Day 10 (July 1): Ålesund
Welcome to July. We landed after dinner at the end of June and got a ride to Ålesund. It is charmingly beautiful. We unpacked and showered after a rather uneventful day resting from this hike. As we flew in there were clouds so we expected a stunning sunset. By sunset time (11:30pm) all of the clouds had gone away so it wasn't even close to the night before in Bergen but we did get started into July in a lovely place and a cool comfy temperature.
We had our sliding glass door open on the canal between the west and east side of town to sleep with great a until about 2-3am. Some single LOUD likely drunk or drugged person was yelling so loudly that I could hear him with earplugs in and a pillow over my head. Generally one of those two does the job. I reluctantly closed the door and silence ensued. We did not hear anything including the breakfast staff and dining area which is literally on the other side of the wall from our room. Solid construction so we slept past 8am.
We hiked up the stairs to Fjellstua Aksla viewpoint and mingled with people from 3 cruise ships who mostly got up to this viewpoint on buses. After photos we started walking in the park up there to explore the beautiful area away from all of these people and we ran into a Canadian lady that came here over 50 years ago and was working on a farm and "met" the local policeman and she never left. She talked to us for over 10 minutes about a lot of things and one of her lines was: "you can't get lost in Ålesund because we're on an island."
There were tree stumps carved to look like various animals which is done by the locals maintaining the park - it looks cool. We saw the observation tower "Rundskue" which was donated by Seattle and Vancouver for the 100 year jubilee. Eventually we walked back down the steps into town, refilled water bottles, and had some pizza for lunch. This is a very popular dish in Norway and we needed to fuel before our afternoon hike.
We took a taxi over to the start of the Sukkertoppen hike and walked up that mountain. Gorgeous views from here and far fewer people from the cruise ships over here. So many picture opportunities in this town. We walked down and walked back into town where Jill (and I) got some soft serve ice cream in a waffle cone. Yum.
Our dinner was in the restaurant at our Hotel (Brosundet) called Apotekergata No. 5.
We stopped at the bar above the restaurant before dinner. Bartender (Vilda) was amazing. Talked to us for 45 minutes. Made us some wonderful cocktails. One thing she does is a simple syrup hanging out in lime juice/skins for extra flavor. Delicious.
Our dinner was paired with wines plus they brought us champagne to start beforehand. The pours were very generous. Full glass equivalent for each pairing.
We had a guy bring out course 5 (dessert) and he was in day 1 here. We talked about several things then he began talking about daughter 1 & 2. Jill asked about more & he said he "closed the factory". Needless to say this qualified as a Marc crying moment.
We walked over to the side for sunset. The few clouds did not cooperate but the people partying on boats and the young kids 20-25 partying along the waterfront were entertaining between 11:15 & midnight...