Hei Sweet Friends!

It’s finally, finally here!!! My big snowy adventure to Norway with Tam Tam is finally happening!!! WOOHOO! We have been planning this trip since October and our anticipation has built to critical mass!! While it might seem Norway is an unlikely choice for two island girls, one of whom HATES cold weather, (that would be me) we both readily agreed on spending 10 days hunting the Northern Lights! Let the hunt begin!!

On February 5th, I met Tam in Berlin, where she and her husband Sat were staying with friends. Sat is attending the Berlin Film Festival and while he is very busy seeing films, meeting directors and actors, Tam and I are heading to Snowway! Our reunion at the airport was so wonderful and emotional. I know it’s only been September since we were together, but we have been looking so forward to this trip that we were both screaming and hugging and jumping up and down. I’m surprised security wasn’t called.

We arrived in Bergen and found the Hurtigruten shuttle to the dock where we boarded the cruise ship Nordnorge bound from Bergen to Tromso. Hurtigruten runs 11 ships up and down the coast of Norway hauling cargo, commuters and cruisers like us from Bergen in South Norway to Kirkenes in the very, very north next to the Russian border. We are going only as far as Tromso, about halfway. The cruise is four nights and five days on-board a very nice, accommodating ship that looks like most cruise ships just smaller and with no entertainment options – nature is your entertainment!

And we were certainly entertained! Our first day on the ship was snowy, but the seas were calm, at least for the moment. After a buffet dinner on board, we attended orientation with our cruise director. He advised us that we would “feel some movement” on-board and should take precautions if we tend to be seasick. Our server at dinner, who turned out to be the most informative person on the ship, told us that a hurricane was due to hit on Saturday!!! In his words, “Yes, you might see the Northern Lights, after the hurricane.” HUH???? WTH??? We thought he was making a joke. Turns out Norwegians don’t joke. Our cruise director said we would feel movement. Good thing we listened to the server!

Tam Tam, who is always prepared, had brought Bonine for sea sickness (I renamed this Bovine) so we started taking it immediately preparing for movement or a hurricane, whichever came first. We explored the ship and walked around outside for a bit that evening searching the skies for a clearing and a glimpse of the Northern Lights, but no such luck.  That night was smooth with no problems and we slept great thanks to the Bovine.

The next day (Friday), we stopped in Alesund, and it was sunny and relatively warm, so much so that we ended up taking some layers off during our walk through the city! We had blue skies, sunshine and no sign of a hurricane. But of course, that did not last. Alesund turned out to be a lovely Norwegian city and we enjoyed our walk. Back on-board we had dinner and our server gave us the weather update. Yup, he confirmed that the hurricane hits on Saturday!

Sure enough, on Saturday, the snow began falling, the clouds hovered low in the sky and the wind was gusting at about 65 MPH. Not kidding. We stopped in Trondheim around 6 AM, so after breakfast, Tam and I ventured out with a map and instructions to be back by 11:45 AM since the ship was due to leave around noon. With little time, we decided to walk to the town center and see the cathedral. Still, no one except our server mentioned the storm, high winds or possible severe weather, i.e. hurricane. We also failed to note that the ship was not docked in it’s usual spot, the one highlighted on the map given to us upon exiting the ship. So we began our walk with a map that might as well have been upside down because we were looking at the wrong starting point, and we were ill prepared for what was coming weather wise!

Basically, we were lost from the beginning. The map was not helpful and as soon as we began walking towards what we thought was the city center, the white out began. I’m not even kidding. We had to stop and hunker down in a niche on the street to keep from being blown away! We finally found some other cruisers and followed them to the center of town and the cathedral. We walked through the cathedral and learned its history and importance to the city. We had only been there a short time, but decided to start heading back to the ship in case the weather got worse. The ship was leaving at noon with or without us, so we had an hour and half to get back.

Seems like a lot of time but when you’re lost, disoriented and in the middle of a white out, it’s really not. We asked a local for directions back to the Hurtigruten dock, you know the place where our ship was supposed to be. She gave us easy directions and for the moment the weather had calmed enough for us to see. We walked through the center of town, the bit we were originally looking for, and headed towards the water and docks. As we got closer to the ocean, the wind and snow picked up and we were once again faced with gale force winds. At one point, my hat blew off my head and I went running towards the river after it. I finally gave up and let it blow into the icy water. Tam and I walked arm in arm holding on to each other against the wind and snow as we made our way slowly towards the ship.

When we got the point marked on the map, of course there was no ship. It was 11:30 so we didn’t think they had left us so we began flagging down people asking if they knew where the ship might be docked. Tam flagged down total strangers begging them to take us to the ship. After no success, we finally made our way to a hotel and asked them to call a cab for us. Turns out we were about a mile away from the ship and would never have made it in time, although everyone kept telling us there was no way the ship was leaving today.

Turns out they were correct. The weather, with 60-90 MPH wind gusts and 20 meter waves, was too much. We had to layover in a fjord for the night waiting out the storm. Good thing for the bovine, cos we definitely felt “movement” that night! OMG, the waves were crazy as we sailed out early next morning. We had to skip the next planned stop to make up for lost time, so the next day was a sailing day with no stops.Tam and I read all day, coming out of our bovine-induced comas long enough to eat and read some more!

That night, we crossed the arctic circle and we were invited outside to view the border marker and to participate in a special Hurtigruten ritual. There was a contest to see who could guess the exact time we would cross the Arctic Circle and whoever guessed the closest would win the ship’s flag! Tam’s guess was spot on but unfortunately it was 5:55 AM instead of 17:55 PM. She would have won had she put PM, and we could have draped ourselves in the Norwegian flag like a toga. After the winner was announced the god Neptune joined us on deck and the winner had to bow down before Neptune as he dropped a cup full of ice down her back!!! No thanks!! I’ll go home a loser. After that, everyone lined up to have ice dropped down their back and receive a shot of schnappes in return for their courage. Tam stepped up and knelt down and took it like a true Japanese Samurai. Thankfully, her hoodie caught most of the ice and she didn’t feel too much until later 🙂 Me? Nope, I was already cold enough and had survived a hurricane. I wasn’t taking any more chances. Besides, the bovine was kicking in and it was time for nite nite.

Have a beautiful nite sweet friends. More tomorrow as we continue through the ice and snow towards Tromso and the Arctic north!!! You can view all the pix under Photos above.