July 7 - Molde, Norway

THE CAVES!

Today was a back-to-back excursion day with less than an hour between adventures.  But C-L-E-A-R-L-Y the highlight of the day was when we visited the Bergtatt Marble Caves.  The photos we'd seen in researching indicated this would an amazing visit and it did not disappoint.  We drove about 45 minutes outside of Molde, including a long tunnel THROUGH a mountain before arriving at the caves.  The bus drove RIGHT INTO the caves and for about a quarter of a mile before we disembarked.  There we donned helmets and life jackets before we entered the boats.  The water was crystal clear and very "spiritual" music I guess would be the way to describe the background music as we gently floated through the tunnels.  The photos don't do the trip justice and I suspect the highlight video won't be much better, but trust me it was a sensational morning.

These lights are made COMPLETELY out of marble!

They told us at the caves that our photos wouldn't turn out great and they recommended downloading from their website, so here are a few of the professionally taken pics of the cave experience.....

The video I shot came out much better than the photos I shot.....just under three minutes, it's a pretty good representation of what we experienced.....

After floating deep inside the mountain and back we had a presentation.  The company/family that owns and operates this mining operation originally did so to produce marble for building.  But as the demand declined they built a big business on get this, making PAPER from marble!  Yes!  The paper stock of most magazines that have glossy pages, that comes from marble.....who knew!  But with the advent of the Internet and Smart Phones the demand for paper has fallen off so now the company is building a growing business for housing data storage - because marble is insulated and won't ever shut down!  WOW.  After leaving the caves we drove along the Atlantic Road which was lined with beautiful Norwegian vistas and we had a photo op stop.

We returned to the ship a little over four hours after we'd left.  Just a "WOW" morning.  We had about 35 minutes to grab a slice of pizza and a cookie before heading out on our second tour, an "included" tour of the city from which the highlight was a H-I-G-H overlook of the city and surrounding fjords.  Someone, because people do this, has counted the mountain peaks visible from here and it's 222....both our guides stated this figure.  We didn't count to see if they were right!  Another great day of panoramic adventures!

July 6 - Chef's Table / Midnight Sun / Cruising Inside Passage

We pulled away from Tromsø a little after 6 pm as Kim and I were just starting our specialty restaurant dining experience at "The Chef's Table."  Like Manfredi's where we ate earlier in the cruise (and are returning to on Sunday we enjoyed it so much) the Chef's Table experience does NOT cost extra as specialty restaurants do on other ocean-going ships.  But, unlike Manfredi's the menu at the Chef's Table is set and is intended to be a pairing of unique foods and wines centered around a theme.  Ours was to the theme of "Asian Panorama."

I must say that several of the courses looked to me like foods that I would simply sample and then have them take them away, but I will admit that EVERY course was delicious.

The photo of Kim is with the first course (preceded by the appetizer), the Lobster & Chicken Shu Mai' - I am drinking the red wine, yes I drank it, with the main course the Peking Duck

The 3rd & 4th wines - one to go with each course, but not the middle "palate cleansing" dish - and the one of the left, the dessert wine was one of the BEST sweet white wines I'd ever had .... asked for a 2nd and 3rd serving!  WHOOOOO HOOOOO.

Tonight was the last  night of the "Midnight Sun" - where the sun never goes below the horizon and Kim just happened to be up just after midnight as you can see by the time stamp.

All day Friday (July 6) we cruised through Norway's Inside Passage, highlighted by the crossing of the Arctic Circle, delineated by the globe maker.

Torghatten is an imposing mound of granite that rises up out of the surrounding Nordlands like its own island. It would make for a lovely, if an uninteresting geological feature in itself, but it is the natural tunnel that runs straight through it that really makes it something special. The tunnel is actually a naturally occurring phenomenon; it is 524 feet long, 114 feet high, and 65 feet wide. Or if the legend is to be believed, a supernaturally occurring phenomenon.  As the local myth surrounding the cave hole goes, it was created out of a troll’s hat. An amorous troll was chasing a woman and she was getting away. Rather than let her live free, the troll tried to shoot her with an arrow, but the troll king threw his hat in the arrow’s path to block it. The arrow left a hole in the hat, and then the hat turned into the mountain now known as Torghatten. 

What a great day.

July 5 - Tromsø, Norway

Today was a BUSY day!  We arrived around 7:30 am in Tromsø - the second largest city in Norway - and were off on the "included" tour by 9:15.  We rode on the bus through the city and saw a unique church and then drove to a lookout point where the scenery was worth the price of admission.

Back on board by 11:30 where we had a little over an hour for lunch and re-grouping before our second tour. 

The second tour was also very scenic - the panoramas were "WOW" and I could have taken and posted at elast two dozen pictures of fjords with snow-capped mountains, but unless you were there they would all look the same.  As far as a "great excursion" we wouldn't rate it as such because we drove for an hour....had a waffle....went for a little walk (which was billed as 30 min and it took less than ten min, so we wandered around, the guide making it up as she went); and then drove the hour back.  Still, it was great scenery and that's what we came for.

July 4 - Honningsvag

Happy Birthday America!  We celebrated the 4th of July by sailing through Norway's inside passage to the northern-most city in Europe, Honningsvag, Norway.  We were docked less than 1,500 miles south of the North Pole, well above the Arctic Circle.....WOW.  Just as a point of reference, on this day last year we were in Saigon, Vietnam in 100+ degree temperatures.  We've truly been around the world!

We headed out this afternoon aboard a charter bus for the North Cape or Nordkapp as it's known here, one of the most northern points in all of Europe.  We were told of the 900+ passengers on board nearly 90% had opted for this panoramic trip.  The nearly one hour trip to the mountain top lived up to the billing of hairpin turns nearly all the way with panoramic vistas below.....

But as we reached the top we ran into more and more fog.  And by the time we arrived, you could barely see the global monument which served as the lookout point.  You could still see over the edge a bit, but looking out on the horizon, nothing but dense fog!

The bottom shows what the lookout at Nordkapp USUALLY looks like :)

Sailing The Inside Passage
Beginning last night during dinner and throughout the night and into the 4th we sailed through the islands and fjords of Norway's inside passage.  It reminded us so very much of cruising through Alaska (which is one of the many reasons we wanted to visit Norway).  It was also interesting to look out the windows and see land so very close on an "ocean cruise" - at times it felt like we were on a river cruise! Here are some selected photos of our sailing through this most scenic part of the "Land of the Midnight Sun" - so aptly named because for the four days we were in this region the sun NEVER SET!  You'd think that this wouldn't be a big deal on your body, but it's truly more difficult to settle down at night and sleep, even with thick curtains closed because your body really senses that it's daylight outside!

The Explorer's Lounge on the top deck