The Internet has been quite intermittent on this cruise. This far north just about anything blocks the view to the satellite causing a service interruption. On the other hand, my Blackberry has had almost constant connection! I think I need to get me a GPRS card to go in my laptop computer the next time I’m out travelling in the world. The data connection speed on that card is probably better than over the satellite and I expect that the cost is less than $0.40 a minute! We’re never so far away from the shore that if there is cell phone service at the shore, there’s service here on the ship. That’s a good lesson learned that I’ll try to pass along to other people.

We’ve had another set of delightful days. After leaving HonningsvÃ¥g, we cruised south for a full day and a night and we’ve spent the day in Trondheim, Norway today. Our tour was a long bus ride up into the mountains, a walk through an old copper mine, a forty-minute train ride on a train that’s now part of a museum, and a bus ride back to the ship along the Trondheim Fjord. The copper mine played out about ten years ago after more than 300 years of mining copper ore. The mine played a significant role for Norway during World War II. Prior to the war, Germany was the main consumer of the copper ore from the mine and in early 1940 one of the first prizes Germany siezed in their conquest of Norway was the copper mine. The Allies were determined to stop the production, but the only way to do so was to put the train out of commission that transported the ore down to the ships docked in Trondheim at the end of the fjord. Because of the significant civilian population in Trondheim, bombing the harbor and the ships was ruled out. Initially sabateurs were sent in clandestinely to take out the railroad, which was successfully done in 1941 and again in 1942 when the rail line was repaired. After being repaired a second time the Allies were now within bombing range. The two sons of the man running the mine (who was considered to be a very cruel and harsh taskmaster), had fled Norway with the invasion and then trained with the Royal Brittish Airforce. They conducted two successful bombing raids taking out the rail line as well as all the locomotives. As they were flying back after the second raid, one of the sons was shot down and killed. As a result, Germany got very little copper ore out of this mine during the war.

The food on this ship is very good. Tonight was the Chef’s Surprise and consisted of specialties from the Holland America head chef. He’s pretty good! I’m sure I gained at least three pounds tonight. So, after dinner we went upstairs to the pool and hot tub. We had the area almost completely to ourselves. So the net gain is probably two pounds and fifteen ounces….