All is quiet on New Year’s Day.
A world in white gets underway.
New Year’s Day – U2
SUNRISE: 09:59 SUNSET: 14:45
We got up at 8.00am as usual, suprisingly clear-headed after all our freebie glasses of fizz yesterday! Maybe it was because we’d spread it out over the whole day, and accompanied most of it with food, that we didn’t have the hangover from hell this morning. I would imagine there would be a lot of sore heads on board Balmoral this morning! 🙂
As the “all aboard” time today was 11.30am, we wanted to have a look around Trondheim while we were here; at the very least, it would be nice to have a walk on terra firma and take in some crisp winter air.
We ate in the Thistle Restaurant as usual. Not many people were there at all, so they were probably having a lie-in after a late night last night. After breakfast, we ventured out on the aft decks, but didn’t stay out long at all without our coats! The temperature was currently -12°C, which was the coldest we had expected so far this trip. There was a brisk breeze and it almost took our breath away.
We therefore decided to go back to 5007, wrap up well in our warm clothing, socks, walking boots and ice grips, and go ashore. It was about 9.30am when we disembarked, which was still about half an hour before sunrise. 🙂
The second thing we noticed was how still and quiet everything was. Hardly anyone was around, and there was no traffic on the road. We strolled along the harbour, looking back at the Balmoral and at the other boats moored up. We could see a gentle orange glow at the horizon which indicated that the sun would soon be up. The sea was perfectly still and the lights reflected beautifully off its surface.
We walked in the direction of the town, but first of all we had to go over a bridge crossing the train tracks. The icy wind buffeted our face as our booted feet crunched in the snow. At least there was some fresh snow here, which meant that we didn’t need to put our Spikies on (yet!)
As it was so cold, we decided to go into the railway station buffet and see if we could get a hot drink to take away. It was more to get out of that wind than anything else. We were surprised to see quite a lot of people waiting around with rucksacks and suitcases; the trains were obviously running today. Maybe these people had been home for Christmas and New Year, and were now having to make their way back to where they live, ready to start work in the morning.
We headed off briskly in the direction of the town. In the near distance we could see the tall spire of the Nidaros Cathedral, which is Trondheim’s amazing 1000-year old cathedral which is well worth a visit, but you need plenty of time to appreciate it properly, which we didn’t have today. We were pleased we’d been able to spend some time there in February 2022. If you’re interested, please see my blog entry for some great photos.
As we made our way into town, we could see lots of evidence of last night’s revelry in the snow-covered streets. Empty beer cans and bottles, empty vodka bottles, the odd burnt-out firework – all just discarded for someone else to clean up. There were no shops or cafés open; doors were locked and shutters pulled down. At least the buildings gave us a modicum of shelter against that biting wind, which was now sending hailstones stinging into our faces.
We spotted a 7-11 shop which was not only open, but which had a little coffee area attached. We decided we had time for a hot drink and a bit of respite from the cold. I honestly don’t know how homeless people survive during the winter; the next time I see someone I will buy him/her a hot drink.
It takes me ages to drink a hot cup of coffee and by now, we had less than an hour to be back on board. I therefore placed the lid back on my cardboard cup and decided to drink as I walked along. Trevor has an “asbestos” mouth so he’d already finished his! 🙂
As we approached the harbour once again it was now 10.45am and I was able to get some fantastic shots of the Balmoral against the moody winter sky, laden with heavy snow-clouds. The sun was still very low in the sky, and the unique light coloured everything with a cool golden glow.
It was 11.00am by the time we were back on Balmoral, and we decided to go up to the top deck for a look around in the crisp air and to appreciate the daylight. Keeping our boots and coats on, we took the lift up to the pool deck and exited via the Thistle Restaurant. Walking around, we could see patches of ice and snow on the ship, which glittered under the weak wintry sun. This sky was fantastic! 🙂
It was bitterly cold up on deck, so we were soon back inside the warmth of the Balmoral as we returned to 5007 to get changed out of our outdoor clothes and into something more comfortable. I exchanged my walking boots and socks for some flip-flops! It might seem incongruous wearing flip-flops in this weather, but I don’t like my feet to be enclosed all the time, and I tend to wear flip-flops indoors all year round.
We ate our lunch in the Avon Restaurant again, where we had the fabulous views and we could see when the Balmoral put to sea once again. Afterwards, we took a look at the Daily Times activities programme to see what we fancied doing this afternoon, and we saw that there was a “Name that Tune” music quiz on in the Lido Lounge at one o’clock.
While we were waiting for the quiz to start, we enjoyed a couple of drinks; I had cava while Trevor enjoyed a cocktail of the day. Then Rosie came round with the quiz papers and pencils; there were 15 questions and you had to name the song title and the artiste, gaining a point for each. The first few bars of each song were played, and we made our best efforts to name that tune. 🙂
We got 23 out of 30, nowhere near enough to win as one team (with six people in it) scored 29.
After the quiz, we noticed that the sun was going down again and there were some fantastic light patterns in the sky over the distant mountains. We just had to go outside and brave the cold again (flip-flops or no flip-flops!) to get some photos; this was stunning.
Looking at those heavy clouds and feeling the wind blowing little flurries of ice in my face, I knew it wouldn’t be long at all before we got some serious snow; it was definitely forecast. 🙂
At 3.00pm we took part in the golf putting in the Lido Bar, sitting on our bar stools as usual. We didn’t win anything, but it was all good fun anyway. By the time we’d finished, it was nearly time for prize bingo next door, so Trevor returned to 5007 to get our dabbers, while I queued for the tickets, which cost £15.00 for six books; three each.
The first game was called “Lucky 7” and meant, quite simply, that you had to have any seven numbers on your bingo card to win. Someone called out “Here!” very quickly, in fact there had only been 15 numbers called.
The next game was also Lucky 7 and we carefully dabbed any numbers we had as they were called out. Soon I had six numbers marked on my card, and I couldn’t believe my ears when number 37 came out, which made up my seventh number. “Yes!” I shouted excitedly. Someone came over and checked off the numbers, which were correct. I had won £106.00 !! How brilliant was that – a good return on our investment of fifteen quid. I had to sign a form so that the money would be credited to our on-board account, greatly reducing our total bill. 🙂
The games continued, but we didn’t win anything else. By the time it had all finished, we had exactly 45 minutes to get washed and changed and ready for dinner. But we decided just to take our time and eat in the Thistle Restaurant instead, as I couldn’t really be bothered to dress up.
We could feel only a slight motion of the Balmoral as she headed to Ålesund, which was our next port of call tomorrow. The captain had advised us that we could expect some rough weather in the next couple of days. In fact, looking out of the windows into the darkness, we could see that it had, indeed, started snowing heavily. 🙂
After dinner, we wanted to go outside and look at the snow, but the doors from the Thistle had been roped off. We therefore popped up to the Lido Bar so we could go out on deck and look at the surreal sight of the decks, sunloungers and furniture being covered in a couple of inches of snow! We felt as if we were Arctic explorers, such as Amundsen and his ship Fram, battling through earth’s harshest climates to conquer the North Pole. OK, I know that was a bit fanciful as we weren’t on Fram, we were on Balmoral, but the sight of the sunloungers and hot tubs and swimming pool, surrounded by snow, just looked so incongruous. 🙂
By now, it was time to hotfoot it down to the Neptune Lounge for tonight’s entertainment, which featured violinist Ralph Allin again. As ever, his performance was excellent, and he played lots of lively tunes which had everyone’s feet tapping. Excellent stuff.
Then it was back to the Lido Lounge to try our hand at the quiz again. We scored 13/15 and had high hopes, but we tied with two other teams so it went to the tiebreaker question, which we didn’t win. Unlucky!
We just stayed in the Lido Lounge after that, popping outside on deck every now and again to look in disbelief at the snow. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw someone swimming in the pool! Are they mad, or what?! 🙂
At 11.00pm there was another show, this time in the Lido and featuring Siobhan, one of the main vocalists with the Balmoral Show Company. She sang acoustic versions of some well-known songs and we enjoyed the sound of her voice as we partook of some more drinks, courtesy of our all-inclusive package. 🙂
We stayed in the Lido until midnight, which is early for us when we are on holiday, but we were quite tired. Maybe all the late nights were catching up with us. The first day of 2025 had been great, and we fell asleep with the pleasant thoughts of our day in port again tomorrow. 🙂