Batsfjord to Berlevag–Wednesday 9 March 2016

 

 

Photo posted merely to dispel any notions about me only eating fish for breakfast. The open faced reindeer lunchmeat and cheese sandwich paired perfectly with salmon and herring as a first course leading into my fish plates.

 

 

In Kirkenes (pronounced cheekness) which is the turn around point for the ship. The layover was 3 hours from 9 AM to noon, and we were going on a snowmobile safari up the frozen Barents Sea Fiord.

 

 

Linda, the snowmobile queen. Her majesty had appointed her subservient vassal, Bob the Bald, as her designated driver. I was under strict orders not the drive like a maniac. I didn’t. Instead I drove like  a megalomaniac.  Actually I was very nice, and only three times drove at 98 kilometers/hour, which the maximum speed to would go.

 

 

Our guide, Olaf we think his name was. Was owner of company, good Norwegian, knows good vodka, likes to tell a story and joke. Last sentence was how he talk. Talk nouns, verbs adjectives, no other words. We like Olaf much. 5 Stars.

 

 

Our first time ever on a snowmobile, but not our last. Next time will be after midnight tonight. Yes it was going to be a very big and very long day.

 

 

After riding for several kilometers Linda could still smile. My driving must have been okay. Good Bob.

 

 

Snow everywhere, and Linda is taking this photo without hanging on. I must be doing a very good job of driving safely and sanely.

 

 

Not exhausted, just having fun making a snow angel.

 

 

The, now how do I get up, moment. I sure don’t remember it being this hard when I was a kid.

 

 

Yes it was a lot fun. Even better was the fact that Linda and I were far older than the others that were there. It’s how young you think you are that really matters.

 

 

It was on stretches like this that I would slow way down and fall back, then give it full throttle and get up to just under 100 km/h. It was a long way to come to snowmobile,  but was it ever fun.

 

 

We both showed our age getting on and of our snowmobile. Lifting that foot up high enough to clear the seat sometimes took a hand helping. We made be a little old, but are we ever having fun.

 

 

Olaf wearing a Sami outfit. The Sami are the indigenous people of the far north area of Scandinavia. Linda is laughing, sorry I cut her off, because Olaf was always “picking” on her.

Tea time in a Sami tent.

 

 

I had to laugh at Linda. Something tells me she didn’t know the number her helmet did on her hair.

 

 

Everything on the Sami garments tells something about the wear, where he is from, whether or not he is married, etc..

 

 

A Sami song. Hard to describe, maybe heavy metal with only a reindeer hide drum?

 

 

It was fun being a kid again.

 

 

Communal stripping.

 

 

Selfie of the day. Still smiling on the bus ride back to the ship. It was FUN!

 

 

Lunch and the best mushroom soup either of us has ever had. I was two bowl boy.

 

 

Linda also went for a double helping, only hers was dessert and this was her second plate. She pronounced the brownies the best she had ever had. I had to agree, though I could only eat two of them.

 

 

Red building photo of the day. It’s the only one. Sorry to disappoint the hundreds of readers who only read the blog to see the red buildings. Pinocchio Bob.

 

 

 

It’s obvious Linda took this photo when I was deep in thought, trying to decide exactly what to write about in today’s post.

 

 

There are more German’s on board now than any other nationality. Rolf gave the Fram talk today in German, and me being at least a little cognizant of that language, I attended it. It was fun, but 90% of it I didn’t understand. I did get the word Fram 100% of the time. Smart Bob.

 

 

Sleeping Beauty! Since we are going to be up most of the night on our polar outing, Linda tried to put some sleep hours in the bank while I was at the German lecture and was sound asleep when I returned.

 

 

Why we are here.

 

 

Music and animals to start the nightly gathering.

 

 

With Penny and Shari leaving the ship in Kirkenes, we had no one to talk to at our table tonight.

 

 

The theme of tonight’s meal was Russia. Borscht was the perfect start to the meal.

 

 

It’s reindeer for the mains, and it once again exceeded our expectations.

 

 

Every evening we attend the storytelling session in the Panorama Lounge, and tonight it was no exception. Immediately after it ended we went to bed since we were going to be getting up at 11:45 to go on our nighttime polar lights/snowmobile outing. For us it was just another great day in paradise.