Now I’ve always had a picture of Brighton in my head and that was the Royal Pavilion on the water. So we headed down to the water and found the pier, which had rides and touristy things but no Pavilion. It was cold and windy but we walked all the way to the end of the pier, getting chilled to the bone, and not finding what I was looking for, we stopped at a tea room and warmed up with tea and cake. We then found a map and saw that the Pavilion was not on the water so we headed there and it was beautiful. We were on the back side, which has a lovely park and being England, there was still plenty in bloom. After walking and walking and walking (almost 19,000 steps), we took the train back to Gatwick. Anne and I stopped at Marks & Spencer in the terminal for things to go with our breakfast sandwich and went back to our room for a hotel picnic, some TV and early bedtime. Despite our lack of sleep, it had been a fun first day and the tour started the next morning. Yee ha!
Here's a link to our tour leader's blog entry. I'll try to add some personal flavor below.
They did eventually let her back and after a quick bus trip, we checked in at our hotel. This was our view. With a couple of hours to kill before dinner, Anne and I made a beeline to the yarn shop by the hotel, where I was greeted with wheel barrows full of sock yarn outside the shop. HEAVEN! We headed across the way to check out the shops and then had a nice welcome dinner. We went to bed relatively early, still fighting a bit of jet lag.
We had a tour of Bergen the next morning and then had the afternoon free. We shopped a bit (yes, I bought more sock yarn) then hit Starbuck's for a Norway mug and a warming latte. From there, we took the funicular up the mountain for gorgeous views of the city. The sun was shining and it wasn't horribly cold, which surprised me. In later afternoon we headed to our ship - The Nordlys. We had upgraded our cabin to one with a window but apparently should have upgraded even further. This was our double cabin. Yikes! When Janice and Shelley had the same one but took one look at it and got a 2nd cabin. Anne and I decided to tough it out and save that money for yarn. Since we spent very little time in there, we did just fine. With the couch pulled down (my bed), we had to work around each other in the mornings and there's no pic of the micro tiny bathroom but we worked it out and survived just fine.
The food on the ship was interesting. We had buffet breakfasts and lunches and sit down dinners at assigned tables. There were 2 sides at the buffets - Norwegian food on one side and British(ish) on the other. This was most obvious at breakfast, when Scandinavians eat lunch meat and crackers rather than bacon and eggs. I tried some Norwegian stuff but at lunches instead of breakfasts.
The knitters took over the bar on deck 7 for our workshop area. They turned the lights up and we had gorgeous views from both sides. It was also super convenient to the elevator that was right by our cabin. We started our first day with a workshop where we started a colorwork cowl that Carol had designed for our trip. Drinking coffee while knitting with new friends with gorgeous views of somewhere I've never been before - does life get any better?
So each day we had one port where we could get off the ship. Our MO was to walk and walk and walk, always with a yarn shop or 2 as our destination. But in between ports where we could get off, the ship stopped at towns all along the way. This happened 24/7 so sometimes it would be in the wee hours of the morning. They'd be there only to offload some produce (they provision the towns up and down the coast) and exchange some passengers. It was interesting to see the commerce happening while we were enjoying our leisure cruise.
There was an Expedition Team on the ship that not only managed the expeditions at each port but also gave lectures on things during the day (Vikings, Sami people (the indigenous people Americans would call Lapps (but that's considered derogatory) and how to photograph the northern lights) and I went to almost all of them. Anne and I looked into doing a sled dog excursion, which was ridiculously expensive but a once in a lifetime thing, but the conditions weren't right so we couldn't go. Oh well. The Expedition Team also did what they called Points of Interest so would announce over the loud speaker to meet outside on Deck 7 for talks on various things. We did most of those too, even when it was 7:00 a.m. or 11:00 p.m.
So the 11:00 session was when we had a good chance of seeing the northern lights, which was the reason for the trip. They took us to the entrance of a fjord and stopped the boat. Alas, the northern lights were underwhelming. I had said I'd give it until 12:30 but when the expedition guys left at 12:15, I admitted defeat and we went to bed. We had no sooner gotten into bed when an announcement came over the intercom that they had gotten better. We scrambled into all of our clothes (we'd even gotten out the long johns) and headed back out. They were only slightly better.
The next night, the announcement came during dinner and we all ran outside. They weren't good enough to miss dinner but we went out afterwards and they were better. What they don't tell you is that they don't look like much to the naked eye but a camera picks up the neon green. None of the pics came out great because the boat was moving but here's one of Anne's better ones. NOT what I was expecting. And and I was happy when it was cloudy the next night so I didn't have to freeze outside in hopes of seeing better ones.
Here's a list of ports of call with the steps for the day. And yes, I bought yarn in every single town.
Thursday, the 13th - Alesund (pronounced Olson to my ear) 12,865 Alesund was a cute little town and had a yarn shop right next to Husfliden, which is a shop that sells Norwegian items and usually has some yarn too. We made sure to stop anytime we saw one of these.
Friday, the 14th - Trondheim in the morning (3rd largest city in Norway) 18,285
Trondheim is a large city and had several yarn shops. We were there early in the morning (the port time was 6:00 a.m. until noon but we left the ship after 9:00) so it seemed much colder than we'd experienced so far. An American who lives there offered us help with directions when we stopped to look at a map. She shared some interesting insight on life in Norway. After walking to the cathedral, which was a long way from the port, we shopped our way back and happened upon Flying Tiger, which my friend John had recommended. Only after buying all kinds of fun things there did I notice the name on the receipt.
Saturday, the 15th - Bodo, 12,898
We crossed into the arctic circle on Saturday. The technical definition is where there is one sunrise and one sunset per year. Because the sun is down for six months then up for the next six. Freaky! We were out on Deck 7 with the Expedition Team when we actually passed the marker but there was a ceremony later in the morning. The ritual is that they pour a ladle full of ice water down your back and then you get a shot. Well Shelley won the contest to name the exact time we entered the arctic so she was the first one to get the ice water (she also won a flag signed by the captain) but Anne was next in line. She took the ice water down the back but didn't want the shot so I took it. Who was the smart one here? We were in Bodo that afternoon - another cute, dark town.
Sunday, the 16th - Tromso, 11,061
Tromso was a big town, which made it all the stranger that people were just going about their normal business in the dark. By now we were in what's called nautical twilight, which means the sun is never above the horizon so you get a strange twilight like light for an hour or so at noon. Otherwise it's dark. So strange. A bunch of us took a taxi to see the Cathedral of the Arctic, which had modern stained glass that you could only see from the outside in because it was dark out. Duh! I was underwhelmed but there was a winter event going on downtown and I got to pet a reindeer, which was totally cool. I even bought a piece or reindeer hide to use in my car.
That was week 1 of the trip. It was absolutely lovely so far and being so far north was freaky (the dark) and fun. Just one more day before we'd be flying home. Too fast!
So each day we had one port where we could get off the ship. Our MO was to walk and walk and walk, always with a yarn shop or 2 as our destination. But in between ports where we could get off, the ship stopped at towns all along the way. This happened 24/7 so sometimes it would be in the wee hours of the morning. They'd be there only to offload some produce (they provision the towns up and down the coast) and exchange some passengers. It was interesting to see the commerce happening while we were enjoying our leisure cruise.
There was an Expedition Team on the ship that not only managed the expeditions at each port but also gave lectures on things during the day (Vikings, Sami people (the indigenous people Americans would call Lapps (but that's considered derogatory) and how to photograph the northern lights) and I went to almost all of them. Anne and I looked into doing a sled dog excursion, which was ridiculously expensive but a once in a lifetime thing, but the conditions weren't right so we couldn't go. Oh well. The Expedition Team also did what they called Points of Interest so would announce over the loud speaker to meet outside on Deck 7 for talks on various things. We did most of those too, even when it was 7:00 a.m. or 11:00 p.m.
So the 11:00 session was when we had a good chance of seeing the northern lights, which was the reason for the trip. They took us to the entrance of a fjord and stopped the boat. Alas, the northern lights were underwhelming. I had said I'd give it until 12:30 but when the expedition guys left at 12:15, I admitted defeat and we went to bed. We had no sooner gotten into bed when an announcement came over the intercom that they had gotten better. We scrambled into all of our clothes (we'd even gotten out the long johns) and headed back out. They were only slightly better.
The next night, the announcement came during dinner and we all ran outside. They weren't good enough to miss dinner but we went out afterwards and they were better. What they don't tell you is that they don't look like much to the naked eye but a camera picks up the neon green. None of the pics came out great because the boat was moving but here's one of Anne's better ones. NOT what I was expecting. And and I was happy when it was cloudy the next night so I didn't have to freeze outside in hopes of seeing better ones.
Here's a list of ports of call with the steps for the day. And yes, I bought yarn in every single town.
Thursday, the 13th - Alesund (pronounced Olson to my ear) 12,865 Alesund was a cute little town and had a yarn shop right next to Husfliden, which is a shop that sells Norwegian items and usually has some yarn too. We made sure to stop anytime we saw one of these.
Friday, the 14th - Trondheim in the morning (3rd largest city in Norway) 18,285
Trondheim is a large city and had several yarn shops. We were there early in the morning (the port time was 6:00 a.m. until noon but we left the ship after 9:00) so it seemed much colder than we'd experienced so far. An American who lives there offered us help with directions when we stopped to look at a map. She shared some interesting insight on life in Norway. After walking to the cathedral, which was a long way from the port, we shopped our way back and happened upon Flying Tiger, which my friend John had recommended. Only after buying all kinds of fun things there did I notice the name on the receipt.
Saturday, the 15th - Bodo, 12,898
We crossed into the arctic circle on Saturday. The technical definition is where there is one sunrise and one sunset per year. Because the sun is down for six months then up for the next six. Freaky! We were out on Deck 7 with the Expedition Team when we actually passed the marker but there was a ceremony later in the morning. The ritual is that they pour a ladle full of ice water down your back and then you get a shot. Well Shelley won the contest to name the exact time we entered the arctic so she was the first one to get the ice water (she also won a flag signed by the captain) but Anne was next in line. She took the ice water down the back but didn't want the shot so I took it. Who was the smart one here? We were in Bodo that afternoon - another cute, dark town.
Sunday, the 16th - Tromso, 11,061
Tromso was a big town, which made it all the stranger that people were just going about their normal business in the dark. By now we were in what's called nautical twilight, which means the sun is never above the horizon so you get a strange twilight like light for an hour or so at noon. Otherwise it's dark. So strange. A bunch of us took a taxi to see the Cathedral of the Arctic, which had modern stained glass that you could only see from the outside in because it was dark out. Duh! I was underwhelmed but there was a winter event going on downtown and I got to pet a reindeer, which was totally cool. I even bought a piece or reindeer hide to use in my car.
That was week 1 of the trip. It was absolutely lovely so far and being so far north was freaky (the dark) and fun. Just one more day before we'd be flying home. Too fast!
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