Hunting the Light

The kids’ school has a weeklong break in mid-February – after all, they’ve been back from their 3-week Winter Break for five weeks and are ready for another to tide them over until the 2-week Easter Break in April! Being contrarian by nature, we flouted the common trend here to seek the warmth and sunshine of Mallorca or some other Mediterranean beach location, and instead headed north to the Arctic Circle! While the “light” we were officially hunting was the northern lights, we also found lots of sunshine (if not the warmth of the Mediterranean) during the seven hours of daylight.

We booked the last two cabins on the Hurtigruten line to cruise the Norwegian fjords. The Hurtigruten ships are both cruise and cargo and sail up and down the coast with frequent stops that afford passengers the chance to check out the many small towns and sights while cargo is loaded and unloaded. As we learned, it also means a number of night-time cargo-only stops. We also learned why our cabins were the last to book – close proximity to the engine room, made very obvious during those night-time dockings! Gary and I learned that the kids still have the ability to sleep through anything. We, however, do not! Ah, well, the price was right for an otherwise fantastic experience.

Our introduction to Norway was a day spent in Bergen before boarding the ship. We were tempted to pick up our obligatory tacky souvenir that first day as there is not a single shop that does not have a shelf full of trolls. Trolls, in fact, are everywhere! But, I was holding out for something at the site where St. Olaf’s bones are interred – the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. Though Molly could not join us for this trip, we made the pilgrimage to the burial site of her college’s namesake on her behalf and have the replica St. Olaf statue on our souvenir shelf as evidence of our homage! Though not the most northerly stop of the trip, it was the coldest. 

While on board, we spent a good deal of our time in the panorama lounge enjoying reading, card games and, of course, the never-ending postcard of breathtaking scenery, moving by outside the windows. Gary and Audrey spent plenty of time bundled up out on the deck as well. Most of our shore excursions provided ample opportunity to stretch our legs. With some notorious hikes that involve more stairs than foreshadowed in our family’s vacation history, we nonetheless didn’t have too much trouble convincing the kids to climb to the highest point in Alesund for a beautiful view. The steps were steep and ice-covered but did not deter us or an astonishing number of older more frail people, who had wisely purchased the “ice-grippers” to attach to their shoes at the ship’s store.

 Here’s something else that surely is unique to the Norwegian climate – we walked around downtown Alesund and discovered what the locals must do to keep busy during the 24-hour nights – even the sidewalk railings have hand-knit sweaters!

We spent a good deal of time on the third day fretting that we would miss our most anticipated excursion, scheduled for our fourth day of sailing. An engine problem kept us in port for 10 hours, enduring half a dozen announcements of impending departure, all to be foiled by engine tests that proved the repair not quite adequate. Audrey learned it wasn’t only the engine malfunctioning as she was trapped in one of the ship elevators for 10 minutes. She made friends with the person who responded via speaker to the alarm button while she waited to be rescued!

Fortunately, when we finally set sail again about bedtime, the plan to make up time meant a night free of the planned cargo stops! And, we made up enough time to make it to the planned dog-sledding trip! What fun. It was slightly later in the day than originally planned so at 4:30p it was already dark. This added to the beauty of the trip as we sledded by some beautiful vistas of the small town of Tromso all lit up. The musher ahead of Audrey’s and my sled completed the Iditarod race in 2006.

Just before stopping in Tromso, we crossed the Arctic Circle. To mark the event, the captain of our ship and his “colleague,” King Neptune, performed a special ritual on deck. Only Gary and Audrey were brave (?) enough to participate in the baptism by ice water followed by a cup of warm mulled wine. Once within the Arctic Circle the “hunting” for the Northern Lights starts in earnest. We were rewarded on two very clear nights with some spectacular light displays, something by no means guaranteed as the weather is often cloudy.

 We encountered truly frigid cold and gale-force winds on our last full day of sailing. The folks who had booked the snow mobile safari were disappointed it was cancelled because the wind was too strong for us to dock at Kjollefjord. However, we were able to dock to take the trip to the North Cape – the northern most point on the European mainland. This picture perfectly depicts our warm-blooded son and his frequent winter attire – worn here to prove a point, of course, but not too far from the truth! We rode a tour bus out to the cape because that is the only way to access it. Our bus was part of a six bus convoy – the required method of travel up the winding road - escorted by a gigantic snow plow. I spent the first 21 years of my life in Wisconsin and Minnesota and I can honestly say I have never seen a snow plow the size of that one! As we gazed out at the completely white horizon – fields and mountains of fresh snow blending into the low hanging clouds – it didn’t take much imagination to believe the fact that five days previous, a tour group was delayed for two hours waiting to return from the cape, even with the trusty snow plow guide, due to complete white-out conditions.

By the next morning when we disembarked for our flight to Oslo, the ship was completely covered in ice!

And now, Spring has arrived in Konigstein so we are thoroughly thawed-out...