Cruise Day 5: long message with lots of photos alert

 (aka Christmas Day)

First of all, many thanks for your lovely comments.  I wish I could answer them individually, but I can't.  Yes, I'm having a fantastic time.  Everyone, guests and crew, have relaxed into it now and the vibe is fantastic.  There's always something to do, something to see, someone to chat to . . . never a dull moment unless you want one.  The crew are so obliging and helpful.  It's just . . . great!
If I'm not posting comment in your blog, it isn't because I am ignoring you, it is because I can't open it for some reason.  Some I can read and some I can't.  Apologies!

I've started this at around eight o'clock, Monday morning because there's not going to be an awful lot of spare time really.  So, right now, I have showered, dressed, and drawn back the curtains; not that I can see  much as it's still very dark and will be for about another hour, but it's so nice and cosy.

I've Googled 'Torghatten' and came up with info in, presumably, Norwegian - must work out how to turn on the translate function, but it says it is currently around minus 4C.  So I've put on my warmer shoes and will be taking my coat with me so I can pop on deck whenever I want without 'suffering'.

Diane will be calling at around nine and I have a little gift for her before we go to breakfast.  Will we have bucks fizz and smoked salmon?  I wonder . . .

Now to see about translating - if I Google, it will come up in Norwegian which wouldn't be a lot of help.
(thirty seconds later - well, that was easy!)

13:52 (Norwegian Time)
After my comment about darkness, I noticed that sunrise and sunset times are on the daily newsletter - 11:50 and 2:28 respectively!  That's what I call a short day!!  So bear in mind that some of the following photos were taken before/after the sun!
And also, according to the newsletter, tomorrow (Boxing Day) has no sunrise or sunset; it is 'sundown' all day.

I got my wish.  A do-it-yourself bucks fizz for breakfast - and it was lovely!

That wasn't all I had, of course.  There's all sorts for breakfast but I went for fruit, cold meat, smoked salmon and cheese with a rye (I think) roll.  So lovely!

You won't get many photos of me but here's one of me with my Christmas  morning outfit!

Everyone was dressed up in jumpers, hats, etc, and it was all very festive and colourful.

I had brought a little gift for Diane and she had one for me so we both had something to open on Christmas Day morning.  So nice.

At around ten everyone piled out onto the outer decks as we cruised past Torghatten, a granite rock with a cave running right through so it looks as if a hole has been knocked through.

Thew legend is that it was formed when a troll shot an arrow after a love interest who ran away.

It's clearer here and one can walk up, through, out and back round again.  Not an easy walk but doable.

Oh, my, it was so cold but we stayed out for a while and I took more just general views.  It's stunning scenery.

After lunch (delicious but no photo because the phone was charging), we sailed past the Seven Sisters.

They are a range of snow-covered mountains - or, maybe, trolls who were turned to stone.  Who knows?

Here's a few more snaps of general views.

Cold forced us in again where we warmed up laughing at the Christmas Jumper Competition.
The three finalists - and they all won . . .

16:30

Quite apart from the fact that I've already paid for it, the daily (when there are no expeditions) afternoon tea is worth going to because of the lovely pots of Earl Grey tea to go with the mini sandwiches, scones and petit fours.  While we were enjoying this, we passed over that imaginary line and into the Arctic Circle.  And, yes, it got flipping cold through the day and is well below freezing as I type this.  We're having down time in our cabins before dinner which will be some sort of celebratory Christmas dinner, I expect.  With bubbly.

22:28

I didn't actually have a starter.  This was my Christmas dinner - there were several choices but most people went for the turkey, of course.  It was delicious turkey, obviously good quality, and it was all delicious (but I do veg better!!)

Dessert was a spiced fruit salad with berry sorbet and wow!

Then we went along to the show.  It was Andrew Robley in concert and he was very, very good indeed.  We thoroughly enjoyed what he gave us, lots of well known show songs, sing-along stuff from the 50s and 60s and more than a touch of humour thrown in.

Then there was an announcement that weather conditions were worsening (wind and snow) and the Captain had taken the decision to divert from Narvik and cancel the planned expedition in the Arctic railway into Sweden and back via coach tomorrow - safety first every time and we have been promised a day full of fun and frolics (not my words) to make up.
Yes, it's disappointing, but can't be helped and now we are looking forward to whatever the entertainments team comes up with.  I can't imagine they or the rest of the crew are that thrilled - they've worked their socks off today and now they have to keep it up tomorrow as well instead of maybe having a bit of a chill.  Bless them, they're doing a grand job.

It has been a really lovely Christmas Day.  I hope you have all had a fantastic time too.
Here's to a great Boxing Day for us all.  xx