Tromso

We woke up to a very cloudy foggy day with more of a mist moving in as we watched. We both felt kind of foggy and slow moving as we wandered up to breakfast. We were not in a hurry to do anything. I guess we had too much fun last night. I swear our dinner mate is right. I think they are serving us decaf coffee.

We sat with a couple from Tampa, Florida and had a nice chat. It's fun to hear other people's experience and advice for travel. Then we saw the nice Swedish couple we had chatted with standing in the Centrum the day before. He was anxious to see us as they had been watching Swedish news and he wanted to make us aware of Road Pirates. Yikes! I guess people, who are not Swedes, pull off the road and act like they are in distress or have car trouble and try to wave you down for help and then rob you. He told us to absolutely not stop. We won't, but it scared me. He said not to worry, just be aware and don't stop. I will miss all of these nice friends on the ship.

Tromso is an industrial town still north of the Arctic Circle. It reminded us of some Canadian towns with quaint wooden houses and not far up the hills to pine forest. It is, in fact, the largest city north of the circle. The dock was 4 kilometers from the City Center with mostly warehouses around us. Some of our dinner mates had paid to take a tram up a mountain for a lovely view. They told us they had a lovely view of the inside of a cloud, but they were good sports.

We decided to go off ship for a walk and just go as we felt like it. We had just started up the walking/bike path when the cutest Oriental couple stopped us to let us know the walk would take us an hour to get to town. They were so sweet to be concerned and we must have looked old to them. Darn! Anyway, I think we kind of took it as a challenge. Off we marched with determination. It was an interesting walk and the air was great. My friend Ellen would say, "Good for the skin weather." We walked on through a tunnel, past a Botanical Garden, over a bridge and past several neighborhoods and warehouses. 

 

Just when I thought we should maybe turn back, a nice young man told us it was just over the hill and there it was, a delightful, cobblestone Main Street and town square. There were cute shops, markets, and cafés. 

 

We ran into one of our dinner mates who directed us to the Polar Museum. It was very well done, quite informative and had free restrooms. The museum had great life size displays that truly gave you a feel for how rough life must have been back then. 

 

After the museum, we planned to grab a bus back but came out of the side street a little too far up and rather than turn back, we ended up walking all the way back to the ship. We were feeling quite smug, but immediately took two Motrin just in case. We decided after walking at least five miles, we'd earned two desserts tonight! I know, I know, we're rewarding with food. Will I never learn?!

As we got ready for dinner, the Captain announced we were setting sail and let us know we would soon be able to watch for whales. This just keeps getting better! The scenery was fabulous as we sailed out of the fjord and Bob and I played with our cameras snapping pictures of the cute farms and Sea Gulls who floated right outside of our balcony.

Dinner was fun as we all shared pictures of things we had seen. I was pleased to get so many compliments on the quality of the pictures I'd gotten with my new inexpensive, point and shoot camera. I'm very happy with it. Yay! Then we were all clicking more pictures as the scenery drifting by our dining room window was so awesome and we were all trying so hard to capture it. It was just amazing that here we were eating dinner, looking at this beauty and enjoying Creme Brûlée when ever we want! This is not reality.....but, I like it!

We hurried to the Centrum to watch two of the lead singers sing some jazzy 70s songs and then three of the dancers performed a stunning ariel show spinning far above the floor. We had a great view standing along the 6th floor balcony. 

The 10:00 theater show was a Celine Dion impersonator. We found out later that she was from the UK and had won first place on a British Reality Show where you impersonate your hero. She even had Celine's French Canadian accent down. She got a standing ovation.

From there we came back to a 70s party in the Centrum. The staff was singing and dancing in 70s clothes and Afros. It was a riot and then the guys came out as the Village People and sang YMCA and followed it with a conga line. It was jiving fun! 

We walked up on deck which was very cold and windy, but still bright with sunlight. They had the World Soccer Cup on the big screen but, this time no one was watching outside when they could be warm in the theatre. We made it to be up past midnight again. Aren't you impressed? But, time for a warm bed! Good night.