On to Norway

On the bucket list after "Safari" was "See the Northern Lights." I wasn't sure where or how to do this, then I got the Royal Horticultural Society magazine and in it was an ad for a Northern Lights Cruise. I checked it out and quickly realized that I couldn't afford that one, but it spurred me on to check other cruises. At this point I should say that I had vowed, after all the years I spent working on cruise ships, never to take another cruise. I broke that vow once when Steve & Brenda Sample and Bruce and I took a cruise to Alaska. Knowing that Steve loves cold weather, I had wanted to fly to Switzerland for Christmas and that was our plan until Steve decided he didn't want to be on a plane that long and he said, "Couldn't we just go to Alaska?" We went and it was hell. The seas were incredibly rough and Brenda was seasick the whole time. Steve pouted the whole time because he was away from his computer and his wood shop. Not a happy time. So it was with some trepidation that we decided upon what sounded like a wonderful cruise on the Havila Polaris, a small Norwegian ship out of Bergen. The big selling point was that there was going to be a lecturer from the Royal Observatory on board. Additionally, this was supposed to be the time of most solar activity, meaning the Northern Lights would be at their best. We booked and now we were off to Bergen. Norwegian air flies out of the south terminal of Gatwick airport which was steps away from our room. After a leisurely breakfast we quickly cleared security and then sat to wait for the gate. That took a lot longer than expected because our plane was delayed by almost an hour. At last we flew out and it was on the plane that I realized that I might have some dietary issues over the next 12 days. With my dairy and egg allergies there was nothing on the plane that I could eat except potato chips. Oh well. We got to Bergen, the only European destination that my Aunt Edna ever visited. At least I think it was Bergen. Even Bergen wasn't sure, apparently.

We cleared immigration and customs and caught the pre-arranged bus through the town

to the cruise terminal where we joined the seemingly interminable line to check in. We finally got checked and went upstairs to pick our dining time. Of course, when we got there almost all the times were already taken. The only ones available for dinner were 6:00 or 8:30. Okay then, I guess we'll take 6:00pm. Joined another line for entrance to the ship, found our cabin, though our suitcase was down the hall at another cabin. I unpacked and tried to ignore the niggling little voice in my head that said, "Get out while you can!"

We walked around the ship checking out the amenities - it was a quick trip. There are two outdoor hot tubs, saunas for men and women, a tiny gym, a gift shop that sells things that I couldn't begin to afford, a snack bar where you can buy snacks between meals, and a bar.

I had registered my milk allergy but when we went to dinner that evening I was told that they couldn't take that into consideration until the next day because dinner was an open seating. That made no sense to me but, okay. After dinner we confirmed our membership in the group that had signed up to hear the speaker from the Royal Astronomical Society, not the Royal Observatory, and confirmed our reservations for the optional dinners in the Hildring Fine Dining room (at additional cost, of course. Seeing a pattern?)

We found the area where you can borrow games and puzzles and we borrowed a scrabble game. Hmmm...no letters, just the board. Okay, how about backgammon. Most of the pieces were there, but some little tokens had been inserted where the missing bits had been. I didn't even want to think about how many pieces would be missing from the 1,000-piece jigsaws.

Omen?