Svalbard!

Yesterday we flew from Trondheim to Svalbard via Oslo. There was an eight hour stopover in Oslo so we were able to do a bit of sight-seeing of the capital city of Norway. I really wanted to see the Viking ship museum so that was our first stop.

 The Viking Ship Museum

 Viking shoes

 Carving on the ship's prow

The first hall

This museum has 2 complete ships and 1 partial ship. All had been discovered buried and were thought to have been used as burial ships of high status ladies and of chieftains. It was amazing to see how big the ships were and also how basic they were. There were no seats in the ship and oarsmen were expected to sit on their sea chests. They also had no shelter on the ship and were exposed to the elements around them.

From the Viking ship museum, we walked to the Kon-Tiki Museum which houses a papyrus raft and a balsa wood raft. These two vessels were used to prove that the more "primitive" people of the world were able to travel much further than originally thought in their less advanced sailing vessels.

The papyrus raft that sailed from Morocco to South America

We caught the ferry back to the city centre to go and see the Royal Palace and the Oslo Opera House.

 The king's ship

 She lies statue

 The Oslo ferry

 The fort

 Nobel Peace Centre

 National Theatre

 The Royal Palace

 Karl Johan Street - the view from the palace

 The palace

 Oslo University - the faculty of law

 Grand Hotel

 Souvenir shop

 Oslo Opera House

Inside the Oslo Opera House

After a wonderful afternoon in Oslo we made our way back to the airport and had a bit of dinner. We had the strangest encounter with a fellow passenger while eating. This woman (approximately in her 60s) came and sat at the table next to ours and stared fixedly at Charles. After a while she took out her cellphone and promptly started taking photos of him. We both decided to ignore her. She upped her game plan and started waving a large silver cross at us. Then emptied a few things from her handbag with a flourish, put them back and moved to another table. It was then that I noticed that she had no shoes on and her feet were pitch black underneath. Once at her new table she started staing at me and waved her cross around a bit more. Eventually she must have decided that she would get no reaction so she walked out the restaurant. It was a very unnerving experience!

After dinner we went to the boarding gate but first had to pass through immigration. My heart stopped when the immigration person said to me that they could allow me to go to Svalbard but since it is not in the Schengen area and my Schengen visa was only a single entry visa, I would not be allowed back in! I pleaded very carefully that I did not know that Svalbard was not part of the Schengen area and that is way I had not applied for a multiple entry visa. She called her boss and explained the situation and said I should wait and he would come talk to me. He arrived and explained the situation to me about why there was a problem but he then wrote in my passport that I was to be allowed another entry into Norway during my visa validity period. It was signed and stamped and the whole thing was captured on the computer. He told me to be careful of the polar bears and walked away. The original officer said to me that I was very lucky that he had done this as she had never seen him do it before! Charles and I did feel very fortunate indeed and went on to our boarding gate.

We were both under the impression that the plane would make a stop in Tromso on the way to Svalbard but were pleasantly surprised when the pilot told us it was 2 hours and 40 minutes to Svalbard. The flight was mostly uneventful. We could not see too much because it was cloudy almost all the way. It was very strange though that the further north we flew, the higher in the sky the sun was.

Sunset as we took off from Oslo

The clouds broke up as we descended to Svalbard and Longyearbyen and we had some spectacular views flying in over the mountains.

First view of Svalbard

 A coal mine

Longyearbyen

We arrived in Longyearbyen at 23:50 and the sun was still high in the sky! Anders, Charles' son, picked us up from the airport and we went to his home and met Anders' partner, Tonje, and Charles' grandchild, Elise. Before long though we decided we were both finished and headed off to bed. It was definitely different going to bed with so much light outside. I kept on waking up thinking it was late but it was still very early. It was also very quiet which didn't feel normal.

We got up this morning and were as quiet as mice. Anders had gone to work and Tonje and Elise were still sleeping. Our first tourist activity was to drive around in Tonje's car looking at all the scenery and searching for polar bears. It was freezing cold with a strong wind blowing the snow all over the place. It is really beautiful but definitely not the most hospitable place on the planet.

 This car has not been used in a while!

 Some pretty houses in Longyearbyen

 Tourist information and museum

 Part of the Longyearbyen residential area

 Huskies in the cages waiting for breakfast

 Huskies out for their exercise

 Another coal mine

 Broken ice in the fjord

 A ship in the harbour

 More broken ice

 Crazy birds swimming in the freezing weather

 I hope this isn't the only bear that I see!

 

 Broken ice in the surf

First close up reindeer

Another reindeer

Our sightseeing drive came to an abrupt end when we got the car stuck in the snow. We tried everything to get it out: pushed the car, put mats under the tyres, shovelled snow away, nothing worked! Eventually Charles phoned Anders and asked for a tow. Anders was still working but he sent a friend to tow the car out of the dodgy area. As the friend arrived another vehicle came from the other direction to help us. This guy told us we were the 13th car this spring to get stuck in that spot! He very kindly waited and watched as Anders' friend towed us out to make sure we were okay. By then though Charles and I only wanted a hot cup of coffee. It had not been fun out in the cold trying to get the car out. We retired to the coffee shop in Longyearbyen for hot coffee and sweet carrot cake.

We returned home and Anders had finished work so we went off to the shops to look around. All the shops here are duty free and for once the prices really are lower than elsewhere. It was time for dinner after that. We had the traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner - salted and dried lamb with potatoes, mashed turnip and carrot and sour cabbage (I think that is what it is). It was really delicious!

After dinner, Anders took us for a tour of his work place - the power station for Longyearbyen. It was very interesting to see how everything works and to hear about the trials they have with running it.

Tonight the midnight sun will be visible again as there are no clouds but I don't think I will be awake for it.

Good night!