Wednesday 12th January - On the Hurtigruten, MS Nordlys

I spent the morning doing some souvenier shopping in central Tromsø and had a lovely chat with my mum before I headed out. During the afternoon I went back to the restaurant where I'd had lunch with Hilde and had their very sweet, very delicious chocolate and merangue cake with the most delightful raspberry coulis.

Just before 4pm I collected my bags and checked out of the Radisson Blu Hotel (I'd organised a late check out). I walked around the corner and boarded the MS Nordlys. Once checked in I walked down the narrow corridor to my cabin, number 310.

Once settled I grabbed my jacket and began exploring the cruiseboat. There are 7 levels. Recpetion and my cabin on deck 3, the dining hall, caferia and lounge on deck 4, deck 5 & 6 more cabins and deck 7 has the viewing deck both an inside one and outside deck at the rear of the boat.

I found myself a table on deck 4 and began catching up on my journal.

At 6pm we departed Tromsø and I watched us leave from deck 7's viewing lounge. The sea was calm and I was a happy girl. At 7pm I went to the dining hall and was seated for my 3 course meal. There were a few others in the restaurant - all groups or couples. It was odd eating at a table by myself, but that has been a regular occurance, so am getting use to it.

Dinner was Green Pea soup, which was very nice. Mains was Loin of Pollock with beans potatoe wedges, pureed carrot (I think), onions and a nice sauce. This was also quite nice. Dessert was a yummy Fudge chocolate cake with sorbet and an unusual fruit. I photographed my main and dessert, like a true tourist :)

I bought some Sea-bands at the shop just in case. And at 8:30pm I went to the Conference room to learn about the Sami people before heading out to deck 7 for some aurora watching. Just before the Tour Guide put on the film the Captain came in and advised us the Aurora was out. So we all quickly rugged up and headed up to deck 7.

It was lovely to see the aurora again. It made a nice arc across the sky - simple yet beautiful. It was cold too. About -16 degrees. I got a few photos, but again I am looking forward to seeing them on a bigger screen to see if they are any good. I stayed out for quite a while, then headed in to the viewing lounge at the front of the ship to warm up again. Here I met Susan and Shakti, from England (though Shakti is orginally from the Middle East).

I chatted with them for quite sometime, they were lovely to chat with and have been travelling for a couple of weeks. They wanted to see the lights so took some time off work to do this tour on the Hurtigruten. I was getting very tired so bid them good night and made my way to my cabin.

I found the rocking of the boat easier to deal with laying down. And slept quite well. The boat stopped at several ports along the way, througout the night, delivering mail, cars and all sorts of other things, I found out.