Here we will be at Hammerfest, 70*40'N, 23*40'E or thereabouts, from 0800 to 1800. Link to map.
It looks like a visit to the Polar Bear Club and later a stop at Jernteppet for a craft beverage might do for this port visit, but there are some shops.
Jernteppet's FB page is here in Norwegian. OBTW, Jernteppet is "Iron Curtain" in English.
Photo Link
We had a day at sea yesterday, nothing much to report.
Today, Hammerfest is bleak. Overcast skies, temp 39*f, wind 20 kts from the west. But one must trudge on, so we suited up and headed ashore. We did dock on the far side of the harbor in the picture above. Shuttles are running to "downtown", the near side, in this place of 8,000 people.
The photo at right was taken at 0530, approaching Hammerfest.
Then we went up the street into a three-story, compact, shopping mall that is connected by over-street bridge to a smaller adjunct. The downtown as shopping area is still very strong here. We visited the apotek for supplies. Then we went to the bar Jernteppet, which does craft beers. Unfortunately they wouldn't open until 1600. We had to abandon that idea. We saw a group of people at the end of a small pier earlier, so we went to find out why. They had been watching a beluga whale. I caught a glimpse of it broaching to breathe as it headed away from the pier, but D missed it completely.
We hiked back to the shuttle area, boarded the bus and returned to the ship. When I finally get today's pictures posted, I'll note that here - we did get some good shots of downtown.
We went to the Crow's Nest at 1600 for Happy Hour. At 1630 the regular trivia game started. An engaging elderly lady named Honnie from the Netherlands joined us four for the game. She was a sharp old bird. She knew a few of the answers. Dolores scored one nobody knew. We scored 12 points but the winning group had 14. I told Honnie that we had learned a few things, to which she replied, "Yes, but we'll forget them tomorrow.". Then she grabbed her walker and scurried away.
D had gone off to mass, so I sinned boldly by having my first Gibson of the cruise. I arrived back at the cabin just before D did. We waited for dinner.
Roast Beef was on the menu tonight so we jumped on that. We told stories back and forth with F & D and tried to humiliate Ricardo the wine steward for not attending to us promptly - didn't work. Very nice dinner. Then we returned to cabin, made up the laundry bag, handed that to Joko, and settled in for the night.
D had gone off to mass, so I sinned boldly by having my first Gibson of the cruise. I arrived back at the cabin just before D did. We waited for dinner.
Roast Beef was on the menu tonight so we jumped on that. We told stories back and forth with F & D and tried to humiliate Ricardo the wine steward for not attending to us promptly - didn't work. Very nice dinner. Then we returned to cabin, made up the laundry bag, handed that to Joko, and settled in for the night.