Whilst snuggled up in bed we stopped at Stokmarknes, Sortland, Risoyhamm, and at 0645 we were at Harstad , which is called the cultural capital of the north.  Before our main stop at Tromso, we will be pulling into Finnsnes for an hour.  We are in Tromso for around four hours.  Might get the cable car.  Closed!  

Pleasant breakfast, quite warm on board, didn’t feel too bad when I walked out on deck to take a couple of photos.

Well docked at 1415 and leaving at 1830, later on we are calling into Skjervoy for fifteen minutes then tomorrow we will be stopping at Honningsvag (the north cape 71 degrees N) for two and a half hours starting at 1115.

Really pleasant walk around Tromso, snowed whilst out, stopped at a couple of department stores, had a cup of hot chocolate before heading back to the ship.  Kel managed to get himself a nice light jumper so he can swap between his heavy fair isle and this new on.  He got it for NOK200 which is around AUD32, so a good buy for a wool jumper.

Lots of ice and snow on the footpaths, through the parks and combined with the sludge and snow and ice on the roads it made for interesting walking.   We managed without any incidents so that as good news.

We walked through the town passing the statue of Ronald Amundsen, we also got a magnificent view of the Arctic Cathedral (it was too far to talk to).  Tromso is known as the Arctic capital.  Unfortunately we couldn’t do the cable car which rises 421 metres above the sea because of high winds and they had closed it.  Shame really as looking forward to it.

Tromso contains the highest number of wooden houses in Northern Norway, the oldest house dating from 1789.  Apparently the area has been inhabited since the end of the ice age.  They have discovered archeological artefacts and remains of buildings estimated to be 9,000 to 10,000 years old.

Got back with about 45 minutes to slow down and get ready for dinner, I wrote the diary and Kel read his book.

You can see where they take a lot of the picturesque Christmas cards designs from, the scenery is just magic.