Hurtigruten day 5 (15/3)

We started early this morning as we had been told that we would pass a historic church, where the first baptisms in Norway took place in 999, soon after 8am. We rushed upstairs to see this historic site and very nearly blinked and missed it (see photo below). The surrounding scenery was also quite pretty, so we were still glad we'd gotten up to see it.

We spent the morning on deck, reading, viewing a film about the polar exploration history of Tromsø, our next destination, and enjoying the scenery. There are heaps of islands along the coastline, linked by ferries, undersea or underfjord tunnels and amazing bridges (an engineer's paradise). We enjoyed our homemade lunch (from the buffet breakfast!) again, supplemented with fruit from the previous day's excursion.

Approaching Tromsø we raced downstairs to get changed into warm clothes, then back up again to see the ship's arrival into the 'Paris of the North'. Tromsø is a very pretty city, with a bridge spanning the two banks on which people live, a snowy mountain in the background and an pointy arctic cathedral near the bridge (see pic- click on it for larger shot). It has the world's northernmost brewery and many monuments to Norwegian heroes such as Roald Amundsen, an arctic explorer. Tromsø is quite big, with 63,500 residents and it has its own university.

We did not get much time to look around Tromsø, as we'd signed up for an exciting adventure outside of the city: husky sledding. We were taken there by bus, going through an underground tunnel that had roundabouts and intersections, and continuing out in the countryside to the dog sledding place.

On arrival, we were given warm clothes (an all in one suit), snow boots and thick gloves and taken past the dog kennels to the sleds. The dogs were all ready to go and were yelping with excitement at the trip ahead of them. We split into pairs and were allocated to a dog team of 6-10 dogs and a sled. Our musher (driver) was a Pole who was working there for the winter and he told us that one of the dogs he was using today was a 9 month old who was being used for the first time to see how she went. According to the musher, she performed brilliantly.

Our husky sledding trip was an 8km journey through the snow, past the fjords and mountains and it was gorgeous. The dogs had a ball and kept wanting to run off into the deeper snow, which they love. One of the dogs had to poo while we were out on the track: they lift up their hind legs and keep running with their front legs!

After our sledding trip we got to wander around the kennels and meet all the dogs. The huskies are amazingly friendly: they bound up to you whenever you walk anywhere near their kennel. They love to play and steal gloves, cameras (and as I found out, the hood of your snow-suit) and they've got lots of energy.

All the dogs have their own kennels with their names on, and I notice that there is one free...
We also got to meet the puppies who are soo cute. The white one below is 4 weeks old and has the cutest blue eyes, and the other one below starting shivering when I was holding it. So gorgeous!

After our time with the dogs we got to go inside a lavvo, a traditional Sami tent with a fire inside and have tea, coffee and cake. Two of the guide told us (in french, english, german and danish) about the dogs and answered all our questions. The owners of the dog sledding place had just been away competing in a 1000km race from Finland to Kirkenes in Norway and aim to compete in the longest race in the world next year. The huskies love snow and apparently get a bit depressed in summer when there isn't any (and very hot).

We spent about 2 hours at the dog sledding place and then reluctantly had to leave. I'm surprised they didn't check more carefully to make sure none of the cuter puppies ended up in people's bags!

Upon return to the ship, we washed away the dog smell and then headed to another delicious dinner before a night of tea, songs and cards in the lounge. Later that night, the captain gave a lecture about his life, the ship and culture and industry of the region. His talk even included a demonstration of how they dry cod on huge racks in the open air, followed by some samples of cod prepared by the chef.

It took me a day or so to realise, but the atmosphere on the ship changed once we crossed the arctic circle. The reserved, dignified atmosphere that was present before was loosened up and the staff became a bit more wacky and friendly (even though they were the same staff members!) and there were more events planned.

Worn out, we decided to head to bed and had already changed into our PJs when they announced over the PA that there were some Northern Lights visible. Throwing trackies over our PJ's we raced upstairs to see them. Again, the cloudy sky obscured them a bit, but it was a great end to an exciting day!