EXPLORING TROMSO..

Isn't it a beautiful place?








Tromso, Norway Day 191

Tromso is a university town..but it's also a harbour so there are massive ships docked here...right alongside our hotel! It's amazing looking out of the window to see this! And the town is nestled amongst snow capped mountains...the amazing fjords and we can see huge glaciers...so pretty.

The amazing thing is, this town, even in winter remains above zero, or practically above zero as its an island among the fiords...and the ocean water is warm. So even when there is snow, and it snows all year round, the harbour water never freezes over!

We walked the bridge today...the one that ties the two Tromso islands...and as we were looking out we were just overwhelmed by the beauty. Ships and mountains covered in snow..and little coloured A frame houses nestled in the mountains...so lovely.

It was pretty cold too!!! As we were walking i was messaging Rob and Mum! haha and had to message and walk at the same time....just as well there was a path to keep me on the straight and narrow. One of these days i'm going to get knocked over doing that!!! NORTY!

We also walked most of the way to the museum...then caught a bus that ended up taking an hour to get there but we loved it..because the Russian bus driver stopped at one point and came and chatted to us while we waited 20 minutes at one of the stops....he said Tromso at this time of the year, in Autumn and just passed their summer season, doesn't have many tourists and the main time is in the winter for the northern lights.

I'd love to come back here in winter..when it is completely white with snow...and at the time when it never gets light (for about 2 months) but at night you can see the northern lights, or the aurora borealis. It'd be so spectacular....or to come here in Summer, when it never gets dark, (for about 2 months) to see the Midnight sun would be something too..

We were talking about it today...our next trip will be to come back to Scandinavia to see that!!!

And in our travel discussions that occupy a lot of our time, we'd like to go to Russia as well. We've tried to fit that into our plans for this trip..to go to St Petersburg, but we're running out of time..with our flight to the US looming up very shortly.

THere's just so much to see in this part of the world!!!

We ended up going to the Polar museum and saw the seals..that was pretty cool too...

Gosh, we need another year to see everything......We're off tomorrow to Oslo..but apparently there's a great botanic garden here with all the plants in autumn colours.....from the northern areas.....and oh....it'd be good to see it...

BUT!

We have to leave something for Next Time!!!!

TROMSO NORWAY

This is Tromso..see the bridge we walked over!






Day 190

Tromso, Northern Norway

1 AUD = 4.74571 Norway Kroner

After catching the bus from Rovaniemi at 11am we arrived in Norway last night at 9pm (8pm after we turned our clocks back an hour)Was good catching a bus for a change..the scenery is different by bus.....going along the rivers, valley's, forests and lakes..AND snow capped mountains...to Tromso, an island among the fjords..so, so beautiful!

As we approached Tromso...we saw Beware the Moose signs on the roads! SO funny....in South Africa we thought it was funny seeing the Beware the Rockfall signs..here it's the moose!!!

Back to Norwegian Kroner again though..gosh..all these different currencies..arrgh.

What a beautiful trip here....the valleys, forests, waterfalls...the autumn colours that changed as we got further north were just amazing..from peach, lime green and pale lemon to stronger colours of burgandy and deep olive green and reds and yellows and oranges..just lovely....such contrasting autumn colours up here!

And what a gorgeous place Tromso is...we donned all our wet weather gear and didnt need it because it wasnt raining..just COLD...(we loook like eskimos at the moment!)...but its creative in the city....there are musicians in the street and beatutiful lights..

Our accomodation here is not as cheap as it was in Rovaniemi...(was VERY CHEAP in our hotel called Hostel Randolf hehe which was attached to Hotel Santa!! Was only 150 euros for 3 nights!)

Had to laugh at the guy at the reception..when he asked if we were Australian we said yes, and he said, 'Oh, you have Austrian troops!'

We thought he was a bit weird saying that..then he went on to explain that Bush is in Australia and made a fopah by calling the troops Austrian instead of Australian...when he could see we thought he was a complete dill (Greg used another word to describe him) the guy went on about how many other blundering misakes he'd made on the Aussie tour!

We had to laugh..he knew all about it..and we thought, gee news travels fast! And to be honest, there is a lot of interest in Australia in Scandinavia...there seems to be a lot of Australian wildlife shows on the tv and people are always wanting to talk to us about Australia!! Especially Perth, being the most isolated city in the world!

But..here its nice. And breakfast and dinner is included..so last night we had Norweigian meatballs and fish which was different...

And no...MUM...we didnt eat reindeer...just couldnt! Oh, another thing about reindeers that i just remembered..is that for every square centimetre of their body..they have 1,700 hollow hairs!!!! Which apparently keeps them warm in the cold..and they can survive up to MINUS 52 celcius....imagine that!

But yes, apparently Fins eat reindeer..but i just couldnt........theyre too cute!

Its the northern most university town in the world here apparently...

Were only here for 2 nights tho..so were off to explore now.....and to Oslo tomorrow..see you there!

SANTA LIVES IN ROVANIEMI FINLAND and we met him!

The letter Santa is going to send!!







Rovaniemi, Finland

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CONGRATULATIONS GLORIA ON BEING A GRANNY!!!! And to mum Tracey and DadTroy of course! First second cousins for Sam and Elise..aww.! Gorgeous little Slayde..awww....and he looks so cute, thanks Elise for the pic!

AND...wishing you a beautiful day for your wedding.....you and Murray make a gorgeous pair and we`ll be thinking of you!!

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Did you know that the REAL Santa Claus lives in Finland?

His REAL name is “Joulupukki”!

Joulupukki is Finnish and means “Yule Goat”.

Goats woven out of straw are typical Yule decorations in Scandinavia so that's where the name came from - a yule goat!!! Apparently at Yule, there is always a big feast, and after the feast, the Yule Goat brought presents....

Yule is the Winter Solstice and Christmas comes at the Winter Solstice..

So...

When the Christians came to Finland, the Yule celebration was moved from the evening of the 21st of December, the Solstice, to the evening of the 24th, the eve before the Mass for the Birth of Christ, “Christ Mass”, or Christmas.

Finns still keep the old pagan customs of Yule, even today!

They bring in a spruce tree and decorate it with red fruit and berries and usually the fruit and berries are made of glass or plastic these days.

Then, there is a big feast.

The center of the Yule Feast is a great ham. After the Feast, to celebrate the return of the Light, real candles are put on the spruce tree and lit, and sometimes sparklers are hung on the tree and lit, too. Little sparks of light shine all over the tree and are reflected from the glass fruit and glittering tinsel garlands.

So there you go! Thats the story of Santa..and how it came to be from Finland...

And we were the lucky ducks who got to talk and sit on the knee of the real Santa!!!! (didnt really sit on his knee..but close hahaha)

Going to visit Santa was SO cool! We felt like we were having our second childhood again! hahaha and...we got our pic taken..aww...such silly dags we are! Sent it to mum to look after until we get home...so there you go...weve MET SANTA!!!

One thing we noticed is...He is HUGE!! A BIG man!! Whoa....and his beard looks real hehe and he talks in every language..Russian, English and all the Euro languages...such a smart dude! Got a few letters sent to our little nephews too...(and a couple of us big kids as well!) who we thought would like a Santa letter..Aww...they'll come at xmas! All a bit of fun!!!!

The Santa Village is so colourful...we took a heap of pics of us knitting...eating....sitting...you know, all those usual things haha gawd.

OK We had fun alright!!!!

Recommend that little venture to anyone..

As we were about to leave...he asked where we would be for Xmas and we said probably Argentina in South America...and he said hed see us in Buenos Aires

Oooohhhhhh so.....were gonna get presssies from the man himself this year..cool hey.