Spending Another Day in Alta

Today we are still docked in Alta. There are some excursions but we didn't sign up for anything today. So we decided to have an us day and stay in our cabin and relax. We woke up around 7:30am and we had scheduled room service for breakfast at 8:00am. They brought everything right on time and we sat at the table in the living area, opened the curtains to be able to see the beautiful scenery and enjoyed a quiet and relaxing breakfast with mimosas since we had a complimentary bottle of champagne in our cabin. After eating breakfast Thomas went lay in bed and read. I decided to blog, edit photos and just get some things organized. I really enjoyed staying in and relaxing.

Around 1:00pm we decided to go have a light lunch at the World Café. We ate a small lunch and relaxed and had some coffee while we enjoyed the snowy landscape around the dock in Alta. After eating we returned to our room and decided to take a nap. After an hour nap I watched a movie and played a few games on the computer. We also filled out a few surveys on some of the excursions we have been on. Then around 7:15pm we headed down to the Explorer's Desk to turn in the surveys and then to The Chef's Table for our 7:30pm reservations. We had a table to ourselves tonight and we enjoyed a special meal together. Tonight's menu was as follows . . .

* Amuse Bouche - Lobster Terrine paired with Frontera rose, Cabernet Sauvignon , Chile
* First Course - Tea-Infused Arctic Char paired with Vollmer Cuvee, Dornfelder, Spatburgunder, Germany
* Sorbet - Red Currant & Ginger
* Main Course - Juniper Berry-Marinated Red Deer Loin paired with Frontera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile
* Dessert - Maple Syrup Cake paired with Sandeman Fine Ruby Port, Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Douro, Portugal

This meal was good but not as good as the other night. But I have to say I have enjoyed eating at this restaurant.

While we were eating they announced that there was northern lights activity but we decided not to run up to Deck 8 from Deck 1. We hope we get another chance later on.

Back at the cabin after dinner I decided to take a bath and relax a little more before bed. There is a TV in the mirror above the bathtub so I decided to watch a movie. I didn't finish the movie in the bath so I sat in the living room and finished that and did a little blogging. It is time to get some sleep - tomorrow we have excursions all day - it will be a busy one.

We Made it to Alta

Our ship pulled out of Narvik sometime around 6:00pm last night and continued cruising north towards Alta all night and most of this morning. It was close to 11:00am when we docked in Alta. It was beautiful cruising this morning. Mountains all around us covered in snow. It was way to cold to sit on the balcony but we had the curtains open and just sat there for an hour watching the magnificent scenery. Then around 8:30am we went down to the restaurant for breakfast. We continued enjoying the fantastic views while eating and sipping coffee. After eating breakfast we returned to our cabin to get things together for our excursions this afternoon and evening. Once we had everything ready I ended up spending time editing pictures and blogging while Thomas read.

We pretty much hibernated in our room all morning and up til the time of our first excursion. At 3:00pm we headed down to the Star Theater to meet our group. When they called our number (which only took 5 minutes) we headed to the bus. The excursion we were on was a bus and walking tour of Alta. We drove for a little bit while our tour guide gave us a history of Alta and the surrounding areas. Then we started making stops and getting a chance to take pictures. The two main stops were at the Northern Lights Cathedral where we got a history of the church and got to see an exhibit about the northern lights. After about an hour here we made our way to the Alta Museum. Here we had a short slide show about Alta, the northern lights and rock art in the area. Then we had time to view a couple of exhibits, take pictures and do a little shopping. At around 4:45pm we headed back to the ship. During our excursion it snowed - sometimes just a little flurry and at other times it was coming down hard.

When we were back on the ship we headed to our cabin to put our things down, and get ready for the next excursion later that evening and then we headed up to the World Café for some dinner. After eating we returned to the cabin to get our things then it was back down to the Star Theater around 6:45pm to meet our group. Once our number was called we boarded the bus and headed to Pæskatun. We went to this place in hopes of seeing the northern lights. They had a few little areas set up with cakes and warm beverages for us and they talked to us about the northern lights and then we just hung out in hopes that we would see something. Unfortunately, it was snowing off and on and it was very cloudy so we didn't get any activity. After two and a half hours here we went back to the bus and headed back to the ship. Back on board we returned to our cabin and shed all of our warm clothing and then went up to the Pool Grill for a late night snack. They had Tex-Mex food for all of the night excursions - they had beans, rice, jalapeno shrimp, chicken fajitas, guacamole and chips. It was actually really good. By the time we finished eating and got back to our cabin it was 11:30pm. We were both tired but I felt like I needed a shower. The excursion tonight had some fire pits going and I was stinking of smoke. After showering I edit a few photos but my eyes were closing so I called it a night and went to sleep.

Even though we didn't see any light it was still an incredible day. Loved all the snow everywhere - it made the place look magical.