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I awoke to the sound of heavy rain beating against the window. Actually, I was awoken by the screaming kid in the next room - but more on the subject of screaming kids later. In any casy, my planned outing to Priekestolen, a site of natural beauty requiring a three hour hike to reach, was put off for another day. Instead I decided to have a look around some museums in the centre of Stavanger.
I went first to Stavanger Museum, where I learnt all about the history of the town. In short, it was a small town with a peak population of about 900 people during the middle ages, centred around the church. Not much happened, apart from the usual fires and witch burnings typical of the period. Then, in 1800 someone discovered that there were tons of herring sitting about off the coast just begging to be caught. So the city expanded as a major herring export centre. Anyway, the herring were fished out, and for a while the city declined until about 1900 when sardines were the in thing. So the city became a major canned sardine exporter. Something must have happened in the worldwide economy of canned Sardines, because the last sardine was canned in Stavanger in 1983.
Now Stavanger is Norway's oil capital.
All that was important because it explains why my next stop was the sardine canning museum. Yes, really. Actually, this was far more interesting than it sounds. It is essentially a preserved canning factory, with all the machines and implements used in the process of canning sardines set out as they would have been. I now know more than I usefully need to know about sardines.
After a spot of lunch, my next stop was the Maritime Museum. This was a fascinating insight into the shipping industry of Stavanger. The shipping industry just kind of came for free with all the fishing and oil prospecting that was going on. The highlight was a huge model of an oil tanker with one side cut away revealing the innards. There were also several re-created rooms of the late 1800s.
Up until now, I had been plagued by screaming kids all day. They swarmed around the museums, stomping their feet and shouting. It was most distracting. Studies have shown that nurturing, encouraging parenting leads to more balanced children than strict, corrective parenting. Well if running around museums annoying people is well balanced, maybe so. As I watched a mother scraping the cheese, tomatoes and lettuce out of a Whopper in Burger King to placate a sulking eight-year-old I decided that maybe something else was going on. These parents are not even trying. They seem to be taking the path of least resistance. Oh well, what would I know? I suppose these kids will grow up to become the kind of well balanced individuals who let their kids run shouting around museums. Tsk, young people today!
On my way back to the car I stumbled across the Norwegian Oil Museum. This was an absolutely fascinating place, full of models of oil rigs and exhibits about oil exploration and drilling, all inside a big modern building. It's amazing how big and complicated these oil platforms are. One part of the museum had mock up living quarters so you could see how the oil workers live. It was refreshing to learn about the oil industry without simultaneously getting a lecture on how it is destroying the planet. Best of all, the screaming kids were all confined in the oil rig themed play area!
I rounded off my day with a stroll around the park near the hostel I am staying in. I had some food and then sat on a bench to type this. Which I guess brings me to the end of today's writing!