Tromso day 2

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So, after downing 2 entirely unnecessary early morning beers at the Mack (pronounced "Muck") brewery pub, due to there being no brewery tours that day, I took myself off to the Polaria. This modern building houses an aquarium of Arctic marine life. Not the world's biggest aquarium, probably due to its fairly small pool of potential tenants. But reasonably interesting nonetheless. The centre piece is a reasonably sized tank featuring 3 bearded seals. They seemed happy (and fat) enough, but I suppose if you have spent years swimming in circles in an enlarged fishtank, with fresh fish on demand, you don't really know what you're missing out on. It also showed a film of the capture of the 3 tenants of the tank. It may just be me, but it sat a bit uncomfortably as they were literally just captured, rather than being injured seals brought here.

It also featured a short film on Svalbard which I was dead keen to see, being about to go there 2 days later. It didn't make the most of it in my view, and was a little boring. But then again, what do I know about Svalbard, never having been there myself.

By 2pm when I'd finished at the Polaria it was already dark outside, and by 3pm it was pitch black. I was surprised how this messes with the mind as I suddenly felt the desire to either go to another pub for a beer or to go for a little nap at the hotel. I decided on the former and downed beer number 3 of the day at Artur on Storgata. I then proceeded to do the latter and headed off to the hotel for a quick nap, deciding that was a better option than getting hammered by myself at 4 in the afternoon in a foreign, expensive country.

Travelling alone is great when it comes to being able to do exactly whatever you want to during the daytime. The flipside is utter boredom at night time. Sitting in a pub on your Todd doesn't make for a funfilled evening. So, Friday night was a quick dash to the worlds northernmost Burger King for a burger and chips. And a fairly expensive burger and chips at that. Still, it saved paying £30 for a pizza and beer...

Then off for another beer at a bar beside the hotel and a short read of my book. Boredom forced me back to the hotel shortly thereafter where the BBC world service channel did its best to keep me occupied for the night. I don't know if you have ever watched BBC World, but if you have you'll know that I was clearly suffering a lack of evening entertainment if that was the best thing on offer. I started watching The Shipping News, with Kevin Spacey, but after about 30 minutes decided sleep was much more appealing.

Saturday morning I afforded myself a luxuriously late start, so late I missed the 11am cut off for breakfast at the hotel. Nevermind though, there is always the world's northernmost Burger King.

Next off to the Polar Museum, which had been closing the day before when I got there (at 2.30!). It doesn't look much from the outside, a sort of red corrugated structure that looks like it would house only a few small items, rather than being a highlight of anyone's day in Tromso. How wrong. It is a veritable rabbit warren of rooms exploring the early settlers and trappers on Svalbard. It goes through trappers, seal hunters, whale hunting and famous explorers themselves. One unsettling diarama depicts an early seal hunter about to drop a large pick axe through an unassuming seal pubs noggin. Controversial to say the least. Wouldn't an adult seal have done the job as effectively without giving visiting tree huggers something to shout about?

There was also a very interesting exhibition on Roald Amundsen, Norway's most famous explorer, and whose trip to Antarctica was the inspiration for Michael Palin's Pole to Pole trip. I forgot the time and spent an hour watching a film about his groundbreaking trip through the Northwest Passage.

Having done the "tourist thing" adequately for the last day and a bit, the afternoon has been set aside for drinking beer in the mistitled "Funpub" and watching the Premiership. Man Utd are currently losing against Bolton, and my wallet is rapidly losing weight, not that I would have said it had a weight problem in the first place...

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Photos

Storgata - the main street
Tromso's main street in the afternoon