There was a 5-day stretch between that last idyllic day in Iceland and the “turnaround” day in Rotterdam. There was a sea day, then Shetland Islands day, which I completely missed.
On the third day, the ship reached a port town in Norway called Stavanger. Weather was lousy but everyone wanted to get off, there was a pretty developed downtown shopping area, also lots of highly touted Old World architecture.
Scandinavian countries didn’t join the European Union, so the monetary units of Iceland and Greenland, and therefore Norway and Denmark are either krones or krunas. Norway uses the krone, and on this day in Stavanger one American dollar = five krones.
There’s a Burger King, a MacDonalds, and a 7-11 nestled in amongst all the other shops. They looked like an ugly intrusion on the Old Norway look of the area. Yet I walked into the Burger King on impulse, looking for a snack. The prices, in Norwegian Krones, for Chicken Nuggets were as follows:
5 nuggets 35k, or 38k if you eat there
10 nuggets 50k, or 54k if you eat there
20 nuggets 93k, or 99k if you eat there
So that’s $7 for 5 nuggets, almost $8 if you sit down to munch. Throw in a drink and, well, you get the picture. With a ton of free food on the ship a block away, many people backed off on downtown snacking. I did break down and had a $4.50 cup of 7-11 coffee. There were $13 beers, $99 shirts, etc etc.
There was a 5-piece folk band playing on the sidewalk in the shopping area. The bassist had one of the strangest instruments I’ve ever seen, the 3-string balilaika-like thing pictured below. I listened to a couple of tunes and tipped them $10. I felt OK about it, until I realized that I’d given each of them the equivalent of one chicken nugget and a sip of coke.
Weather was even worse in Oslo the next day, nonstop rain for the four hours I was out there. I followed the crowd and visited Vigeland Statue Park, the number one attraction in Norway. 250 granite statues of thick naked people, unified in style. This guy Vigeland apparently chiseled all of it by himself and pretty much donated it to Oslo, so he’s a national hero.
On the third day, the ship reached a port town in Norway called Stavanger. Weather was lousy but everyone wanted to get off, there was a pretty developed downtown shopping area, also lots of highly touted Old World architecture.
Scandinavian countries didn’t join the European Union, so the monetary units of Iceland and Greenland, and therefore Norway and Denmark are either krones or krunas. Norway uses the krone, and on this day in Stavanger one American dollar = five krones.
There’s a Burger King, a MacDonalds, and a 7-11 nestled in amongst all the other shops. They looked like an ugly intrusion on the Old Norway look of the area. Yet I walked into the Burger King on impulse, looking for a snack. The prices, in Norwegian Krones, for Chicken Nuggets were as follows:
5 nuggets 35k, or 38k if you eat there
10 nuggets 50k, or 54k if you eat there
20 nuggets 93k, or 99k if you eat there
So that’s $7 for 5 nuggets, almost $8 if you sit down to munch. Throw in a drink and, well, you get the picture. With a ton of free food on the ship a block away, many people backed off on downtown snacking. I did break down and had a $4.50 cup of 7-11 coffee. There were $13 beers, $99 shirts, etc etc.
There was a 5-piece folk band playing on the sidewalk in the shopping area. The bassist had one of the strangest instruments I’ve ever seen, the 3-string balilaika-like thing pictured below. I listened to a couple of tunes and tipped them $10. I felt OK about it, until I realized that I’d given each of them the equivalent of one chicken nugget and a sip of coke.
Weather was even worse in Oslo the next day, nonstop rain for the four hours I was out there. I followed the crowd and visited Vigeland Statue Park, the number one attraction in Norway. 250 granite statues of thick naked people, unified in style. This guy Vigeland apparently chiseled all of it by himself and pretty much donated it to Oslo, so he’s a national hero.
This is a statue of Olaf Johanssen, first mayor of Stavanger, who walked into City Hall meetings with his pet pigeon sitting on his head
Folk band in downtown Stavanger (one nugget apiece)
"What, you never seen two naked old bearded men before?"
6 comments:
This is so interesting, Steve. I can't believe that our dollar is so worthless overseas. Very disappointing. Great pictures!
WOW, those are some heavy prices...
Haha, you're always a sucker for a 7-11 coffee.
1 nugget each...did you catch the name of the bass? It is indeed quite strange looking...
Hi Jackie and Joe --
I chatted with a fellow ship employee today, who said that Norway was a little worse than other European countries in its exchange rate. This guy bought a Big Mac & fries and a coke at the Oslo MacDonalds for $15.
Joe -- ever hear of a bailaika? It’s a Russian string instrument, triangular. The Beatles uses the word in their tune “Back in the USSR” >> “let me hear your bailaikas ringing out…”
Anyway, this is a bass bailaika. That’s all the bassist was able or willing to tell me in between songs, he was rather curt actually. Probably because of that chicken nugget and sip of coke.
LOL! Next time we meet I'll make sure to leave you 5 nuggets and a full cup of coke!!! We're very generous here in these United States!!!
I can just see it now -- A tip jar filled to the top with chicken nuggets
better still...two tip jars -- one for money, one for chicken nuggets -- nobody likes a greasy five-dollar bill
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