Tromso, Norway

Stop #12 from Aug 26 - 29, 2000
Our Travel Experience - Photo Album - Ratings - Tourist Info

Our Travel Experience

We wanted to go to Tromso since we'd seen Tromso on TV and thought that visiting "The Paris of the North" would be a good BTDT tick mark! Tromso was one of Michael Palin's stops when he traveled From Pole to Pole. Tromso was also featured on a Lonely Planet travel show we saw before leaving Japan. Little did we suspect that there were BTDT tick marks that would lure us further North to the Cape.

The Northernmost train line in Norway stops at Narvik. Therefore, we spent 4.5 hours on a bus before reaching Tromso. We arrived at nearly 7pm, so Tara had planned ahead and reserved a room for us. We didn't know much about the Bed and Breakfast we would be staying in. Tara found its name and number in a book at the bookstore in Narvik. So when another traveler on the bus asked if there were more rooms free, we didn't know. His room was more expensive than ours, so he asked if he could come along with us and ask about a second room. That's how the two of us (big, out-of-shape Americans) came to be trudging up hill after hill, huffing and puffing - while our new friend, a Swiss student, charged up the hills keeping up the conversation as we gasped for air. Tromso is very hilly. Our Bed and Breakfast turned out to be at the top of a hill along the lake. It was actually a one-room Bed and Breakfast, so our friend couldn't stay there. We walked back with him to the place he had originally reserved and then enjoyed dinner together at the Chinese restaurant in town. It is fun to meet others who are traveling! He had been cycling through Scotland before coming to Norway and would be returning to Switzerland in a few weeks to start a job with a hospital since he'd just graduated University.

We figure that we aren't your typical University backpackers and our plans vs. his plans proved this. In Scotland, he was the one riding his bike for days. We were the ones in the car passing people on bikes and discussing how unpleasant biking looked. He was the one spending one night in Tromso and then one night in Arra since the bus from Narvik to North Cape required three days on a bus! We were the ones blowing out our budget and taking the Hurtigruten to the North Cape!

Our B & B in Tromso was unique and we liked it.

-- not yet finished (11 September 2000)

- breakfast made up for us. we helped ourself anytime we liked
- the big map of Northern Norway in the kitchen
- the comfortable convertible sofa
- the three students living on the 1st floor with us
- Polaria visit
- Sitting on the park bench looking down on the city discussing why we like to travel
FOOD: Chinese, Indian and Mexican
- The latenight upstairs at Raymond's when we registered his B & B on many search engines.

Photo Album
 
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All the photos we took on our digital camera (in a very rough format).

Category Rating Comments
Overall Experience 7  
Ease of Journey 4
Accommodation  7
Activities 6
Coolness 8
Tourist Info
Tromso