Tromsoe

We docked in Tromsoe ( and the "o" is really supposed to have a slash through it) at 8:00 this morning. Jim decided he just couldn't do the trip we had planned so I was off for the morning seeing the Polar Experience. We walked on simulated Arctic ice and saw many, many seals and strange fish. Our guide cautioned us that some would bite so not to put our hands in the tanks.

Tromsoe is a town of about 58,000. There is a huge university with all kinds of studies. There is a special psychological hospital studying the effects of the months without light and the month with more than "normal" light. Seems like many people cannot sleep, sleep too much and/or get depressed. The have invented a light machine where a person can sit for several hours every few days and tak away the effects of not having enough sun. Their medical facility is also famous for consultations with medical professionals for patients in the really north. All this done by TV. Amazing!!!

January 21st is the day the community celebrates the return of the sun. People gather to party and the food of choice is a fried bun with a raspberry filling. I guess any excuse for a party!

There are enough bars for 21,000 people to be drinking at the same time. One in every three people can be in the bar at the same time. We saw a roadway that proved how much people here loved their community. It was a roadway paid for by a tax on alcohol. The roadway was paid for in record time. These folks do love their town....or something.

We learned about why houses in every village we have seen are the same. The red houses belonged to the poor people who used what they had and painted their houses with fish blood. The middle class used yellow paint- real paint- because it took less paint to cover the wood of their homes.

We saw the Polar experience, the Arctic Catherdral and the Botanic Gardens. All was very interesting.  Got back to the ship just in time to sail onward to Flam.

Had a great party tonight in the Atrium of the ship.