The Viking Saturn is a 2-year-old cruise ship carrying just 930 passengers, with each cabin having its own heated-floor bath and outside deck. Other amenities include 3 fine dining restaurants, plus the World Cafe, which was an effulgent buffet where the family met up to choose breakfast from its wide variety... & we often returned from the city trips for lunch.
The Viking Saturn upclose & from above the city of Bergen, Norway at the end of the 15-day cruise, showing the size & scale of the ship.
I am always fascinated by the more technical aspect of my environment... particularly the way tools & equipment are designed & their functionality. One piece of that was the "tenders", the orange lifeboats so visibly attendant on both sides of the ship. They were used to carry us closer to the shore when the ship could not. It was a bit of a complicated piece of work, done almost 'automatically,' but also requiring human guidance... rather graceful in its execution, making it seem much like opening a drawer with a crane.
The crew was a tight-knit unit of multi tasking skills, executed by happy smiling handsome humans. Admirable in capability to add to the general effect of the efficiency of good service.
The overall design of so many of Saturn's details was impressive:
Like railings softened with padded leather upholstery on the railings of the of a generous stairway rising like a spine through all the decks from the performance space of the living room. (This was also served by adjacent elevators, which were frequently busy.) We often used the steps as part of our exercise to work off our rather generous meals. The landings were decorated with huge images of the
Bayeux Tapestry [
wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry], famous for telling the story of the Norman Invasion of England in the 11th Century. These photographs were so enlarged as to make the stitches visible, often arresting my attention for craftsmanship. Many paintings & original prints were also part of the general decor, for which a catalogue was available for deeper appreciation. Edvard Munch was another featured artist, being also Norwegian. I was not familiar at all with his work other than
The Scream, so I became educated & often enthralled by the images of a slide presentation which ran in the Living Room while the pianist played Greig and Sibelius.
Of course there was a pool... having a roof which retracted seamlessly according to weather. Several bars catering their own specialties & timing. The "living room" was a spacious three decks in height with deep side "balconies" holding like box seats small tables for drinks overlooking a grand piano furnishing music for the cocktail hour, sometimes joined by another instrument or voice for variety. This was often themed to music resonant with the geography in which we were sailing, so because this is a Norwegian line, Greig was frequently on tap. Occasional couples might take a turn on the floor to dance.
I did exuberate being literally at sea for the first time in my life!
In the cast of characters for this adventure, Brother Mark Silha immediately became the star... he is, after all, the original impetus for this trip! (Mark asked for a family trip to Scotland a decade ago.)
This trio had great three-witted times.
Sister Alice & Bro-In-Law&Love John
with whom the trip was co-planned.
Stephen & I danced well through a maze of potential plans which were floated over the course of more than a year as we finally confirmed with Mark about his desire to see castles in Scotland.
This family saw that as an invitation from our brilliantly challenged 66-year-old Downs socially likable miracle of a music maven. There have been numerous family trips over the decades, but it has been awhile since the three siblings traveled like this. John & I have long played well in the "out-law" roles. Dear long-time friend Bill Monson shared a stateroom with Mark.
Cocktail time we would gather on a mezzanine deck open to the living room, with good tables for cards. Mark loves collecting a group with whom to play Kings-On-The-Corner, which has long been his specialty... he's a sharp player. He often wins! Gradually during the game, we'd become ready for our dinner reservations... which are the big event of the day... even as the theater shows ending each evening regularly won our biggest kudos.
There was a full-time mixed quartet of lively & capable voices & attractive faces full of playful character & snappy showmanship. Choreography was necessary on this shallow stage, on which the performers were rather constantly moving, even dancing, playing on the stepways down to the main floor all becoming useful circulation of action while inviting intimacy with the audience. All collaborated with the accompanying small band. Good writing, directing & lighting made for properly fulsome productions of rock, Broadway, Beatles, ABBA, crooner, and other music. Oh! The wardrobes gleamed with subtle flashes of sparkle! Good Theater!
One could find a variety of nooks for private moments to read or engage in conversation. Shops also had their specific open hours, while displaying goods in unmanned cases to tantalize between time.
As we reached Norway after a good long sleep, we both woke quite early & decided to walk a up to the observation room for coffee -- a rare quality of date for us. We were with only 5-6 fellow early risers.. all respectful of peaceful quiet passage of bridges overhead lacing together both sides of this fjord cradling the home port of Bergen. It made me wonder what a cruise would be like for us as a gay couple without a family - probably quite a different experience! I add that thought to the debate I have with myself about "cruising": pro or con?
I am enthusiastic about sailing. I spent a good deal of time on our little deck... watching the parade of landscape from a waterscape.
I much appreciated viewing the extensive infrastructure of wind turbines.
While the water grass flow of an abandoned mill-stream told the retirement of another natural energy source
A millstream
Canterbury Cathedral has fourteen centuries of tales.
Especially those sanded & buffed by the feet of pilgrims. I've become enamored with such floors along the visits to churches, this trip...
A joke with another shot of visually resonant pattern of floor/ground matting on paths around the henge.
Then continuing in my imagination adding this bit of handsome stone carving in a Leo Toye calligraphic style...
But then something florid happens...
Back to the cruise... we need to catch one of the last two tenders to take us get us onboard!
I'll call this as the end of the post. I'm continuously cogitating how to write about a schedule of 14 ports in 15 days on a ship in a family party of six. I did not find time to journal much so I'm still learning to find enough clarity to begin activating useful memory. I will continue inviting you to join wherever I'm going.
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