Stavanger, Norway

Stavanger. Norway. 1980s. We've visited three times. Each trip was as exciting as it could be. No doubt you've seen pictures of the fantastic fjords, the stark hills of granite rock tumbled this way and that. The Sunday hikers along the roads. Go to Canada. Castlegar and more hikers. Just like in Norway. They claim Sunday hiking is their entertainment. Yes, a hardy breed they are.

Back in Stavanger (which is the heart of the Norwegian oil business) on a Saturday evening you don't want to miss the good times at Die alt Rudd Haus, which just approximates the name of the pub painted over the entrance and means The Old Red Sea House. You're invited to a shrimp boil. Great piles of cooked shrimp are dumped on the tables in front of you. Strip your own shrimp. Make your own salad and wash it all down with buckets of beer. After you've stuffed yourself with all this food and drink, the young sports get up and dance around to the rhythm of a live band. The old hands head for their beds and the younguns carry on valiantly far into the night.