Laundry, Mass and Museums in Tromsø

We met new friends today - well I think they were friendly!

More about the Troll Museum and much more on this Sunday in Tromsø, but first an update on the early part of the day. 

Getting-up

I wake at 3.30am and edit the photos from the 24 hours on the boat and our first evening in Tromsø. Once complete I load all 359 of the photos from this period up to Flickr.

Next I start on the next blog post, last Tuesday in Trondheim.

I then download yesterday's photos from the camara, ready to sort them out later! Holidays are full of such fun, when you want to share the experience as much as I do.

Breakfast

We go down to breakfast for 7.30, the weekend opening time, which seems rather late to us. The French contingent have left and a mix of Spanish and Japanese seem to have replaced them.  

Drew began with two slices of toast and two pats of butter that melt into it.

I begin with yogurt, seeds and nuts, but the photo seems to have gone missing. My second course was oatmeal with cinnamon, a surprisingly good combination.

Drew decided to vary his next course adding cooked rice and vegatables to his bacon. This is the first hotel where we have seen rice on the breakfast menu, put perhaps the number of Japense/Chinese guests makes a difference. 

He also enjoys a selection of cakes and cookies, especially the gluten free chocolate brownie and a raspberry cake.

Again I seem to have been to focussed on getting my pickled everythings to remember to photo them - shame on me!

We come back upstairs at 8.10am and sort the washing out ready to leave at 8.30pm. 

Laundry

So, for the second Sunday on the row we begin by doing our laundry. We walked the 700 meters to Clean Kokos, worrying when we first arrived that we weren't going to be washing for the second Sunday in a row as the building that Goole Maps pointed us too was empty! 

This was concerning would we have to find a dry cleaners/laundry or equivalent again, and we had less time this time.

However, Drew, with the computer scientists distrust in all things technology, suggested we just use our eyes and legs to check around the building and test the accuracy of Google Maps. To our great relief we find that Clean Kokos does exist, and almost where Google Maps said, but in the inner courtyard of the building not on its outside. i.e. poor Google was pointing us to the right place if we had x-ray vision.

As part of the entertainment last week in Bergen's Clean Kokos, when a bank of dryers failed, and needed to be rebooted, I downloaded the Clean Kokos app and tried to pay via that. But as the problem was the machines not the payment terminal. When it returned to proper function we simply used the terminal to pay. Meaning we had loaded 150NKr on the app.  I'd read all the stuff about the reclaim process, but it involved removing the app and emailing an address, so did nothing until we could check where else we might use it. 

When I originally planned the trip I couldn't find a single launderette in Tromsø, so I had concerns anyway. What a surprise to find that since I hunted for them in January, one had opened up in Tromsø, belong to this same company we had already used. So, I was able to use my credit on the app, not go through the reclaim process. 

This launderette was a much quieter place than the one in Bergen. With one German lady with three dryers on when we arrived. So, Drew put our clothes into the machine and I went into the app to start it off. 

All worked smoothly for both washer and dryer and I left Drew with the drying still turning at 9.50am after paying with the app and getting the account to 0. 

At the appropriate time we get an app message

and an email, letting us know the process was complete.

Time for Drew to lift the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer above.

The same process occured when the drying was over - though the message came to me in church. Drew had to see it with his own eyes in the store.

[Co-pilot's note: You will all know, dear readers, that I am well known for being a sociable type, very well known for it. And on today's trip to the launderette I got chatting to some Americans (Florida) who were going up to Svalbard on a cruise. I also spoke to an Australian who was going to Svalbard by plane. We were all getting along really well, I did think things were going to take a turn for the worse when the Australian said she wouldn't be going back to the USA "Until the basket case has gone." Rather than being concerned about this the Americans simply nodded.

But who knew that Svalbard was such a popular summer holiday destination. Don't they know that Polar Bears are the one creature that actively hunts humans!! They are not cuddly; they are not friendly; they see, what Haydn does when he gets to breakfast in the morning - FOOD!]

Large Dogs

During our meal last night, Drew who had the best view of the park in front of the Cathedral, had noted that the dogs in these parts are very large. We are used to seeing dogs in Nerja, where apartment living means that the vast majority are no longer than my shoes. Here many that we see would be taller than me if they stood up. This scene was repeated today, so here are some photos of the large dogs.

Going to Mass

Having left Drew with the drying clothes I pop up to the hotel room on my way, having forgotten to take my post-breakfast tablets, [Co-pilot's note: Shake him and he rattles, dear reader, rattles!!] then at 10.30am I walk up to 11am Mass in Our Lady's Cathedral. I now know a quicker route than Google, along the dock. 

I arrive at 10.35am to say my prayers and prepare for Mass. With a Norwegian order of Mass and a modern Norweigan hymn book, along with the Universalis app so that I can follow the readings in English.

The church had this reassuring message on the pillars beside the altar. It says: "The Lord has blessed you forever."

We sing four hymns, one of them in English and two of the others Norwegian versions of hymns we sing at home to the same tune.

The priest gave an enthusiastic homily of which I managed to understand - Gud (God), Maria (Mary), Mor (Mother) and his occasional pointing to the statue of Our Lady, confirming, as I'd guessed from the readings, that today is being celebrated as the transferred feast of the Assumption in Norway, so I remembered some homilies on the theme from the past, to reflect which he continued his enthusiastic proclamation for 20 minutes or so. 

Mass ends at 12.10pm and I get back to the hotel at 12.14pm. Have a quick catch-up with Drew and hang up the, now, washed and dried clothes 

Troll Museum

We are back out by 12.27pm on what I expect to call Museum day. We start with the Troll Museum!! Now to be clear I recognise that Trolls are myths developed by people in the dark nights, just as Oliver Postgate used to suggest when telling the sagas on Noggin the Nog. But there is something about this 'museum' which invites you to put aside your disbelief and let you inner child have reign. As you can see from the first two photos above, we certainly did this. That spirit continued as the photos captured in this video shows.

Did you spot the ones with Drew as a Troll, sticking his tongue out in at least one!

In addition to the amusing, the museum took a look at the culture and heritage from which trolls emerged and their impact on things like Ibsen's Peer Gynt and its musical adaptation by Edvard Grieg and other famous artists of a wide variety of disciplines.

Coffee Break

We decide to return to Kaffebønna, which we enjoyed yesterday. Not only did we enjoy it but it was on our route between the two museums. 

Drew opted for something called Skolebolle, which translates as 'School Bun' but in fact are a Norwegian style custard bun, though somewhat larger.

I went for a Raisonbolle, as the name implies a raisin bun. It was perfect for me, having the texture of a bread with a few raisens, rather than the sweet bun we might have served in the UK.

 

We had Caffe Latte and Americano to drink. I won't mention the variation in size this time, you've heard it enough from me!

Polar Museum

From the coffee shop we walked the 150 metres to the Polar Museum.

If the Troll Museum was tongue in cheek that the Polar Museum was very different. This is a much more developed location, with lots of artifacts as well as history provided by a hand out in English which they provide on entrance. This museum is managed by the local University which has a large polar research institute  staff of which curate and manage the museum. (Incidentally the research published on their site informed the document we were reading from and has a lot of useful insight, if you wish to know more about Svalbard and the journey to the poles). This makes a visit here a fascinating insight into the push for the Poles in that era of history, which was as impactful as Space Flight in my own lifetime. 

The story of the pioneers living year round on the ice is fascinating and the importance of Roald Amundsen to Norway's national identity is strongly represented.

The video above is a selection of images from the Museum, but there is much more interesting detail on Flickr, starting here. (Those who are offended by animal pelts, should avoid those pictures).

When we started the day we had planned to go to the Full Steam museum too - but seeing a brief outline of it in the Full Steam restaurant on Friday evening (it is the top few stories of the same building) we decided to give it a miss and go back to the hotel at 3pm, a pattern of busy mornings and more gentle afternoons, which seems to have evolved for us on this holiday - except on travel days.

Dinner

It is important to note that this is the last night of non-pre-planned dinner, from here on in every evening (there are only five) is accounted for. So, Drew was determined for us to both have a Pizza. We had looked at some places online and visited some in person and Drew suggested we try Størhus, which we did. It suited us both well.

While Størhus is a Pizzeria, it also offered charcuterie and cheese as a starter. 

The meats were Chorizo, salami and Prosciutto

The cheeses three tangy Italian cheeses which I didn't get the name of, one was a pecorino, but I'm less sure about the other two.

I think we should have read the menu more closely, as the charcuterie and cheese were excellent, but we didn't expect the large pizza bread with them. Still we eat all of them, leaving only the honey that was offered with the cheese.

For my pizza I opted for the Pizzanord - this had reindeer, white sauce, spinach, walnut, caramelised onion and mozzarella, it is unusual for us to have a white pizza at home, though it is quite common in the USA and here in Norway, so I was happy to try it. The slivers of reindeer and the crunch of walnut were both very pleasant indeed, the healthy green of the spinach (uncooked) was also refreshing, balancing with the other flavours. 

Drew choose the Pizza Carne with Tomato sauce, salami, bacon, N’duja and mozzarella, not quite his Domino's favourite - American Hot - but full of spice form the N’duja and a fennel tang from the warmed salami. He would certainly have it again if we turn up here in the future.

Back to the Hotel

We return to the hotel at 9pm, I edit more photos ready for loading in the morning and we go to bed at 11pm, after an interesting, fun and informative day.