Tracy-Shane-Trips

Second-to-last day on the cruise, and we were in the Shetland Islands. Wow! So beautiful. Here’s the seaside town of Lerwick, which is what we saw as we woke this morning.

We had a 12:30pm tour so we slept in a little and caught the tender to Lerwick at 11am. People we saw already coming back from town were all wet but just as we stepped ashore, the sun came out.

We walked around a little and took in the town. There are some pretty old buildings and a quiant looking garden. The first picture is Jimmy Perez’s house from the Shetland detective series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_(TV_series). Looks really rundown so I’m sure they spruced it up for TV when they were using it.

Then we stopped for a snack and found the most amazing hot chocolate, which Shane loved. I got a chai tea latte which was also terrific. This shot of the pastries is for Mom. I got the toffee krispie. It was good, but not great. Shane got a peach and mango sorbet which he said was more like ices. They also had these chocolate snacks called Puffin Poo and Pony Poo. There’s the puffin poo in my hand. It was white chocolate and crunchies and coconut. Pretty tasty. We haven’t tried the Pony Poo yet.

So around 12:15pm we headed back to the dock where we caught our coach for our excursion to the Shetland Pony/Dog farm. Along the way the scenery was just gorgeous. Here are some shots from our 1 hour drive through Shetland. It’s very pastoral but not much farmland. It’s mostly grazing for sheep and cattle and just fields of heather and rolling hills. So isloated where many house are some distance from one another. There are some towns with people living in very small houses right on top of one another but then all the other homes are spaced out with lots of land in between. The photo with the rows out in the water is a mussel farm.

We got to the field where they had staged the animals for us and the woman who owned them and the man who trained them were there to show them off. They were all very sweet and they gave us a history of the breed and the fact that the ponies are owned mostly for fun (she only has 6 or so and one riding horse) and the sheep are owned for the dogs to train with (she only has 8 sheep). The black pony is an adult shetland pony and the black and white one is a full grown miniature shetland.

On the way back from the farm, our guide Edna read us a poem in traditional Shetland dialect. It was very pretty and I wanted to share it here with you. it’s called, Bide a Start Wi Me, by Rhoda Bulter.

Come, draa dee shair up ta da fire an bide a start wi me,
While I tell dee o da Hamelaand — da isles across da sea;
Whaar dir birds ta waatch an fysh ta catch an hedder hills ta clim, An times whin darkness niver faas idda Laand o da Simmer Dim.

A’ll tell dee o da winter’s day wi da gaels an moorin snaas,
Whin da sea is hammerin at da banks an froadin ower da baas,
An we haal da boats high up idda noost an batten doon da taek, 
While da peerie mare juist hings her head an skoags fornenst da daek.

Can du hear da fiddle playin an someen saftly hum
As we sit an waatch da lowin paets an da spunks gjaan up da lum,
An hear da clickin-clackin o da wires as da weemen mak dir sock,
While we spend some time tagidder wi da hamely Shetland fok.

Here’s the translation for some of the unusual words:

And so, at the end of the lovely day, here are some shots of the town from the ship.

One more dinner pic. Tonite I had some sushi, some fried shrimp, a piece of mahi mahi, green beans, sweet potato fries and some mushroom pasta. In the background, Shane is eating a chicken leg, some prime rib and some rice.

And of course, the day would not be complete without a shot of the sorta sunset at 9pm. Dark doesn’t come until late in the Summer Dim and sometimes not at all. Sunset tonite in Bergen, in the west, will be 10:22pm, but in the east in Tromso, it is continuous daylight at this time of year. Also, here’s a short video of the choppy seas tonite. We are scheduled for an early e-bike through Bergen in the morning so keep your fingers crossed that the rain holds off. It’s 50/50 right now.

See you in Norway! Tracy