I realize I haven’t posted in quite a few days. I have taken so many photos! I was trying to edit through them and decide which ones to add, but there are just too many. But I didn’t want to leave you all hanging so I decided to write now and add photos later.
So, we boarded the Nordnorge (pronounced Nord norga) on February 8, in Kirkenes (For reference today is February 13). Caught a bus from our hotel – the port was just a few minutes away. We checked in and they brought our bags to our suite. The suite is amazing!
OK, here’s one photo:
This is just our living room! I’ll add more later …
Anyway, since we got on the boat, we:
- Went to a midnight concert in an Arctic Cathedral in Tromso that featured a Sami (native norwegian) singer who had the voice of an angel
- Rode Icelandic Horses in Lofoten, along the beach, at night (my horse’s name was ‘Sif’ – the wife of Thor)
- Saw the northern lights FOUR TIMES! The last night was when we were in Lofoten were the best – we could see it undulating and moving!
- Made Gravlax and got to tour the kitchen
- Watched the onboard chef filet 3 salmon, and learned some techniques on how to do that
- Had cod liver oil as we crossed the Arctic Circle
- Went on a tour of a marble / limestone mine between Kristensund and Molde (closer to Molde). This included floating in rectangular wooden boats. Pretty interesting stuff – the marble in this mine is the highest quality in the world. It is mined, then crushed, and apparently used to create the glossy magazine pages that you might see in National Geographic magazine. The marble here is so pure that it must be cut with a diamond saw (marble mined in Italy and China can be cut with pressurized water)
And these were just the organized excursions.
We also walked around Hammerfest – the northernmost city in the world (there are some ‘villages’ that are farther north, but they are small) – and I joined the Royal Polar Bear Society. You can only join the society in person, in Hammerfest. Elvis Presley tried to join over the phone but was denied.
And we wandered through Trondheim, among other larger cities.
Here are a few gratuitous photos to hold you over until I get things more organized:
Me at sunset in a town – Bronnoysund
Kenn at the back of the boat – the flag says “Post” which is allowed since the boat actually does carry mail
Sif – the horse I rode in Lofoten. I asked for a ‘boring’ horse so I could relax and look around more but Sif had other ideas. First she decided to pee, and I couldn’t see what she was doing because we were pretty much in pitch black darkness, so I kept encouraging her to move but she wouldn’t. And then when she finally was ready to move, she wanted to take a shortcut. So, she kept me on my toes. The saddle is different than any other saddle I’ve sat in, but it was pretty comfortable. But I was ready to get off when we were done.
So, today we are debarking from the boat in Bergen at 1430. We’ve already been kicked out of our cabin so I am camping out on Deck 7 by the beer / wine / coffee bar.
Anyway, I’m going to do some other stuff so I’ll end for now. Be prepared for a bunch of long posts when I get organized!
Talk soon!