BIG travel day today. A three-and-a-half hour ferry from Svolvaer to Bodo, and a ten hour train south to Trondheim.
Because the days are now so long the northern lights suffer, but our guide yesterday said that at 2 am the night before they were great. Rob got up at 2 am last night and reported a dud. Just a slight glow in the northern sky.
We boarded the ferry for a smooth ride to the mainland. Bodo (pronounced Buddha) is the seventh largest city in Norway, and features mostly new construction. It was damaged severely by bombing in WWII. We walked around for a couple of hours and weren’t too impressed, but were very fortunate to listen to a wonderful organist rehearsing for a recital in the cathedral. The video below includes a couple of minutes of her playing. The piece is by Henri Mulet, and is a tribute to the Sacre-Coeurs cathedral in Paris.
During the train ride we were fortunate to see a herd of reindeer clustured around the Arctic Circle marker. The train ride gave us all types of weather, and afforded fantastic views of snow-covered mountains and deep valleys.
We’ll be arriving in Trondheim at about 10:30 tonight (I’m writing this on the train).
An interesting note. You’ll see a thin wedge shaped Norwegian flag hoisted at the harbour. Norwegians are allowed to fly these rather modest flags, but can only fly the normal rectangular flags when given the OK by the county or state. Valid reasons are the death of a family member or a beloved neighbour, as well as important sombre national occasions. I like that. It keeps fervent nationalism at bay. The Norwegians are a kind, patient and easy-going people.
More great images by Rob Mee.
