Kristiansand, Norway

Patti, we just made a change that will allow you to click on the photos. Some will look larger and others will look the same. In either case though you can now click on them.

First things first a continuation of yesterday's tour of Oslo.
 
Our tour guide was exceptional. We didn’t include a photo of her as she didn’t want to be on social media. We respect her.
 
Takeaways include:
 
The area near the terminal is relatively new. There is the opera house that looks like an iceberg. You can walk all around it.
 
There is a museum in the background and a piece of artwork in the water.
 
This takes us to the city. Much of the city of Oslo is considered the new City. Some buildings date back to the 1700’s and 1800’s but many are from the mid to late 1900’s and the current decade. The opera house was built in 2008.
 
They are conscious of the environment.  Oslo is considered the capital of electric vehicles. Eighty percent are electric, and they will get to one hundred percent. Ferries are electric to cut down on the noise to reduce noise under the sea. 
 
Crime is very low in Oslo. Most crime is drug related.
 
King Christian may have been responsible for the fires that destroyed the city wanting to move the city to a different location.
 
The poor had the homes build of wood since wood was much cheaper than stone and brick.
 
Major drivers of the economy include tourism, produce and the farming of salmon. The plan is to produce five times the number of salmon as they produce today. Agriculture is big too.
 
There are ten political parties in the Parliament. Elections are every four years, so they have one coming up.
 
Norway has its ties to Denmark and Sweden as they are part of each country at one time and today, they share many common bonds.
 
Oslo like the rest of Norway tries to teach their students about the downside of the Atomic Bomb and the downsides of war. And of course, this is where the Nobel Peace Prize is given out.

During World War II, Oslo was occupied by the Nazis starting on April 9, 1940 until May 8, 1945. Germany launched a surprise attack on Norway with 100,000 troops landing in Oslo and other coastal areas. They easily took control of Norway. They executed several people and in the fall of 1942 took many people  to concentration camps. There was a resistance in Oslo.

In terms of religion the largest religion is Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. Jews and Catholics represent a very small portion of the population and only 1,500 Jews live in Norway with most living in Norway.

As part of their effort to protect the Oslo inner fjord and to reduce traffic in the city they removed an eight-lane highway going into the city by putting in a tunnel. They are very conscious about the environment, and it shows.
 
The last few years the weather has changed with the summers being warmer than ever before. 
 
 
We have other takeaways, but these are ones we wanted to share with ​you.

The tour guide we had was exceptional. She was born in Florida and the family moved to California and then to Germany and then she decided to move to Norway where her mother was born. She knew her history very well but much of her career was in interior design before she decided to get certified as a tour guide as she loves history. 

Over the years when we have done walking tours if you have the right guide you learn a lot more in our opinion than just walking around on your own.  We still do the latter sometimes because in prior years we have done the tours and sometimes because it is an area that we feel we can do on our own base on the size of the city/town/village.


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​After posting yesterday, In the afternoon we spoke with Captain Birger shortly before he debarked Serenity for a well-deserved holiday. About thirty minutes later we saw Captain Vincent who came back from his well deserved holiday.
 
 
 

Following is the Waterside Dinner Menu from last evening.  

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Last evening we dined at the Osteria Specialty Restaurant.  Since the inaugural cruise of New Crystal onboard  Crystal Serenity on July 31, 2023 we have dined at Osteria the first night of the cruise. Realizing that Waterside is busy on the first night of the cruise we enjoy dining at Osteria and we love the new Osteria menu which rolled out in August. 

This is the Osteria Dinner Menu.

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For us Osteria gets better and better. Why you ask? Because you continue to try items you didn't try the first time. Maybe the veal appetizer with tuna or the Tuna Capaccio, or maybe a different dessert or maybe the cheese. Guess what. We did all of this and more.

This was our third time dining at Osteria. Each time it gets better and each time we are attempting to try new items coupled with some items we have not had before.

For example, we began with smoked tuna capaccio for Keith (first time) and sliced veal in tuna sauce for Anne Marie (first time) which Keith tasted as well.  Each one very unique and very tasty.

Next course we did share the lasagna first and had one scampi each which we had the first night. Both are delicious and when you have the pasta you can tell it is hand made.

For our entrees Keith had the lamb rack for the first time and Anne Marie had the eggplant which she had before. Both were a hit.

We weren't going to have dessert but Hislaine twisted our arms. LOL. Keith had the Italian cheese (first time) and Anne Marie had the sorbet for the first time. Both were great.

Wine terrific.

Food preparation fantastic and hats off to Alfred and his team for transitioning to the Alajmo Brother's recipes and making this look so easy.

Likewise congratulations to the Food & Beverage team for all of the attention to detail and the amazing service and learning about the menu so quickly.  And a big thank you to Hislaine for making each evening so very special.

When you are seated you will see what we mean about attention to detail. Each place setting is set the same way with the glasses and the dishes in the precise place. And by precise we mean precise. 

The differences you will see is that your water glasses are different colors.

Also, there are about 28 tables in Osteria and for the centerpiece about twenty different vegetables are used so most tables have a different vegetable in the centerpiece. These are fresh vegetables and are changed out each and every single day.

Another thing we find special about the cuisine is that it is clearly several steps up from Prego and the original Osteria and clearly involves a lot of prep ahead of time and items cooked to order. On top of this it is food that should appeal to the majority of the people. While the Alajmo Brother's have achieved Michelin status we have found that the few times that we have eaten at Michelin restaurants the food was way too unique for us and we think of it as foo foo food.

This doesn't mean each person will like every item on the menu. How could they as we have different tastes and preferences. What we can say is that after three visits and after trying out quite a few items we have thoroughly enjoyed each one except that we thought was to dry. Whether this is an exam, a sport or many other things this is a very high percentage rate for items we enjoyed. 

Like Umi Uma for us this is truly a special restaurant.

A photo showing the centerpiece, the place settings and one of the large glasses of one capable of holding 2 liters of wine.  That's a lotta wine. LOL.

While dining we enjoyed beautiful views of our sail-away and shortly after being seated we could hear What A Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong from outside. This truly is a wonderful world with the opportunity to discover new things when you travel. After we arrived back to our room last evening we continued to enjoy beautiful views of the coastline. Norway is absolutely a gem. We've included one collage of three photos taken from our verandah.  

Todays Daily Reflections Program.

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We arrived at our next port of call, Kristiansand, Norway this morning. This city is the sixth largest city of Norway. Close to 120,000 residents live here. It is located on the southern tip of Norway about four hours from Oslo. Kristiansand attracts 900,000+ tourists during the summer months and is thought of as a vacation destination.

It offers visitors restaurants, parks, shopping, museums to enjoy along with a wonderful town to walk around and other areas to enjoy including beaches, and water activities.


Crystal offered six different tours today which included a hiking tour, a walking tour, a tour focused on World War II, a couple of tours by boat  and a scenic tour of the area.

We didn't take a tour as we have another tour in two days when we arrive to Amsterdam and a tour in Dover.  ​

​Anne Marie took along walk on the Promenade Deck while Keith walked into town. It is deceiving because you mainly see an industrial port from the ship but once he got about five minutes from the ship he walked through a small park and then over a bridge and then over another bridge and that was all pretty and eventually made his way into town.
 
At one point he was stopped by students and one girl said something to me in Norwegian and I said English, and she said as part of a school project they needed a selfie so he obliged and then he said could we also do a selfie on my iPhone which we did. Yes, at first he was suspicious for a second but that cleared up quickly.  
 
The downtown part of the city is more of a city but still Keith found side streets that were charming.
 
The good news is that a few hours before arrival when I went out on the pool deck it was pouring, and it was still raining as we were making our way towards the port but it stopped. Although a 55% chance of rain when I went off it never rained. I was prepared though.
 
As I’ve mentioned whenever we sail Crystal we always know fellow guests. We met some who boarded yesterday who we know. As I was about five minutes from the ship I looked up and coming towards me is cruise friend Cindi. She just booked the cruise a week ago and it was so nice to catch up with her. We remarked that Anne Marie and I have known her since over 18 years ago.  

We’re posting early as we have plans this afternoon.
 
Cheers
 
 
 

We’re posting early as we have plans this afternoon.
 
Cheers
 
 
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