Kristianstand Norway 5th Largest City In Norway

   Yesterday the excuse for getting up late was jet lag, today just because. The day

From The Hill

was cool with clouds still around. When we left the cabin balloons were hanging outside, there was a sign on the door and a card in the mail slot. Today was Judy's birthday.

    The Vikings and the big moose (reindeer?) were waiting for us as we left for the 20 minute walk into the city. We had been here 4 years ago but are at a different dock. This is what we call a one horse town. There is not a whole lot to see or do and the added off and on rain showers did not

Old Town

help. It seemed that all day we put on rain gear, took out the umbrella then put it away again. It took about 15 minutes to get downtown and about 10 minutes to walk through it. We had wanted to take the local ferry which visits 4 islands in about an hour but apparently it is shut down for the season. So we reverted to the oh well plan.

    They do have a hill and public park in the city, much like Bergen, so we walked up it. Good views of the city but the rain was back and the rocks were slippery reminding us of the time that Judy fell the last time we were in Norway. We headed to the old town -Posebyed- which has the largest collection of old, low-rise timber houses. That led us back to the central square where the Kristiansand Cathedral is located. We missed a concert by a few minutes. We

Cathederal

had not seen any indication that there was music in the church every time a cruise ship is in port. A walk to the waterfront park was next where the 2^nd largest fountain in Norway is found. It is not that big! The town visit ended with a stroll back to the ship past the very modern buildings of the fish markets and upscale restaurants near the cruise port. It had started to rain again.

   We lunched on a specialty pizza at Alfredo's where we tried to get in yesterday but found the lineup too long. The rest of the day was spent doing puzzles and reading. With the temperature around 15C it has been too cool to sit outside. There was not much planned for the ship in the afternoon except for Effy (more jewelry stuff), Spa specials, movies, etc.

   We were suppose to sail shortly after 3:30. At 4:30 we were still alongside. Apparently the ship was on shore power which knocked out some of the computer servers onboard. Safety systems were good but the accounting system for the staff and guests was knocked

Regal Princess

out. The CO could not verify if everyone was aboard. All guests had to remain in their cabins until a face to face verification was completed. It was completed quickly but once some people were counted, they left their cabins before the captain gave the all clear causing a bit of delay. Actually when all was over we were only about 90 late sailing. However this was enough to cause us to miss a high tide resulting in a further distance to go as the ship needed to take a different route. Added to the distance was the prediction of high winds and a 3 meter swell.

   The result of the computers being out lasted until we went to bed. TV reception and internet were still down. Dinner was disrupted because all is done using their data base.

Happy Birthday

The patter (daily log) was not available either. Frankly I think someone or something fried their system . However here we are at sea. I was waiting for an announcement “anyone who can do navigation please report to the bridge”.

    We did hear the diva sing in the atrium. Because of the computer problems fixed dining was canceled. We did not get a chance to celebrate Judy's birthday dinner at our regular table but we did have a bottle of wine between us. We decided to skip the late show since we have to report to Scottish immigration (onboard) at 7:30 tomorrow. It will be our first day at sea.