Hurtigruten day 7 (17/3) - last day :(

Today dawned bright and sunny as if to taunt us by reminding us how good life on the ship was. Somberly we headed up for our last breakfast, last time in our cabins, last relaxation in the panorama lounge, last approach to port....

On the way up to the panorama lounge after breakfast we met the restaurant manager in the lift. Seeing bags, he asked us if we were leaving. We told him we were but that we were very sad to go and would do anything to stay. He advised us that he was looking for some new restaurant staff. It's probably a good thing my Norwegian is not yet good enough, otherwise it may have been some time before you saw me again.

At dinner on the second night of the trip, we'd met a lovely elderly German lady called Barbel. She was a veteran of more than 60 trips over 30 years on the Hurtigruten and had many stories to tell us of her time on the ships. She has also travelled around Norway on land, and has learnt Norwegian (as well as speaking German and English) to communicate on her travels. She joined us for our last breakfast and we were joking with her about how sad she would be to leave us, with white handkerchiefs, a brass band and streamers on our departure.

As we got off the ship, we saw her and next thing we knew, she'd whipped out her tissues and started waving and pretending to cry. She was completing the voyage down the coast as well (which sails the same route, but the stops in the day on the way up become night time stops on the way down and vice versa) and was not going into Kirkenes or on any excursion, so she had gotten off the ship just to do that for us. Definitely an appropriate farewell!

We put our bag on the airport bus and went to get on, but it was quite full. All these people kept overtaking us to get on, yelling out in German that their bags were onboard and therefore they should get 1st priority on the bus. So we had to get on the second bus, but they wouldn't let us move our bags over. We didn't think this was a problem, until halfway to the airport we suddenly turned around. Watching out the back window as our bags sped away from us, we were totally confused until we realised the driver had forgotten to stop at all the hotels in town to pick up passengers for the airport. We were a bit tense as we did the cook's tour of the hotels in Kirkenes, wondering if we'd be traveling home a lot lighter than we should!

Luckily, we arrive at the airport just before the first bus left, and our unloaded bags were just two more bags in the chaos.

Kirkenes is a small town 10km from the Russian border, with lots of snow! All street signs are in both Russian and Norwegian. We wanted to visit the Russian border, but it was 10km in the wrong direction, and there was only 1 flight a day to Oslo! We did notice lots of army men around, which is never a bad thing...

We realised how far our journey had been when we saw a signpost on the way to the airport. It read: Roma 5102km, Bergen 2626km, Oslo 2502km. Oslo is halfway between Rome and Kirkenes!

Our flight home was over Northern Norway, Finland and Sweden and was so pretty from the air, frozen fjords, lakes and rivers. It was beautiful, but tampered a bit by our sadness that such an amazing trip had ended.

Arriving back in Oslo, which already felt a bit like coming back home, our mood improved a bit at the first signs of Spring. The snow had melted a lot (I actually saw some grass!), the air felt fresher and the sun was out.

Over our week away, we saw some wonderful sights and had unique and awesome experiences. The week long trip will definitely be a highlight of my time in Oslo. Beyond that, I also think that I have become very close to 2 of my travel companions and am already helping them to arrange trips to Australia. Sadness at the trip's conclusion mixed with joy at the fun we'd had as we said farewells to each other and went back to our rooms to unpack, sort photos (and sleep).

And we've decided to do it again, in 2019. You're welcome to join us!

Hurtigruten day 6 (16/3)

I have sailed past the northernmost town in the world. I have also driven through the northernmost town in the world. But they're two different places.

How does this work? It's simple: both Hammerfest and Honningsvåg claim to be the northernmost towns in the world. It's a tag that seems to be prevalent up north, as we passed the northernmost windfarm in the world, the northernmost brewery in the world, the northernmost point on the voyage and visited the northernmost point in Europe.

We spent the morning relaxing in the panorama lounge and then watched a film about the indigenous population of Norway, the Samis. The Samis went through a period in which the Norwegian Government tried to force integration upon them, but now encourage respect for their culture. There are now Sami TV shows, a Sami parliament and other positive signs of two diverse communities living together.

After our film, we docked in Honningsvåg, where we set off for our trip to the North Cape. We were on a bus that had both Norwegian and English speakers and the guide spoke both languages to us. On the other hand, there were at least three buses of German speakers! Pic below shows racks for drying cod. second pic shows Honningsvåg. The lines on the hillside are snow racks, used for holding snow back from the houses!

Honningsvåg, possibly the northernmost town in the world, has the only Vinmonopolet (alcohol shop) for 200km. Despite (possibly) being the northernmost town in the world, it also has a beach, which according to our guide is nicknamed Copa Cobana (see pic below)!

It was a 45 minute bus ride to the North Cape, and our guide gave us an entertaining insight into life on the island of Magerøy (on which both Honningsvåg and the North Cape are located). As we passed the petrol station, we were in the 71st latitude. Magerøy is too far north for any trees to go naturally, so if you want them in your garden you must protect them over the winter. But, despite this, it is actually far warmer than other places of its latitude, due to the gulf stream that goes up along the Norwegian coastline.

There are too many reindeer in Norway and not enough food for them all, so there is now a ban on new people entering the reindeer herding profession (and only one child of a herder can take on the family job). In addition, in April every year, the Norwegian army boats bring 3,800 reindeer onto the island of Magerøy to graze over the summer. The animals have to swim back themselves in the autumn as they cannot survive on the island over winter.

About halfway through our journey to the North Cape, the bus stopped and the guide explained that the road to the North Cape itself is closed over winter. A convoy of buses has special permission to travel along it at a certain time of the day, provided they privately fund a snow plough to travel with them. So we had to wait for a while until the snow plough arrived and could escort us up the mountain.

On the way up, there was a gorgeous view of a fjord, snowy cliffs and a sparkling blue sea. We also drove past a Sami house (not inhabited until the summer time) and a camping facility (also obviously not inhabited until the summer!). But apart from this, there were few signs of life on this lonely road, adding to the feeling of going to the world's end.

We made it up the mountain and were given about an hour and a half to look around. The North Cape seems to have attracted a strange collection of sculptures, from the 'Children of the World' sculpture which was made by a group of children who were flown from all over the world to spend a week at the North Cape; the globe sculpture near the site of the North Cape and a rock in which the King of Siam inscribed his name when he visited in the early 1900s. Until the 1950s, when they opened a road, visitors to Nordkapp (the Norwegian name) were forced to climb the cliff 308 metres from the sea.

North Cape is considered to be the northernmost point of Europe, however the real northernmost point of Europe is actually just around the bay a little bit. This was apparently only discovered when modern technology allowed for a better analysis of the position of the land, and there is very little difference between the two spots. Pic below shows us at Nordkapp, with the real northernmost point in the background.

The only building at the North Cape is the North Cape Hall, which as well as the inevitable souvenir shop and cafe, contains a chapel for weddings, a Thai museum to commemorate the King of Siam's visit, photo and art exhibitions about the North Cape and a post office. Interestingly, part of the building is underground, tunneling under the globe statue located just near the cliff.

Not far from the North Cape is another island which is the summer residence of large quantities of Puffins. The Puffins arrive there every year on the 14th of April between 3pm and 8pm and will stay there until the autumn.

We had plenty of time at the North Cape and headed off back to Honningsvåg and the ship, which waited for us as we were a bit late coming back. We got back on the ship with some sadness though, as we knew it was the last night of our magical experience.

The experiences continued though, as we sailed through some more majestic fjords and some local fisherman came on board to show us their catch of King Crab. They were brought onto the freezing deck and placed on tables for people to look at and hold whilst hearing about them and the methods used to catch them. They are huge!

After the crab visit was another highlight of the day, a buffet dinner, featuring Norway's famous seafood (including King Crab), lamb, beef and lots of amazing desserts. Knowing it was our last decent food for some time, we definitely appreciated the spread!

About 8:30 pm we were in our cabins finishing off the wine we'd brought with us (we weren't allowed to drink in public places on the ship due to liquor laws, but drinking their wine cost nearly $100). We heard an announcement on the PA and raced up on deck as there were Northern Lights to be seen. We saw some more Northern Lights, but again it was a little bit cloudy.

Retiring to our cabin again, we continued our bottle and at around 10:30 headed up on deck again, this time armed with towels, bed sheets and doona covers. We had been advised that we would be passing another Hurtigruten ship at around 11 that night, and that there was to be a competition between the two ships to see who could get the most passengers on deck waving their white towels. We took that instruction a little bit further and covered ourselves completely in white to wave at the ship passing. Again, the staff were in a fun mood as they set up banners and played music whilst we waited to pass the ship. As we passed, we all cheered and waved madly, whilst I believe the other ship contained a few passengers sedately waving their hand towels. (note: I'm the one completely covered in white)Warmed by the festivities and our extra layers we stayed on deck for a long time, watching the stars, listening to the waves underneath and watching Northern Lights in the (now clearer) sky. Later that evening we pulled into a tiny dock in which one passenger got off. Those of us still on deck in our white gear gave her a fond farewell, and applauded the work of the fork lift driver who loaded and unloaded the ship.

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!

Hurtigruten day 4 (14/3)

Off to an early start this morning as I decided to get up at 6:15 to watch us cross the Arctic Circle. It seems very few people had this idea as I was pretty much alone as we sailed past the globe on a small island that marked our passage into the Arctic Circle. I also noticed the scenery had changed slightly- there was more snow and it went the whole way down the the water. It was very cool sitting there, at 7:15 and 25 seconds, crossing into waters that are practically as far from Australia as you can get. I lost the competition though, having guessed 7:07 and 23 seconds.

As there was little else planned for the morning, I went back to bed for a snooze and woke up again later for the ceremony which we had been advised would take place at 10:30. We knew very little about it, just that there was to be a ceremony to commerate our crossing of the Arctic Circle. On deck, near the pool, we found a wheelbarrow full of ice, a bench, a trolley with wine bottles and small glasses and a stereo playing 'the final countdown'. Soon the arrival of King Neptune was announced and the ceremony was ready to begin. I don't know how many of you have met King Neptune, but let's just say he wasn't quite how I imagined (see pic below and click on it to enlarge it).

Commemoration of crossing the Arctic Circle involves baptism with a ladle of ice and water poured down your back. Wow, what a refreshing experience! After the baptism, you receive a certificate and a shot glass of wine. It was hilarious standing back after my baptism and watching the various reactions, from the reluctant (who received 2 ladles full!) to those who posed for photos.

Later that day we arrived in Bodø, a military city further up the coast. We had a lot of time to spend in Bodø, and to be honest, there is not that much to do there. We checked out the views and the cathedral in the pouring rain and then went for a wander along the dock. Luckily, there were several Norwegian Naval vessels in town at the time, and one of them was open to visitors. So we got to go and have a look and meet some sailors (but I couldn't take pictures as I had to leave my camera in a crate before boarding). I did get a picture of the sailor who minds the cameras though!

After lunch and a stroll through the shops, we went back to the ship for a swim and spa and later that day watched a film about the Northern Lights (aurora borealis). Wow. The film was a series of pictures of the Northern Lights taken over a series of 2 years, and some of the pictures were amazing. The lights are usually green and they 'dance' in the sky, but they can a range of other colours.

Dinner that night was fantastic and was followed by bridge until a brief stop in Svolvær, in the Lofoten Islands, known for their wildlife and scenery. We didn't see much of this, being 9pm at night, but we did get to go to a nearby ice bar and ice sculpture place which was fantastic. There were sculptures of local Norwegian scenes, scultures involving real fish and seaweeds, sculptures of the Lofoten Island bird and animal life and other nautical themes. A quick drink in the ice bar and we were back on the ship, ready for another round of bridge.

Later that night I had probably one of the best experiences I have ever had. At 11pm we gathered on deck and were given Norwegian fish cakes (which were pretty gross, but were good for warming hands!). We looked up and in front of us was a snow covered cliff. The sound system was playing 'sail away' by Enya and as we continued we sailed away through a gap between two parts of the cliff. We were therefore surrounded on all sides by the thick dark night, a snowy fjord, and the lights of a small fishing boat in the distance. The ship's music changed to something classical and then cut out all together as a deck full of strangers took in the majesty of the sights in front of us. The beams from the ship swung around us to highlight certain areas of the fjord and then, music playing once again, we reversed out of the fjord again (we weren't allowed to go too far in because of the danger of avalanches).

I think one of the things that added to the experience was the good humour of the ships crew who served fish cakes, arranged the music and enjoyed themselves despite the cold and late hour. The picture below was an attempt to capture this on camera but the motion of the ship and darkness of the night made it an impossible aim.

Hurtigruten day 3 (13/3)

On the third day of our trip, we docked in Trondheim very early in the morning, though after our nocturnal adventures the night before we did not see this first hand! Trondheim celebrated its 1000th anniversary about 10 years ago and it used to be the capital of Norway, so we were keen to have a look around. After a quick breakfast around 8, we set off to explore the streets of Trondheim before we left again at 12.
The docks of Trondheim are probably not the most exciting places in the world, but a short stroll through them saw us in the city itself, which was much prettier! We started off in the old part of town where we saw Norwegian coloured houses again, as well as the only bicycle lift in the world, installed to encourage locals who were scared off by an enormous hill to cycle more. It seems the bicycle lift is closed in winter however, as it was frozen over. The brave explorers (us) set off to walk up the big hill anyway and continued up to the fortress in Trondheim (Kristiansten Festning). But it was a cold day in Trondheim and the roads and rocks were icy, so we (well, I) made slow progress up the hill. The view from the top over Trondheim was nice though and we enjoyed our stroll around the cannons and buildings.

Once we descended, we headed over to the Nidaros Cathedral, which is the national cathedral of Norway and is historically very significant, having been built around 1320 over the burial site of (St) King Olav. It started snowing as we arrived at the cathedral and the graveyards, gothic architecture and snow made it look quite scary!

Covered in snow and unsure about where to go next, we decided to head for a coffee. I wanted hot chocolate, but declined when I saw it was 43NOK (around $9.50). This was a normal cafe and none of the locals seemed surprised by the prices! I settled for tea at 30NOK ($6.50) instead!

After another stroll through the town we headed back to the ship, and into the pool for a quick dip and spa! As we relaxed in the panorama lounge later, we passed a tiny red lighthouse on a small island in the middle of nowhere which used to be inhabited by a brave man and his family.

Later that day, after another fantastic 3 course meal, we stopped at Rørvik for a brief time, at the same time as the southbound Hurtigruten was there, so we were invited to go and have a look. It was the oldest in the fleet, built in the 1950s and was so different to the mammoth we were travelling on. Everything was wooden, cosy and authentic (they even had cod slung over the pipes!) and a lot smaller (see the picture below, unfortunately bad quality). On the way back, a Scotsman asked me what I thought of it, and we agreed it was gorgeous, but we were happy with the one we had, complete with spa, pool and bathrooms inside our rooms.


We finished off the night with more bridge and also posted our entries for the arctic circle competition- a competition to guess the time at which we would cross the arctic circle the next day.

Hurtigruten day 2 12/3

Before I continue with Day 2 I will fill you in on Hurtigruten.

Hurtigruten is the company that runs daily coastal ships from Bergen to Kirkenes and back again. The idea of a coastal ship started in the late 1800s as a postal and cargo shipping service and was relied on by the islands, towns and cities along the route for supplies, but also for transporting their produce to the international port of Bergen. The company has around 12 ships which go up and down the coast and also do annual or seasonal trips to Antartica, South America, Greenland and Europe. The ships vary from the traditional, cosy boats built in the 1950s to the massive modern ships, such as the one we went on. But they do not have the formality, the heavily organised programs or the facilities of traditional cruise ships. Also, they are still very much used for carrying cargo and transporting locals from port to port and thus stop up to 8 times during the day and night at tiny ports along the way. The name hurtigruten means 'the express route' in norwegian (the -en suffix is 'the').

So, back to day 2. When we awoke, something felt a bit strange and as we got up we realised we were walking a bit wonkily. We gradually got used to it and set off to level 4 for our 1st breakfast. Wow. We were served a buffet breakfast with fruits, boiled eggs, meats, cheeses, breads, cereals and yoghurt (including yummy cherry drinking yoghurt to pour on your cereal), juices, tea and coffee and some hot items to keep the Brits happy (strangely enough, one of the hot items was chicken nuggets- not that I'm complaining!). As our package did not include lunch we grabbed some bread rolls, cold meats and cheese and put our sandwiches in napkins. Free lunch! We later found out the buffet lunch cost 275NOK if we wanted it, or lunch from the onboard 24 hr cafe (for those travelling port-port) cost 70-100NOK, so we did very well with our sandwiches!

The dining room on the ship had windows everywhere so we enjoyed the scenery and the beautiful sunny day as we ate a leisurely breakfast. We passed the west cape at one stage, which is as far west as Amsterdam or Marseille and went for a brief wander in a small town called Torvik during our 15 minute stop there. The rest of the morning we spent exploring the ship and reading in the panorama lunch, as well as taking brief spells of cold air on the deck!

At lunch time we arrived in Aalesund (Aa is the same as the A with the circle on top, pronounced a bit like the word 'awe'), which was absolutely stunning from the harbour, and only got better. Aalesund is a city built over several islands, with snowy mountains in the background. It was destroyed by a fire in 1904 and the whole of Europe got together and donated money for it to be rebuilt. It took 3 years to rebuild and it was rebuilt in an art nouveau style. Interestingly, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II (who had holidayed in the area) send 4 boats with temporary shelters and provisions to the town the day after the fire and thus a street was named after him.

Once we got off the ship, we climbed the 418 steps to a lookout on the Aksla mountain. The climb left us breathless, not only from the 418 steps but because of the beauty of the view the whole way up. In a 180 degree panorama you could see the fjord and Atlantic ocean with nearby islands, the snowy alps of Sunnmøre and the gorgeous colourful town with pretty bridges. Wow.

At the lookout at the top of the hill we had our lunch and looked at a map which showed us the location of the road tunnels under the fjord we were looking at. It also pointed out the location of the oil rigs nearby (famous for making Norway the rich country it is). Norway is full of tunnels and bridges that link small islands and coastal towns separated by fjords.

After climbing down the steps we strolled around the town and took in the art nouveau architecture, before heading back to the ship for a swim, spa and sauna, followed by another brief stopover in a town called Molde, which had a nice view over a nearby fjord. Molde is a modern town, as it was almost completely destroyed by WW2 and this seems to be common for many of the towns along the coastline.

After a delicious three course meal (clipfish salad, chicken and cheesecake) we retired to the lounge where they offered free tea and coffee (any other time during the day you had to pay for it) and a crooner from Bulgaria (who was quite good, singing old favourites such as 'what a wonderful world' and 'you look wonderful tonight'). We played Uno and then bridge and probably had 3 or 4 cups of tea each and enjoyed the night-time scenery.

At 10:15pm we pulled into Kristiansund (not to be confused with Kristiansand in the south of Norway) for a brief stop. It was magical approaching the town, and like a story book as we saw a little island (linked to the others by a bridge). The dominant building on the island was a church, surrounded by picturesque coloured houses. To complete the picture, a full moon was in the background, making it all look like a Christmas card picture.

Tired but happy after our day, we went to bed around 11, but got a surprise at 12:30 when the phone in our cabin rang. The previous day we had been told that we could register with reception to receive a telephone call if there were any Northern Lights to be seen during the night. We didn't expect this to occur so far south, but were thrilled to throw clothes over our PJs and race up on deck to see them. It was a bit cloudy so they were not as spectacular as pictures I have seen, in which the whole sky is green, but it was thrilling to stand on the icy deck in the pitch dark night, with the rush of waves 5 floors below us, and see these flashes of light in the sky.

Hurtigruten, day 1 (11/3)

Hei hei!

I have just arrived back in Oslo after a week on the Hurtigruten ship and I still feel like the earth is rocking slightly! I had an absolutely amazing trip, travelling 2300 km up the coast of Norway, from Bergen, in the south west of Norway to Kirkenes in the north-east and 10km from the Russian border.

After a frantic week last week, cumulating in a presentation on the Wednesday morning, we raced back home, ate lunch caught a bus, a train and then another train for our 3pm flight to Bergen. At Oslo airport, we were not surprised to see that, whilst warmer in Bergen, the forecast was for rain, as apparently Bergen is always wet!


Our 45 min flight was magnificant, over houses surrounded by snowy fields, roads and forests. It was a beautiful day for flying, sunny and clear, and as we approached Bergen we began to see fjords, bridges and islands. We were surprised to find a gorgeous sunny day in Bergen as well when we landed and took the bus from the airport past fishing villages, bridges and fjords. One thing I particularly love about Norway is the housing- all the houses are brightly coloured reds, yellows, greens and blues.

Bergen is a gorgeous place, quite similar to Hobart, with a harbour-town feel and a huge mountain in the background (except it was covered in snow!) We strolled round for an hour or so, looking at the gorgeous harbour and the famous row of coloured waterfront shops there. The relaxed feel and the sunshine definitely made it a special place!


We then dragged our bags round to the Hurtigruten terminal and got our first glimpse of the ship, MS Finnmarken. Wow- it was huge! Excited, we raced into the terminal, which was elegant and quite cleanly decorated. We were so excited when we checked in our bags (they loaded them to our cabin for us) and got our ID card for the ship etc. Then we got to board, going through a glass walkway onto the ship for the first time.


Each passenger is given an ID card which has their name and cabin number on it. This is scanned every time they enter or exit, in order to quickly determine who is and is not aboard. The ID card is also used to access the cabins, marked with the meal package you receive to display on entry to the dining room, and can be used as a charge card to buy things aboard.

Our cabin was an inside cabin on the 3rd floor of the ship, so we raced down then and started to unpack. Each cabin was for 2 people, and contained a couch that folded into a bed, another bed that folded into the wall, a small bathroom, a fridge and a desk with a chair. There was a surprising amount of space in the cabins, and plenty of room for all our belongings!

After a brief spot of unpacking (we'd only brought 2 suitcases between the four of us) we set off to explore the ship, taking in the dining room, gym, sauna, outside (heated) spa and swimming pool, bars and panorama lounge, with windows on 3 sides to view the scenery. There was also a beautiful view over Bergen at night.

After seeing the dining room, we decided it was dinner time and set off to eat. Before entering the dining room, after eating, when embarking and disembarking you are required to use an alcohol rub on your hands to prevent the spread of infection. This was put in place after an outbreak of gastro 2 years ago on a Hurtigruten ship, and seems to have worked!

Our meal package included breakfast and dinner, and I'm so glad it did! The first night, we had a buffet that was utterly amazing, with lots of Norwegian seafood (I've never seen so many types of herring- steamed, tomato sauce, curry sauce etc) and delicious desserts, particularly berries which grow well in Norway because of the extended sun in summer.

After dinner we had a briefing in which we were told about the ship and safety instructions. It was here we learnt some more about our fellow passengers. For a start, we were by far the youngest (easily 30 years younger than the other passengers) and as such we were stared at a lot. In addition, I'd say 80% of the ship were German, apparently Hurtigruten is marketed extensively in Germany and certainly we got a far better deal from booking in Germany than we would have anywhere else (I was travelling with 2 German sisters and a Swiss girl). As a result of this, the staff on the ship are amazing. All announcements were made in at least Norwegian, English and German, and some were if French if the person doing the other announcements spoke French as well. In particular, the tour manager was hilarious, telling jokes in all 3 (sometimes four) languages! Everyone, dining room staff, bar staff, cleaning staff, reception staff spoke at least English and Norwegian, and usually German as well.

The safety suits are hilarious. Due to the fact the water is quite cold, as well as a life jacket youa required to dress in a bright orange all in one suit, which was demonstrated to us by the safety officer on the ship.


We stood on the outside deck as we left Bergen, taking pictures and watching the lights get smaller. Then we jumped into the spa (heated to 38 degrees) and sat there on deck as we set off on what is marketed as 'the world's most beautiful voyage'...

i Sverige

Hej!

I just got back from a spur of the moment weekend in Gothenburg, Sweden. I decided to go at 11:30pm Thursday night, booked the bus and a youth hostel, and set off after class at 4 on Friday. I managed to convince an Australian friend to come with me and we spent the whole trip there trying to take pictures of the road signs, which was almost impossible at 90km/hr! We were hoping there would be some sort of excitement at the border, but all wee could see was the road signs changed colour. No passport stamps this trip!

We arrived at around 8 and headed into the central train station to sort out where to go and get some dinner before we made the trip to the hostel. It was so exciting to see the prices! I think many Aussies who go to Sweden think it's expensive, but it's so cheap for us after being in Norway! Particularly exciting were the alcohol costs, we could actually enjoy a glass of Swedish cider for less than $10 AU!!!

Gothenburg is quite a big city, filled with canals and very wide streets. There are not many cars on it, buildings don't tend to be that tall, many of the streets are cobbled, and there are trams everywhere. It's hard to say where the main part of town is as the city is so spread out. But its definitely quite a busy city with people walking around everywhere.

We made it to the hostel and unpacked our stuff and almost immediately got invited to a party from a group of Germans and American girls and guys. Having just arrived, we thought it sounded fun. Wow, what an experience. Firstly, we got to the party and there was a big line to get in and a guy on the door stopping people getting in. We were just about to give up when we saw a window, accessible from an external fire staircase. Up the stairs and stepping inside the window and we were in the party. Once inside we found out that things were not strictly legal, as they were selling booze which they had imported cheaply from Germany. We got a bit concerned when we saw a police van outside the window, but we were the only ones who seemed concerned, and after the organisers chatted to the police and stopped the music for a while, the party started again in earnest. Then Bob Dylan came on and the crowd went wild. For some reason, 'Like a Rolling Stone' saw everyone on the dance floor, singing and dancing their hearts out! When I said I came from Adelaide, everyone knew it because of a TV show, The Flying Doctors. They all started quoting lines and discussing which characters came from Adelaide!!

We stayed with our new American and German friends (who had been on exchange in Cork together) and when we decided to go home later we all travelled in a group. Gothenburg has an amazing public transport system- trams, buses, ferries run all hours of the night (the last tram is at 4 something am and the first tram of the next day also at 4 something am!) and are very regular. The route map is insane, there don't seem to be any patches of the city left unserviced by at least 2 public transport options! All this in a city of around 500,000 people.

The next day we set off quite early for such a late night, and headed out to the Maritime Museum. Being a large port in Sweden, maritime history is quite significant and the museum had some great exhibitions, all bilingual and even a small aquarium section showing Nordic and tropical fish. Best of all, if you are under 25 you get free entry. In fact, we went to 4 museums in Gothenburg and did not pay to enter any of them (even the adult price is quite reasonable and is often less than $10AU for a season pass.

After the maritime museum and a lunch of real meat we set off to the World Culture Museum. This is a relatively new museum and is free for everyone. It had very well presented, completely billingual, comprehensive exhibitions, including a bollywood exhibition where you could make your own bollywood dance and play singstar bollywood; an exhibition on women's rights around the world; an exhibition on every day people who are doing something to change the world (eg gardening guerillas who plant gardens in public spaces); an exhibition on girls learning boxing in India and an exhibition on Peruvian fabrics and pillaging of graves in the world. Visiting these two museums, its easy to see why Scandinavians are considered to be so well-educated. Both had children's sections where kids could play as well as innovative display styles eg the peruvian cloths included a large, round white tent in which patterns from the cloths were projected on the walls inside.

We headed back to the hostel for a brief snooze, then set off again for dinner (under $20AU- so cheap!!) and decided to head into town for a drink in an Irish pub. We chatted to some Swedish guys there who had decided, whilst drunk, at 7am that morning that they were sick of the fashion-conscious Stockholm. So they got on the first train they saw and 5 hours later (having had no sleep) ended up in Gothenburg, with no plans. On arrival they happened to see a poster and discovered their old school friends were playing in a band concert that night. So they contacted them, got on the free list and were heading off to the concert after we met them. After they'd arranged the concert, they still had some free time, so exhausted they went to see the longest movie they could find so that they could sleep. So they've now seen bits of Australia the movie! They were planning on spending the night in the train station then heading back to Stockholm in the morning!

We had an early night and then set off today to the Gothenburg City Museum. This museum was housed in a building from the 1700's, the East Indiaman building (named after a company associated with the spice trade). This museum, another museum free for under 25's had more innovative, rich displays, including parts of Sweden's only surviving viking ship, a display about human settlement, a detailed history of Gothenburg, an exhibition about modern day Gothenburg and Swedish manufacture and an exhibition about the hundreds of chairs the museum has collected!

We left the museum at lunchtime and set off on the tram to what was probably the highlight of my visit to Gothenburg- an apartment located in the suburbs that had been completely decorated in 1950s style, from the wall paper, bathroom and childrens bedroom to the kitchen cupboards. It was run by a small group of elderly local citizens who opened it for 3 hours every week. It's in a normal apartment block, and we almost thought we had the wrong place when we arrived and saw what we thought was a party of elderly people! But the minute they heard we were Australian, they were so excited that they gave us a special tour of the place, proudly showing off the treasures they had found for it (including the genuine 1950s wall paper found for sale for 300SEK ($50AU) per metre in a modern day department store, the shower that came from someone who lived in a nearby apartment block and had not updated and the preserved fruits in the kitchen cupboards) and trying really hard to speak to us in English. They opened the place 11 years ago and have searched all over the city for the treasures within. Not once did they ask us for money, they did it because they loved it. There was a donation box on the wall, but noone referred to it, and though we gave a donation it was definitely not expected. The place was full of people reminiscing and I think by the time we left every single one had been told we were Australian! As we left we were sent off with fond farewells, and they all thanked us for coming to Sweden and coming to visit the apartment! The museum is open every week for 3 hours and teams of about 5 volunteers attend, explaining the different objects to people, showing them 50s money or magazines, and just chatting to the visitors. They even have a phone book from the 50s in which people were finding their friends or family!

After the museum we headed back into town with a few hours free before we had to catch the return bus. Freezing in the rain and snow, we found a huge department store which had aa massive centre square. The square had a large crowd and music playing, and as we squeezed in we saw there was a group of older man performing dances to rock and roll songs. After this display, large groups of kids did gymnastics displays, tumbling, flips and all sort of jumps. This department store was huge, but had repeats of the same shops - 3 H&M's, at least 3 McDonalds, all within about 50-100m of each other. It certainly entertained us until we caught the bus back to Oslo, arriving home about 9pm.

All in all a great weekend! It's interesting going to Sweden, my Norwegian has improved and so I was able to see how similar Norwegian and Swedish are. And of course, I got to buy cheap chocolate and other products to bring back into Norway! The only thing I didn't like about Gothenburg was that many attractions are closed or on very reduced opening hours this time of year, for example some of the museums and the Liseberg amusement park are not open in the winter.

I hope to put up photos from the weekend soon, as I am going away for a week on Wednesday, on the Hurtigruten!

Best Wishes,

Anneke