Norway in 2018, Tromsø

Parts

Sunday, August 19

Coordinates.

My flight got into Trømso in the evening, and I still had to take a bus into town and walk to my B&B, Bread & Waffles, so I did not have time for much other than making this record of my location north of th Arctic Circle. The B&B was fun; there is a waffle-maker in your room, and the owner leaves waffle batter and other breakfast fixings by your door each morning.

Monday, August 20

Tromsø from hill.

View from the hill.

View from tram.

Trømso is largely on an island you see in the first photo. I spent most of the day on the island, crossing the bridge largely to take the tram up the hill from which this photo was taken. Tromsø University has a sizable museum for a town of 80,000 people, and I also visited the Polar Museum, the Polaria aquarium, a glass-blowing studio, and other attractions.

View in Tromsdalen.

Dinner.

View toward downtown from Bed & Waffles.

Tuesday, August 21

Tromsø is a surprisingly large and active town for the northern reaches of the planet, but I still got a bunch done in the short time I was there and was looking for more. After checking out the chocolate store (mostly mass market junk) and a souvenir shop (not bad), I headed for one of the biggest malls in Norway, Jekta Storsenter, with 130 stores. I do not know what it is doing in Tromsø, although it is by the airport, not downtown, so maybe it serves a large region of Norway?

It is on the other side of the island, over the hill, a bit over two miles from my B&B, and I asked Google Maps for walking directions (this was before Apple Maps was up to the nice level it has reached today), and it took me on a pretty interesting route along residential streets, over a hill, down past an apartment/condo complex, onto a path in a recreational area, across some fields, through a schoolyard, and into the woods. It sort of seemed like an official maintained path, but it got smaller and smaller as I went on. Yet eventually it did let out at the mall.

“Children playing! Drive carefully!”

Path to the mall.

Jekta Storsenter.

Polaria aquarium.

Back in town, I photographed the Polaria building so you can see its “fallen domino” design. Later I walked up to and around Prestvannet (Norwegian) or Báhpajávri (Northern Sámi), a small lake.