20 December 2025
Hmmm. Perhaps today is a good day for some swimming. The weather seems to be quite a bit warmer. It even went as high as 5 degrees!
Frances opted for some arctic fjord floating. Basically, they dress you up in a very thick wetsuit, and then make you float in the cold arctic fjord. She loved it! After the Titanic disaster, some survival techniques were formulated to ensure a better chance of survival in such circumstances. Today, Frances learnt all about these techniques. And because she was way calmer than some of the other tourists from the more Eastern side of the globe, she was made captain of one of the team line swims.
Meanwhile, Jean and myself went for a swim at Tromsobadet – a massive and stunning indoor spa. No – not the massage kind of spa. A rather large indoor complex with at least 5 different swimming pools, including a wave pool, an olympic size pool with an inflatable obstacle slippery slide, a baby pool, and even a pool that has an exit to a heated pool outside the building overlooking a ski track where people were practicing cross-country skiing (although I would have to say that I thought that using your dog to drag you up the hill was a bit of a cheat!) Oh, and did I mention the two rather impressive slides. One that had several bends, and one that looked more like just a sheer drop. Yes, I swam too. Yes, I was also conned into going down the curvy slide. Yes, I loved it!
And to end off the day, we booked ourselves on a Sami experience with some reindeer feeding and sledding. Such fun! Although the weather was not quite as accommodating as the very friendly Sami people. Apparently rain this time of year can be somewhat of a disaster. But the lovely reindeer stew and hot chocolate made up for the cold and wet conditions. And after supper, our Sami guide told us some fascinating facts of there heritage and lifestyle. We also learnt that local wildlife consisted of reindeer, moose, and rental cars. So that’s what we have been while driving our slow and cautious drives every day 🙂
We returned home quite exhausted. And tomorrow we return to Paris. We only saw the Northern Lights in that one small window on the day we arrived. Right above our accommodation, as if organised by a welcoming committee. Some people we spoke to today, has also been here a few days, and never saw it. We consider ourselves excessively fortunate. Tromso has always been so good to us.
