Another two days of sailing and now Christine and I find ourselves in the Arctic Circle and the land of the Midnight Sun. This included one full day at sea sailing along the Norwegian Coast, the first of four sea days during our cruise. Sea days are always interesting, it is a means of forced downtime. So what does a sea day look like. Wake up, eat, nap, eat, spa, eat, watch the world go by, eat. As you can see, lots and lots of eating, and sleeping. But heck, it’s a great way to unwind and totally disconnect.
We made it to our first stop in the Arctic Circle, the city of Narvik, a simply gorgeous hamlet. Unfortunately it was a Sunday, and as we learned in Oslo, Norwegians take their Sundays off seriously, and the little town was pretty dead. But Christine and I had plans, mainly to hit up Polar Park, a wildlife refuge showcasing the many large mammals in the Arctic Circle.
There were musk oxen, Arctic foxes, brown bears, wolves, red deer, moose, and to the subject of my post, reindeer. Christine and I were able to see all the other animals, except for a lynx and wolverine who were painfully shy, and headed over to the reindeer enclosure. On the pathway there, however, I spot a reindeer standing in the woods. Our eyes meet, and he starts moving toward me. My first thought is, “Wow, it’s a real reindeer!” Followed immediately by “Oh crap, he’s trotting toward me and he has pretty big antlers!” Christine told me just to freeze in place - all I kept thinking was that I was about to be impaled on antlers. Thankfully, these reindeer are used to humans, so the reindeer simply trotted close to me, probably enjoying tremendously that he frightened me.
But of course, this was not the only time it happened while we were there. On another occasion another reindeer decided to buzz by me. They must think it is some sort of fun game…
We wrapped the day riding the perennially popular gondolas up to the highest point in Narvik, Narvikfjella. Why I continue to take gondolas despite my increasing fear of heights, I’ll never know. But the view was amazing from the top, and that made it all worthwhile.
There more stops in Norway, and then we’re off to the northernmost city in the world. Until then, beware the reindeer!
-- Joe
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