Cruise day 6

(aka Boxing Day)

Again, thank you for your comments.  I can only see the first part using the side link but it's a taster and I will do some proper replies when I'm home, I promise.

15:30 Norwegian time.

I may be on a posh liner, somewhere off the north-ish coast of Norway, in a night that has lasted all day but it's Boxing Day, day of chilling, eating leftovers and snoozing on and off.  Or going for a walk in the blizzard . . .

No, I didn't.  I did manage to get one of the heavy doors leading to the outer deck open a bit and promptly shut it again - very, very quickly.  Oh, my goodness, it is so cold out there.  Also, the deck is mega-slippery and, as mentioned already, it's a bit blizzardy from time to time.

This is the only photo I've managed to get so far, taken around midday through the restaurant window and it is absolutely terrible.  A shame because the actual view was really lovely, all Scandi and festive with snow falling and a lovely lunch waiting to be enjoyed.

It is now pretty choppy again.

So what HAVE I done today - well, not an awful lot.  We went to the Captain's talk about the weather where he said yes, it's cold and will get colder, there's a fair bit of snow around, it was right not to try to get to Narvik, it is likely to get windier and the waves are going to be pretty big - probably.  Oh, and it will be snowing and he can't guarantee tomorrow's expeditions either.

You have to be philosophical.  We're living a life of luxury, we're warm, looked after, entertained, plied with tea/coffee/hot chocolate/alcohol at regular intervals, given sumptuous meals - and the sheets have been changed again!  No complaints from me, that's for sure.

We joined some others from the One Traveller group for a chat before lunch followed by a really good talk about towel origami from the housekeeping staff.  They made it look easy - believe me, it isn't!

After reading and knitting in the lounge for a while, now I'm in my cabin, I've had a snooze, there are snowflakes flying close past the window (can't see any further as it is pitch dark outside) and I need to think about getting changed for pre-dinner drinks before we go for dinner (casual dress tonight) and then the crew is putting on a pantomime which everyone is looking forward to immensely.  

Very Boxing Day, isn't it?  

There will be a few photos of dinner and so on but as far as the picturesque scenery is concerned - nope, sorry! 

22:31

I'm back in my cabin after a fantastic evening.

First, dinner:

Starter was the house salad with thousand island dressing.  I am working my way through the dressings and a small but perfect salad starts the meal off beautifully.

er . . . ooops, sorry.  Yup, I forgot until it was too late.  Mains was a cheesy leek crumble with an apple and red cabbage side and some 'fresh' potato crisps.  It was so, so delicious and I am making note of quite a lot of the dishes to have a go at reproducing at home.

Dessert was a white chocolate semifreddo .  Oh, my word!!

Diane and I, being reasonably good Slimming World girls, have decided that we need to rein the eating back a bit - until the New Year festivities start anyway.

So tomorrow - fruit and yogurt for breakfast and something salad-y for lunch.  And just one - ONE - glass of wine.

That's all day, not just breakfast.  

Fingers crossed.

Then we made our way to the theatre and a hysterically funny version of Cinderella, all done a bit ad hoc because I gather senior crew members were involved but couldn't because the weather is not great and they were needed elsewhere.  Anyway, it was brilliant and we laughed till we cried.

After the show, we were informed that, all being well, we should dock at Alta tomorrow morning around 8:30 and tomorrow's expeditions should go ahead.  It's another sundown all day - husky sledding in the dark and, quite likely, while it snows, should be quite an experience  Fingers crossed, folks!

There's a complimentary shuttle bus service into Alta from the ship every fifteen minutes but Diane and I have decided we will save our energies for the expedition in the 'afternoon' - I think it is husky sledding but will check the ticket.  We have been told to wear all the layers we can possibly manage!

As we left the theatre, the doors to the outer decks were all closed - not that we were thinking of venturing out anyway.  The reason was high winds but it looked like a skating rink as well.

The ship is rather rocking and a-rolling as I type this but it's not jumping and bouncing as it was on the North Sea so no worries and no need for acupuncture wrist bands.

Bed time.  I'll set this to send tomorrow morning, the 27th.  I hope you've had a great Boxing Day, however you have chosen to spend it.
All the best and I am wondering what the weather is like back home.  xx

Edit:  We are docked at Alta.  Yay!!