Our guide today starts off by telling us there is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. She goes on to explain that in "Summer", her air quotes not mine, locals make what they can of the light, god knows they'll miss it in a few months. It must be this appalling weather than sent the Vikings off on their conquests, we heard that Viking is a verb, not a noun to describe the people. Viking is the act of raiding. The first raid was 4am on June 8th, 793 in Scotland I think.

 Our first stop is a memorial to King Harold the Fairhaired. In 872 Harold wanted to marry his love, but she told him he didn't measure up, she'd always imagined herself a queen, and since Harold was only a warlord, he wasn't right for her. We're standing on the banks of a fjord where over 100 warlords had their camps, Harrold decided to overthrow them all so he could proclaim himself king. He did and went on to father 23 kids from his new queen. He didn't cut his hair while the campaign was running, so by the end had very long hair and a new name, 

We head back in time to the 4th century, to an Iron Age farm a restored archaeological site recovered in the 1970s. Our guide showed us how they spun wool into yarn, how they died the cloth, how the royal blue colour was made with the urine, and the best blue of all was made from the urine of young men after they'd been drinking beer. The craziest thing was the presence of glass in the camp. Chemical analysis shows that the glass they found on the site originated in Turkey. This is the 4th century before they had sailing ships. That means that glass made the journey on a row boat, amazing. The kids also got a go at archery, The Tivoli gardens shooting range was easier :)

I didn't realise just how much of an influence the Viking culture has today. Wednesday is a derivative of the Norsk term of Odin's Day, I think I already knew that Thursday was a derivative of Thor's Day, but not that Friday was derived from Frei's day (the goddess of harvest.) Worst of all though, Saturday is a derivative of their Bath day, yep they only washed once a week - unfortunate validation for Max's preferred bathing schedule. Our guide countered this idea by explaining that at age 7 kids were considered adults and needed to contribute like one, brilliant idea!

Stavanger has been built on three eras of success. Initially, the Fjord trapped a lot of Herring within its confines, this led to massive growth in the area as people flooded in for the fishing and associated industries. Eventually, though the fish stocks were wiped out and things receded until the late 18th century when they invented their own modified canning process. The machinery they invented was so efficient many countries banned the import of the machinery for fear of the jobs that would be lost. The rise of refrigeration though meant the eventual demise of many preservation techniques, including canning. Once again Stavanger was cast into a lull and the population receded.

In the late 60s the Uk and Norway resolved ownership of the north sea and with it the potential oil reserves were split up. Norway contracted out the exploration of 33 potential sites, the contract was very restrictive, requiring that the search must explore all 33 sites or face massive fines. The contractor explored 32 sites over a number of years, they didn't want to continue but the risk of fines compelled them on to the 33 site. On December 23rd, 1969 that the last site struck oil and with it Norway, and Stavanger's futures were altered forever. Today Norway's sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world and has assured the nation's future for decades to come. As big as it is, it is estimated that the Canning boom was even more important. Today as oil prices begin to decline the city faces it's the third era of retraction, but for now, all that wealth is going to protect them, it is already being used for big fiscal injections, with large capital works employing displaced rig workers.

Tour over we, we walk the old town area and pick a nice place to lunch out on the waterfront, even in the rain it's so picturesque. We struck gold for lunch, Franziskaner on tap, Whale steaks and Elk burgers on the menu, and a gaggle of Disney princesses (in civilian garb) came in to enjoy lunch at the table next to us.

We strolled around the old town for an hour or so to let the Whale beef settle, stopping in almost every shop we could find. Gab purchased a lolly pink Souwester to perfectly match her scarf before we headed back on board. Dinner was delicious as ever, but the kids we're off to their respective kid's clubs not to be seen again. No problem, Gab and I headed to Keys where a dramatic tragedy unfolded, the sole Franziskaner keg on board was tapped dry after just three beers, my fourth 3/4 pour was free because the barman felt so bad for me :)

Tomorrow is Ålesund, a light day with strolling and train rides, we let the kids stay out very late, only to regret it tomorrow morning :)