Sunday 04 September 2022--At about 2:00am on 23 January 1904, a fire started in a canning factory in the west end of Ålesund. Under normal circumstances, perhaps, the factory would have burned down, and that would have been that. On this night, however, a fierce southwest gale was blowing, and the fire spread rapidly. The townsfolk were quickly evacuated into the winter night. It took a full day, and then some, to get the fire under control, by which time most of the town had been destroyed. Remarkably, there was only one fatality--an elderly woman who went back into her house to retrieve her purse-- but 10,000 people were left homeless.

Aid came quickly from around Norway and from abroad, from governments, aid agencies, and private donations. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who felt some affinity for the region, sent four ships with relief supplies and materials for temporary shelters.* Reconstruction took three years; the town was rebuilt in stone and brick, in the then-fashionable Art-Nouveau style. The result is a town considered by many to be Norway's prettiest. I've been admiring the architecture since I arrived, and do again on a morning stroll today. Wander into Aalesunds Museum, which, like the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, centers on its city's greatest disaster, but also documents social and natural history of the region. It's not a really large museum, but I manage to kill an hour or so there.

I wander around a bit more, then go for a pint at the Brooklyn Bar, as prelude to a nap. Have I napped every day since I arrived? No, I didn't have a bed available the day I checked out of the Hotel Neptun, before boarding Hurtigruten in the evening. Other than that, yeah...and I would have napped that day, too, if we'd boarded on time. I could plead jet lag, even after being here a week, but the fact is I'm just not used to being out and about all day long anymore, and I wear down more easily than I'd like. It is what it is.

There's another beautiful sunset down at the harbor this evening. I've had a week straight of splendid weather. Dinner is fish and chips from a kiosk at the head of the harbor, "probably the best in the world," according to their sign. A matter of opinion...I'd prefer the Anstruther Fish Bar, but this is good enough. Walk into Molo just as they're closing, early hours on a Sunday. I find pints at Dirty Nelly, Ålesund's requisite Irish pub. It's fine for what it is, but I'd rather be in Molo on my last night in town. Small complaints, it's been a fine visit.