Calm morning and some blue skies. Although we had no excursions planned and could sleep in, we found that the breakfast buffet fills up as it gets closer to 9, so we went early. At 10 am, the captain and Neptune held the "Crossing the Arctic" ceremony. The ceremony involves dropping ice cold water and ice cubes down the back of anyone who wishes. I jumped right in line and Mark was not too far behind. Yes, it was super cold and it dripped straight down my back and into my pants. They gave us an apertif to war us up. Afterwards, we changed out of our wet clothes to read and relax. Marked started walking around the ship to take pictures and noticed that the jacuzzi was open. Change again and jump in the soothing warm water. While relaxing in the hot tub, it began to snow. So weird.
Right after lunch, the boat docked at Tromsø, the capital of Arctic Norway. It is also the largest city above the Arctic City anywhere in the world. Tromsø grew to become an important port for trading, fishing, polar exploration. Off we go to explore the city.
We stopped at the Tromsø cathedral. Built in 1861, it is Norway's only wooden cathedral and the northernmost Lutheran cathedral. We walked down through the center and stopped at art museum. We tried to visit a second museum, but it was closed. We walked over to Polaria Aquarium. The building is very distinctive as it represents Arctic ice floes pressed up against the land.
One of the most interesting buildings in Tromsø, is the Arctic Cathedral It is a tall, white triangular structure featuring a large cross and 11 aluminum panels. They said that the acoustics in the cathedral were wonderful. To see the famed Arctic Cathedral, you need to cross a long bridge to the other section of Tromsø. We knew we had plenty of time to cross over and back, so we headed over the bridge. As we started the 20 minute walk, it began to hail. When we got to the other side, we stopped for a couple of minutes to take pictures and then headed back to the ship.
Dinner tonight was spinach soup, arctic char from Sigerfjord and a plum dessert. We ended the night with a presentation of tomorrow's excursions and the possibility of Northern Lights.
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