across the sky. It was amazing and I
got rather emotional. The atmosphere
out on deck was fantastic, I would have
guessed the 99 per cent of the people
on board had come to experience
this moment and you could feel the
excitement each time a new wave of
lights crossed the sky. We were blessed
with a good few hours of the light show
and I slept soundly knowing that my
dreams had come true.
The next day we rounded the northern
tip of Norway and boy was it chilly, our
main stop today was at Honningsvåg,
we could have opted for a tour up to The
North Cape but decided to just explore
the down instead.
The last morning we sailed into
Kirkenes, which is only 15km from the
Russian border. It was a beautiful sunny
day but freezing, the ship glided through
the icy waters bringing this section of our
holiday to a close.
The weekend was spent back in Tromso
where we were lucky enough to see the
Northern Lights again. We organised
to go on a coach tour which took us
to the Finnish border and in -17 Deg
temperatures we had another chance
to experience the magical lights, this
time in the complete darkness of the
countryside, laying in a bank of snow
watching the lights dancing above us. It
was so cold my camera actually froze
up!
The final part of our trip was spending
a couple of days in Oslo and we were
lucky enough to have on hand our
own personal tour guides. Highlights
included watching the national ski
jumpers launch themselves from the
Holmenkollen ski jump and visiting the
Vigeland Park which showcases 212
granite and bronze sculptures by Gustav
Vigeland. The centre piece is a 14-metre
high granite Monolith which took three
stone carvers 14 years to produce out
of one piece of stone. It depicts 121
detailed human figures and really is the
most incredible piece of work. You could
spend many hours in the park studying
all the sculptures.
To sum up my trip to Norway, it really
was a trip of a lifetime, I got to see the
amazing Northern Lights and witness
some truly beautiful scenery which you
just would not appreciate from the land.
I would thoroughly recommend a trip
with Hurtigruten, as long as you have
your sea legs!
By Clare Wells
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