Considering all the places we’ve seen, it is surprising that Ålesund is only the third place we have been twice.  We were in Lerwick, Shetland Islands twice, in London twice, and now back to Ålesund.

Going back to Ålesund, Norway is not a hardship in the least.  The first time we were here, we walked up the steps to Mount Aksla.  We had some kannelbulle at a bakery, and checked out some shops.  Then we went on a shore excursion to Giske and Godoy.

The day before we went back to Ålesund, Tom and I went to a port talk by our cruise director.  Even though we had already been to Ålesund, we felt it was worth reviewing what there was to do.  One of the things the cruise director said struck us as funny.  He was talking about the touring options.  There is a hop-on, hop-off bus.  And there is a tourist train.  Actually, he said, it was “a bus identifying as a train.”

Tom and I planned out what we wanted to do going back to Ålesund.  And, for the most part, we stuck to the plan.  We had a couple of shops we wanted to revisit.  The first time there we didn’t get many souvenirs because we knew we were coming back.  I had a particular item in mind for a gift, and the shop that sold it was the first place we headed.  Fortunately they still had it in stock, and I eagerly purchased it.  I also found a beautiful Norwegian sweater that I will have to covet from afar.  It was 4,499 krone!  Even moving the decimal point over one, that was still an expensive sweater.

After checking out the stores, and saying hello again to the statue of Rollo, we headed to the Ålesunds Museum.  We were a little concerned about the museum for two reasons.  First, Google maps kept saying it was temporarily closed.  Many things have been closed during our trip and we were afraid this would be another one.  The second reason for concern was that we couldn’t find it.  We kept walking around and around the area where we thought it should be without being able to spot it.

Finally, as we were climbing up another flight of stairs, I pointed out a slice of yellow building to Tom.  It was up even higher and hidden among a lot of other buildings on a hill.  There is nothing flat about Ålesund.  You are either walking up or down.  We headed into the warren of modern buildings and finally came upon a sign for the museum.  After climbing some steps, walking up a hill, and then climbing more steps, we came to the museum.

The Ålesunds Museum is set in a 1917 house that was once owned by a merchant.  It contains exhibits on the history of the town and what life was like on the peninsula.  There was a building boom in the late 1800’s when a lot of people came to Ålesund for industrial jobs.  The building boom resulted in a disastrous fire on January 23, 1904 that burned down 90% of the town.  There was only one fatality, but most of the people in town were homeless.

Ålesund rose from the ashes and rebuilt.  They did so in the Art Nouveau style that was popular at the turn of the century.  All of the houses in the city that were rebuilt between 1904 and 1907 were made out of brick or stone in this style.  It resulted in a town that has a very distinctive architecture with more Art Nouveau buildings than any other city in the world.

Another unique feature of the museum was the focus on the Brudegget, the world’s first covered lifeboat.  It looked like an egg, hence the name.  It was designed by Ole Brude.  He believed so strongly in his “egg” that he sailed it from Ålesund to Boston with three other men.  The trip took four months but they arrived in the midst of a hurricane in Boston and were quite happy to get off the boat.  The museum had a reproduction of the ship outside and a life-sized model of the ship inside.

The whole museum was very interesting and Tom and I enjoyed our visit very much.  When we were finished we found a bakery for a snack.  It had been a month since we last enjoyed kannelbulle and we were eager for some more.  We share a kannelbulle and a piece of marble cake, both delicious.  If you every go to Ålesund, head to the Martin Walderhaug Bakery.  So many good things to try!

After our restorative snack, Tom and I had one more destination to reach.  We wanted to get to the Storhaugen Park, a city park on the top of a hill.  Not a mountain like Aksla or Sugarloaf.  Just a hill.  So only 15 flights of stairs instead of 40.  It was easy to see the park and we just kept heading up until we got to it.  We passed the Ålesund Church on the way but didn’t go in.  The church is only (smiley face) 110 years old.

From the top of Storhaugen Park, we had a great view of the city on three sides and the ocean and islands on the fourth side.  We could see all three of the cruise ships docked in town:  the Zuiderdam, the Nieuw Statendam, and the Ambition, from the Ambassador Cruise line.  The oldest house in town, built in 1815 was just across the way.  We could see Aksla and Sugarloaf mountains and all the islands strung along the peninsula.  It was a gorgeous view.  Even though the wind was brisk, we had warmed up climbing the hill, so we were glad to just sit and admire the beauty around us.

Tom and I walked down and down and down until we got back to the place where our ship was docked.  Down is generally easier than up.  We headed back to our room to enjoy the rest of the afternoon.  We enjoyed our trip back to Ålesund and we didn’t even have to pack and unpack our suitcases to get there.