Top of Norway

Before I talk about some of the places I’ve been visiting, I want to talk about trolls. They are generally depicted as large, dumb, brutish creatures akin to a large Neanderthal. In Norse mythology they are not generally friendly to humans. They use their connections with nature to baffle and deceive humans. there are rumors that they will exchange a troll baby for a human baby. If you’re not good to the troll baby, then they will not be good to the human baby. Trolls are repelled by lightning which kills them. This is likely a result of their run ends with Thor who is said to have hunted trolls across the land. there are many places in Norway named for trolls and everywhere you turn, there are statues of trolls. Here are some pictures.



After Tromso where we went to the museum to learn about the Sami, we went to Honningsvag. Here we took a bus excursion to the northernmost point in Europe. The first set of pictures are as we are pulling into the port of Honningsvåg.

The next set of pictures were taken at North Cape which is known for its statue of a globe. I also got this incredible picture of a storm that was coming in. By the time we made it back to the lodge it was hailing on us.

The next set of pictures were taken from the bus on the return trip to the port. As you can see we are definitely in the Arctic tundra with no trees in sight. The sunsets about 2:30 in the afternoon but it remains light for quite some time afterwards as you can tell in the pictures.



When we got back to the ship we were treated to an arctic buffet for dinner which included all kinds of fish and seafood. Boy was I a happy camper. I got to eat an couple of kinds of shrimp, crab, sushi, seaweed salad and marinated salmon. In addition there was reindeer stew and other delectables. It would be nice to hear from some of your folks. Even though I love to travel, I do get homesick and love hearing news from home. You can either reply to these posts or you can email me. Thanks



8 thoughts on “Top of Norway”

  1. The pictures pulling into Honningsvågare incredible! As are to ones a bit further down with the storm coming in.

    Thanks for sharing your travels.

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  2. Loving your pictures and comments on Norway, which is one of my favorite countries. Seems to me they do many things right! We’ve been there twice, but not nearly as far north as you are venturing. One time we also heard about the oil and gas industries, and about how they also rely a lot on hydro-electric power rather than their oil, which is mostly exported to other places in Europe. We had a great trip to Portugal, a very small country with a great deal of variety in things to see, as well as an amazing history. Look forward to catching up with you at Thanksgiving. Safe travels!

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  3. Robbie,

    I am loving your reports and photos. I didn’t want to clog up your in box….. Please keep them coming. It is great to see some pictures of you and Elaine in the mix.

    We had a friend from Sweden who Jack (former husband) worked for in Sweden. Rune’s brother lived up in Lapland. I heard a fair amount about Sweden from Rune. Your comments confirm what I heard years ago. Plus Josh’s wife, Jessica Tobiason, family came from Sweden. I have observed my grandson Toby making a Tom Tin (sp) to take to school for special days. We’ve read stories about them. I think they are slightly nicer versions of trolls. And they are very cute. They’re all over Sweden. I gave Toby a little Traveling Troll for Hanukkah some years ago. Jessica’s sister took it to Sweden for Christmas and took photos of it wherever they went. Then there was a quick transfer of the troll to Jessica and she took it to Peru where she also photographed it wherever she went! I put together a photo book (one from the Internet) for Toby with the troll (TomTin) included. I also brought it to Portland and took some photos of it here.

    We have had gorgeous weather the last week. Ken and I went up to Lyle for the Lion’s Club pancake breakfast with his hiking group on Saturday. The breakfast is prepared by volunteers and was delicious. We had fish and chips for our afternoon lunch/supper at the Native American fish market on the Oregon side. On Sunday we went to the Pittock Mansion where there was a small exhibit from the Lewis and Clark Exposition. He hoped to see something done by his ancestor but we didn’t. Then we went to the MJCC for the ORA show. We saw Ellen Green, Joyce, and Henry and Tivona and learned that my son Daniel and his girlfriend had been there Saturday night for the opening. We then went to Salvator Molly’s for super. Ken liked it. I told him I went there first with you. So it was a busy weekend.

    Ken’s knee seems to be healing well. It’s extension is not complete yet (very close), but he’s working on it. He wants to do as well as Leslie Dolin, so he has an excellent goal.

    Keep on having fun. We are watching and enjoying it too!

    Anne

    On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 7:12 AM RobbieLambertsTravels wrote:

    > roblynnlambert posted: “Before I talk about some of the places I’ve been > visiting, I want to talk about trolls. They are generally depicted as > large, dumb, brutish creatures akin to a large Neanderthal. In Norse > mythology they are not generally friendly to humans. They use their” >

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  4. Hi Robbie,

    I’ve been following your travels with your blog posts and enjoying your Road Scholar view of Norway. I spent two weeks in the Lofoten Islands in 2016, and so had a more limited introduction to Norwegian culture. I remember that my sister’s husband Jonathan asked our VRBO landlord where we could buy fresh fist, because there was very little in the market and it was all frozen, and he said, “Fresh fish!? You go fishing, of course!” and so we did and we ate fresh fish for the rest of our stay. I also remember how expensive anything with alcohol is. Also we ate in a nice restaurant in Oslo for my birthday (after our two week stay up north) and Jonathan tried to order a double vodka and they wouldn’t let him–they said it was against the law to serve doubles.

    My other primary memory of Norway was because we were there for the summer solstice, we had 24 hour daylight north of the Arctic Circle, and that said, the weather didn’t really warm up except for two or three very sunny days. When it’s sunny out, Norwegians sun themselves and by 3-4pm on those days, all the newly shirtless men and sleeveless-shirt wearing women were bright pink. It was quite a sight.

    It is seeming like your cruise with Road Scholars is quite long. Enjoy! I hope you get to see the northern lights at some point. I’ve never felt the motivation to chase them in Iceland or Scandinavia because I saw them as a child in Upstate New York. I remember my dad waking me up and taking me outside when they were shimmering. Quite a sight.

    I’m subbing today at Grant in a very low stress classroom, and so it’s easy for me to write to you.

    Enjoy your adventure; we should have lunch or something soon.

    Love, Paula

    On Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at 7:11 AM RobbieLambertsTravels wrote:

    > roblynnlambert posted: “Before I talk about some of the places I’ve been > visiting, I want to talk about trolls. They are generally depicted as > large, dumb, brutish creatures akin to a large Neanderthal. In Norse > mythology they are not generally friendly to humans. They use their” >

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  5. Rob, we are enjoying reading about your travels and seeing the pictures. It feels like we are there with you. Lots of love and continue to enjoy yourself. Sy and Anita

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  6. Hi , I have been enjoying your trip. I also saw northern lights in the 50’s while I lived in the Berkshires. The ones you saw are far more colorful. Tell Elaine that Eric goes early on Saturday to set up. And when people drift in he gets their help. If they ask what to do , he tells then to have it like it is every Saturday. We had a beautiful colorful fall. Vivid multi colors everywhere. Colder now and rain coming this weekend. Thank you for your Norway blogs.

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