We dock this morning at Tromso. We disembark and go to our bus. The whole bus routine is getting old. When we were on the river cruise at least they let us walk around with a guide. Here we get on the bus and are told things by the guide and have a couple of photo ops. Tromso is not terribly scenic. It is, however, home to some 70000 inhabitants. It has a university which is the main employer of the town. Our guide is recently graduated from high school and tells us about various high school hijinks. She explains about the midnight sun and the northern lights and also about the blue time when the sun is just peeking over the horizon. Tromso has a lot of festivals in both summer and winter. It seems to be quite the party town.
Re-boarding the bus after our first stop we ride through Tromso and pass the memorial to Roald Amundsen, the great Norwegian explorer of the North and South Poles.
Our second stop is behind the maritime school on a hill overlooking Tromso harbor. They have two bridges. One is painted black and is called the black coffin.
After returning back to the ship we hang around for a while waiting for the lunch hordes to dissipate. We are not fans of the lunchtime stampede. We look out the windows some after lunch, I work on my blog, and then take a nap until cocktail time. Room service thoughtfully provides us with chips and wine. From our vantage point at the front of the ship we watch as the boat moves away from the dock and steams north to the top of the world.
Tonight there is a new menu at the Chef’s Table called Venice Carnival. It is mostly pretty tasty and as usual the staff are super nice. Our amuse bouche is a roasted pepper and tomato jelly with goat cheese latte foam. It is served with a Monserrat’s Chiaretto, San Silvestro Piemonte Italy. John says that it is a rose of the Barbera grape. The whole thing is quite delicious.
Next we have a beef carpaccio with a fig and mustard vinaigrette. We decide there is a reason why beef carpaccio is served with shaved parmesan and lemon. It is because it tastes much better that way! This course is served with Villa Bagnolo, Sassetto Sangiovese de Romagna, Emilia Romagna, Italy.
For our palate cleanser we have a Bellini granita that is tasty.
The main course is a cod fillets that is cooked to perfection. It sits on top of a Jerusalem artichoke risotto. There is some foam, a fried fish skin, and a totally superfluous Parmesan tuile. This is served with a Vlacanzjria, Cantina Gulfi Edna, I.G.T. Scilia, Bianco.
Lastly the dessert is what they call Mascarpone Passion. It has a thick jellied outer skin with the mascarpone inside, plus a layer of chocolate over a cake. I can admit that the mascarpone was good.
Tonight we sail north to finish the northward section of our trip with a visit to North Cape, the most northerly point in Europe.