I would love to tell you all kinds of wonderful stories about our stop in Molde, but I don’t have any.  It was cloudy and cool and we walked around the town for about an hour.  We could have ventured into a museum, but we didn’t.  I did look around a cool bookstore and we window-shopped, but there was not a lot to do there. They have a rose garden, which is why there is a statue of a girl with roses, but it doesn’t bloom until July.  We are a bit early for that.  We spent the day relaxing on the ship.  It was fine. We have eight more stops to explore. 

In Alesund, I found this cool outdoor village/museum and it was listed as one of the stops on the hop on hop off bus.  My husband was reticent to buy tickets online, so we got off the boat and bought tickets on the dock.  The boy told us that the bus would arrive at 10am.  We wandered around a bit and got back to an already formed line waiting for the bus.  The bus that arrived at 9:50 only let on about four or five people. Then we waited. We waited until 10:30 and the line was very long and it started raining.  My husband checked back at the ticket booth and the boy said it wasn’t his fault so many people were on our cruise.  Wow.  

We finally got on the 10:30 bus and then another bus showed up immediately afterwards.  The stop for the outdoor museum was not on the list.  I was sad until it started raining (walking at an outdoor museum in the rain would not have been fun). 

The first stop was Aksla viewpoint.  The bus climbs this curvy hill (stopping often to let other buses go by because there is not enough from for one each way on the curve). The bus driver waits at the stop and you can hop off and take a picture.  My husband got off and took a picture, but I chose to remain on the bus.  You can get to the top of the Aksla viewpoint by climbing 418 steps (which you can see in the picture) on what they call a troll road or you can take a sightseeing train or the bus. The bus has an audio guide and although it has some interesting information, it repays the same facts over and over again.  I think we heard about the public school system at least three times in an hour. 

The next two stops are in the Parken Culture Centre, where there is shopping, and the other is at the tourist center.  The building below commemorates the fire of 1906.

The fourth stop is right near where we wandered before we got on the bus.  Unbeknownst to us, that was the city center.  

There is also a stop at the Alesund Church, which is maybe a six block uphill walk from the city center.  We took a picture from the bus because it didn’t look open. 

The last stop is the Atlantic Sea Park. It is one of the best aquariums in Norway.  Part of that is due to a large outdoor sea water pool.  It was at least $21 a person.  We opted out because we have a lot of lovely aquariums where we live. The bus then stops again at the cruise terminal.  We got back on the ship to have lunch and then left again to wander around the shopping area/town center because the weather cleared up beautifully.  

The town of Alesund is gorgeous.  I loved all the houses and cool corners and curvy roads.  It was lovely and scenic.  I think I would have liked it even more if I have been able to go to the Sunmore Museum.  Oh well, maybe next time.