On and Off the Polarlys

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Don woke me up in the middle of the night to say the northern lights were out. He went on deck to look, but they were actually quite pale. I looked at it through my window. Since we had both seen the phenomenon at another time, we went back to bed!

Suzanne Kleinbub in Bodo Norway

We stopped at Bodo during the night, so I should mention that we did have a little walk in Bodo last Monday on our way north. It was one of many ports that we stopped at to take a walk. And our program manager had to try hard to find something to tell us! Bodo wasn’t much of a city until 1816 when several years of herring runs made it a fishing center. Then the city lost population until recently when it became a transportation hub and home to a military installation. It did have a nice glass roofed shopping mall.

We stopped in several villages today – all of them ones we passed through during the night on our way north.We had a brief stop this morning in Ornes. This is a lovely little town at the base of some glacier covered mountains: quite picturesque.

The Arctic Circle

About two hours later we crossed the Arctic Circle. There is an island with a large metal globe on it that marks the spot. And, of course, the ship blows its horn! We have now left the land of the midnight sun.

We have been sailing through an area of skerries and small islands interspersed with small fishing villages. Our next brief stop was the fishing village and former trading post of Nesna.

Don Kleinbub, Sandnessjoen Norway

Eva took us for a walk in the next port, Sandnessjoen. Since it was Sunday there wasn’t much activity (I don’t think Norwegians go to church on Sundays much, and stores need a special permit to be open on Sunday). She showed us several statues as we walked to the park. My favorite was an abstract looking Viking.

Mid afternoon found us taking a walk in the village of Bronnoysund. Its claim to fame is that it is in the exact center of Norway from north to south. They have a marker so it must be true!

Our last little walk was in Rorvik. It was dark, so we just got the atmosphere of the town. Eva said there was so little to do in town that when the ship came in the teenagers got excited and drove around in circles yelling at the tourists. It was kind of funny – even Norwegian teens enjoy cruising!