Two Thousand Miles of Norway*

*A slight exaggeration - the voyage was apparently 1917 miles long, up and back.

Red dot on lower left is Bergen.
Blue line at top is the route we sailed 
before turning around. 

It's hard to summarize this trip of fifteen days and thousands of miles. It was fabulous in almost any way I can think of. But the days blur together, already, in spite of the photos and notes I took along the way. So here are some random tidbits and some pictures.

Required shot in Bergen, their historic wharf.
I have pictures of family members here going back years.

I flew to Bergen, the second largest city in Norway, and one I've been going to since I was twelve years old. My mother's family was entirely from there, and the first visit included family visits. Sadly, when the old people - my grandmother's generation - died off, we lost touch. No more letter writing, but no internet yet. But still, there are emotional ties to Bergen and many fond memories.

I traveled on my own, and I met up with the Road Scholar group as soon as I got to the hotel. The trip was with a smallish group (19 of us) with a guide and an astronomy expert. I knew no-one before going, but I knew I'd be with friendly people as much as I wanted, a comfort since I had no traveling companion. I dumped my bags and set off alone to just walk around Bergen. It was sunny and cold (in the teens) and there was snow on the ground making for uncertain footing. Twilight came early as the sun set before 4 pm, but it also lingered as pale reddish light. A feature of these northern climes is the sun stays low in the sky, and travels at a shallow angle as it sets, so light leaks over the horizon during a very long sunset. As I got further north, we reached polar night, where the sun never actually comes up over the horizon. But even at the furthest north cape of mainland Norway, it comes close to the horizon, and so there is indirect light at midday, enough to see and even read by for some hours. And the blue light of dark twilight can also last for a long time. Still, I did experience deepest dark night time by 5 pm in Bergen, and 3 pm in the north. All the better for seeing the stars and aurora!

 

Bergen from above

We spent the night at the hotel, with first introductions to the group. I was probably towards the younger age of the group (but not the youngest), and folks had diverse and interesting backgrounds. All were extremely well traveled - this winter trip to Norway wasn't really a "starter trip" for the inexperienced. Most people were in couples, but five of us were traveling on our own. 

We toured Bergen by bus and foot the next day, boarding the ship in the afternoon. The local guide here and everywhere we went were uniformly excellent. We were a bus of tourists, but with just 19 of us it felt a little less like being a bunch of cattle. There was time to ask questions, and there weren't so many of us that we overwhelmed the sites we were at.

Our ship. We were on a bus trip,
returning to meet them with impecable timing

The ship is a working coastal ferry ship, part of a 150 year old company, Hurtigruten, that runs a departure out of Bergen every day. People use the ship for local travel and cargo transport (including automobiles) between the 34 different ports we stopped at on the way up, and again on the way back. But overwhelmingly, the ship was full of tourists like ourselves, totaling 350 or so people. There were several organized groups aboard, in addition to us, and many additional tourists on their own. There were many elements more like a larger cruise ship than a local ferry. There were organized excursions every day, by bus or on foot, at varying levels of activity. The main dining room served a buffet breakfast and lunch and set time sit-down dinners with assigned seating. It was all fabulous food - multiple kinds of fish served at every single meal - vegan offerings also every meal. It was very local - making 34 port stops a week gives many opportunities for provisioning along the way. That meant, in addition to the fish, a whole lot of potatoes and cabbage and root vegetables, as Norway cannot grow grain and of course, most green vegetables were out of season. (They did serve bread, baked locally from imported grains.) Fabulous cheeses, and yogurt and whipped cream and sour cream and butter by the bucketful. Scandinavia does dairy very well!

3 pm in Bodo - still polar night

Generally, we had an organized excursion of 2-4 hours every day. We would visit a point of interest or two, generally visit an overlook, and hear a little about local life before returning to the ship. We had onboard lecture from our astronomer or someone from the ship staff most days. But there was a lot of free time on the ship, and a few opportunities to go ashore and explore on your own. (Many of the stops were under an hour, not allowing much time ashore.) The ship has three big lounges - a bistro that served food to order, ranging from hamburgers to king crab (it was never very busy); a forward observation lounge with comfortable outward facing chairs, with a bar open in the afternoon and evening; and a coffee cafe with ice cream and sweet rolls, tables with cards and jigsaw puzzles and comfortable chairs for reading. I spent much of my free time in the observation lounge. We were not far out to sea, but rather threading our way through the islands and mouths of the fjords that make up the Norwegian coast. There was always something to see. 

At the Russian border, the only open crossing into Europe.
My guys on the frozen river, with Russia 
at the left hand side of the picture

There was one deck with a walkway all around it, so one could do laps to get steps in. But it was darn cold out there! On the top deck, the back of the ship was open, and that is where we spent so much time out in the cold and dark, with our heads thrown back, lost in the aurora. 

Ah, the Aurora! The title of the trip was, "Astronomy above the Arctic Circle". Not Aurora. Our leader was careful to say the first night that he couldn't guarantee any aurora sightings. In fact, he made us go around and talk about what else we were looking forward to on the trip. But he, and our astronomer, made up a roster for us to take turns on deck through the first part of every night, on watch for the aurora. We made a WhatsApp group to report in on. We boarded on Saturday evening, heading north under very cloudy skies. No sightings then. Sunday night, more heavy clouds. Monday night, more clouds. Reports of vivid aurora just north of us, where the cloud cover dissipated. Tuesday, more of the same. I faithfully bundled up and took a half hour turn on deck every night, just before going to bed. 

Wednesday - first aurora!

Finally, Wednesday night, north of the Arctic Circle and clouds struggling to hang on, only Jupiter showing brightly in the sky through the haze, green lights glowing faintly, faintly, and finally breaking out into a bonafide glow. It shifted and moved. I watched with my mouth open and my hands clutching the ship's rail for balance. They turned off the lights on the observation deck and everyone was there. I stayed as long as I could stand the cold, and finally went to bed and shivered for a while before I warmed up enough to fall asleep. 

Thursday
Big dipper visible over smokestack

Then the next night - Thursday - from horizon to horizon, bands stretching over the ship to the opposite shore. Stars clearly visible everywhere. Conveniently in the afternoon, and still after dinner. Again, I stayed and gaped, feeling drunk on the view. Spirals formed and became bands. Bands shifted and merged. I watched through my eyes, but kept pulling out the phone for the extra saturation and clarity it provided. Finally, I went to my cabin, and it was visible through the small and salt-caked window! 

Friday - red!

Friday night, still in the far north, clear skies, many stars, and an hours-long display. Bright enough even to see over the lights of the town. For the first time, colors other than green - a red above the green, apparently indicated higher energy. 

Saturday

Saturday, some clouds, but a sky-filling swirl of green. Sunday night, again a display on deck. Can one get jaded? NO! It remained extraordinary and intoxicating. 

Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday

Monday, a smaller display, and the beginnings of clouds. 

Tuesday, much further south, we were on a bus trip across several islands from one port to another, when we stopped at a memorial to those lost at sea. Aurora! Bright red! Visible over the hills and towns on our way. We had a schedule to keep (can't miss the boat) and so we gaped out of the bus windows as we resumed our drive. That was it - seven nights in a row! Wednesday we got off the ship for a night in Bergen before flying home. But then, on the flight home, I had a glimpse out my north-facing airplane window. A green glow on the horizon. Maybe? Probably? Overall, it was fabulous!

The End of the World

We had fabulous weather - never any rough seas, never any precipitation. It was cold, up there in the Arctic! But not as cold as it had been earlier - we had single digits with 25+ mph winds. But we were never outside on our excursions for more than an hour before returning to the warm bus. I had a chance to use all the warm clothing I brought, except the rain pants. I don't regret bringing them, but so happy never to have to wear them! At the coldest, the North Cape (my idea of the End of the World), I was wearing wool long johns under fleece lined water resistant hiking pants, two layers of socks, three shirts, one with long sleeves, a sweater, and my very warm jacket. And hat and hood and neck gaiter, which could become another hood / hat. And, most importantly, gloves and mittens both. Only the mittens kept my hands warm.  I could actually stand still out there for several minutes and not feel overwhelmed. 

 

Me, at the End of the World Monument and Snack Bar
This was as cold as it got!