Snow and Tromso

Woke up this morning to the balcony covered in snow – what a wow for a born and bred Cape Town girl.

The day was pretty much uneventful with our next excursion only taking place at 14:30 when we arrive at Tromso.

Following a leisurely breakfast we went up to the sun deck to check out the snow and take the progress photo. We are so far north now that Colin had to indicate our place on the map – this shorty cant reach.

Feedback from the 23:00 fish cake and Troll ‘snapps’ gathering last night. It was cold and raining so most people collected their drinks and fish cakes and headed indoors into one of the many lounges. Present company included. It was too dark to make out the spectacular narrow straight we were sailing through, all I could make out is that those rocks were cringe-worthy close to the ship – could almost touch them. Dont know how they do it and that in the pitch black dark.

The drink was an interesting mix of dark rum, berry juice and back (warm) tea.  The mug is kind of cute – a small beer tanker which is going to find a place in my ‘memories’ cabinet at home.

We went out on the balcony to see the Gisund Bridge in Finnsness and Colin pelted me with snow from the balcony. I tried to get him back, but honestly – I throw like a girl! I would probably miss a 2 tonne troll if it stood right in front of me.

Spent the balance of the day reading (Betty White’s – If you ask me) and Colin playing on his PS Vita.

Before the excursion to Tromso we stopped at the shop store to get some ice grips that you put over your shoes. This helps when the ice is slippery underfoot as they have little stubs that improve grip. My snowboots with their generous proportions required a large. There weren’t any that would fit over Colin’s Merrel boots in stock. However they handle slippery ice quite well due to the design of their soles.

The Tromso city tour was informative and enabled us to orientate ourselves for when we return to the city on the final leg of our trip. We saw where the bus will drop us and where our hotel is – quite close to where the Hurtigruten stops when in town.

We visited the Polarium where we saw a documentary on wildlife in the arctic region. After this we walked through the small aquarium where the stars of the show are a few charismatic seals – there is even a place to take a “sealfie” with the seal – if you time it right (with the seal swimming by behind you). 

It was rather crowded with all the Hurtigruten passengers being there at the same time, so we may return later to have a more quiet look and browse the gift shop.

Outside the Polarium is a preserved hunting vessle in a glass enclosure. What was more interesting was the rows of wooden picnic tables next to it – all covered in snow… Difficult to picture families having a snack there on the waterfront in summer when you see them so forlorn.

We crossed the iconic bridge to the mainland and visited the Artic Cathedral. Not a ‘real’ cathedral as there is no bishop in residence – actually just a ‘parish church’. However it is quite stunning from the outside and the stained glass windows (added later to block the bright summer sunlight) glows in the night. Apparently the original plain glass window let in so much sunlight that people started attending services wearing sunglasses.

We returned to the ship and a welcome cup of coffee – bless the kettle in our cabin. Despite a few stars twinkling between the clouds as we left Tromso – no glimpse of Northern lights so far. By the  way it is -3 degrees C and was dark by the time we returned to ship with some time to spare before departure at 18:30.

Waiting for our second seating supper at 20:30 and we have a load of washing in the laundry. Tomorrow night is the ‘big pack’ again as we vacate the cabin before 08:00 in Kirkeness.

Apparently there is a “presentation of stockfish” at 21:45 on deck 9 tonight…. not sure what that entails.  Tomorrow is the visit to the North Cape visitors centre. Not technically the most northern point in Europe, that is a few km’s away, but this site is more scenic and ideal for a visitor centre… or something like that.

Dissappointed that I will not be able to join the Polar Bear Society at Hammerfest. Apparently they only open at 09:00 am and the boat docks there at around 5:15am for 45 minutes. What are the chances that ‘business sense’ and ‘sanity prevails’ and they open to the ‘relatively captive audience’ which is the Hurtigruten cruise passengers? Not holding my breath 😦

Will collect the day 6 tour program on the way from supper and see what the schedule says.

Hold thumbs that the skies clear and we get a glimpse of the Aurora, that is after all why we are here in the Arctic Circle.

Okay – time to get the washing in the dryer…..