SOLIVETSKY ISLANDS These are six islands located in the White Sea just 150 km from the Arctic Circle. The islands have long been used as a place of retreat and a place of exile. The Solivetsky Monastery was seated in the 15 th century. It is located on Solivaetsky Island. It was originally built as a monastery but has always had prisoners. The wall are built of hug boulders 6 meters thick and 11 meters tall. The main buildings are connected by covered walkways. The Uspensky Cathedral was built in 1551-1557, the Preobrazhensky Cathedral (1556-1564) and the Annunciation Church (1596-1601) Chu4ch of St. Nicholas 1834. There were also sleeping rooms for the songs, a kitchen and a refectory and a water mill on the premises. Many people still visit Solovetsky. There are two ferries that run ... read more

TODAY WE ARE IN TRONDHEIM. We are still having fabulous weather although they are telling us that by the time we get to Hammerfest it will be raining. Well, we'll see. We have been to Trondheim before so we are taking the shuttle into town and walking around. We found our first Burger King so we went in to try out the WiFi It was far superior to that on the ship and I got all my pictures from my phone uploaded into the cloud. I shall publish some of those pictures with this posteven though they are from other ports. Sorry for the confusion but this seems to be the best that I can do.... read more

YESTERDAY we were in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands. We didn’t get off the ship. We had been here before. Dennis’s back has not been doing well, so we decided to take it easy for a day. Today we are in Bergen. It is still a beautiful city. We haven’t been here since 1985l Today is a beautiful day, bright and sunny and warm for Norway. We had a private tour to Lysekloster Island. A very famous Norwegian. Ole Bull owned this island and built a house here. Ole Bull was a violinist of great renown. He was a friend of Grieg. He was extremely popular during his life and traveled all over the world. He built his house in one year on this island using local workmen and native pine. It have bits and pieces of architectural ... read more

DENNIS POINTED OUT THAT I WAS NOT OF THE NAUTILUS AND GOING BELOW THE SEA SURFACE BUT WAS INDEED ON THE NAUTICA. I HATE SPELL CHECK Anyway I finally got my picture to upoad from my phone so here they are a day late.... read more

The people who live on the Isle of Man are English but not British, they are Manx. They have their own government and are a crown dependency. The Queen of England is not their Queen, she is the Lord of Man. Settled by the Vikings, it has its own government, Tynwald, which has run continuously since 979. A.D. It has an associate status in the EU, its own currency and its own language (manx Gaelic). The population of sheep outnumbers that of people by 2 to 1. The islands highest point is Snaefell which means snow mountain in Viking language.We rode to the top on a series of two electric trains. The train rides were interesting but very loud. Scenery was beautiful going up the mountain. We passed a huge waterwheel called the Isabela that pumps ... read more