Nomads Once More!

We are about to revert to our nomadic selves. This time to see Northern and Arctic Norway in all its snow-covered majesty and especially the Northern Lights that decorate the Arctic winter nights with fantastic displays. This will be our "armchair" introduction to the Arctic in its Great White North cloak.

Because we have gotten to ages where we like to sleep in beds, not airplane seats, at more or less normal intervals, we will spend a few days in Reykjavik on our way to Norway and again on the return.  Going over, we will arrive in time for the Festival of Lights in Reykjavik...lighting displays splashed across buildings and statuary throughout the city.  And as a bonus, especially for jet-lagged travelers...all the museums will be free and open until midnight!  And there are shuttle buses!

Neither of us have seen Iceland or northern Norway in the middle of winter, or very much of the Northern Lights.  Here is a nice video showing a bit of what we hope to see (http://vimeo.com/68924195) -- the "big city" toward end of the video is Tromsø.

Our transportation and living quarters will be the coastal ships of Hurtigruten's daily passenger and freight-shipping service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurtigruten). Via this Wikipedia link you can learn everything you ever wanted to know, and perhaps lots more, about the origin of Hurtigruten and the purpose of these coastal ships, as well as about the Norwegian ports they serve. There are links to articles about each town where Hurtigruten stops, listed in the order visited by northbound ships. Hurtigruten ships go from Bergen in the south to Kirkenes in the far north adjacent to Russia, then back south to Bergen. Round trip takes 11 days.

We will be taking MS Finnmarken from Bergen to Kirkenes and back to Tromsø, getting off at Tromsø for a few days, then on southward on MS Vesterålen to Trondheim. After a few days in Trondheim we take the train south to Oslo, and then IcelandAir back to Denver via Reykjavik.

For those of you who might wonder, temperatures along the route are supposed to stay mostly in the range of 20-35°F (-7 to +2° C).  We have allowed for coastal humidity, and possibly a lot of standing around outdoors at night.  In February.  Above the Arctic Circle....  Being suspicious types, we don't quite believe the predicted mildness, and have outfitted ourselves with good all-weather winter clothing and boots.