Blogs from Northern Norway, Norway, Europe - page 3

This morning we woke up in Tromso Norway. This is the 3rd largest city above the Arctic circle, with a population of about 77,000. Tromso is actually several hundred kilometers above the circle, but it has a comparatively comfortable climate because the Florida Gulf Stream pumps warm water up the east coast and across the top of the Atlantic, where is reaches Norway. Today we had delightful weather. It was sunny all day with only a slight wind. The ship's weather screen said just 51, but while we were on our excursion it seemed more like 60. But we could not have asked for anything better as far as the weather. Our ship docked at a pier in the deep-water channel, so the immediate surroundings were pretty industrial. There is another pier closer to the center ... read more

We left Lofoten Islands at 2:15 pm to head back to Bodø. A number of years ago, on an online pipe smoking group, I met Geir Arne. He posted and I noticed that he was posting from Bodø. I sent him a Messenger message and we hit it off. After some exchanges in the post of some hobby materials (ahem), and some ost, I was finally able to come here to Norway to meet him in person! We met at a place called the Bryggerikaia, a nice restaurant right on the harbour in Bodø. Shelley joined me, and she ordered a risotto to eat as she was hungry for supper. The risotto turned out to be quite tasty! She was worried it may have had too much salt. Geir and I exchanged a few gifts we ... read more

We awoke quite early this morning. Our flight from Oslo to Bodø on Norwegian Airlines was scheduled for 8:30 this morning. I woke up on my own at 20 mins to 5…..super early. Showered and ready, Shelley then got herself ready, followed by Kristine. We were downstairs and outside at the curb waiting for the shuttle bus to the airport at 5:55 am for the 6:10 shuttle. The shuttle arrived and we got on board. It didn’t take long to get to the airport. Our check in process was self-serve and pretty much seamless. We even had quick security screening access with our tickets. Wonderful stuff. Once we passed through security, we made our way towards our gate but stopped to grab a couple of items for breakfast. I had enjoyed a little package of Vestland’s ... read more

So, even though the skies were clear, no Northern Lights again. I would really love to see them once more at least so more fingers crossed. Last night us girls were putting our thinking caps on as, although we had previously crossed the Arctic Circle Northbound, we wanted to make crossing it Southbound to be an experience. So we hatched a plan to meet on the top deck but this time we would be in the hot tub drinking champagne. As we would be crossing early around 8ish it meant making sure we all had our alarm clocks on. The girls meet up on the top deck with our dressing gowns, boots and wooly hats as does Eric who is now named Erica for this purpose as he decided to join us. Mike was the official ... read more

Well you know in yesterday’s blog I told you about the gale we sailed through, well since then I have found out it was one of the worst for a number of crew and there was a lot of crew seasickness. On the tannoy today it appears people were complaining that they were struggling to see out of the windows because of the salt on the windows and they felt the windows should be cleaned - well number one it is icy and if you pour water on the windows it will turn to ice due to the sub zero temperatures and you will definitely not be able to see through the windows. Number 2 it is still too choppy out there so are we now going into the dark ages and hanging a little boy ... read more