Cocktails and China: November 2022

Well here we are in November and I have been on a bit of a tour. I took myself off to Norway to celebrate my birthday.

The weather was remarkably warm and sunny ( apparently in Cocktails and china town it was grey, rainy and cold), the last time I was in Norway the same thing happened (unseasonably warm weather!).

Anyhoo I digress, I was staying in Stavanger in a super modern hotel on the harbour front, 300yards from the 'Flybus' stop and also the Island boat stop (this is a great way to travel around the islands of Stavanger and surrounding area.)

I had a very precise list of things that I wanted to see and headed off to tick of the first, with a detour to the bank to change some money.

1. Banks open at 10am, no matter if you are first in the queue, the Norwegians will make sure they get in first.

2 you take a ticket and wait for your number to be called.

3 you wait............and wait...........30-35 mins, get called, ask to change money and are told that banks don't hold cash in Norway.

4 30 secs later you are directed across the street to a cabin which is the official money changing place.

5 get money and head off to your first port of call.

The Oil and Gas (Petroleum) Museum

And yes I am that geeky, but I bet not many of you have seen a bottle of the first oil to come up ( in a maple syrup bottle as they tried to grab anything to hand).

It was fascinating. I tried on a survival suit when I went into the 'helicopter' and sat through the safety procedure.

I spent nearly an hour in the 'subsea' light installation, which was mesmerising.

It was a great museum, and I am pleased that I decided to put it on my list.

I then walked through the city to the centre lake which in the sunshine was beautiful, everyone was making the most of the November sun.

I then just walked and walked taking in the differing styles of architecture ( yes geeky but I like it), Found 2 Antony Gormley figures from the 23in the city and part of what is known as 'Broken Column' I wish I had found more.

I marvelled at how lovely and friendly the people were (despite not using English queuing etiquette 😂), and 20k steps later I arrived back at the hotel, completely shattered!

Shower, food, wine ( no cocktails were available) and bed.

And then it was my birthday, so I headed down to breakfast with what looked like half of the Italian army and had my granola and yogurt. I had opened all my cards and was busy reading lovely birthday messages.

I set off to go to see Sword Hill which was on my list and had to get a bus out of the city, however Lars on reception ( I was on first name terms thanks to several bars of cadburys chocolate, always good to have on hand) said that if I got the local bus and got off I may have to wait an hour for a return bus and there was nothing else there, so I scrapped that and headed off into the city to do some shopping and go to an exhibition about hearts ( YES!!! REALLY!!!).

I'd found a Salvation Army charity shop the day before and nearly had to be resuscitated when I converted the prices!, however on my birthday I went in and bought a piece of Norwegian glass I had seen the day before ( I like a souvenir), at £28 it was a bit steep I thought and then saw them in town for £150 so it turned out to be a bargain!

By 1.30pm I was famished but found that most restaurants don't open until 3pm, so I headed into a 'pub'. Here I was told that they didn't do food, but there was an excellent bakery across the road where I could get some food and bring it back to eat in the pub with a pint ( well 0.4 L). So I headed to the bakery, got an avocado and salmon on rye bread and the biggest Danish pastry I have ever seen ( well it was my birthday) headed back to the pub and sat outside with a complimentary blanket to keep my legs warm.

You don't get that in the UK!!! Can you imagine eating your Greggs in Wetherspoons!!!

I spent a couple of hours wandering around and ended up back at the harbour which had amazing views, and then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap.