Rather a grey morning as we opened the curtains on the cabin and looked at the barren rocks covered on snow. The vessel is also a ferry and stops a total of 34 times in total on its North and South run and many of these stops take place at night, although quite frankly we don't here anything.
Jennifer spent the day reading and Noel catching up on family letters and topping up with pills to try and get over this cold which is dragging on. I don't usual get a cold but when I do its always a long winded one to to rid of. We had the light lunch in the small restaurant set aside for suite guest, as against usual cabins, and chatted to the Swedish Waiter about a number of things an it urns out he his a devout Chelsea Supporter and watched the CFC vs MNU game on his PC as it was shown on Swedish TV.
We stopped at a place called BODO which was very snowy and wet and rather cold and quite a snowstorm at certain times. At least 20 people got off the ship here so we presume the either live here or close by or are tourist splitting the journey, who knows but we watched them dragging their suitcases thro the snow with not a hotel in site but we assume there must be one somewhere. Some of the route which the ship took is quite close to rocks and so it is quite interesting to watch and the ship is quite manoeuvrable with its bow thrusters and also not that large as some of the harbours we have been to would not take a conventional cruise ship. Also Bodo appears to have a lot of interest for Tourists with an aircraft museum and in the summer it looks like a great place to visit with bars and restaurants. Did I mention the cost of booze in Norway, its probably the highest cost in the whole of Europe and so u flinch each time your order a glass of something and so we have cut down.
"Bodø (pronounced [ˈbûːdøː] ⓘ;[4][5] Lule Sami: Bådåddjo, Swedish: Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland county). Some of the notable villages in Bodø include Misvær, Skjerstad, Saltstraumen, Løding, Løpsmarka, Kjerringøy, Sørvær, and Fenes.
The municipality of Bodø is located just north of the Arctic Circle and the town of Bodø is the largest urban area and town in Nordland county, and the second largest town in North Norway. The 1,395-square-kilometre (539 sq mi) municipality is the 66th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Bodø is the 19th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 53,259. The municipality's population density is 40.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (105/sq mi) and its population has increased by 8.2% over the previous 10-year period.[6][7]
Bodø was named one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2024.[8] It is also home to football club Bodø/Glimt, the northernmost club to win a European national league competition (namely Eliteserien, the championship of Norway).
n top of the cold Noel is also fighting the effects of his LARS issues and yesterday was a day of Laxatives and this always brings uncertainty, but there is not much I can do about it. WE had a quiet afternoon and spent some time in the observation lounge and then headed back for a quick zizz before dinner came around. The couple who sit next to our table are from Glasgow and on their first cruise and they own a shortbread factory and have two dogs , which just about says it all. They also like their odd glass or two, so good people.
After Dinner we sat next to the Australian couple as this is their last night on board the ship as they get off in Tromso where the spend two nights, then two nights in Helsinki before the long flights home to Adelaide via Doha and Melbourne . We returned to the cabin hoping for a good nights rest