The downside to doing cruises is shore excursions. Too many people in one spot for me. But I have searched the internat and can't find any info on Hiking down from Vatnahalsen,or the top of the Flam Railway. I had found and excursion that take the railroad up then hike halfway (about 10kn) and that sounds great but I'd rather we do it without the crowd. Do you think I can find a well written description of how to do it? Nope. Bite the bullet and sign up w...

Saturday brings us to Stavanger. Stavanger is the fourth largest city in Norway and primarily because of oil. When oil deposits were discovered off Norway's coast, the country decided to put its major export port here. So its no suprise that there is an oil musuem here. The day starts off with sprinkles again but that's why you pack raincoats. We start off in the old section of town that has tiny cobblestone roads and lots of flowers. A very nice place to...

Its Thursday. The day we get on the ship but we got a couple things to do first so after breakfast Ryan and I head out to do some last minute shopping and a stop at Westerkerk. A quick check tells us the 'normal' line of around the block is still there at Anne Frank's house so we stop at the church instead. Real pretty candle holder in there and we find this is where Rembrandt was interred. Thank you long line.The ride over to the ship isn't far b...

Well, we land and its raining. We expected it so no big deal. Actaully something different coming from Phoenix. Our Hotel is in a good location so after a short nap we decide to head over to Dam Square. Unfortuantly, that was also when it really started to rain, not just drizzle. A stop in a coffee shop, one with coffee, and it goes back to drizzle. Nice thing is that it really cut down on the crowds, as we would find out when we returned from the cruise. We tour...

Like all our Eastern bound trips, this on starts with an early morning flight to JFK. This time it is pretty uneventful. Unless you count watching the US Women's World Cup Final until we have to catch the flight to Amsterdam, getting updates on Chris' phone until we're on the plane only to lose just before take off. Bummer. Then we get a text from Paige saying the Girl she is filling in for just went into labor so she'll be at work in the morning ...