After the adventures in Sweden and visiting the awesome Ice Hotel, we continued our trip onwards and upwards from Narvik to Tromsø then back down to Oslo in Norway.
Our train ride from Kiruna to Narvik in Norway was quite literally the most amazing train ride I have ever had! The views of the fjord we weaved our way through was simply breathtaking. I was like a kid in a candy store jumping out of my seat every time we went around another corner – it was just so stunning! It was exactly like the adverts on the tube… Who’d have known!
We got to Narvik in the dark and it was freezing to say the least! Ice everywhere, it proved a little difficult to walk around, but we finally made the bus stop and grabbed a bite to eat. Again, we cursed Connex because we could see the outline of the ski slope that was literally in the middle of the city and it would have been good to actually SEE the thing! It looked pretty from what we could see!
Next we had to catch a bus for a whopping 4.5 hour journey to Tromsø. Again, would have been nice to have a bit of daylight to see where we were going, but by now we’d realised that there WAS no daylight to be had about this far north! So we listened to Hughsey and Kate podcasts all the way 
We got there to be greeted by an excitable fellow guest who was on a quest to see the Northern Lights. So we set out at 10pm in search of these things and walked around for while, waited for a while and then gave up and walked back to the hostel! But nice conversation made it all worthwhile!
Next morning we woke up at about 10am – still dark outside – feeling a little confused! It was quite an experience not to see any daylight, but it did get lighter. The sky was really lovely bluish colour for a few hours around midday and it was perfect for taking photos. So for the next few days we spent those hours out and about to take some gorgeous photo’s of the lovely town.
First night there, we were off for an adventure snow shoeing. We intended to cross country ski, but it had rained for the last few days which meant there was no snow left to ski on! But don’t worry, from that day on, it did nothing but snow… and snow… and snow… oh and snow.
But snow shoeing was an awesome adventure in itself! We felt kind of strange with big huge shoe-like contraptions on our feet, but we soon found the kids within. Snowballs, snow angels, ’speccies’, wrestling and running down hills like a bat out of hell was just the tip of the iceberg (hehe).
Next day we decided to trek across the huge bridge to the arctic cathedral on the mainland. It was a lovely walk over and the clouds stayed away long enough for our visit to the other side with some nice photos However once we got to the other side, we could see another snow storm coming straight for us. So we hung out at a bus stop, hoping for it to blow over or for a bus to come! But the storm passed before the bus, so we were back over the bridge… And cold. My goodness, this cold compared to the coldest we’d ever been (New York, -30 degrees wind chill on Straten Island). The wind was so icy!!! Once on the other side, we saw a ‘park’ which had about half a metre of snow covering it and untouched by footprints. So we made our mark and played in the snow again for a bit 
That night was NYE and what an amazing sight! Crackers were going off ALL over the city ALL night long – it was fantastic! When it struck midnight (not that we could actually hear or tell when that was), it was like every house in the city was letting off fire works in their backyards – and in front of us only metres away! There’s something to be said about legalising fireworks! The locals were friendly and it was a really nice community feeling around us. After it died down a bit, we took another night to wander the streets in hope of the Northern Lights, but again no joy! We ended up getting home about 2.30am – which is late for oldies like us haha.
Next night we were off for our final adventure above the arctic circle – dog sledding near Lyngen. I was really worried at first because I thought maybe the dogs would have been mistreated. But they were so beautiful and seemed to absolutely love just… well… running! They were really quiet when we first arrived, but they soon realised what was about to come so a few started to get a bit anxious and started to howl and bark. And that was it, they were all in on it, they were almost like a choir!
We didn’t actually realise that we would be driving the sled, so when the instructor started telling us how to drive the sled, I was part in shock. But I did hear him say, “no matter what you do, the driver MUST stay on the brake at all times when you are stopped. They will just take off if they can, driver or no driver and you won’t be able to catch them!”. Yup, got it, I thought. I just won’t drive So all ready to go with me in the sled and Kim behind driving, the dogs would tug on their ropes every now and then to see if there was any give. Eventually we were off and running… well, they were Kim soon realised he had to do a bit of work when going up hills or in deep snow, so he was getting a nice workout while I was enjoying the ride from the sled. It was so beautiful, peaceful and kind of exciting, but after a while, I was starting to get really cold! So we agreed that we’d swap drivers for me to warm up. And warm I did, quite nicely thanks! That was after steering us into a few trees here and there
After a while, I was warm enough and we faced a hill that was a bit bigger than the last few we’d just been up, so I asked Kim to swap back. No problem. So out of the sled he gets and hands me the camera bag. As I grab the camera bag, I put my weight on my back foot… not the foot that was on the brake… and then… they were off. Without Kim or me on board. We started to run, even though it felt useless. Kim sped off in front of me and I was dropping gear left, right and centre, so I backed up to pick it up and then trotted off again to catch up. When I got over the hill I was trying to avoid, to my surprise, I found Kim with our sled, our dogs and the couple in front of us! Apparently Kim had almost caught up to them on the hill, but was within inches when they got to the top and they zoomed off on him. Luckily the couple in front of us noticed that our dogs were overtaking them and there was noone in our sled! So he somehow managed to control two sleds with a foot on each brake while his girlfriend tried to pull back on our dogs while we caught up. Needless to say, we were VERY appreciative, we thought it was going to be a loooong walk home in the snow and I was wondering how we were going to explain to the organisers that our dogs were AWOL.
After our little ‘adventure’, we stopped off at at Sami tent for a traditional reindeer stew with bread which was really yummy! After the girls warmed up (I was already warm) and the boys cooled down (Kim was still warm), we set off for our last leg back to the bus. I made good friends with the fifth of our dogs while we waited for those in front to go first – he was so beautiful!!!! On the way back to Tromsø, our bus driver had to stop a number of times to wipe off the snow that was falling – it was so heavy and so constant!
After getting home late, we had a short night because we caught a flight to Oslo the next morning. We spent the day exploring what we could see in the remaining light in Oslo, and managed to stumble on the most beautiful sunset we’ve ever seen! See the top photo
Next day we were up early to explore for our last day in Scandinavia. We visited Vigeland park, the Viking Ship museum, Akershus Fort and Castle and then went up into the mountains to Holmenkollen where locals go skiing. It’s on a metro line which was pretty cool! We walked down some of the mountain where Kim landed on his bum a few times But the view from up there was gorgeous too! We even got to see the ski jump which was used in the winter olympics at some point.
So other than freaking out due to lack of public transport on a Sunday to get to the airport, that was our trip in a nutshell! A fantastic and freezing adventure that was well worth every penny!
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