A Norwegian Roadtrip - Day 8 -The Start of the Cruise

So I know it's been a week dead spell of posting, but we were on the cruise ship traveling the coast of Norway.  WiFi would drop in and out and was wayyyyyyy to frustrating to try to post anything.  So as of today (Sept 17th) we're officially off the ship leaving me a lot of catch up to do.

We caught the Hurtigruten ship in Kirkenes on September 12th.  Hurtigruten is a ferry ship that used to be the primary means of travel between coastal cities.  You can book a ride on the ships with or without a room, with or without your car being on board, and with or without food service.  We went for everything except the car.  The ship didn't have a lot of the things the bigger cruise ships do, such as entertainment (which it only has during tourist season), choice of dinners (which given how great the food was it didn't bother us at all), and no swimming pool (which probably wouldn't be used much in Norway anyway.  But it did have a great staff, a jacuzzi, a sauna, and, as mentioned, some great food.  It also stopped 34 times on the way from Kirkenes  to the southern city of Bergens.  Some stops were as short as 15 minutes, most we 30 to 45 minutes, and once a day typically you'd have a 2 or 3 hour stop.  It ends up it's a nice way to see a ton of the Norwegian coast in a short amount of time.

The first day actually had stops at 4 cities, but Tina and I only got off at one.

Tina Ready to Board

The Rainbow Woman

As we went along the coast line, there were several reminders of just how close Russia was and how much effort was put into early warning nuclear systems in Norway.

 The first town we stopped into late afternoon was Vardo.

North Norwegian Graffiti - Pretty Artistic to Me

Vargo's Fishing Fleet

Goodbye to Vargo

Tina and I have constantly been amazed that in all of Norway you very rarely see a house or building that doesn't look like it's been freshly painted within the last year.  It's amazing that in what can be a brutal climate people still take the time and effort to keep there houses brightly painted.

Bye Bye Vargo