First of all, I have a fabulous room! Instead of choosing and guaranteeing my room prior to the start of the trip, I paid for an “unspecified outside cabin”—much cheaper. The ship isn’t as busy going south to Bergen as the ship going north from Bergen, so I got a large stateroom with a big porthole on the promenade deck, starboard side—great for watching sunsets. Unobstructed—no life vest cabinets or life boats to mar my view! The room contains a bed, table and a couch that makes into another bed, a large closet, a writing desk and chair, 2 banks of cabinets and two closets in addition to a head with a shower. Today was the last day of "Midnight Sun" and tomorrow the sun starts dipping below the horizon for the first time in two months. It is a beautiful sunny day with a few clouds on the horizon. I was really tired, but stayed up to watch the last midnight sun of 2011. The sun hid below the horizon clouds and the sky turned vibrant reds, oranges, yellows and every color in between. As the clouds changed shape, the colors and appearance of the sunset changed. This went on for about 45 minutes before the sun pulled back up over the clouds. Don’t know if it’s my mind playing a trick on me or not, but within 5 minutes, it looked like sunrise, not sunset! It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. If awesome wasn’t so overused, I’d say “totally awesome”! So as sunrise commenced, I was off to bed. The top picture is sunset and the one below is sunrise!
I also have a big advantage over most in that if I see something out my porthole that I want to photograph, I just stop everything, pop outside on the promenade deck and take a photo. I’ve taken so many picture of picturesque, well manicured little villages clinging to the water that I’m sure I’ll find it old hat before it’s over, but for now, I’m enjoying the excitement of seeing the natural beauty of this country and how people have carved out a livable space for themselves. Even though I’m seeing this on a wonderful sunny day, it’s a harsh and difficult place to actually live or make a living. We are still far north of the Arctic Circle where winters are long and dark and trees won’t even grow. Historical data shows that man has lived here for 10,000 years. The Komsa people (2400-6000 years ago) are gone, but still visible on the rocks at Komsafjell, and used by Norwegian fisherman for navigation, are prehistoric rock carvings of people, animals (particularly reindeer), boats and weapons. The names of villages translate into some funny names like “miserable place”, and “dead cod”. It is also a place where Germans in the final days of WWII practiced a “scorched earth” policy as they retreated south from the advancing Russians. They burned every town, village and even individual farms. These were rapidly rebuilt post WWII with less attractive houses, churches, and commercial buildings.
The internet works intermittently and slowly on the boat. There is minimal capacity and many people with smart phones and computers. Even if one can get on the internet, apparently it’s sslllloooooowwww. I am at the Radisson Hotel in Tromso using their wireless. It's midnight, bright as can be and they have a working internet.
No comments:
Post a Comment