Onward to Snow and Bergen

 

Late night view of the first snows, through room porthole

When the good ship Richard With headed south, back to Bergen, snow began to fall. It snowed all afternoon, and on into the evening. I was scheduled for an excursion for an underground boat excursion into a Bergtatt marble mine, but the snows cancelled out the trip. The trip was to take place all evening, with a special late night 'feed' upon the tour occupants return, but honestly - one look at the snow out the window and you knew cancelation was the only sane option. 

Cormorants on a bouy

The final afternoon onboard ship, I was pretty bummed that the wonder cruise was almost at an end. Spent most the day attempting to bird as snow covered islands and other interesting landmarks appeared to float by.

The lump on the islet below to the left is the 2nd of two White-tailed Eagles which were either too fast, or too far off for me to get a decent photos. 

 

The 'lump' is a majestic White-tailed Eagle - take my word for it. 

In the late afternoon the ship docked in Bergan. While we waited for the announcement for our ship level 3 to leave the ship, I spotted a pair of Swans flying in to the little harbor. The uncooperative birds didn't come close enough for me to ID them. 

Uncooperative Waterfowl

The ship decks (levels) disembarked one by one. Soon deck 3's time to leave ship was announced and soon I was on shore, pulling my luggage off the baggage carousel. The plan was to visit in Bergen for a couple of days before heading back to the states. And rather than a cab to our hotel, we took a Hurtigruten tour bus that would drop us off at our chosen hotel. It was still daylight when we got on board the tour bus, and it was dark by the time we got to our hotel. 

Beautiful downtown Bergen

Many buildings date back to the 1600s

Outside of the National Theater is a statue of Henrik Ibsen, famous author of The Doll's House, which my Colorado cousins saw a couple of years ago on Broadway. 

Snow dusted statue of Norsk playwright Henrik Ibsen

Christmas Fair, which we WILL return to visit

St. John's Church in the distance

'The Academic Quarter' (below) is student run housing, that hosts lots of cultural events throughout the year. 

The Academic Quarter 

Plenty of Jule lights along the route

Can you see the glowing school of fishies?

Just a block from our hotel, the Thon stands the historic
Rosenkranz Tower, the oldest castle in all of Norway

All comfy in our room, we headed out on a hike to find someplace to have dinner. That was more of a chore than expected, it being the holiday season. We found most restaurants were pre-booked. We finally settled on a bar/cafe where we feasted on traditional Norwegian Nacho Supremes. Yeah, I know, but the tortilla chips crunched with a Norge accent. Tomorrow we tour Bergen. 

Hammerfest and Nordkapp, Norway

 

View of Hammerfest harbor with Richard With (cruise ship)  moored in the distance

At the ship dock, this polar bear mascot welcomes visitors to Hammerfest. 

An ancient Sami thatched type house

bussing though the holiday lit town

Hammerfest's Musuem of Reconstruction

museum mock up of an old fashioned dry goods store, complete with hanging stockfisk

Fanciest, hand carved keychains EVER!

A 'Julebuckk'; straw ornament of a goat. Perhaps this one helped pull Thor's giant sled. In the 19th century it was a goat that delivered Jule prezzies, not Santa. 

Mr & Ms. Straw Troll

A last view of Hammerfest on the bus back to the ship

One of the few times... er time... I ventured on shore by myself was in Nordkapp. The ship was docked only a short time for loading & unloading of passengers and supplies. I took the chance of hitting the town in search of prezzies. 

A bit of Nordkapp

Took this photo because I could actually understand the sign, which of course thrilled the crap out of me. The lower bit 'Mat og Drikke' is 'Food and Drink'. 

The neatest thing in Nordkapp was an art center, which was currently featuring a display of gingerbread thingies of all sorts. I am pretty sure the gingerbread builders (and icers) were completely amateur. The cookies and buildings and boats, were fanciful, somewhat rough in appearance and sooo damned adorable! 

Gingerbread Viking Ship, on the prowl

Gingerbread horsie in front of gingerbread uh... huts?

Trolls standing guard over smartie coated gingerbread house

My little shopping expedition from the good ship Richard With went well, as in the boat was there when I returned to it, so all was well. SKÅL!

Check One off the Bucket List - The Northern Lights

Aurora Borealis over a coastal town

  One reason I took this cruise was to see - at long last - the Northern Lights. I've spent other times above the Arctic Circle, in Alaska and in Iceland, without lucking out on seeing the lights. I guess the umpteenth time's the charm!

On day 5 of the trip, after returning from the Viking excursion, a shipboard announcement said there were weak northern lights seen, get on deck! There followed a stampede up to the 7th floor deck!

That first night's viewing was in fact weak, but hell, it was a start!

A few nights later the lights were back and were much stronger

The white specks are stars

Unlike what is normally shown in videos of the lights, they did not dance or bounce about. Mind, they moved, and you could see them move, but the moves were slow, rather like watching smoke. Getting shots with my 'good' camera was a crap effort. I soon depended entirely on my Galaxy S22 for shots. For one thing, the cellphone has a 'Night Shot' setting and that was how I got shots worth keeping. My phone - as always - was hand held so sometimes the results were a bit blurry, but I got pretty good at holding still fairly quickly. 

The Aurora Borealis can come in different colors. Mostly what I saw over many nights were green, but I did manage one night to catch a glimpse of pinkish light. 

Band of pinkish lights

After the first couple of nights photographing and staring stupidly at the lights, it became rather routine. The announcement would tell everyone the lights were up, and everyone would calmly gather on their heaviest gear - it was freezing arse cold - and race up to gaze at the wonder that is the Aurora Borealis. 

Loved the lights shining over mountains, looking like a volcano spurting green steam

Teensy bit of Pink in the middle band

Unbelievable how good cell phone cameras have become

The lights were just wonderous. One of the nights after everyone on deck was an icicle, the game ship crew brought out the hot boozy chocolate. What heaven to hold a hot tin mug in your stone, cold, hands.

They also gave out hot potato dumplings. Yum!

Hot Potato Dumplings for all

Getting prepared to dish out the hot drinks

I wish I could have videotaped the Northern Lights but as I said, it wasn't as if they were bouncing around. They just wafted overhead, bringing feelings of wonder to everyone's heart.