Today was Monday and we woke up to even better weather yet. The first main event that we were all awake for was the crossing of the Arctic Circle at about 9:30AM. This time since it was in the daytime we got to see the statue and take a photo of course. Today we got spend a lot of time out on the back deck and look for birds and watch scenery. The kids were not so interested and they watched a movie and did some activity book things. The boat had a TV and the kids watched some Norwegian cartoons for a while and then an episode or two of
Bonanza. After that, someone had turned it to football (soccer to you and me) and they had no chance of changing it back.
We saw some sea eagles and
Nic reported seeing a Puffin. This happened conveniently while I had gone to the cabin to retrieve sunglasses for him. Overall, Jan added several birds to her life list count ... but I can't remember the exact number. She will have to comment on that. We also saw the most interesting commute to work ever. At some point an announcement came over the speaker that we were stopping to pick up a
Hurtigruten employee who was going to work. So we stopped moving in the open water while a very small boat drove over and dropped someone off. I
couldn’t see exactly how he got on, but we was getting off of a boat that
couldn’t have been more than 20 feet long.
We had a short stop in
Sandnessjoen. Jan and I got off as everyone else was tired and/or cranky. Here is Jan supporting the local economy. Oh, and it was on this stop that I lost my (well I think it was
Nic’s) red DU hat that you have seen me sporting in many photos. I was wearing it when we got off the boat, and at some point I took it off. When I got back on I
didn’t have it. Go figure?
Nic said it was bad karma for not buying the Norwegian hat I was eyeballing in the gift shop on the
Nordkapp.
We passed more
spectacular scenery. Here is the 7 sisters mountain chain. You can try and count them. It gets a little fuzzy at the end however.
Here is the
Torghatten. A mountain with a hole in it. You can see it in the center. Somehow the hole was created by ice freezing/melting.
Here is Ethan working on coloring. Another new milestone for him as he has not been very interested in arts and crafts before. This goes along with his new interest in writing letters and typing/spelling his name on the computer. Again somewhere in there we had dinner. Gwyneth and Ethan shared a fried flounder plate. Jan and Ethan shared waffles. I got s sliced (more like cubed) beef plate that turned out to be very good. After dinner,
Nic and Ethan hit the hay early to make up for the night before and I think they managed to get some sleep. Gwyneth and I got some ice cream. It would be our last Norwegian ice cream novelty .... so sad. I went for the "Big Ball".
There was one more stop for the night. Jan, Gwyneth, and I got off in
Rorvik for a little walk around. This will be the last stop before we get to Trondheim at 6:30 the next morning. We were also joined by the Richard With again – but this time it was going North. Here is Gwyneth in town with the Richard With behind her. The
Lofoten is so small you probably
wouldn’t have seen it. We took a brief walk. Jan got a few trinkets and Gwyneth bought a marshmallow candy thing that she likes. Then we got back on the boat for the ride home.
Jan, Gwyneth, and I played some cards (Hearts, Rummy, and Scat) before going to bed around 11PM. Ethan and
Nic were fast asleep. Again we were going over open seas but it
didn’t seem as bad as the last night. Perhaps I was just too tired. We arrived around 6:30AM and had to check out of our rooms by 8AM. We waited for ½ an hour on the boat for Chris to pick us up. Here is Gwyneth & Ethan in front of the polar bear skin in the ship's lobby and the closest we got to seeing a polar bear in Norway. I think we all happily said "bye bye" to the
Lofoten.
Today was Monday and we woke up to even better weather yet. The first main event that we were all awake for was the crossing of the Arctic Circle at about 9:30AM. This time since it was in the daytime we got to see the statue and take a photo of course. Today we got spend a lot of time out on the back deck and look for birds and watch scenery. The kids were not so interested and they watched a movie and did some activity book things. The boat had a TV and the kids watched some Norwegian cartoons for a while and then an episode or two of Bonanza. After that, someone had turned it to football (soccer to you and me) and they had no chance of changing it back.
We saw some sea eagles and Nic reported seeing a Puffin. This happened conveniently while I had gone to the cabin to retrieve sunglasses for him. Overall, Jan added several birds to her life list count ... but I can't remember the exact number. She will have to comment on that. We also saw the most interesting commute to work ever. At some point an announcement came over the speaker that we were stopping to pick up a Hurtigruten employee who was going to work. So we stopped moving in the open water while a very small boat drove over and dropped someone off. I couldn’t see exactly how he got on, but we was getting off of a boat that couldn’t have been more than 20 feet long.
We had a short stop in Sandnessjoen. Jan and I got off as everyone else was tired and/or cranky. Here is Jan supporting the local economy. Oh, and it was on this stop that I lost my (well I think it was Nic’s) red DU hat that you have seen me sporting in many photos. I was wearing it when we got off the boat, and at some point I took it off. When I got back on I didn’t have it. Go figure? Nic said it was bad karma for not buying the Norwegian hat I was eyeballing in the gift shop on the Nordkapp.
We passed more spectacular scenery. Here is the 7 sisters mountain chain. You can try and count them. It gets a little fuzzy at the end however.
Here is the Torghatten. A mountain with a hole in it. You can see it in the center. Somehow the hole was created by ice freezing/melting.
Here is Ethan working on coloring. Another new milestone for him as he has not been very interested in arts and crafts before. This goes along with his new interest in writing letters and typing/spelling his name on the computer. Again somewhere in there we had dinner. Gwyneth and Ethan shared a fried flounder plate. Jan and Ethan shared waffles. I got s sliced (more like cubed) beef plate that turned out to be very good. After dinner, Nic and Ethan hit the hay early to make up for the night before and I think they managed to get some sleep. Gwyneth and I got some ice cream. It would be our last Norwegian ice cream novelty .... so sad. I went for the "Big Ball".
There was one more stop for the night. Jan, Gwyneth, and I got off in Rorvik for a little walk around. This will be the last stop before we get to Trondheim at 6:30 the next morning. We were also joined by the Richard With again – but this time it was going North. Here is Gwyneth in town with the Richard With behind her. The Lofoten is so small you probably wouldn’t have seen it. We took a brief walk. Jan got a few trinkets and Gwyneth bought a marshmallow candy thing that she likes. Then we got back on the boat for the ride home. 
Jan, Gwyneth, and I played some cards (Hearts, Rummy, and Scat) before going to bed around 11PM. Ethan and Nic were fast asleep. Again we were going over open seas but it didn’t seem as bad as the last night. Perhaps I was just too tired. We arrived around 6:30AM and had to check out of our rooms by 8AM. We waited for ½ an hour on the boat for Chris to pick us up. Here is Gwyneth & Ethan in front of the polar bear skin in the ship's lobby and the closest we got to seeing a polar bear in Norway. I think we all happily said "bye bye" to the Lofoten.
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