The Northern Lights alarm sounded on our cabin phone last night and I have never seen Nicole get dressed and move so fast. She was out of the cabin before I had put my trousers on. When I eventually got up on the top deck there was a large congregation of passengers already there all looking skyward with phones and cameras focusing on the faint clouds in the sky. Although there was a very thin layer of cloud, we still managed to get a glimpse and are hopeful of better things to come as we head further north.
This morning, on our route to breakfast, we went out to the upper deck for some fresh air and were greeted with snow on the decks. I noticed it was snowing during the night but hadn’t considered it would settle.
During breakfast we made our first daylight port of the day which was a 35 minute stop at Harstad.
The following couple of hours of the morning was spent in the Havblikk Lounge reading and gazing out of the windows at the passing scenery.
At 11:00, we reached the next port which was called Finnsnes and stayed for 30 minutes, we could have got off for a very brief walk but decided against it.
We enjoyed another tasty lunch and then retired to the Havblikk Lounge to await our arrival at Tromsø. En route we passed through the Storstraumen Strait which has some of the strongest currents in Norway.
At 2:15 we arrived at Tromsø where today we had a port time of 4 hours. No tours or excursions booked so we decided to just get off and explore. Not put off by yesterday’s self guided walking tour, we opted to give the Tromsø version a go. Here is a list of the places we found and supporting photos.
Ronald Amundsen Memorial
Eidis Hansen Rock
Tromsø Cathedral
McDonald’s (Most Northern In the World)
Tromsø Library
Løkkekiosken
Verdens Theatret
Perspective Museum
Old Merchants House
Skansen
Oldest house in Tromsø
Old customs building
Sailors Monument
Aunegården
Large Mosaic
For the record, I am totally knackered tonight, so will retire for bed early just incase we get the alarm again tonight.
Fitbit Steps – 15,005
AWESOME! The cruise is now worth it. Totally. Not only did you get Northern Lights/Aurora it was on the day you were in Tromsø. We loved the place. I took a lot of pics of the same thing. It was strange to see it in the snow after seeing it in the June sunshine. Superb! Remind me when you get home and I have some amazing Northern Lights shots to share.
Though we are now back in warmer temps here in Florida, we still keep talking about our most recent Norway trip on Havila Polaris. Your comments and your photos are a great reminder of the many things we saw and did on our trip. Thanks for all these posts, and I look forward to reading tomorrow’s!