Tromso, Norway

Hello from Tromso, Norway!

The early bird gets the worm - or in this case the pictures - when she was on her balcony at 6 AM as the ship navigated through fjords to get to port.

When I was here in June I had to run through multiple plans to finally settle on what I was doing for the day. You can read about my June visit to Tromso here.  It was on that June day when I realized the Arctic Alpine Botanical Garden wasn't going to be an option because of the hills. 

June 17, 2023

But today I was determined. I'm mentally and physically stronger than I was 46 days ago, and Scooter and I are more experienced with challenging situations. So hills or not, we were going. Plus, the garden is free!

Just in case I might need them I strapped my walking sticks to the scooter handlebars and off we went. We thankfully found there was a tunnel under the busy road but not-so-thankfully it was steep going into and out of so it required me pulling and pushing Scooter. And those places in the tunnel that were level? Not so fast - they were torn up. More pushing and pulling. Ugh.

As expected most of the surfaces during the visit to the garden were problematic. I knew the gravel and the hills were going to be issues but I learned about another surface Scooter can't manage, either.

If it was deep gravel I had to get off and pull him but if it was compact gravel I could drive.

Anything with an incline - which was most every path - required me to push or pull him up or down the hill.

And the new thing Scooter doesn't like? Slippery moss. We might as well have been on ice especially when it was combined with the mud we got into. 

Hazardous driving conditions

In some instances the terrain was impossible so I had to break out the walking sticks and leave Scooter behind. My sticks and I tackled several kinds of stone steps. 

Careful, Deb

See Scooter hiding in the bushes down there? Yep, poor boy couldn't handle it even with my help.

I knew I couldn't even come close to making it up these stone steps so I didn't even try. 

The garden is the northernmost botanical garden in the world with Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine plants from all continents. Those plants can be tiny and grow so close to the ground you really have to get up on them to see them.

They also have a large collection of perennials from Norway and we worked hard to see as much as we could, going up the hills as far as the paths went. For the most part it was me walking while dragging Scooter alongside me. It was a tough go, for sure. The garden had plenty of well-placed benches with beautiful views and I took full advantage of them both. The blue skies and clouds added an additional layer of beauty to the day.

I took so many pictures (and deleted even more) but it was too hard to choose my favorites so you get to see a collection of what I saw. 

It was an exhausting day. I checked my health app and it tells me I did more steps today than any other day the entire trip. I'm sure my joints are going to scream at me tonight (actually, they already are) but it was worth it. 

Tomorrow we're in Honningsvag, Norway. See you then! 

Lofoten Islands, Norway

Hello from Norway's Lofoten Islands!

My balcony view all day long

Today marked my second and last visit to these Norwegian Islands. Like so many port days after breakfast I headed to Deck 15 to take photos of shore. Just like last time we anchored offshore between the two villages of Leknes and Gravdal, but a little closer to Gravdal today.

Gravdal

Leknes

Viking ship docked in between the two

After taking my from-the-ship pictures I went back to the cabin and sat in the sun on the balcony as I mulled over what I wanted to do for the day. And like so many other days I fell asleep sitting upright in the chair. I guess these no-darkness nights where I leave the curtains open aren't the best for my sleeping habits, huh? By the time I woke up I realized what I really wanted to do. 

Absolutely nothing. 

When I was here in June I visited Leknes, Gravdal, the fishing village of Ballstad, got to see their popular Haukland Beach, and learned to wash my hands in Norweigian. You can read the blog post about the day here.  It was a just-right kind of day, full of beautiful scenery and plenty of photo opportunities. It was special enough that I'd like to keep the memories of it ingrained in my brain as what the Lofoten Islands are all about. I didn't want whatever today's tender ride and $9.95 bus ride to town may have brought to interfere with that June day. So I didn't. My vacation, my choice.

It was getting warm enough in the sun to change into my swimsuit (all my other warm weather clothes aren't back from the laundry yet, yikes) and I spent the entire day outside on the balcony. Ordered a vegetarian pizza from room service for a late lunch. (I gotta stop that!) Dinner will probably be a yogurt I picked up in Iceland. Yep, my vacation, my choice.

Tomorrow we're in Tromso, Norway where I tentatively have something potentially a little challenging in store. See you then!

But wait, a new post-Covid smell:

I go through a lot of hand sanitizer but the one this morning surprised me. It smelled like lemon! 

So for keeping track purposes we're at:

Smells - Rosemary, lavender, sunscreen when it's on my face, strawberry body spray, pine body spray, lemon hand sanitizer 

Tastes - The sweetness of maple in fudge (but not the chocolate), occasionally garlic

Trondheim, Norway

Hello again from Trondheim, Norway! Today marks the second and final visit of the summer in this port for me. The day started out a little bleak looking…

so after breakfast I came back to the cabin and took a little rest. Not much later the sun was in my eyes and it wound up ruling most of the day.

When I was here last month I spent the day taking standard touristy pictures. Of the famous waterfront houses, Trondheim Square, the Nidaros Cathedral, and the colorful umbrellas covering the street. You can read the blog post about the day here. 

Today I knew I wanted to do something different but wasn't sure what. On the ride down in the ship's elevator I ran into a family with their mother in a wheelchair who were concerned about getting her up the steep ramp over the railroad tracks. Well, Deb to the rescue because I knew where Trondheim was hiding their elevator. In turn from them I learned this week was the St. Olav Festival. It's Norway's largest cultural celebration for the Norwegian patron saint Olav Haraldsson. Guess I'll be heading to the cathedral again, then!

Remember last month I said if you didn't take the elevator
down you'd have to deal with lots and lots of stairs? Yup.

On the way to the Cathedral I found new things I somehow missed last time. Back then I think I was so overwhelmed with everything being so new and the cobblestones being so rough I didn't really, really pay attention. But today I did.

I saw the yellow sculpture based on the Beatles Yellow Submarine.

I saw cobblestones in a shape of a flower. I crossed over these twice last time. How did I miss it before?

I found two F word signs here last time but somehow missed this one. I caught it today, though. Can you see it below the closed sign?

While I was all proud I knew where the elevators were this time, how did I not know you don't have to push the button to get out the door of the building? I could have been just waving my hand in front of it? Duh.

And the art museum was right behind the Cathedral? Again, missed it last time.

Today streets were closed and Trondheim Square was full of white tents, and even though the festival runs through August 3 some of them were being taken down. They must have had some party last night.

When I arrived at the Cathedral they were setting up chairs and a stage in the area I was in before. I waited until after noon to see what was happening but alas, nothing.

There was one thing going on, however.

A craft fair! Booths full of food and drink and about every kind of item made out of every kind of material you could imagine. I didn't take individual photos of the booths (you can see how busy it was) but if you were a shopper looking for beautiful unique handmade items, this would be the place to get them.

I spent time perusing the area before heading back in plenty of time for our 3:00 all aboard. Except when I got to the ship I found out all aboard wasn't until 7 tonight. While I've officially been in the land of not knowing what day of the week it is for quite a while now, it looks like I've made my way into the land of not knowing where I am or where I'm going or when I have to be there. It's kind of a nice feeling, though.

It gave me extra time to get up to a sunny and packed pool deck and have another vegetarian pizza. It's not one of the pizzas listed for the day - and they always try and steer me to something already made - but if I ask them to make one for me they will. The alternative is I order it from room service and they'll have to not only make a larger pizza but box it up as well. See, I save them a step! This one is only the size of a plate but is still too much for me. 

Probably a good thing I came back to the ship early because it's long before the real all aboard time as I'm typing this and it looks like we have some thunderstorms on the way. Update: They missed us.

I know tomorrow is a sea day and the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon, but surprise - I was wrong about where I thought I was going to be on Tuesday. Where we'll really be (and not where I think we'll be) is the Lofoten Islands. See you then!