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Hammerfest - Part 9
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
The northernmost shopping destination that we've ever been to.
We woke up late today. What did you expect when we were up at midnight looking at the fog on the cape? We’ve already reached the summit, we already reached the top. Anything from this point forward felt like it would simply be anti-climactic.
The town of Hammerfest is the only town in Norway where we met somebody who didn’t speak English. When we were in the larger cities of the south end of the country, they quoted the north as being a bit like in the country. The people were nicer, didn’t speak English as often and the berries were tastier.
In Hammerfest we really were a bit tired of touring and Margherita won out. We shopped. Yes, they have this famous polar museum, and this beautiful church, which we did stop into, but our day involved walking and shopping. With the large number of cruise ships that stop here, they have an entire strip of shopping where you can buy trolls to your hearts content.
You walk in and say, "I’d like a troll jumping on one leg singing the national anthem." They have it.
We went into the supermarket to look at the funny Norwegian foods, but generally we walked around and shopped.
Back on the boat we missed lunch but realized that you can eat standard hamburgers, hot dogs and wraps on the deck by the pool. Why did it take us a week to realize this? We are fools. Anyway, we sat on the pool deck, looking at the pool longingly, but afraid to go in as it was a bit too cold.
Back downstairs, there was another lecture on Norway, Norwegian history and how Norwegians fit in with the world, done by Ambassador Talboys. The lectures helped give a pretty good overview of what we were seeing from a different point of view.
For dinner, I started singing Te Amo (a famous Italian love song). Besides the clearly romantic overtones, why did I do it?
Well, the waiter asked me if I’d like to try the red wines. We tried both and being a novice at this, I asked a lot of questions. (All of the alcohol is included). He seemed more than eager to answer my questions and then he encouraged me to try some white wine. By the end of the salads, I had literally six empty glasses in front of me. By dessert, I learned the difference between a port, a cognac and a brandy and hence started singing, "Te Amo.".
Margherita recorded the video, but it really isn’t for public broadcast. It makes most woman laugh and most howling dogs feel a kinship.
After dinner, the entertainment crew had a theatrical production called, "Sussero" which seemed to be a mix of Cirque Du Soleil. This was more my taste than just simple dancing, as I like the constant change of stimuli.
Around midnight I took a picture of the sun starting to set. It didn’t really set but nuzzled up to the horizon and hung out there for a little bit.
SilverSea Cruises - Part 1
Copenhagen - Part 2
SilverSea at Sea - Part 3
Alesund - Part 4
Geiranger - Part 5
Trondheim - Part 6
Traveling the Fjords - Part 7
The North Cape - Part 8
Hammerfest - Part 9
Cruising the Fjords - Part 10
Cruising the Fjords - Part 11
Bergen - Part 12
Gudvagen and Flaam - Part 13
Cruising - Part 14
Copenhagen and Departure - Part 15
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