Tromsø, Norway
Tromsø is north of the Arctic Circle and
was a new port for us.
On our first visit, we took a public bus to the Tromsø
Botanic Garden, which is the world's northernmost botanic garden.
The reason it's not tundra here above the Arctic Circle is because
of the Gulf Stream's warm currents here. It's on the university
campus and so is the planetarium in the background of this photo.
A small hill across from the planetarium is only the beginning
of the garden.
To get to the main garden, we walked downhill through a ferny
woods.
 
Because we were there for the midnight sun, most of the plants
were blooming.
 
What a lovely, but rocky garden space.
 
The next time we were there, we took the included tour, which
started with this church which featured overlapping roof sections.
 
The view from that church included our ship.
And the view from the ship. You can see why this church is called
the "Iceberg Cathedral."
 
In the town, we visited a more traditional church.
Looking toward the front of the church you can see a pipe organ.
Looking toward the back, there is another, larger pipe organ and
the choir loft.
The view out the windows was blurred by the antique glass.
We had time for another hike in the woods.
A lovely view from that trail.
 
The trail ended at a rocky shoreline.
We waited for a bus at the end of the trail. Dean knew which bus
would take us back to the ship.
The electronic sign on the bus stop let us know when the buses
would arrive.
It was pleasant walking through the town.
There were lots of gulls around this building.
They were nesting on the roof.
We took one more hike on a poorly marked trail, but it was beautiful.
Again, we were looking for carnivorous plants.
Butterworts embedded in some moss.
We loved these pink flowers.
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