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Well worth the time outside in about 3 F. Amazing night.

Friday we were sailing from Tromso to Bodo. Around noon the captain came on the ship’s intercom and announced that we would not be going to Bodo. Apparently the wind and waves were going to be too extreme to get into port. In addition he was having to cancel our last port of Lerwick, in the Shetland islands because of the storms we would be encountering.

We had a little rough water late on Friday. Most of Saturday we have been sailing in and out of fjords to avoid the rough seas. We are working our way south and should pass Bergen around midnight.

Currently the waves are around 25 to 30 feet and according to the last announcement by the captain the head winds are from 50 to 70 MPH. We are rocking and rolling, but we are warm and secure on the ship. Bob and I are staying in our cabin for the time being. They think we will be in open water like this until midnight and then hopefully will be able to get into more sheltered areas then.

Have tried to photograph the seas but I can’t go on our balcony for fear of being tossed around and hurt. Believe me it is wild out there.

Scandinavia’s largest city within the Arctic circle is Tromso. It has been called the Paris of the North. It has a population of approximately 70,000. The city of Tromso is situated on an island, with a suburb across the water. Tromso is one of the oldest towns in Norway, established in 1794. The city was not harmed badly in WWII. The Germans when they left did not burn the city to the ground as they did in other places in Norway.

We did a scenic tour in the early afternoon. We saw various parts of the island, stopping to take some photos of Whale Island. We also drove by the Arctic Cathedral, whose design is compared to the Sydney Opera House. It was closed to the public, so we could only see the outside. The city also is home to the northernmost botanical garden in the world.

Our big tour for the day was in the evening to again search for the Northern Lights. It was pretty cold again, around 4 F. We went to several places but the skies were too cloudy to see anything. Our guide did make a fire at one place to help us keep warm. He even took a photo of us in front of the fire. One with the lights behind us would have been better. When we got back to the ship after midnight there were sandwiches and a bottle of wine waiting for us in our room.

After overnighting we had a “shopping excursion”. The ship has been very strict about Covid protocols. We have our temperature taken daily, have to answer a health survey daily and have to be tested daily for Covid. To enable us to shop, 2 stores right next to each other in the town center, we’re closed to all others except for our group of 20. We were not able to go anywhere else during the 1 hour we had in town. Our guide said that she could lose her job if anyone wandered off. It was nice to get to do something that felt normal. Our group was mostly the only ones masked. Norway had dropped their Covid rules about 5 days before we started our trip.

Our second day in Alta had us touring the “City of Northern Lights”. Our first stop was at the Alta Museum. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are many forms of rock art in the area and the museum is built along side a huge field of the rocks. Unfortunately because of the time of year they are under about 3 feet of snow. However in the museum they have several examples of the rock art. The ones outside are huge, 15 to 20 feet of art. The oldest specimens are about 7,000 years old. The ones in Alta are about 3,000 years old. When we first arrived at the museum there were a group of pre-schoolers out for their daily hour plus of play time, weather not an issue. They were climbing on the snow banks and eating the snow. This morning the temperature was about 5 F.

The museum had some small pieces of the rock art to include one called Pippi which was a realistic figure of a girl. There was also an exhibition of Sami clothing and one about one of their national ski jumpers from the 1960s. In the basement was a theater that had a show of the aurora.

The city of Alta has a population of about 21,000 and is the 6th most populated place in Norway. The town center is tiny. They offered a shopping shuttle but we did not go.

Our second stop was the Northern Lights Cathedral. It is an unusual structure, sort of looks like a cinnamon roll. The original church for the town was destroyed during WWII. The first service after the war was held on December 25, 1945 and the 100 people who attended decided they would build a new church, and the donations began then. The cornerstone was laid in 2000 with construction started in 2011 and consecration in 2013. It is made of poured concrete with over 40,000 pieces of titanium for the outside panels covering the building. The flooring is Alta slate in the entry with oak floors in the actual church. Because this is such a small community the building is used by many religions and is also the town concert hall, teen center, meeting hall and gatherings place for many clubs. The statue of Christ is quite different. It is bronze weighing 2 tons, he is standing in a boat and is looking up to convey hope.

Again, the internet is not strong enough to add photos to this post. Hopefully we get somewhere in the near future and I will be able to send photos too.