Sightseeing in Tromso
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
6
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Tromsø,
Norway
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Today was our "free" day, or as the professors call it "alternative learning" day. I started out the day by sleeping in. I slept past my alarm, but managed to get up at 9:00am. I went to breakfast and had skim milk and museli. I think I will start looking for museli in the States when I get back.
After breakfast, we mobilized and headed into downtown Tromso. It was a gorgeous day - about 55 degrees F and bright and sunny. We were looking for souvenirs, a sporting goods shop, and a circular polarizer. This was our last full day in Tromso and we wouldn't have time to shop the next day. We went to several souvenir stores and two sporting good stores. We found souvenirs, but the sports shops were a bust. Madison wanted a travel wallet and I wanted a water bottle. The only water bottles I found were aluminum and about 60 NOK. We grabbed some lunch quickly at a delicatessen. I had a rather good panini for 68 NOK.
We met up with a couple more people and headed up to a lake above the city center. The plan was to hike around the lake and head north along some trails to the University of Tromso's Botanical Garden. It took about 15-20 minutes hiking uphill on the road to reach the trail head. We made our way along the lake and stopped a few times to take pictures. There was a little dock where we could see mallards and gulls easily.
After the lake we picked our way along some trails. Eventually we came across some playground equipment. The girls had a grand old time playing on a zip line and a weird teeter-totter thing. Navigating was difficult because we thought the scale on the map was off and inconsistent. There were trails everywhere and most were not on the map. After wondering if we were on the right track, we finally made it to a road.
We figured out where we were and made our way down to the botanical garden. The botanical garden was cool. There were a bunch of different flowers from all kinds of alpine and cool climates. There were also imported rocks that were used for landscaping. Instead of walking back (about 3 miles), we took the bus back to the city center for 24 NOK.
From there, we took another bus across the bridge to the base of Fjellhies mountain where there is a gondola to the top. The round trip bus fare from the city center and the gondola ride cost 110 NOK. The gondola was like one of the gondolas I've ridden in Whistler, the uncomfortable one without seats. Only it was older and they packed more people into it. Fortunately, the ride was only about 3 minutes long.
At the top we ate dinner at the cafe (128 NOK for spaghetti and meat sauce) and enjoyed the view of Tromso. After dinner we went out on the observation deck and took a bunch of pictures of the city. Then we went out back and wandered around the top of the mountain. There was an impressive valley and the summit that you could check out. Everyone was tired so we didn't stray far. People got cold and so we made our way back down the mountain and back to the hotel. I called it a day after that and hung out in the hotel lobby talking with the profs and random people from our group who wandered in.
