Not a Sausage

Hammerfest  (70 degrees N) is proud to be the most northerly town in the world. It being a Sunday morning it wasn't shouting out its pride. The church bells pealed as we headed to another town square in deep snow. The square's centrepiece was two metallic Polar Bears (the Bear is the town's mascot) looking unnaturally benign - more teddy bear than killer bear. Like the other towns we've visited Hammerfest is littered with statues and 3D art work. I put this down to the Norwegians being so wealthy the only way they can reduce their Sovereign Wealth Fund to respectable levels is to spend some of it on employing local artists to produce all this "artwork".

I glimpsed three churches in the town but only one seemed to be active in the morning clanging its bells - disturbing the immense silence of the fiord. We learnt that they were pealing in celebration of a baptism taking place when a gaggle of arctic dressed tourists barged in to give the place the once over.

Outside the skies were clearing, low cloud lifting to reveal Norway's glory: stunning snow capped ridges rising up from the waters of the fiord. A humongous rock broken off in the deep ice age, carried and abandoned as the ice retreated was slowly revealed, and behind it in the distance more snow capped peaks. I stood there letting the image fix itself in my retina to be viewed later on.

Here in Hammerfest is the Polar Bear Club and a small museum (and gift shop trap) with exhibits illustrating the hard life and history of its people going back centuries. There are stuffed birds and animals as well as a fish drying display - fortunately not fishy smelling. My heart went out to the two businessmen who in the 1960's set up the club to honour both the people who live in the north and the magnificent bear.

Our captive astronomer Dr John was getting really quite excited at the end of the day's lecture on Giant Telescopes and the Universe. The skies were clearing and at 8:30 pm he'd be on deck 9 with his laser pointer describing the night sky and ....the Northern Lights. This was the topic of conversation at dinner and later we all climbed into our arctic gear and fore gathered on the top deck.

Not a sausage. The sky was as clear as could be - the darling little stars twinkled their cotton socks off but the Northern Lights were no where to be seen. After a chilling hour or so I went back to my cabin to change out of my arctic clothes and went to the lounge on deck 8 with my laptop and a glass of akvavit. I was later joined by a couple from Stratford on Avon and we ended the evening swooping tales.

Today we head for Raftsundet and Troofjorden - the one we blasted with lights a few evenings earlier on the way up.