Farewell to Trollfjord, back out to open water we go. Tromsø is next.

Very little room to spare, seems like could almost reach out and touch the rocks from the deck.

 

Back on the ship, we go back into Trollfjord for the second time!

 

Trollfjord has to be one of the most gorgeous places on the planet.

Out and about on the zodiacs.

 

 
 

 

Yeehah! Time to saddle up! We don our gear for the four hours on the zodiacs.

 

....and then the view from the breakfast table the next morning. And, they are readying the zodiacs for our zooming around later today!

  

The view from our breakfast table this morning.

 

We are nearly halfway up the coast of Norway, on our way to the top. Later this afternoon, a handful of us will board zodiacs (a la Antarctica 18 months ago) and go on an extended trip to Trollfjord. Anticipating many pix to come!

 

The public benches are heated. 👏😍

 

More Ålesund.

   

On to Ålesund. It was devastated by a fire in January of 1904, with nearly all of its 12,000 inhabitants then homeless, during the harsh Nordic winter. The city rebuilt, with the help of many European neighboring countries, in a mostly Art Nouveau style of architecture. Now quite charming.

  

This third pic shows what is claimed to be the "narrowest house in Europe", to the right of the green Art Nouveau house.

 

 

We sailed out of Flåm at 10:00p, with lots of daylight.

   

In a side room of a local hotel.

 

 

A small inn, giving a new meaning to the phrase "rooftop garden". I peeked into an empty room....

  

I have a number of photos from the last few days - ideally, I would post them in batches over the next two days, to stretch it all out, as we are at sea and don't arrive at our next port until the day after the day after tomorrow. But, since I can't use the ship's wifi to post pix, I'll have to do them all now, and then have a radio-silent next few days, without much posted, until we reach our next port and I can use local cell data again. So, any of you masochistic souls who want to see every last pic, remember to click "view older posts" at the bottom of the blog, for several additional pages, until you eventually drill your way down to the point where you previously left off.

First port of call in Norway is Flåm, where we board a terrific old railway line and ride through some spectacular countryside. The Tvinde waterfall is particularly amazing.

 

 

 

More.

   

It really is "God's Country"....or perhaps more accurately, "Odin's Country".

    

 

  

We've turned the corner at the southernmost tip of Norway and will spend the next 9 days sailing up and down the western fjord coast.

 

More around town.

 

  

Mile after mile of bleak, Soviet-era housing. Back then it was all owned by the State of course....not that you'd be all that excited to buy, even if you could.

 

The Church on the Spilled Blood, so named because it was built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated.

 

Empress Catherine the Great in a candid moment - checking her Facebook page.

 

The Faberge eggs. Each one took a year to make. I dunno, I think I'd rather have the year.

   

Around town.

   

The cruise line arranged an exclusive concert for us, at Catherine's Palace, on our evening in port. A small chamber ensemble played period pieces, a couple danced several minuets etc, and a Jessica Rivera look-alike 😎 sang Caro Mio Ben, a few Rossini pieces, and some other stuff that was familiar but not identifiable.