me second thoughts, but the price was right. We had dinner that evening just across the street from the Citibox at the Ichi Ban restaurant. It was passable.

While on the cruise, we became friends with Richard and Linda. Linda was Richards sister-in-law, and since she was now a widow, they travelled together, as Linda needed assistance. Richard was from Devon, England, and he kept insisting that we visit him in Devon, and that we would be treated like royalty. He also had this oddity that he would not partake of the evening meal. He sat at the table with Linda, but ate nothing. He had the belief that going to bed on a full stomach was unhealthy. He’s probably right. The second half of the voyage, heading south, we had a table for four, but it was only the two of us. Richard and Linda had a table for two adjacent to us, so we invited them to join us at our table for the rest of the voyage. Linda was a very interesting person. She is French. The picture of the bathroom doors was taken in the Bergen Airport. I thought that Norwegians have a sense of humor. I’ve never seen signs like this before, anywhere. ;o)

We are now in London, Heathrow, Terminal 5, and the structures holding up this huge terminal ceiling were like something out of a science fiction movie. Terminal 5 is a colossal structure, very impressive. It was opened for use in March 2008, and is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. The building cost £4 billion and took 19 years from conception to completion, including the longest public inquiry in British history.

Well, that pretty much winds up this little adventure. Next trip will be to Aruba for a week in September, followed by a week in Orlando, at the Vacation Village at Parkway. We have a ⅓? timeshare there, so we go there every third year. We figured that would be often enough for Orlando, and the theme parks.