Day 49: Saturday 24th. June 2006: Sunny: after breakfast, a walk down hill to the ferry - a good 3 hour trip with music and happy people. Well! if we thought Gothenburg was quiet- this was dead. No public transport after 12.30 pm Saturday and none Sunday. So it was hoofing it again to the hostel. The hostel did not open till 4pm so while we waited Vera went off looking for food. The hostel was quiet, but we were in an even quieter part away from others. Glad I wasn't on my own. After checking in we went for a stroll, through the cemetery, through an underpass out to the seaside. Desolate. Then back again. Chatting to a young chap while we were cooking our meal. He was travelling on his own and felt ... read more

Day 44: Monday 19th June 2006: Raining: At the station we met up again with Dawn, Pat and to our surprise - Neil who was on the Hurtigruten cruise with us. What a small world!. We were allocated seats but the carriage didn't exist so we sat wherever so we sat next to each other, chatted and played cards all the way to Stockholm. It was a dirty train. This time it was easy to find our hostel with a lift , large bedroom, a whole wall of windows and an enourmous bathroom larger than the previous bedroom. It was fabulous. ALSO the kitchen had many small clean kitchens in one large room and for 20K you could rent your very own fridge. WOW. Of course it was out sightseeing and shopping for fresh food. ... read more

Day 40: 15th. June 2006: Sunny all day: We departed Bergen by train arriving at Myrdal. We did not undersatnd the message coming through and nearly did not get off in time before the train took off. We had to cross to the other platform by getting down onto the tracks which I had done, when a very nice man offered to help me with my case just as someone yelled out "train coming". With that I picked up my case, crossed the track and jumped up to the platform in a second, turned to the chap and thanked him for the offer. Amazing how light my case was at that moment. We boarded the Flambana train and had the most incredible journey down the mountain and magnificent scenery, stopping at the Kjosfossen waterfall where ... read more

Day 32: Wednesday 7th. June: Sunny: We boarded the ship "NARVIK" at 10.30 and was given the key to our cabin. We thought of 6 days on board so we unpacked everything and did our washing so the place looked like a chinese laundry in a very short time (11am). Next thing the cabin crew were telling us we were not meant to be in the cabin until 1pm so pack everything up including wet washing because the room was not ready for occupation. We started to repack slowly and then were told, it was OK to stay as the cabin had been cleaned. The cabin was OK but the shower was the best we'd had for ages as water went down he drain- not over the floor and out the door. With the housework ... read more

Day 27: Clear skies: We travelled with this bus line so try them - note dates of travel though. http://www.eskelisen-lapinlinjat.com/en/index.php We had a wonderful 9 hour bus trip from Rovaniemi to Tromso, through beautiful scenery of villages, real reindeer, snow capped mountains, partially frozen countryside of rivers and lakes. In Tromso we had booked into Hotel Ami up the hill with views over the town and harbour. Day 28: Saturday 3rd. June: Sunny then cloudy with a few drops of rain: Brekky included here and it was really good with a variety of fish and fish pastes amongst the most perfect boiled eggs you could get anywhere. When one is in another country, one tries the local food - not Vera though. I tried some of the herring - not bad - and some of ... read more