Oh, Yeah…the Food!

We know some of you are curious about what they eat over here, but kept forgetting to take the camera to dinner! But here are a couple of the dishes from the 4-course dinner our last night on Finnmarken:

We didn’t photograph the potato and wild garlic soup—it looked like every other cream-and-green-leaves soup. But there is the Poached Salmon from Skjervøy (with pureed carrots), and the Vodka-marinated Top Sirloin (with Savoy cabbage and gold potatoes). The dessert was pannacotta with forest berries. Sorry, no pic—it got eaten pretty quickly. But here are the menu and wine list…we ordered the package…one each of all 3 suggested wines. The port was really good!

A more “normal” lunch in Tromsø:

Sausages and hamburger from the ship’s café…it’s not really clear here, but these were served in bowls!

Breakfast on board (self-selected from buffet):

And our last night on Vesterålen…Salmon Carpaccio with prawns, Duck Breast with Black Currant sauce, potatoes, and baked leeks, and Créme Caramel:

The breakfast spread at the Radisson Blu in Trondheim is simply crazy! It was awfully hard not to eat three breakfasts every day….

Something more normal for lunch—meat soup (lamb and beef):

We’ve actually eaten a lot more “normal” food than the photos show—Steak and Béarnaise pizza, fish soup, shrimp sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, pancakes, scrambled eggs, muesli with yogurt—but again, it’s often hard to remember to pull out the camera.

Speaking of all the above…it’s time for dinner.  We’re going to send this while we have a REAL connection here at the Oslo airport!

Trondheim, Norway

We spent three days here, and start the trek home tomorrow by taking the train to Oslo.

Around town:

Nidaros Cathedral. Nidaros is an old name for Trondheim. They started building the cathedral in 1070 AD, and finished sometime around 1300. It burned down several times in the ensuing centuries, and by 1800 was in a “very poor” state. A group was formed for its restoration in 1869, and they have been working on it ever since.

 

The Archbishop’s Palace, built in the 1300-1400s.

Bakklandet—the old industrial neighborhood.  Now very trendy. We walked through it on our way to visit the Kristianstein Festning (Fortress), built in 1681. You can see it at the top of the first photos. The funny red posts in the 3rd pic is a bicycle lift, to help cyclists to the top of the steep hill. You brace your right foot against a plate and it pushes you up…

Above the rooftops of Bakklandet, you can see NTNU—the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The Fortress:

Last Day On Hurtigruten

Yesterday and today we are southbound on MS Vesterålen from Tromsø to Trondheim, the end of our tour on Hurtigruten. We have been passing through gorgeous fjord and mountain landscapes during daylight hours, so have lots of pictures. The four red houses are upscale “rørbu”, a popular glorification of fisherman’s huts that have become upscale vacation destinations in Norway (on our previous trip we spent a week in one with Norwegian friends).

Happily, the weak Artic sun was enhancing the landscape!


The impressive Seven Sisters were very much in their winter dress, with lots of snow and a snow storm adding more.

Trollfjorden is about 100m wide and a popular part of Hurtigruten tours, except in winter when ships are not allowed into this fjord because of avalanche danger. In winter they just poke the front of the ship 50m or so into the fjord to show how it might feel to go through this narrow passage.

The glaciers sometimes left “little” remnants of once huge mountains, such as this cute little mountain. It looks kind of like that famous Japanese painting of a wave, especially with the wind-blown snow at the peak.

When we crossed the Artic Circle going north it was night-time. All over Norway and Sweden, the location of Artic Circle is marked by these monuments. This was Sheila’s 4th crossing and Lars’ 6th+.

Evening brought a wonderful, long-lasting Arctic sunset that spanned about 1/4 of the horizon, thanks to the low orbit of the February sun. These images include the much-photographed curved bridge that is part of “The Most Beautiful Road In Norway”. Here is a video featuring a car driving the full length of this road (Atlantic Havs Veien. https://www.youtube.com/embed/4T4vc1QqiPM?feature=player_embedded)



Brønnøysund is MS Vesterålen’s last stop before Trondheim.

A clear last night on Hurtigruten.