Today was Bergen. It's the largest city we've visited. We took the hop on/ hop off bus around town. Again, it's a city that had a lot of fires though they've been rebuilding in the original style. They had a good fish market in the harbor. We found a cool old tavern down one of the alleys so tried some more Norwegian beers. We headed back to the ship early because we signed up for the Behind the Scenes tour. We had a good lunch at the Dutch Cafe. The Behind the Scenes tour was great. It's a two day tour so today was the Engine Control Room, the Engine rooms and the Bridge. Meeting the Chief Engineer was a real highlight. He has a real passion for his work and was excited to show off all the machines. It's the first time we have been able to go into the power plant, engine rooms, reverse osmosis plant, and even see the ship stablizers. It was so interesting. The level of complexity is mind boggling. For instance, everything that goes into making sure the shower pressure amd water quaility in a Deck 10 forward cabin is the same as a Deck 1 Aft cabin is incredible. The bridge was also interesting. It was set up more like a cockpit than a traditonal bridge. They even added a situation room and a chair for the pilot that comes on in each port.
We signed up for a vow renewal ceremony to see what it was like. It was so lovely. Holland America does it in a group setting once a sailing. We were with another couple who'd been married 40 years. We had a nice private reception with canapés and champagne. Then the Captain arrived and we were able to chat with him. Each couple had their own ceremony and then a toast after. Plus a cake. We were impressed.
We had dinner at Tamarind - the Asian restaurant. We opted for sushi. It was okay. The rolls had a lot of asparagus in them. If Carnival got a deal on broccoli - then Holland America got a deal on asparagus. After dinner, we had a night cap at our favorite bar - Ocean Blue with our favorite bartender Ryan.
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