We were up early to get ready for our day’s excursion.  This one met on the ship then took the tender over to the town’s dock as a group.   

We had an hour-long scenic drive to Svolvaer to go to the Magic Ice Bar. Unfortunately, the visit to the ice bar was much less than what we expected.  Two buses from the ship arrived about the same time, twenty minutes before it opened. It isn’t big enough to handle over 100 guests at a time.  We put on the thick ponchos and gloves to go in anyway.  By then, a line had already formed to get a drink in a glass made of ice. They offered only sodas and juices — no alcohol included, and it wasn’t possible to buy a drink with alcohol.  The guide from the other bus explained to Philip later in the tour that Norwegian alcohol laws are so strict that the hours to sell alcohol are extremely limited.  The Princess tour description did not mention that they were taking us to a bar that wouldn’t include alcohol.  

Next, we returned to the bus for a twenty minute ride to Henningsvaer to go to a gallery of Norwegian art.  Although I did not expect too much from this stop, I was surprised to find it very nice.  The preliminary movie of art and the gallery itself were both interesting.  The gallery was officially closed, but they opened for the tour group.  Too bad that the gift shop and cafe did not open for us though.  We had another hour drive to get back to the ship arriving just before 2 p.m., and we would like to have purchased a snack.  It’s Sunday morning, and the normal shops in the village are not open.  

We had a late lunch in the buffet then a long nap for me in the afternoon followed by dinner in the dining room and reading and writing in our stateroom after dinner.  The Cowboys game will kick off about 2:30 a.m. so if we wake up, we’ll see if it is being carried on the TV.    This is probably the last night for a chance to see the Northern Lights so if I wake up, I’ll look outside.  Our balcony is completely uncovered offering a good look at half of the sky.  Normally, I would not want an uncovered balcony and didn’t know that was what we were going to have, but it has been fine this trip.  A couple of times I might have stayed out on the balcony a little longer during the day when it was raining, but not much longer since it’s also always cold.