Norway - Part 6

Shipboard Life ; Tromso

We spent about 5.5 days aboard our ship, Polarlys. It was the largest ship we had ever sailed on and the most time we had ever spent aboard a ship. Since the ship was our home for several days, we became well acquainted with its layout and services. Here's the corridor leading to our room on deck 5.

Our room was small, but comfortable. The shower worked. Hot water was always quickly available. We could drink tap water. Room service would empty trash, make beds, and change towels daily. There was TV and shipboard WiFi. The bathroom door is on the right.

Small room size was really only a minor inconvenience. For example, I frequently banged my elbow against a bathroom shelf while shaving or combing my hair. There was a fairly narrow gap between the foot of our bed and the wall. But, overall, it was a modern, clean, nice, comfortable, private room.

One deck below us, on deck 4, there were meeting rooms like the one pictured next where we heard a talk about the northern lights. The ship's staff also offered several talks about arctic life and available excursions.

Deck 4 also had a gift shop where items ranging from travel necessities to expensive clothing and jewelry were on sale.

Near the gift store was an information desk where helpful crew members would answer questions about schedules, excursions, and daily itineraries.

Deck 4 also contained the dining room where we had all our meals. Here is the hallway leading to the dining room.

The dining room was quite nice. For some meals we had assigned seats and were served by waiters, but many meals, including breakfasts, were buffets. One typical buffet spread is shown in the second picture below.

The food was good. Dinners of salmon, arctic char, lamb and chicken were served. Rich, thick soups were offered. It was hard to resist bacon and eggs every morning, though I tried to balance it with fruit. I couldn't comprehend the heavy, cheesy breakfasts some passengers heaped on their plates. I did miss my usual breakfast cereal. One morning I tried a mix of corn flakes with several other muesli type offerings. I sprinkled what looked like coconut shavings on top. That was a disaster. Apparently, what I thought was coconut was actually some kind of foul dairy product that completely ruined the cereal bowl for me.

Passengers could also order a meal in the Brygga Bistro instead of eating in the main dining room.

Check out the menu items and prices above. Roughly convert from krone to dollars by dividing by eight. The hamburger and the shrimp sandwich cost $23.63 each. The sirloin is $36.88. A cup of coffee is $4. Also on offer at the Brygga Bistro were enormous king crabs which passengers could view in all their alien monster beauty.

Deck 7 had a very nice indoor observation lounge where passengers could comfortably watch passing scenery. I might have spent more time here, but, unfortunately, I have a strong personal dislike for loathsome, inescapable background music which continually played almost everywhere on deck 7. For some reason, background music drives me crazy! The three pictures below show a complete walk around the observation lounge. The view from the front windows was distorted by raindrops.

Deck 7 also had a snack bar offering sandwiches, pastries, cakes, ice cream, and cookies. The snack bar had its own nice lounge area featuring a puzzle table, and a bin containing books and magazines. Annoying, gratuitous background music also ruined this attractive lounge for me.

Finally, I have to mention motion sickness. Ship motion was relatively gentle most of the time, but it was definitely noticeable. There were two periods of time when it was particularly bad. Then I needed to lie in bed with eyes closed. I never actually felt like throwing up, but the swaying and rocking definitely took away my appetite, made me vaguely unsettled, and gave me a slight headache. Thank goodness I never had to use one of these bags!

Overnight and through the following morning we sailed further north along the coast toward our next destination, Tromso. Here's a panoramic scene from along the way. Click on the image to enlarge it.

We reached Tromso (pronounced Tromsa) in the afternoon. Although Tromso, at north latitude 69.7 degrees, may be the aurora capital of the world, we would see no auroras there on our visit. Once again, it was dreary, dark, drizzly, and completely overcast, though not overly cold or windy, with temperature at about 40 degrees F. On the bright side, we were set gloriously free for four hours to wander around on our own!

We first walked to Polaria, an aquarium/museum about arctic wildlife. It was a modest exhibit where we saw seals being trained. We also saw a strange suction fish.

We left Polaria fairly quickly and walked around town. Our journey took us up this path lined with birch trees.

The Tromso library had a unique modern look.

These copper lamps were interesting. Notice the reflection from Burger King in the lamp shop window. Yes, even Tromso has a Burger King at 69.7 degrees north! Could this be the world's northern most Burger King?

One of the cozy shops had reindeer pelts for sale at $175 per pelt. They also offered some interesting reindeer snacks.

The gloomy weather continued as we kept exploring.

Eventually, we ran out of energy and headed back to the ship. Tromso seemed like a modern, friendly place. It had lots of hotels, a university, and an airport. If I ever wanted to view more auroras in the future, I would need to come directly here and stay long enough to wait for clear skies and ongoing geomagnetic storms.

After Tromso, our ship continued sailing north during the night to bring us to the tour's most northern location at Nordkapp.

Norway - Part 5

Trondheim to Bodo

After a night of rough seas I woke feeling lethargic with no appetite. At 7:08 am this morning we crossed the arctic circle, two degrees further north than we'd ever been!

What's this!? Actual sunlight? On our way to Bodo we passed this "Bird Island" temporarily illuminated by some sunshine. Announcements from the boat claimed there were 10,000 birds on the island. I saw zero birds. Click on the panoramic image to enlarge it.

Eventually, we docked in Bodo, pronounced "Boda". By some miracle it wasn't raining as we exited the ship. The miracle lasted about one minute before pelting rain resumed as we walked to the start of our next adventure - a nature tour of local waters in a rigid inflatable boat (RIB). Our regular clothing was completely unsuitable for the conditions we were about to endure. Fortunately, the RIB operators provided us with a complete set of gear, including a heavy waterproof bodysuit, hat, safety goggles, mittens, and a life jacket.

Then we waddled out to a dock and boarded the RIB. Sitting on the boat was like sitting on a horse or the round side of a barrel because the seats weren't like normal chairs. Each passenger could hold on to a sturdy, inverted u-shaped metal support in front of us. And, believe me, we needed to hold on!

Our pilot eased us away from the dock, told us to hang on, and announced, "Cruising speed, 30 knots!" Then he opened the throttle and, whoa! We blasted out into the open harbor with surprising speed and acceleration. It felt a little like the first hill on a roller coaster. If I was a little drowsy before, I was now fully alert!

After about 45 seconds our pilot/guide brought the boat to a stop and walked from the back to the front to address us. This guy was quite a character. He told us his name was Henry Johnson, but, in spite of his English sounding name, he was born on the remote offshore island he pointed to behind him. He had spent much of his life on boats in Bodo, and knew the local waters intimately. In addition, he had served in the military special forces. Henry was built like Hercules - tall, thick, carved from cinder blocks. He told us our life jackets would automatically inflate if we fell in the 45-degree water, but not to worry because we wouldn't last long in water that cold.

Henry returned to his pilot position behind us and took us out of the relatively quiet harbor into the open sea. Here there were small, but real, waves, maybe a couple feet high, which the RIB bounced over with occasional violent jolts. It took me about 5 minutes to adapt to the ride. The key was to absorb the bumps with leg muscles instead of an unprepared rigid tailbone. I could see how Henry tried to steer the boat to avoid crashing directly from a peak to a trough.

As we sped and jolted along Henry told us there was a NATO airbase at Bodo. We passed the tall antennas of a NATO listening post. During the Cold War Bodo was an important base relatively near Russia. Henry said Francis Gary Powers' U2 plane had taken off from Bodo before it was shot down.

After a substantial amount of jolting over rough water we turned into a calmer fjord and cruised up to some incredibly warped and folded rock layers.

It was difficult to get images free of heads!

Imagine the enormous strength of geologic forces required to bend rock layers like this.

While climbing into my waterproof gear I remembered to tuck my phone in an outer pocket. Once out in the boat, however, it was nearly impossible to get any pictures unless the boat was completely stopped. To get a picture I had to remove my mittens, reach into the side pocket, extract the phone, and operate it with numbing fingers. I could easily imagine fumbling the phone in the jouncing, speeding boat, losing my grip, and watching helplessly while it flipped up in the air and over the side into deep remote waters never to be seen again. 

So I can only use words to describe some other things seen from the RIB. We saw five white-tailed sea eagles, three in flight, and two perched side by side atop a small island. We saw a salmon farm up close. In one circular enclosure the salmon were leaping up a foot or so into the air all over the enclosure. Henry told us an interesting fact. He said, at present prices, one salmon is worth the same as a barrel of (petroleum) oil!

At the end of our trip down the fjord we came to a place under a bridge where a strong tidal current from water traveling in two directions created a number of whirlpools. Our boat navigated among the whirlpools which were, at times, fairly intimidating. The whirlpools were around 10 meters or so in diameter, and it was kind of scary being only a few meters away from whirlpool centers where water was being pulled down in a swirl. For Henry, this was just another day at the office as he joked about losing a few tourists every year to the whirlpools. While approaching the whirlpools the Sun finally broke through some clouds. A magnificent rainbow arched across the sky behind the bridge. This would have made a spectacular picture, but there was no way I was going to risk fumbling my phone while the boat weaved among whirlpools. After the complete rainbow had vanished, the boat stopped long enough for me to capture a small remnant.

It was a long, flying trip at high speed back to the dock in Bodo with wind blasting my face the whole way. By the time we returned, all I could say was, "Wow! That woke me up!"

Exhilarated, we struggled out of our heavy waterproof gear, put our normal coats on again, walked back to our ship, and climbed aboard. We sailed two hours further north to the dock at Stamsund. There we got off the ship and onto a bus for the drive to our "Viking Feast". The feast took place at an accurately reconstructed Viking longhouse built on the site of a real ancient longhouse which existed from the years 750 to 1100. The ancient longhouse was discovered by archeologists working at the site. Reenactors, dressed in authentic period clothes recreated the Viking Yule ceremony for us. 

Our reenactor/guide, Christian, invited us to take a trip back in time with him as he explained the details and context of the Yule ceremony during our bus journey. Since we shared the bus with a German tour group, the guide had to give his talk in double segments, first in German, then in English. I marveled at his language skill. His German and English were spoken flawlessly, precisely, and without hesitation. 

Christian explained how dark it was at the time of the Yule ceremony, not only because there is no daylight at Yule time above the arctic circle (winter solstice), but also because indoor lighting like lamps, fires, and candles would be much dimmer than modern electric lights. It was, in fact, quite dark when we exited the bus and walked toward the longhouse. The Viking chieftain's wife held a torch to greet us at the door and welcome us inside. Once inside the chieftain's wife was asked to pose for some pictures. When one of our group showed the Viking host a picture on her phone, the reenactor stayed in character and said, "Ooohh! Where did you get that magic box?" I loved that response!

Soon we were all seated at long tables waiting for the ceremony to begin. Our table was next to the chieftain's table at the head of the long room. You can see it from the side and the front in the next two pictures.

Two drinks were placed before each guest, as you can see in the next view looking down the banquet hall. One glass held water and the other glass held mead.

Before the food was served various ceremonies took place conducted by a shaman and the Viking chieftain himself. The chieftain's wife beat a drum and chanted along with all the guests. I regret not having better pictures! It seems the reenactors were never facing my camera! In the next picture the chieftain is wiping sacrificial blood on a wooden carving of, probably, one of the ancient Viking gods while his wife, in the red garment, beats a drum and chants.

Soon our meal was served. It was lamb, turnips, carrots, barley, and bread with no gravy or special fancy sauce. I guess most people would describe it as plain, but I like plain. I enjoyed the food. We were given a knife and spoon, but no fork. I felt quite medieval spearing food with my knife instead of using a fork. During the meal we were entertained by music played on a flute-like instrument, a lute, and a mouth harp. There was also singing and dancing along with many "skolls" as we drank mead at each of the chieftain's toasts. I had never had mead before. It was sweet and very easy to sip. Before leaving we saw the other half of the longhouse shown in the pictures below.

While we enjoyed the Viking Feast our ship had sailed on to another port in Svolvaer a bit further north. We boarded there and continued overnight to our next destination, Tromso.

Norway - Part 4

Bergen to Trondheim

Upon sailing out of Bergen during early evening on our ship, Polarlys, we immediately became aware of the ship's gentle rocking and swaying. My stomach was already frothy from hours on lurching buses, so I found this motion slightly sickening. Once in bed, with eyes closed, I tried to imagine being rocked like a baby. This helped some, but instead of a soft lullaby, I heard gurgling plumbing as the ship swayed.

By the time we finished our substantial breakfast buffet the next morning we had sailed into the Hjorundfjord. There we climbed onto a small tender boat and got delivered ashore at the tiny village of Urke. Here's our ship and the Hjorundfjord as seen from our landing point at Urke.

Click on the next image to enlarge the panoramic view.

We boarded a bus and took a tour from Urke into a glacial valley called, Norangsdalen. The next few hours were one of the unexpected, wonderful surprises of our trip. The glacial valley looked grim on this rainy, overcast day.
Click on the next image to enlarge a panoramic view down the valley.

Our elderly guide slowly told stories of life in the valley in a charming accent while our younger bus driver often chuckled at the guide's quirky expressions. It's amazing to think people actually made a living by farming here over the course of centuries. They moved cattle up the valley in summer and "milk maids" lived in these huts to tend the cows on "summer farms". The women would bring milk down the valley by walking the buckets down in what must have been backbreaking labor.

On our way back out of the valley we stopped at a small place called, Oye, to have lunch at the fabulous Union Hotel seen below.

Lunch was a very delicious lamb and vegetable soup accompanied by a lightly sugared, buttered pancake. The food was wonderful, but the hotel itself was an almost perfectly preserved remnant of life in 1891! As I explored different rooms and floors of the hotel I seemed to have entered a time machine and emerged in the late 1800's!

Imagine relaxing in a dimly lit room like the one below on a rainy afternoon in 1891.

A number of famous people have stayed at this hotel, and their names are inscribed on the doors of their rooms. Roald Amundsen had a room beneath this stairway.

Follow C down this hallway to the sitting area at the end.

Pass rooms where Karen Blixen and Arthur Conan Doyle stayed.

At the end of the hallway is a place to sit and listen to a Victrola!

Imagine the impossibly old-fashioned, tinny music emerging from records played on this thing!

My grandparents had a Victrola just like this in the house I lived in until I was 6 years old. I remember cranking up its spring-driven motor. I still have some records they played on this device, and they do sound impossibly old-fashioned and tinny.

This was Kaiser Wilhelm's Room.

I wonder if A. C. Doyle might have wandered past this mounted moose and settled in the quiet library nook to read.

The Union Hotel was one of the loveliest places we visited on the entire tour.

We climbed back on our bus, drove back to the dock at Urke, and were ferried out to our ship to resume sailing north. That evening, from the ship, I saw the first dramatic auroral display described in a previous blog.

The next day we arrived in Trondheim, the third largest Norwegian City. Our energetic, dimpled guide took us on a walking tour. The damp modern streets were nearly empty on this overcast Saturday morning.

On our way to the Trondheim Nidaros Cathedral we passed some older wooden buildings, a medieval church, and a pretty shop.

We paused for obligatory photos before the massive cathedral facade. The cathedral was built between the years 1070 to 1300, and is the world's northern most medieval cathedral.

Adjacent to the cathedral was the archbishop's palace, some parts dating from the 1160's. The whole area had a medieval feel to it.

Click on the next panoramic view from near the archbishop's palace to enlarge it.

Our cheerful, relentless guide next marched us to a colorful area of old wharves and warehouses. Click on the next panoramic image to enlarge it.

The streets in the Bakklandet neighborhood behind the wharves were lined with cafes and colorful wooden houses. The cafes were inviting, but there was no time to stop. There was no auto traffic. On a warm, sunny day it might have been nice to sip some tea at an outside table, but not so much this day in the cold drizzle.

This sign says: Keep calm ... enjoy Bakklandet.

Lots of people ride bikes in Norway, and, from what I could see, weather doesn't stop them. Commuting cyclists wore waterproof rain gear and just got on with the task. It helps that even in remote towns there are miles of beautiful paved bike paths running parallel to the main highways.

One unique and fascinating thing we saw in Trondheim was the Bicycle Lift transport device located at the base of a long, steep hill in the Bakklandet neighborhood. As we approached the Bicycle Lift a guy on a bike was getting set to use it. He had his well-behaved dog on a leash and had been riding with the dog trotting in parallel beside him. While the dog waited patiently, the guy somehow hooked his right foot into a wedge-shaped "pusher" located in a grooved track. The grooved track ran all the way up the hill in a curb between the street and the sidewalk. The wedge-shaped "pusher" is, apparently, attached to a cable that pulls it, and the attached biker, up the hill! I curse myself for not getting any good pictures of the system in operation. By the time I fumbled around searching for my camera, the guy was already 80 percent up the hill and disappearing in the distance. You can try enlarging the second picture below which contains some English instructions (on the left) for using the device. By the way, it's free!

We boarded our ship again and left Trondheim. During the evening the ship moved away from protected coastal waters for a while and we felt significant motion. The ship's elevators between decks were shut down because the motion was so violent. Feeling slightly sick, we retreated to our beds and closed our eyes. Later, I made an attempt to observe an auroral display through clouds from the rocking deck, but soon gave up and returned to bed as I described in a previous post. We sailed on toward Bodo, our next destination.