It was well after 1:00 am when I went to sleep. I woke up this morning still feeling excited about last night. What a night.

After my shower and getting dressed i heard a knock on my door.  I thought it was Ellen or Marty waking me for breakfast.  But it was one of the women from the information desk.   She asked me if I was okay.  Apparently when I took my shower this morning, I created enough steam to set off an alarm on the deck so she came to check on me. I asked her why they didn’t just call on the phone.  She said that they are not allowed to do that so she had to walk down to my cabin.  What was funny was that it took them so long to get to my cabin.  I had already sorted out my clothes for the day and was completely dressed before she got there.

I went to get Marty and Ellen for breakfast and they were just getting up.  We didn’t get to breakfast until 9:00 and it was the most crowded breakfast so far.  It may be our last late breakfast.

at 10:00 we went to John’s astronomy talk.  Today’s topic was about observing and imaging the Northern Lights.  Even though I don’t have the proper equipment to take photographs of the Auroras, it was very informative.  I actually realized that I am glad I don’t have to deal with all of the issues with setting up tripods, settings on my camera, or any technical difficulties.  Last night I was just able to stare at the sky and enjoy the experience.  I will rely on other’s photos and John will sell us a flash drive with his at the end of the trip.

For the rest of the morning and early afternoon we just hung out on the ship, had lunch, and dressed to go to the Tromsø Planetarium when the ship docked at 2:15. Only the people on the astronomy part of the trip went on this excursion.

We were given a lecture on the constellations including the ones the Sami people name.  Then we were shown a movie created by an expert on Auroras, Ole Solomonsen.  I loved watching it.  I asked the people at the desk if there is a website about him.  It will be fun to look at the photos on his site.

https://www.arcticlightphoto.no

After the presentation we spent some time looking around the planetarium.  It was sort of like being at OMSI.  The gift shop had great children’s toys.

Liv asked the bus driver to take us around Tromsø through tunnels.  There are actually roundabouts inside the tunnels.  I think Tromsø was the first city to build tunnels with roundabouts.

Ellen, Marty, and I took a short walk in Tromsø before getting back on the ship.  We went to the Tromsø Cathedral.  It is probably the northernmost Protestant cathedral in the world. With over 600 seats, it is one of Norway’s biggest wooden churches. It originally held about 984 seats, but many benches and seats have been removed over the years to make room for tables in the back of the church.

On the way back to the Finnmarken we passed a wonderful store with very nice art work.

Another great dinner tonight.

• Baked Celery Soup: Frans Joseph sausage from Mydland Tromsø
•  Arctic Char  from Sigerfjord: baked beets and green cabbage, dill potatoes, Hollandaise
• Chocolate Terrine: Blueberry compote and lemon thyme meringue

From our window at dinner we could see the Arctic Cathedral where we will be going to hear a midnight concert in a 3 more days on the way south..

I realized that I am taking fewer photos than I usually take on trips.  The sights are wonderful, but taking photos (line the above one) through the windows of the ship is not very satisfy8ing and it is cold outside.  So we are just enjoying what we see and having a wonderful time.