Can't wait for Flam

Day Nine, Thursday, June 7. Tromso, a town whose name is spelled with a slash through the final “o” to indicate that it really isn’t on “o.” It’s pronounced Tromsuh, just in case you wondered. A population of 75,000 makes it one of the top five in Norway; also site of the world’s northernmost brewery, university, and something else. Check it out on a map; it’s up there! We’re sailing in the Norwegian inland passage now, so, snow covered mountains on both sides of the ship, some the color of chocolate muffins sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

Cold today (high 45ish) with a little misty rain or, as the Norskis call it: summer. The warm coats we brought from San Diego are doing all they can, but, hell, they’re San Diego coats, man, and not quite up to the task. We look longingly at local vendors peddling allegedly Norski-made heavy, reindeer-wool, double-lined, hooded and possibly water-proof coats and try to remember that we have only four more days in Norway. After that, big heavy coats go to the back of the closet. Plus, these puppies aren’t cheap and a lot of allegedly Norski-made garments actually come from China. So, it’s another layer of Tommy Bahama before we go out tomorrow in Volkswagenhoney, the northernmost village in Norway. Our tour ticket says we’ll visit The Frostbite Museum and see an exhibit of what happens when brass monkeys are left outside at night. Should be educational.

Today’s two tours: The first was “Highlights of Tromso,” a slight exaggeration. These consisted of a funicular ride to a snow-covered platform with scenic views of the city. Okay if you don’t count the long wait to get on the funicular and the fact that Tromso, pleasant as it no doubt is, has no scenic view of its own. The surrounding mountains are picturesque, but the town…? Meh. Highlight number two was The Cathedral of the Arctic, the northernmost Cathedral. An A-frame building allegedly intended to remind one of an ice berg. Well, okay, maybe. See Arctic Cathedral
The third Highlight was a museum of the indigenous “Sami” people, a small, reindeer-herding minority who got “modernized” and “mainstreamed”almost to extinction by smug, well meaning (and some not-so-well-meaning) bureaucrats. This is the same story as the Ainu in Japan, the Native Peoples of Australia and, of course, all the folks that were murdered in the U.S., though the American story doesn’t have a patina of pretending to lift up a people that we wanted to steal from. Hardly any English to be read under the exhibits, but pretty decent anyway. Our guide was from Senegal.

Fun fact: According to our guide, The Cathedral of the Arctic has only eleven windows because there were only eleven apostles. Yeah. Judas makes one mistake and he’s demoted. Harsh, very harsh.

The afternoon tour had a British guide so, including the Italian in Weimereiner, we have yet to have a Norski guide. Maybe, with all the Petro Dollars around, such jobs don’t pay well enough to attract locals. Our cheerful Brit took us to a planetarium where we watched a film about the aurora borealis, which only occur in winter when the night sky is dark. And clear. Our seats recline to watch the film on the ceiling of the planetarium and both of us promptly doze off. Dang. Amazing lights, though, based on what we saw before we conked out. 

Stop number two was The Cathedral of the Arctic… Hey, didn’t we already see that? Apparently, locals really like this church.

Stop number three was the Polar Museum with lots of info about what life was like before Petro Dollars. Seal hunting, for example, as illustrated by a charming diorama of a Norski guy in the act of braining a baby seal. Look kids! Swell. We learn that seal meat is still eaten though slaughtering pups for their fur is pretty much a no-no. Pretty much. The museum has stuff too about polar bear and walrus hunting and about the only historical figure any of our guides seems to care or know about: Roald Amundsen, the first guy to reach the South Pole, a man for whom the term “hawk-nosed” was probably invented, a guy who could open a can of beer without using his hands. All told, another good museum.

Over dinner, we are informed that Flam, a later stop on our tour, has the “Mall of Norway” with great prices on heavy coats. Great. Now, on our last stop in Norway, we can get a deal on a coat we’ll only ever need in Norway. We can hardly wait.

A few photos:

View of Tromso from funicular

 Near the Cathedral of the Arctic

Cathedral photo obviously taken in winter...and not by this blogger

Explanation of the Sami people

From our veranda at 9:30 in evening. The Hurtigrutin ships are working ships going up and down the Norwegian coast, but you can cruise on them too.

Veranda selfie