February 13, 2020 – Bodo and Lofoten Islands

February 13, 2020 – Bodo, and Lofoten Islands
It was an interesting morning. We passed over the Arctic Circle at 7:48:14. I looked but didn’t see the line in the water . I, also, didn’t win the guess the crossing time contest. I was only 40 seconds too early.
At 10:30am, there was a Crossing the Arctic Circle ceremony. Every first-timer had ice water (with cubes) poured down their back by the captain. He would make sure to pull their collar so the water and ice went inside the clothing. After, they were each given a shot of whisky.
We landed in Bodo at 12:40pm and Peter took 16 of us on a walk to see the town. The sidewalks and streets were covered with ice. We were all slipping as we walked. We went to a mall where many of us were able to buy slip-on spikes to put over our shoes. For exercise, the 1 1/2 hour walk was good but the town was boring The walk back was so much easier with the spikes.
I had a Latte with Baileys to wake up in the afternoon. At 4pm, I attended a talk about what to expect during the next 2 days. They are saying we will have clearing and to expect to see the lights.
4 of us arranged through Vantage to do a Hurtigruten excursion – dinner with the Vikings. We left the ship at 7pm at Stamsund and will get back on by 10pm at Svolvaer. These are towns in the Lofoten archipelago.   The dinner and characters were corny but amusing. The dinner of leg of lamb, root vegetables, sour cream, lingonberry jam and rolls was delicious. At 9pm we boarded the bus to catch the ship at the next port.
At 10:15pm they had someone tell us a story about how Trollfjord came to exist. It was very funny. They sold a special hot rum drink in a souvenir cup.
At 10:30pm we were told that there had been some small Northern lights spotted to the North. Everyone ran out on the top deck. It was over before I got there. Hopefully tonight we will have more to see.