Monday, September 10, 2012

Alesund, Norway

This was my first view of Alesund. Not a bad way to start the morning, huh?
My time off the ship was extremely limited that day as I was assigned to in-port-manning (meaning one person from my team of four has to be aboard at all times in case of an emergency and it was my turn). My shift ended at 9:30am and my friends Krista and Amber both had events that would last until about 11:00am (meaning someone from our group was on board) so I was able to explore for about an hour.

Most shops and such did not open until eleven, so we walked along the canal for a bit before a local directed us to the cathedral.
 The church was a bit older than any of the others we had seen. My parents and I had noticed that every church had a small model ship hanging near the entry-way and as this was the first church where we saw staff my mom asked about the symbolism. The gentleman explained that boats and ships have always been the primary form of transportation for the Scandinavian people and the ship in each church represent traveling through life and back to God; what a beautiful idea.



After visiting the church we had about twenty-five minutes before I had to be back so we enjoyed a leisurely stroll back to the ship. It was a short day, but an enjoyable one!


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