Disembarking the ship is soon upon us. We have all set our suitcases by the elevators. The ship people will pick them up and deliver them to the Hurtigruten terminal. Everything else we have to cart around with us. We had to be out our cabins by 10 am. The ship will dock in Bergen at 2:30 pm. We found a nice quiet corner of the ship that we can gather all seven of us and our stuff. We have our last lunch on the ship. We are taking turns going to lunch so that all of our bags are not left unattended. We are knitting, reading, surfing and chatting, just to pass the time. It is a drizzling, gloomy and windy day. It will be sad to have our family time come to and end. However 12 days on a ship is quite enough for me. Back on our homeland tmorrow.

We have not made many stops that allowed us much time to get off and explore on the southbound trip. We did stop in Trondheim for almost four hours this morning but since the ship left again at 10 am nothing was open. However, Terry and I had a brisk walk from the pier into the city where we ran into Larry and Nancy! Such a small world! We saw Stiftsgarden which is the royal residence in Trondheim. The king wasn't there, we concluded, as his standard was not flying above the palace. Since we have been on the ship for eleven days now, we have gotten to know a number of the staff members. They have all been great but there is one young woman in particular who we've found to be hilarious! She is working on the ship for the summer, even though she doesn't like boats. She is a literature major at the university in Trondheim. Last night we were asking her about the popularity of these cruises during the winter. She said the Germans and the Italians like to come and see the snow. She also told us that some Japanese tourists asked to be notified in their cabins when the ship flipped the switch to turn on the northern lights! Somehow they thought the ship had the power to turn them on and off. As she told us this story, she wondered aloud about the intelligence level of these tourists...for a better and more accurate rendition, ask somebody to tell you this story in person! Tomorrow afternoon we dock in Bergen, where we spend the night. On Sunday we'll be on our way home. SOS! Is anybody out there? We're feeling quite alone on this ship!

Hello from Norway - we hope all is well for each of you. Our paradise is almost to a close :( Dinner last night got a 66% rating. The reindeer cured in Aquavit brought the score down! It may have been cured (from what we do not know) but it was raw. Sure it was pickled from alcohol, but raw none the less. Entree was good, artic char, asparagus, hollandaise sauce and potatoes. Dessert was blueberry parfait. Last night, at midnight, Mom, Susan & Terry, Nancy & Larry and myself attended a midnight concert at the Artic Cathedral in Tromso. There was a harpsichord player, a flutist, a celloist and a soloist. It sounded pretty. However, aside from the names of the songs, I have no idea what the soloist was singing. The acoustics were marvelous. There were no microphones and it was crisp and clear. It was all in Norwegian. We have had many short stops on Day #9, Southbound. The stops in the middle of night are rarely seen. If we have at least an hour, some or all of us will get off and check out the town. We had a stop stockmarknes. Mike, my Mom and Myself went to see the Hurtigruten museum. I found it quite interesting to see the history of this cruise lines. See you all in in 4 or 5 days.

Make that Arctic Cathedral-not Attic!

Today we reached the turn around point of our journey in Kirkenes which is very close to the Russian border. The five Minnesotans took a bus tour that went to the border and they got to see an area where some of the locals hid out during the final stages of WW2 when the Germans were driven from the area by the Russians. Terry and Susan walked into town and toured an underground bomb shelter called Andersgrotta. The townspeople would flee there during the bombing raids-2,500 could pack in. They went through 320 bombing runs from the Soviets who were trying to drive the Germans out. It was an amazing place. We continue to have good weather and it has been sunny most days. We have stopped at many small towns as well as the larger ones. I read today that these towns have an average of 79 days where the sun never sets in the summer but also have 58 days in the winter when it never rises! That would be pretty tough for anyone who likes sun! Tonights dinner had venison as the main course-most of us agreed it was not the kitchens finest moment! But we are all well fed (too much so for some of us) so no complaints there. Tomorrow night we go to a midnight concert at the Attic Cathedral in Tromso which should be great. We will let you know how it goes. Have a good day!

Today we had a lengthy stop in Honningsvag. Since it is Sunday not much was open, despite the fact that three cruise ships had docked there. Besides the Trollfjord there was a HUGE ocean liner called the Ocean Princess. It had to have been at least three times the size of our ship! Terry and I took a long walk on shore and got to see the Honningsvag church. At the end of World War II when the Germans left this area they burned the entire city except for the church. Amid the burned ruins of the city stood the church, untouched. The pictures we saw of this were quite stark and gave us a clear idea of the kind of destruction that happened during the war. Tonight there will be a seafood buffet and we are hoping that they will serve king crab. Tomorrow morning we arrive in Kirkenes, which is the northern endpoint for the ship. From there we start the return trip to Bergen. Adjo for now!

My update on last nights supper: the green pea soup -delicious. I thought it would be a split green pea soup. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was fresh green pea soup with a dollop of crem'e fresh. Delicious. The entree? Not so much. It was like eating strong flavored fish jerky. Two bites were enough for me! We travelled across open water last night. The ship was rocking and rolling. Everyone fared well through the night. It seems that the larger waves were not a problem for anybody.