Tag Archives: Trollfjord

Chicken Ass

Kirkenes

Our tour guide to the Snow Hotel had a dry, droll sense of humor.  She said the proper English pronunciation of Kirkenes is Chicken Ass.  I must admit she is correct.   So here we are at Chicken Ass, Norway.

We drove past an indoor football field, soccer to us in the U.S., past a high school and kindergarten school, past the town’s ski jump, past Kirkenes’ local corss country Olympic champion’s house, past three frozen lakes, past a fjord and on to Norway’s Snow Hotel.

The reindeer greet guests first in their fenced in area to the left of the Snow Hotel Entrance. Gavin, my nephew’s son’s on-line name is GabbaGabba.  He’ll be surprised that his name means “white reindeer white reindeer” in Sami.

Gabba

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Here are a few videos of the Sami Reindeer at the Snow Hotel, Kirkenes Norway

Kirkenes Snow Hotel

The Hurtigruten excursion brochure does not do justice to their tours.  Each tour we took was more inspired than the short description would have you believe.  The Snow Hotel was for me the most startling example of this.  Based on pictures of Sweden’s Ice Hotel and the cruise line’s photos of this Snow Hotel, I thought this visit would be disappointing. What a pleasant surprise.  From  the reindeer to the entrance to the hotel and throughout each of the twenty rooms, I was stunned.

The Entrance to the Snow Hotel

Was it cold in the Snow Hotel?   Yes, of course.  In fact huge doors close off the warm restaurant and gift shop from the Snow Rooms.  The doors are intended to keep the warmth OUT!  If you dress for the conditions, you will be warm.  We were toasty.  I took a photo of the entrance, the bar, each of the guest rooms, and the hallway.  The lighting in the hotel is low.  I’ve intentionally shot these to present the light as it appears without compensating for exposure.  I may adjust exposure for photos I move to the gallery later.

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Just inside the Snow Hotel’s Entrance

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A Wall Carving in the Bar

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Polar Bears

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Sitting on an Ice Bar Chair

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Our Bartender at her Bar

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Wolfin’ Around

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Hot Drinks on the Ice Bar

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Carvings in the Bar

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Reception

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The Hallway to the Twenty Rooms

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#1, The Wolf Room

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#2, The Log Cabin Room

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#3, The Bear Room

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#4, The Rabbit Room

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#5, The Wise Room

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#6, Howlin’ Wolf

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Hallway Seating for One

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#7, Reindeer Room

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Hall Lighting

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#8, Billy Goat’s Gruff Room

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#9, The Troll Room

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#10, Frozen, the Room

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#11, Child’s Hippo Room

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#12, Winnie the Poo Room

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Hallway King Crab

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#13, The Queen’s Room

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#17, Njord Room

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#18, Old St Nicholas Room

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#19, Sleigh Bed Room

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#20, Fisherman’s Room

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#21, Wild Boar Room

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#22, Marilyn’s Room

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#23, Ellen’s Room!

Sled Dogs @ Kirkenes

Ellen began petting a husky.  The dog love it and rolled on her back to have her tummy rubbed.  I don’t know who was happier, Ellen or the sled dog.

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Ellen’s New Friend

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The sled dogs often stood atop their dog house, like this fellow did.

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Waiting his Turn

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A well functional sled team has a combination of four types of trained sled dogs: Wheel Dogs, Team Dogs, Swing Dogs, and the Lead Dog.

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Heading back to the Ship, Kirkenes Norway

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Hurtigruten’s Trollfjord Awaits our Return

Northern Lights Pt 2

About an hour ago, “the Northern Lights are visible and best viewed forward on deck 6”.  A mad scramble ensued,  quickly get cold weather clothes on, camera, tripod, hat, gloves, run out the door and onto a crowd on deck 6.  There was some pushing and a few outright shoves from behind,  Then as people realized they were getting cold, the crowd thinned, then thinned again.  I have some good photos of green hued clouds, but nothing I would call a northern lights display.  Perhaps we will see more later this evening.

Ellen, who arrived later, was on the side of the ship and said the display seemed to touch the sea. She had a good view.

Rough Seas; the Arctic Circle; Njord, God of the Sea; Bodo; King Crab, Magic Ice Bar, snow, Trollfjord

Rough Seas

Ellen has long claimed she easily gets sea sick.  I’ve steered clear of sailing and less tame water tours for this very reason.  The coast of Norway is dotted with thousands of islands and long fjords that provide shelter from the wind and ocean swells.  Cruising Norway is tame for the most part.  However, and this is a serious however, there are a few stretches of open water that must be navigated.  In the olden days, ships would stack up waiting for fair weather to make the passage.  Ferry and freight lines would not operate regularly as it was too risky to operate in these seas.

Yesterday after returning from the tram, we had lunch, walked the ship some, and feeling tired I went to sleep.  Ellen let me sleep and went off to attended an astronomical lecture about the Northern Lights at 3PM  At about 3:30PM I awoke to the sound of my camera and computer slamming into the floor with me rocking up and down; back and forth on the bed.  Ellen later said that the lecturer kept going though he was doing a sailor’s walk back and forth across the stage to keep upright.

Leaving the computer and camera where they fell for safety,  I looked out our massive porthole to see huge choppy seas.  I’ve been on a fishing boat in 20 ft. swells that came as synchronous waves, predictable, and from one direction.   What I saw through the port hole was a riotous eruption of wind driven white caps blown off a boiling cauldron of 12 to 20 ft. swells with no pattern whatsoever. It was as if a swell arose from nowhere and created a depression entirely around it. But not simply one, hundreds or thousands of them amassed together in no pattern.  The only thing I can think of that would begin to describe it is floating on a sea of literally boiling water.  The boat rocked side to side unpredictably, slid down a wave sometimes, crashed into an oncoming wave and shuddered sometimes, there was banging, rocking rolling, quick jab like changes of direction.  It was amazing.

The seas were not a threat to the vessel. They were small in size by comparison and not perilous. The seas were more than many passengers could take.  Dinner was initially put off an hour, then returned to normal scheduling as the ship found shelter.  For dinner the ship was as calm as if we were docked at port.  The rough seas had taken their toll.  Turnout for dinner was low. Whereas we usually have to walk the dining room at least once to find an open table, we sat immediately.

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Approaching to Pass a Sister Ship Northbound

After dinner I enjoyed a long Sauna with Dave, a fellow from Germany, and a fellow from Paris. We talked politics and economics for a while, though the German and Parisian were more guarded in their conversation.  Dry and dressed again, Ellen wanted a hot chocolate and I grabbed a local beer.  We watched the Fjord and waves go by from the observation deck as we progressed north.  Waters had calmed somewhat.  A British couple stopped by and we chatted for a long while about life, work, his son, skiing, Breckenridge, pub darts (I started that conversation).  If you take a moment to open up with complete strangers you will often surprise yourself and be equally surprised by the turns a chat can take.   We turned in quite late, around 2:30 AM.

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A typical morning in the Panorama Lounge, before crossing the Arctic Circle

This morning Ellen awoke early and was hungry.  She is finally getting over her cold.  I’m still a bit out of it.  We had an early, leisurely breakfast and again had no trouble finding a table.  Crew asked us how we slept and how we were doing with the “weather”.  I actually enjoy rough seas if they are non-threatening.  It’s fun! Surprisingly Ellen said much the same thing.  I no longer have a “seasick prone” wife.  Today’s plan was to make port at Bodo around noon and take our tour then.  Plans change.  Yesterday’s dinner stop pushed our arrival time in Bodo back two hours.  We arrived at 2 PM.  All bodo tours were cancelled.  We would have time to walk to the town and back if we hurried!

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Ellen and I both thought “Half Dome, Yosemite”.

The Arctic Circle

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The Globe marks the Arctic Circle crossing on Vikingen Island Norway

Typically after breakfast we head to our room to relax for a while.  Not today!  “We cross the Arctic Circle this morning around 9:10 AM.  There will be a celebration outside on deck 9.  Come join us there!”,  said an announcement.   There was still time before the celebration, we grabbed our cameras and headed to the observation lounge.  It could have been luck or planning on Ellen’s part; we walked into the lounge as the ship approached “Vikingen Island” on the starboard side.  Vikingen Island sits at the Arctic Circle.  It has a prominent globe statue on the circle at 66 degrees 33 minutes and 43 seconds at the arctic circle crossing (that according to our expedition guides).

Crossing the Arctic Circle

The ship crew highlighted the statue with a ships spotlight and blew the ships horn as we passed.  This is the first time either Ellen or I have travelled this far north on our great planet Earth.

Njord, Norse God of the Sea and the Wind

Not to miss the Arctic Celebration, we scurried back to our room and changed for the outdoors. Camera and phones in hand, we headed up a deck and outside through the heavy weather door. The Jacuzzi area which is just outside that door, is sheltered from the wind.  It was not until we walked to the side of the ship that the full force of the wind barreled into us.  It was frigid. We had both dressed for the weather and were not cold, except for our faces and my legs.  I had not worn my wind pants and paid a small price.

I have video of the Arctic Celebration that will best describe it.  I will say that I was one of the first volunteers to have Njord favor me with his warm christening and that later talking with Kristen and Ellen, I was wondering why my neck still felt cold as I pulled not one but three rather large ice cubes from my neck.  Njord had done his job quite well.

The Invocation of Njord for Safe Voyage

Njord Appears

Kristen and Ellen are Christened

 

I must say that Norway’s coastline north of the Arctic Circle is stunning.  Though it was windy and cold outside, the best photos were not to be taken through the observation lounge windows, streaked with salt and debris as they are.  No, the best photos were from the stern of the ship in the harsh wind and cold.  I’ll share a few photos below.  There were breaks in the clouds and blue sky and sunlight visible from the ship! Today was a magical day.

 

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Njord, Captain my Captain, and Me getting “christened”

 

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The reward for Njord’s Coronation, Cloud Berry Wine

 

Bodo

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We saw a few murals in Bodo

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Trolls are a Norwegian Thing!

We had a quick lunch around 12:30 and docked at bodo (pronounced Bhuda) at 2PM per the revised schedule.  Ellen and I dressed for the cold (again with me in jeans) and walked to town and back.  Bodo was entirely destroyed in “the war”.  All its buildings are new which gives the town an industrial appearance.  We walked to the fishing fleet harbor, but had no time to go further and still get back to the boat.

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Norway has more Teslas Per Capita than anywhere else in the world!

We passed a number of open shops.  Two called out to me: a sporting goods shop and a very well supplied fishing equipment shop.  I could have spent a few hours in the fishing shop and at least an hour in the outdoor shop.  We could use some attachable cleats for our shoes should we have another bus vs “ice field” adventure.  With so little time, we walked on by.  rats!

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It looks cold because it is cold

 

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“There is no bad weather, only bad clothing” a Norwegian Saying

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there are no late passengers, only left behind passengers” this is an oft repeated Hurtigruten saying.  The Trollfjord is a working ferry making scheduled stops up and down the coast.  All Hurtigruten coastal ships are!  Ours is not “simply” a cruise ship and we did not want to be “that couple” who were err, “late”.

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Getting back aboard in Bodo

On the way back we were stunned to find that every single car stopped for us if we wanted to cross the road.  No matter if there was a cross walk or not; traffic would stop. Period.  There was also a line of cars and trucks waiting to board the ferry when we arrived back.

King Crab

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Live King Crab is Everywhere in Norway

There are a few tanks of live king crab aboard. Tonight we joined the 18:30 crab feed, which is optional,  “extra”, and something we simply have to do. (I’m even now a bit sad about our Bergen Italian Soup choice.  Perhaps this will make things “right”)IMG_0655

Being Seated at our Table

Well, we’re off to feast on King Crab in a few minutes.  I’ll populate the text with pictures and publish (perhaps with some crabby comments)  when we return.

We had our king crab dinner in the a la carte restaurant that is separate from main dining. We were the first to arrive.  We were greeted with a glass of prosecco , were seated, and were the first served.  Dinner was quite simple.  A bread board arrived first followed by a glass of dry riesling  and a carafe of water.   Some time later a bowl of king crab arrived.  The crab body was cleaned and placed in the center of the bowl. Each leg had been artfully cut in half the long way and separated at the joints.  These pieces were arranged around the body.  A single large claw sat in the center.  We were served one entire king crab for the two of us.  It arrived with three small ramekins: one of a home-made mayonnaise,  another of a herbal mayonnaise, and a third of mildly spicy teriyaki butter sauce.   All three were far too much for crab’s delicate flavor,

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The Crab Arrives

My job for the evening was to ferry crab pieces to our plates as we devoured this feast.  I was pretty even handed, even giving Ellen the single claw.  A king crab is huge and enough for two hungry people.  Desert was a cheese plate with a sample of brie, two small wedges of buttery white cheese, and two cubes of Norway’s equivalent of Stilton placed on a berry drizzle with thin slices of a fruit and nut dried bread.

Dinner was extremely good.  The crab was cooked perfectly, served cold, and had been so well prepared we could eat it with a crab fork and knife.  There was no need to tear at the exoskeleton with our fingers.  Scrumptious.

The Magic Ice Bar, Svolvaer, Norway

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Magic Ice was closed

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Svolvaer Norway

We had not reviewed replacements for our cancelled Bodo tour.  Back “home” I looked over the information Ellen had gleaned from the expedition staff about our options.  There were just three possible and we had conflicting tours scheduled on two of the days.  That left “Vesteralen Panorama”,  a bus and local ferry trip.  We both agreed to pass on this tour, we’re already on a ferry!

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Today’s schedule had us stopping  at Solvaer at 21:00.   Paula (who had stored Ellen’s borrowed coat in her locker for us) had mentioned the Ice Bar at Solvaer as something not to miss during the hours stop in port.  We dressed for cold weather and headed to reception to disembark a few minutes before 9 PM.  We expected to find Kristen waiting to join us.  We spotted Kristen and Dave too. Cool.  While we waited for the gangway to open, an overhead announcement dashed our plans, “I am sorry to inform you that due to an accident the Magic Ice Bar and Gallery is closed.”  Nutz.  We are not that easily taken in. We disembarked and headed to the Magic Ice Bar thinking nobody would close a bar so readily.  A short walk proved us wrong.  There was the door to the Bar and Gallery and it was absolutely closed.

As a group we headed back.  Leaving the boat, the Ice Bar was to the left and the war museum was to the right.  We headed toward a group of people who we thought were going to the war museum.  They were rather going to a bar.  No problem, we asked the barman where the museum was located.  He actually walked outside and pointed to the location, just behind a hotel right in front of us. As we approached the hotel, Dave said he would rather not go to the museum, opting for a black Russian instead.  That sounded good to me.  The two guys headed off to find a bar while Ellen and Kristen looked for the war museum.

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Ellen, Dave, and Kristen

The Norwegian Mule and Norwegian G&T

Dave and I entered the hotel to find us in a restaurant seating area.  Walking through we found a wine bar and asked a staff woman, “Does the hotel have a full bar?”  “Oh Yes!  We have a pub here and a full bar there through those doors.”  Great.

We found an amiable fellow tending bar.  I asked if they had a Norwegian version of a Russian Mule.  “If you want something Norwegian, it must have Aquavit in it!”  After some consideration, I chose to try a ginger beer with silver aquavit.  It is a bit like a silver tequila, not as full flavored as an anjeo or commemorativo.   It was actually tasty, though nothing like a mule.  Dave opted for an Aquavit and tonic.  Both drinks were unusual and good.  We had just enough time to have a short chat and finish the drinks before heading back to the ship.  An hour’s stop-over goes quite quickly.

Back aboard, Dave headed off to change for the Sauna.  I waited a bit to see if Ellen would show up, then headed to our room to change.  There I found Ellen changing into more comfortable clothing.  They stepped into the war museum and were put off by the musty smell of the place and the entrance fee.  They had simply walked around before heading back too.

I changed and went to the Sauna exchanging pleasantries with an expedition guide on the way.  The sauna was pre-heated today.  There was Dave soaking in the warmth.  Our reverie was cut short by another announcement, “Soon we are entering the mouth of Trollfjord.  The best place to view this event is outside forward on deck 6.”  Presto, changeO.  I showered, went “home”, met Ellen who was changing into warm clothing for outdoors.  “Did you hear the announcement?”, she asked.  “Yes, that’s why I’m here”.  We both walked down two decks and outside toward the bow on deck 6. 

SNOW

It was snowing and blowing a bit.   I was glad to have taken my “ancient” heavy duty down jacket.  This was a North Face design that was not produced.  Some of the samples made their way to the outlet store in 1976 where it was purchased as a Christmas gift for ME! It has been my go to extreme weather jacket ever since.  I’ve never been cold while wearing this beast.  I have no idea who thought it would make a good ski jacket.  That’s why the design was not produced.   With any level of exertion, you’d burn up wearing the thing.

Ellen was snug and warm in her borrowed (and elegant) heavy coat.  It was not immediately apparent how cold it would be at the bow.  While we were snug and warm, our faces suffered “a thousand points of light” in the form of wind driven snow in the face.  Not only was it cold, it was dark and a bit foggy. At first I could see nothing past the ship’s prow.  Blackness and snow, wind and blackness, snow and wind everywhere all the time.  We were not alone.  The entire deck 6 balcony filled with bodies huddled against the cold.  Some people asked what we were looking at/for.  It was hard to give a rational sounding answer. Then  relief arrived in the form of the ship’s spotlights scanning the walls of the fjord entrance.

The ship was moving slowly forward into a narrow fjord with reflective markers on ether side marking the channel boundaries (or fjord walls from another perspective).  The lights played along the walls and in front of the ship as we crawled forward.  Sometimes the snow covered cliffs were visible, more often the spotlight’s beam was filled with snowflakes, nothing more.

Trollfjord’s Mouth

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The Mouth is Narrow though hard to see through the Snow

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A Good Shot that shows how small the mouth is

The walls of the fjord closed in together creating a very narrow entrance.  That spot was marked by two triangular reflectors on either side of the narrow.  We went no farther, but turned slowly and headed out.  The show was over.

In such low light and with so little to focus on, taking photos was nearly impossible at first, then grew progressively easier with the spotlight’s beam and more features to focus on.  Manual focus worked to a degree as well.   This was not so much frustrating as more a learning experience.  My camera did as well as I could expect.  I need more practice in these conditions.  All in all it was fun to be out, exciting to see the fjord narrow down as it did, gratifying to be warm on a “dark and stormy night” in Norway in winter.

It is now quite late on January 3rd 2019.  It takes time to write, even stream of consciousness takes more than banging away at the keyboard.  I had hoped to add photos to this run-on mass of characters, but alas I do not have the motivation necessary to make that happen.  That would take loading more photos on the computer; selecting the photos, formatting them, captioning them; selecting videos, uploading them to a video host, pasting an embed code into this blog at “the right” spot.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow this will happen.  (actually later today, it’s nearly 2AM).  Later. over and out.