Day 7 - Baltic Jewels & the Midnight Sun: Sailing the Norwegian Sea

Sail the Norwegian Sea ~ Friday, July 1 - Saturday, July 2

We have two days at sea - something that didn't happen on our previous Viking River Cruises. We had no idea what to expect, but it was lovely to have some "down" time to relax. We continue to be extra cautious, wearing our masks in the public spaces and trying to maintain social distance. We believe that so far everyone is healthy as we haven't heard of anyone testing positive. Usually if that happens, the rumors fly and additional precautions are put into place.

Friday was laundry day. We had breakfast in the World Cafe and then wandered over to the pool area to look out at the sea and do some reading/blogging. After a bit Jeff decided that he would go and do the laundry while I continued to work on the blog. I texted him at about 1:30 saying that I would be heading to the Pool Grill for a hamburger. He texted that he would meet me there, since the laundry was mostly done.

Laundry waiting for Linda to fold it!

I get the better part of the job, I think.

A View of Our Stateroom #3088

This reminded me that I haven't talked much about our stateroom. It is surprising spacious and very comfortable. We are on the "port" side, which means that our veranda will face the fjords as we come down the coast of Norway from Honningsvag (which is our next port of call, for those of you who may have forgotten). While two people have a hard time getting between the bed and the wall if one is on one side of the bed and the other is on the opposite side, for the most part we don't feel at all cramped. And - truth be told - we don't spend a heck of a lot of time in the room. It is chilly on the veranda, so we tend not to sit out there much. If this were a different cruise - say the Mediterranean - I can imagine we might sit out there sipping our own beverages. (Viking allows you to bring alcohol on board - they will even let you drink it in their public spaces - no corkage fees whatsoever.)

The bathroom is also fairly spacious and has heated floors. We haven't both been in there at the same time, but there is certainly room for two.

There is an ample closet for hanging clothes, and a dresser built in. I purchased the "pop up" hamper that you can see. It folds down into an 8 inch circle for easy packing and is great for carrying laundry to the launderette.

While I was sitting in the pool area, a helicopter flew over the ship first going one way and then going another. That was as exciting as it got today!

Photo Credit: Brian Anderson

Anyway, we had a relatively uneventful day on board. One of the things Viking prides itself on is providing a strong program of history and culture - and this cruise has not disappointed in that respect. This afternoon we heard two programs back to back.

Our first lecture - held on Deck 2 in the Star Theater - was one by Sir David Durie on the Shetland Bus, something I had never heard of before this cruise. I didn't really even know that Germany occupied Norway until this cruise. Anyway, I learned that the Shetland Bus was the nickname of a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Mainland Shetland (the island we were visiting) in Scotland and German-occupied Norway between 2941 until the surrender of Nazi Germany in May of 1945. The unit was operated initially by a large number of small fishing boats and later augmented by three fast and well-armed submarine chasers – Vigra, Hessa and Hitra.

Crossings were mostly made during the winter under the cover of darkness. This meant the crews and passengers had to endure very heavy North Sea conditions, with no lights and constant risk of discovery by German aircraft or patrol boats. There was also the possibility of being captured whilst carrying out the mission on the Norwegian coast.

Early on it was decided that camouflage was the best defense, and the boats were disguised as working fishing boats and the crew as fishermen. The fishing boats were armed with light machine guns concealed inside oil drums placed on deck. The operation was under constant threat from German forces, and several missions went awry. Several fishing boats were lost during the early operations, but after receiving the three submarine chasers there were no more losses.

The second talk was about the phenomena of the Midnight Sun, which we were to experience tonight and onward during our visit. Professor Field also touched upon Polar Night (the opposite of the Midnight Sun), the Aurora Borealis, Tundra and Permafrost. The talk was very eclectic, but very interesting as well.

The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. Professor Field went into great detail - complete with diagrams - about why this happens, but I won't bore you with all of that. Suffice it to say that it was a wonderful explanation.

He then moved on to talk about the aurora borealis - which we won't be able to see because it doesn't get dark here at this time of year.

His description and photographs of the tundra and permafrost in and around Honningsvag were fascinating to me and had me harkening back 30 some years to my early years of teaching at Memorial when I taught geography to seventh graders.

Dinner was in The Restaurant and was again quite good. I enjoyed a Cajun Seafood Gumbo followed by lobster tail with a baked potato and some forgettable vegetables, and ending with two bites of chocolate lava cake with pistachio ice cream. All good, but certainly not the best meal I have ever eaten (although the lobster tail was tender and delicious).

After dinner we headed over to the pool area where Viking hosted a huge cocktail/dance party for members of the Explorer Society (repeat Viking customers). We were told that 80 percent of the 800 passengers aboard were members of the Society. Drinks and desserts were flowing, and after the obligatory sales pitch from "Your Cruise Planner," the Dancing Under the Stars event began. Cruise Director, Aaron, is not our favorite cruise director. He seems more interested in performing and producing polished "port talks" than in doing any true cruise directing. He does love the limelight.

Here is Aaron on the left at the rehearsal - which we caught the tail end of before the event began.

Throughout the hour or so that we were there, they attempted to get passengers up and dancing. Some actually danced. The rest of us watched.

The party ended, and our favorite guitarist came up to perform for a bit before we headed up to our room.

I just love his smile!

We headed back to our room where I took this photo at 9:40 pm before we settled in to watch the newest West Side Story movie while waiting for midnight in order to capture our first view of the famous Midnight Sun.

This version of West Side Story was grittier and darker than others, but very good. Rita Moreno plays the "doc" character (as his widow). I must say, I preferred the doc character. Just before the end, it struck midnight, so we pressed pause to view the Midnight Sun.