This travel update is part seven of our two-week stay in Tromsø, Norway. It covers August 14 – 17. “Any text in quotes and Italics has been copied and pasted from some informational website like Wikipedia.”

August 14, 2023 – Monday: Not Too Much

We didn’t do too much today. It was drizzly and chilly day. We mostly stayed inside, watched Netflix and Patti prepared lunch. I’ve been watching “Vikings” and Patti has been watching “Norsemen” with me.

We also did some more travel planning for Norway, including adding things we want to do on our upcoming 11-day rental car adventure to the Lofoten Islands. We keep our travel to-do list in OneNote. Here’s what we have so far.

• Lofoten Islands
  • Narvik
    • Red Cross War Museum
    • Narvikfjellet cable car
    • Narvik Golfklubb
    • Hamsunsenteret
  • Stamsund
    • Lofotr Viking Museum
    • Galleri 2
    • Å, park in the car park and walk through the tunnel
    • Norsk Fiskeværsmuseum
    • Fofoten Tørfiskmuseum
    • Nusfjord, park on a hill at the entrance to the village
  • Svolvær
    • Buy Hiking Lofoten booklet from the tourist office
    • Svolværgeita Hike
    • Foto Galleri
    • Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter (Northern Norwegian Artists Center)
    • War Memorial Museum
    • Trollfjord Boat Trips
  • Finnsnes
    • Drive around Senja
    • Senjatrollet (The Senja Troll) — billed as the world’s largest Troll

August 15, 2023 – Tuesday: A Few More Souvenirs

We walked into town today and I bought a few souvenirs that I’ve been scoping out. I don’t buy much for myself, just one refrigerator magnet from each city we’ve stayed in, but I do sometimes buy trinkets for family and friends.

August 16, 2023 – Wednesday: Polaria Aquarium

If there’s an aquarium where we’re staying I usually like to go there, so today we went to the local aquarium in Tromsø which is called Polaria.

“Polaria is the world’s most northerly aquarium. It is located in Tromsø, in northern Norway. Rather than a mainly scientific aquarium such as the one in Bergen in the Norwegian midlands, Polaria, which opened in May 1998, is designed to be an educational experience, with particular emphasis on displays for children. Most of the displays focus on the northerly islands of Svalbard. There is a five-screen panoramic cinema, an “Arctic Walkway” area containing displays of polar exploration equipment, stuffed animals and simulated permafrost, many conventional aquaria displaying local marine life as well as open tanks and display tanks containing rock-shore animals, baby fish and other child-friendly exhibits. Its centerpiece is an open pool containing a group of bearded seals, Erignathus barbatus. These are trained and there are regular displays, as much to keep the animals active and healthy as for public entertainment. The seal enclosure has observation blisters set into its sides, so that visitors can look up at the animals from underneath, and a submerged walkway in a transparent tunnel across the bottom, allowing close access to the animals in their natural environment.”

Even though it’s mainly for children I still enjoyed it. The animals were all cold-water creatures from the local area like these sea anemones.

And this Red King Crab.

The main attraction is the seal feeding. There were two Bearded Seals and one Harbor Seal that we saw today. Here’s the Harbor Seal with a trainer.

And here’s one of the Bearded Seals. They do look like they have beards but actually those are whiskers that help them find food in dim lighting.

“The bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus), also called the square flipper seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words (eri and gnathos) that refer to its heavy jaw. The other part of its Linnaean name means bearded and refers to its most characteristic feature, the conspicuous and very abundant whiskers. When dry, these whiskers curl very elegantly, giving the bearded seal a “raffish” look.”

Another tank had some Halibut in it, they’re a cool-looking fish.

I’ve heard of a Deep Sea Anglerfish but I’ve never heard of this White-Bellied Angler Fish that’s found around the Barents Sea. It looks like it’s mostly head.

“As adults, anglerfish are predators with few natural enemies. They sit and wait on the sea bed luring the prey by using the first dorsal fin ray as a fishing pole. This fin ray has a filament of skin on the tip which is used as bait. All kinds of fish coming close enough to the large mouth are snatched by a rapid opening of the mouth creating suction. Even sea birds and otters have been found in anglerfish stomachs.”

One tank had a lot of Salmon in it, they’re a pretty fish.

One tank had young Dogfish in it. They hatch them from eggs that the adults lay in an adjacent aquarium.

After the aquarium we went next door to the Polstjerna Museum.

“The MS Polstjerna is Norway’s best-preserved sealing ship. The Polstjerna is owned by the Tromsø University Museum, and since 2004 it been exhibited in a dry dock in a conservation building near Polaria in Tromsø.”

The ship is in its own glass-sided building on a wharf and it was fun to see.

In the lower floor you can walk buy the hull and see the propeller and rudder.

Here’s Patti in the forecastle where most of the crew slept while at sea.

We learned a lot about sealing, which involved going out into the Arctic seas and ice and killing seals. It seemed like it was kind of a rough life, for the men and the seals.

After that we went back home.

August 17, 2023 – Thursday: Picking Up The Rental Car

We stayed home this morning, then after lunch took a bus to the airport to pick up the rental car we’ll be driving for the next 11 days. The guy at Europcar is quite a comedian and took his time explaining all the rules and giving us tips. Like the car takes gasoline, not diesel, but the gasoline nozzles here are green, unlike in the US where the diesel nozzles are green. So, I’ll be using the green gasoline nozzles. Patti asked him if he’s a descendent of Vikings and he proudly said that he is — in fact, he comes from the Icelandic Vikings.

After picking up the car, we drove it to the Tirpitz Memorial which was very close. Here I am with the memorial monument. It was constructed of steel salvaged from the ship, which was sunk just behind me out in the fjord.

“Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship, Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) “Tallboy” bombs scored two direct hits and a near miss which caused the ship to capsize rapidly.”

After that we drove out to nearby Kvaløya Island where we got a fjord selfie and a waterfall selfie.

After returning to the Airbnb, we did some prepacking for our trip tomorrow — we drive to Narvik, where we plan to spend two nights.