The vessel was scheduled to arrive in Tromsø shortly before midnight. We had to check out of our cabin around 8 pm so that housekeeping could have the chance to clean the cabin for the next guests. Mom and I stood outside as it didn’t get dark, taking in the views while approaching Tromsø. With approx. 79,000 inhabitants, this is a significant city and is also known as the gateway to the Arctic. Over the last 10 years the population has increased by about 10%. It is a bustling city with a good university (The Arctic University of Norway) and a fascinating cultural scene. Furthermore, it is the Northern Lights capital of the world, which attracts especially Asian tourists. The number of flights arriving from international airports has doubled to 20 a week since 2018. Obviously, we would have to return at a different time of the year to experience the Northern Lights. Now, getting off the vessel at midnight and slugging our luggage to our hotel, it was still bright daylight; however, we could tell a slight difference in the brightness compared to places further north. When the sun is not setting, people also change their daily rhythm. So, the streets of Tromsø were far from being empty. But we checked into our hotel and tried to get some sleep as we wanted to make the most of the next day, which would be our only full day in the city before flying back to Germany.
A bit to our dislike, when we woke up the following day, it was all grey and rainy. But this is what you get when traveling to the Far North. We put on our raincoats and crossed the colossal harbor bridge towards the famous Arctic Cathedral. Hurtigruten offers trips to join a concert in this cathedral for their passengers. However, we went by ourselves, and I have to admit that it was almost a little disappointing. But we should have known that northern cathedrals are relatively unadorned. So, we ticked the visit off our list and crossed back to the city center. We were looking for something to do inside as it was still raining. So, we came across the Polarmuseet/Polar Museum.
That was one fantastic highlight of the trip! The Polar Museum was a treasure chest of explorer history, artifacts from past times living above the Arctic Circle, and abundant thrilling information about this region. A red wooden traditional seabridge house hosts the Polar Museum, and the low ceilings of the exhibition rooms add a cozy atmosphere to it. We spent a lot of time wandering through the many different rooms, learning a lot about the polar expeditions led by Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, and to my immense excitement, one room was dedicated to strong women in early polar research.
Unfortunately, some people complained massively about the brutal hunting and catching techniques people used back in the day with the museum staff. Before we left, I gifted myself a huge poster with the image of a classic map of the Northern Artic region. This one is now framed and has a prominent place in my apartment in Auckland, almost as far away from the Arctic as possible.
Well, this trip up North was another amazing one! Planned out as a trip to enjoy some Arctic nature and get some calm time to talk, read, and sleep, it turned into so much more. It was a trip to the depths of my identity, to family history as an example of collective history, and all connected to contemporary geopolitics on a bigger scale. But also, I once more experienced that what looks evident in the bigger picture is much more complex the closer you get. Returning to Germany left me yearning to explore more of the Finmark and stay longer above the Arctic Circle, and it also left me more exhausted than anticipated. This is precisely how I define a good journey: it is challenging, exhausting, educational, and nudging, leaving you with more questions than before setting off. But also some places resonate with me more than others. Except for Ladakh in Northern India, Northern Norway seems to be another of these places I resonate with the most. It was the wild nature, the people, the culture, the weather, history, and overall personal connections that I started to make.
