Magic Ice (Ice bar & sculptures) & Storytelling: Norse Mythology

Dinner was buffet again, and hallelujah, it was an improvement on lunch! It started early, to allow us time to look around Svolvaer, our next stop. It was already dark of course, but what the hey, I could go have a look.. and thanks to the announcement on board that reminded me of Magic Ice, an ice bar & sculptures that I'd planned to see.

They had turkey, and a chicken sauce, hmm.. anyway, it was quite edible - and they had the most gorgeous "vegetarian" (I assume they mean vegan) chocolate mousse. I made sure to get one of the chocolate roses on top. Again, I could have died of thirst before I got anyone's attention - what IS it with these people? Damned if I was doing without my included, and non-refundable, bottle of wine.. as it was, I had my dinner half-eaten before the wine arrived, and ended up pouring quite a large glass to take back to my cabin for later. That's four wine glasses now decorating my cabin..

We actually docked early, for once, and I headed out into a veritable winter wonderland:

Now, if I'd gone through the fence to my left, I'd practically have been at the door - but what the hey, I decided to have a bit of a trudge, and go around. It was great fun, in a way - with all the snow, you never knew whether you were actually walking on the road!

Anyway, I did find it in the end:

The girl at the counter gave me a discount for being off a ship, and a token for a free drink! I also had to prevail upon her to extract my payment card from my wallet - my fingers were literally too frozen. To be fair, she had trouble herself - but it worked in the end. CAVEAT - The floor in the ice show section is, itself, icy - leave on the spikes..

Pretty much the first thing you come across is the bar - where the barkeep asks whether you drink alcohol..

and, if so, gives you some sort of wine in an ice glass, cupped in a sundae glass to make it easier to hold! If not, I think you can probably choose what you want - I heard someone asking for Coke, and one of my fellow passengers got apple juice:

It's more ice carving than ice sculpture:

You could actually sit at an ice table - the seats had furs on them:

There's a pretty cool ice slide - I passed:

There were sculptures too:

It's decent - but honestly, not a patch on the Magical Ice Kingdom in Winter Wonderland in London, which has more - and better - sculptures, and a more defined theme. And is larger. Still, worth a look if you're in the area. 

Later, that historian did some actual mythological storytelling! And I would develop the first uncontrollable cough I've had in days.. Mercifully, I had some Starburst Juicy Chews with me, and it died down in a bit. As for the talk - again, she was very knowledgeable, but I'd have enjoyed it better with more storytelling, and less of her explaining the background and passing remarks at it. So, kind of another lecture.

Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, there's an onboard lecture about Norwegian languages - and the long port stay tomorrow is in Bronnoysund. I did try to get on an excursion there, but they haven't got anything like the minimum numbers! so it's not happening.

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. I have rough plans to meet an old friend. The next two days are with CT - next Monday, 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, when we met (me virtually - I stayed at home because of my cough), 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..