Coastal Express Ferry

On Tuesday, we got up early to catch the Hurtigbåt - the express ferry to Kristiansund.  Kristiansund is on the west coast of Norway, on the Norwegian sea.  It's an island city, actually four main islands and lots of smaller islands.  To get there, we needed to travel through the length of the Trondheimsfjord on a catamaran 3.5 hours.  It was awesome!

At the start of our journey 

The ferry is set up kind of like an airplane.  The main floor has two aisles with comfortable seats in rows.  There's a little cafe that serves snacks and treats.  We sat on the top floor, where we could go outside at the back of the ferry. 

This trip brought us back to our time in Germany two years ago, when the point of most of our expeditions wasn't so much the destination as the journey to get there. 

On the back of the ferry 

Enjoying the fresh air - it was so brisk and refreshing

Isaac brought our old bread to feed the seagulls.

This part of Norway really has different weather every five minutes.  In this one day, we had beautiful sun, rain, and hail, each multiple times. 

Everyone in the family was thrilled to see the end of a this rainbow.  You could see the rainbow go into the sea at both ends of the arc. 

Dave was nervous about the young kids going overboard.  Which was probably a pretty realistic worry given how choppy the seas got.

This is my favorite photo from the day.  All the elements are there - mountains, sea, sunshine.  We are so blessed to be able to experience this as a family.

This one is for my dad.  Sure, the buildings are quaint, but look at the haybales!

This was when the ride got really wild.  It was like a rollercoaster, only with sea spray.  We were having a blast.  You can tell from Katie's hair how bumpy it was.  The ferry was heading straight into the wind and there were some mighty waves it had to cut through.  Isaac kept saying the ferry is "wobbly."

To get the full effect of the bumpy ride, Dave went with Sam and Katie up to the bow of the ship.  You couldn't even stand up.  I had to crawl back to our seats with Grace and Isaac.  Of course, we couldn't stop laughing.

At the ferry dock in Kristiansund

Kristiansund is a big fishing town.  It's famous for klippfisk - salted, dried cod.

These are a couple of the cod fishing ships.  They are gigantic (the ships - I don't know anything about the size of the cod.)  Actually, I don't know if these ships catch cod.  But I know they are fishing ships.

Walking along the main street next to the harbor.  The boats pull up to the wall here and parallel park.  

You can see how the city islands are connected by bridges.  That big blue ship on the left was pulling into a parallel parking spot.

Feeding more seagulls 

A war memorial, topped by a mine, for the soldiers from Kristiansund who died in the world wars.  Our kids knew it was a mine right away from watching Gilligan's Island.

The klippfisk lady.  She's holding a dried cod.  So I guess I know something about the size of the cod. 

My favorite dining companion.  We enjoyed a pizza lunch at Peppe's Pizza. 

Another big fishing boat parked along the harbor

With our time before the return ferry, we walked around town, visiting their city parks.  Had a really hard time pulling Grace away from this bus.  She is a bus connoisseur, after her experience riding the school bus every day.  When she was in the driver seat, she was really in her element.

Overlooking a waterfall

We found a great place to hike around the city's reservoir.  Isaac is our man on the trails - he really loves to hike. 

At the end of the reservoir, we could see the ocean.

The requisite picture of the peeing boy statue.  In this pond area, there were ducks, swans, and peacocks.

The hike wore out Isaac.  Poor fellow was sitting in the back of the stroller on the walk back to the ferry and couldn't even hold his head up.

Our ride home

Sam built this helicopter on the return trip. 

Riding in the bow of the ship as we come back into Trondheim