Day Nine at Sea: Midnight Concert & Lecture: Norwegian Mythology and Fairytales

Dinner last night was on a Sámi theme:

Reindeer featured heavily - I skipped the reindeer broth starter though, and had a mushroom cake, which turned out to be a kind of mushroom paste, slightly peppery, in breadcrumbs. Interesting. All but one at the table had the reindeer for main course though, following the waiter's recommendation - it's become a running joke now with him that it doesn't matter what I'm eating, I'll have the Chardonnay.. Anyway, I was worried about this dish, since I haven't liked venison in the past - but no, it was lovely! And as usual, the ice cream was a winner - we weren't sure what it was, but thought mango.

Later, I was at a midnight concert at Tromso Cathedral - last night! I thought it was today. (Well, technically, it was!) Some people who didn't explore Tromso on Christmas Day were saying they'd do it then - but of course, we weren't there long enough for that..

Well, again we were late in docking - to the extent that I was worried we'd be late for the start: but someone explained that they always wait for us! Finally, off we trudged into the snow - as they said, it was only a five-minute walk! I refrained from photographs of the city - I already had some, albeit non-snowy. Waited till we were inside.

As someone who also attended remarked today over lunch, we'd thought we were going to join with the locals - no, it seems these are specifically for Hurtigruten passengers! No wonder they waited for us.. we eventually started at 12.30am. Interestingly, we saw no-one until the third piece - they played from somewhere in the gallery, or the back; I couldn't see them. Nonetheless, the programme was gorgeous - we'd been kindly provided with a flyer (English on one side, German on the other) with the repertoire. And it was just a lovely mixture of Swedish Christmas carols, interspersed with Bach (sublime choice) and Grieg. And they finished off with O Holy Night (in Norwegian) - which nearly brought me to tears, and as an encore, a verse of Silent Night, first in Norwegian, then English. A real treat.. and no, we didn't miss our boat!

By the time we got back, I was already late for bedtime, if I wanted to be up for breakfast - and wow, was it hard to get up today. As we head south though, we're already getting more daylight - and wow, such scenery! I really must come back to this part of Norway, some time with more daylight:

Just look at the ice on my window!

Coming into Stokmarknes:

Lunch, by the way, was a damp squib - certainly the hot food. It was a buffet, and highly unimaginative. Lordy, how many times have they rolled out the dried and salted lamb and the pork ribs?! I can't stand either of them - nor even the "rib sauce" that was available. Mercifully, my lunch companion steered me in the direction of some "brown cheese", which was lovely, with an almost caramel flavour. And they had ice cream for dessert. You could have died of thirst, waiting for someone to take a drink order though..

Now, I really wanted to get this post finished earlier - but this afternoon, they had a lecture on Norwegian Mythology and Fairytales! Well gee, I really couldn't miss that.. given by the ship's onboard historian, it was an entertaining and fascinating trip through the country's mythology! As she said, the Vikings who started it weren't about to take the time to sit around scratching the stories onto stones - no, the stories were anthologised in the 13th century:

She started with the Viking world order - and it is fascinating to see how many themes have seeped into other cultures - Midgard, for instance, equating with Middle Earth, a "Land of the Dwarves", and "Hel" being the realm of the dead:

Trolls are the personification of mountains:

And we've seen creatures like the mara/mare before, which sits on people's chests at night - appears in many cultures:

Certainly, The Wild Hunt is something I've come across in other mythologies:

Have to say, I was not expecting such a fascinating lecture!

Next up, dinner.. it's buffet again, and I just hope it's an improvement on lunch! It's happening early, to allow us time to look around Svolvaer, our next stop. It's already dark of course, but what the hey, I can go have a look..

And tonight, that historian is doing some actual mythological storytelling! Looking forward to that..

We're getting table service, and five-course menus, for the next two nights, to lead us to the end of the year, and the end of the cruise. So, Christmas and New Year's on the boat! Just what I wanted. Back on New Year's Day - not as early - and taking the next day off, because it's a Friday - and back home to Ireland for the weekend, because it's been too long. The next two days are with CT - on the 5th, I'm back at the Hen & Chickens for Shake It Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show.

And on the 6th, I'm at a comedy show - Live Next to the Apollo, at Riverside Studios.

On the 7th - my first Meetup of the year - I'm back with the Horror Book Club - assuming I get the book read in time! It's The House on the Borderland - and they're meeting in the Prince of Wales, as usual. Now, considering the lack of progress I made with Hogfather for my work book club.. we'll have to see.. I did at least finish the sample.. it's over a year since I was last with them for a book review! (As to Hogfather, we met last week (me virtually - I stayed at home because of my cough), and it turned out I was one of the ones that read most.. I had a last-minute sprint, and got to 71%..)

The next two days, I was to be with CT at the Backyard Comedy Club.. again, it's been a while! However, now Over 40 Living the Life has advertised a trip to the immersive Macchu Picchu exhibition, which sounds much more interesting, for the 9th. However, the Meetup page appears to have crashed - yet again - so I can't currently book it!

Then, four days in a row of Meetups, including five in total. On the 10th, two Meetups.. firstly, a walk titled Southwark: Seedy and Sublime with none other than Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies, yay! Haven't seen him since September, would you believe..

And that evening, back with The Hideout for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Venue and timings TBC, but it'll be somewhere around Leicester Square. 

On the 11th, back with London Museums A-Z for T is for Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, an exhibition at The Wellcome Collection. Advertised, would you believe, while I was looking at my phone but not especially busy, in The Rockingham Arms recently - and this being the next unscheduled date in my diary, I was one of the five to snap up a place in the first minute!

On the 12th, with Up in the Cheap Seats again, for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo - a dark comedy set in Iraq - at the Young Vic. Booked for Bar + Block Southwark beforehand. Ooh, another place I haven't been in an age..

And on the 13th, I'm back with London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Makropulos Affair, by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, at the Barbican - one of the group with a wildcard ticket couldn't go and kindly offered it for free, so I snapped it up. Eating at Cote Barbican beforehand. And gee, you guessed it.. Haven't been there since September, but was with the group slightly more recently, in October..