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.

Susan and I stayed up late last night. We watched the sunset and then we watched it rise again a bit later. It never even got dusk like. I find the concept to be amazing. We returned to our cabins at about 2 am. These day time naps really mess with the ability to go to bed at a "normal" hour. I had my key card demanatize a number of times since we have been on the ship. Well, as luck would have it, it somehow demagnatized between the time i got in and the time I ran out on the deck to take yet another sunrise picture. Naturally I ran out in my pajamas, because it was the middle of the night, after all, who would be awake? When I returned to our room, I was unable to open our door. I knocked a few times. I was unable to wake Michael, so down to the reception desk I went to get my key fixed. Oh yoi, caught again!

Hello family and friends. Another glorious day in our temporary slice of heaven! As Susan said, last nights dinner was delicious and enjoyed by all. We have the descriptions of every meal. Today I enter dinner time with trepidation. Green pea soup to start off. Then a lively hood fish of many centuries. Dried fish that has been grilled. Apparently, this has been a staple of the Norwegians. The fish can be stored for years, once it is dried. It takes up to one week of soaking before it is ready to be prepared. Hmmm, we shall see. I have been willing to at least try a small bite of things. Dessert sounds great. Cheesecake with berry compote. Larry has taken a picture of the meals in the evening. I see that at 10:45 pm we can have some rumalgrute. In English they call it sour cream porridge. I will try some We send our greetings to everyone at home, and hope all is well for each of you. Take care.

Greetings! Yesterday we stopped in Bodo, Norway for about two hours. We walked into town and looked in some shops.  Mormor bought an unusual looking stainless steel cake server. The rest of us looked around.  Terry, Nancy and Larry walked up the hill to see the Bodo Cathedral. Terry was quite impressed with the pulpit. It was a very high pulpit...I suppose from that vantage point the pastor can easily spot parishioners who catch naps during the sermon! Last night for dinner we had oxtail stew. It was quite delicious and enjoyed by all! We sailed into the Trollfjord last night about midnight. The Trollfjord is not long but it is quite narrow. At the end of the fjord we were amazed that the ship could actually be turned around...it seemed as if the bow of the ship was going to collide with the rocky wall of the fjord but it didn't, of course. Michele and I have been the night owls of the group, staying up late to watch the scenery and taking pictures of the midnight sun. We just can't get over the fact that it doesn't get dark. I watched huge schools of herring swimming near the ship...they look like rippling ovals in the water. Everywhere we look there are snow-capped peaks which seem to rise out of the water. This afternoon we will stop in Tromso for about four hours so we are planning to do some sightseeing there. As I write we are leaving Finnsnes. The sun is shimmering on the water, making the mountains even more stunningly beautiful. We have been blessed with good weather...no rain since we left Oslo!

Bokmå!

A few pictures from Norway...



Grams on the train!





Midnight in Norway.



We stopped in Trondheim for 4 hours this morning. That meant we had to be showered and be at breakfast by 8 am. Breakfast was good. Norwegian pancakes, warm scrambled eggs, sausage etc. We saw the cathedral in Trondheim. It is very beautiful and full of history. Very interesting to hear about the start of Christianity in Norway. My nugget of information for the day: it has only been about 1 month since separation of church and state here in Norway. We were back on the ship by noon for lunch. The ice cream was the best part today! I tried a fish cake, one bite was enough! There was some type of eggrolls. Interesting selection of root vegetables, boiled potatoes with a gravy, pork roast and ham. Of course the standard offerings were there. Muscles, herring of many flavors, poached salmon, fish eggs (no thank you) and shrimp with their heads on. I tried a shrimp the other day, and yes I took the head off and the long tentacles from the legs. I love shrimp but not in their original dress! Mike and I took an afternoon nap. Vacation like this is lovely:-) It has been so relaxing to just sit in the library, because it has internet and watch the absolutely beautiful scenery go by. We have found it quite fun to watch them dock, and undock the ship and unload cargo and reload it. As Mike would say, I can watch people work all day! We hope all is well with family and friends at home.

We didn't get a chance to write yesterday, so I will try to jot down some highlights from both yesterday and today. Yesterday we spent a good portion of the day sailing on the Geirangerfjord. It was unbelievably picturesque, with waterfalls everywhere we looked. Some of us spent time on the top deck drinking in the amazing scenery. It was pretty chilly (at least for the Arizona contingent) and we're finding that dressing in layers is the way to go. We enjoyed our first sit-down dinner in the dining room last night. Our table for seven is located by a stern window, affording us a beautiful vantage point. So far, the food has been good. There is a smorgasbord for breakfast and lunch, while there is a fixed menu for dinner. Earlier today we docked in the city of Trondheim. We had time to see the Nidaros Cathedral, which was built during Medieval times. King Olav is thought to be buried in the church. Olav died in battle in 1030, and because people witnessed healing miracles associated with him, Olav was canonized and is regarded as the patron saint of Norway. What an incredible experience it was to see the cathedral! The stonework was done during three separate periods of time, reflecting different types of architecture. There is an organ that has over 9,000 pipes...wish we could have stayed long enough to hear it being played. The stained glass work in the cathedral was breathtaking, especially the huge circular window over the pipe organ. .

As I write this we are on the ship and underway. It is about 11 at night and it is still very light outside. It really won't get completely dark tonight-very weird! Susan has not felt well today so she has pretty well been down for the count. We are hoping she will feel better tomorrow. I have eaten a lot of Norwegian style food today-fish, cheese, delicious bread and the best soft ice cream you have ever eaten. I did some exploring around the beautiful harbor of Bergen with its bustling fish markets and interesting old churches. Even caught a brief organ rehearsal at the cathedral which was quite inspiring. The weather really cooperated today with some rare sun and decent temps. Everyone else is doing well and enjoying themselves. Larry, Nancy, Mike and Michele went on a cog rail up to the top of a mountain and visited museums while Marlys stayed the full day with Susan while I made some brief time for sightseeing. Hope all of you are well back home. Will write more tomorrow if possible.

Well today could be called Norway train day for us. We caught the train for Bergen that left at 0630 from the Oslo station. For the first 5 hours we went through some magnificent portions of the country, including magnificent forests and mountains that still had plenty of snow-enough for some on the train to start a snowball fight during a stop! We then got off at myrdal and hopped on the Flam train that descends into a valley with some of the most amazing scenery that you could ever imagine-high mountains with waterfalls everywhere-small pastoral towns straight out of a postcard-really awesome! We then reboarded our train to Bergen where we are staying at the Clarion hotel down by the waterfront. The Norwegian trains are very clean and they run exactly on time! The trains we took are surely some of the best in the world for scenery. We are all pretty beat from the first four days of the trip and are looking forward to a good nights rest. Tomorrow we board the ship in the late afternoon but we will get to see some of Bergen beforehand. Good night to all!

We enjoyed a very full day of sightseeing in Oslo. Susan's mother, Marlys, was such a trooper! We walked a long way to find a tour bus called, ''The Get On-Get Off.'' It was much further than we anticipated but she kept going with just a couple respite stops. Way to go, Mom! We bought tickets that allowed us to stop and see the highlights of Oslo as we chose and then reboard to go onto the next site. We started off by seeing City Hall, which was rich in art and descriptive history of Norway. The Nobel Peace prizes are awarded at City Hall as well, so that was quite interesting to see where that takes place! Next we visited the Norwegian Folk Museum. That was a huge open-air museum that had 150 homes and buildings that had been transported from all over Norway and erected on the grounds. I think our favorites were the Gol Stave Church (built in the 1200's) and the old log homes with grass-thatched roofs. We visited inside of one where two young Norwegian women were making Hardanger lefse. We got to taste it (for a fee, of course!)...what a treat! Then it was on to the Viking Ship Museum where we saw Viking artifacts and two fine examples of Viking Ships...one was a war ship and the other a pleasure craft. Who knew that Vikings had fun? Terry and I went on to the Norwegian Resistance Museum and learned many fascinating things about the resistance movement during the Nazi occupation of Norway during WWII. Our final stop for the day was Vigelandsparken. The immense park is filled with sculptures of human beings from the various developmental periods of life infancy through the elderly. Gustav Vigeland worked on these 600 statues from 1924 to 1943. The park is a must see for tourists and frequented by the locals as well...quite beautiful. Terry and I walked back to the flat where we are staying without getting lost!! We leave our host's home at 5:30 am to board a train to Bergen. Think of us as you relax this evening. Envision, if you can, our motley crew of seven with all our bags in tow. It's quite a parade to behold! Good night from Oslo.

We have arrived in Oslo after three flights and nine time zones! We met up with the Minnesota family in Reykjavik just as planned and then went on to Oslo. We rode a bus from the airport to the city center of Oslo, trying to decipher the driver's Norwegian well enough to instruct us where to get off the bus.  Michele finally walked up the driver and just asked! Once we got off with all of our bags, the fun really began! We took a number of wrong turns but eventually got to our destination-the home of Hilda.  She is very nice and provided a delicious lunch.  We will be comfortable in her home for the next two nights.  Susan and I walked around the center of the city and did some sightseeing.  Tomorrow is a very big day of checking things out.  The weather here is very wet and cool-doesn't feel at all like summer.  But as you might guess everything is very green!

Countdown to Norway!

Next week we leave for a wonderful adventure in Norway!  We will fly from Phoenix to Denver where we will board a flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. There we will rendezvous with Susan's family from Minnesota.  After a short layover we  fly to Oslo, Norway.  That will begin a fabulous trip that includes a train trip across Norway and a scenic fjord cruise.  We are very excited about taking this trip together!  We plan on posting a travel log here to let you know where we are and what we are seeing and doing.  Stay tuned for news from Norway!