We had a late breakfast today, but we were not the only ones - probably everyone is still feeling the late night from yesterday. Because we actually visited the narrow Trollfjord, that was an experience! You can read about it in the report for Day 5, as promised, I added a few sentences there ;-).
At a quarter to 10, our expedition team made another announcement: All hands on deck 7, Neptune, the God of the Oceans, will pay us a visit. I must say, they always come up with something new to keep us entertained!
The deck was already crowded when we arrived, our captain was also present. We had to shout "NEPTUNE!!!" loudly and then he appeared: The God of the Oceans. You can't see it very well here, but those who wanted to - or were too slow to run away - were obliged to participate in the Polar Circle Baptism. That meant: A large scoop of ice cubes in the neck and a large scoop of ice water over the head! Dad and I quickly found safety, but there were plenty who joined in. To the great delight of all onlookers, there was laughter and squealing everywhere on deck!
And when we came back to our cabin afterwards, surprise, surprise, there was actually a certificate for all passengers for successfully crossing the Polar Circle:
LOTS OF FUN: OFF TO THE HUSKIES!
We arrived in Tromsø at 14:30, the 'Paris of the North'. That's what the city is called because it has a rich cultural life, especially the famous Arctic Cathedral with its Midnight Concerts. Here you can see it small and white in the back right of the picture:
But what was more exciting for us than Tromsø was the Husky Farm, which is about 30 minutes outside the city. And that's where our small bus took us, along with about 15 other passengers.We were welcomed with loud noise, because over 300 dogs live here! Not just the typical gray huskies with blue eyes, but rather the Alaskan huskies. That's what they're called when they are crossed between several breeds, for example with herding dogs or greyhounds. They may not look as "fancy" as the huskies we're familiar with, but they are better suited for the hard work in winter - more enduring, faster, stronger, and importantly, very friendly towards humans. We could test that right away: After a brief introduction at the dog sled, we were allowed to run through the endless rows of dog houses and say hello to the friendly huskies. They were very happy about the cuddles... ...and they were really cuddly ;-): The farm was founded in the 90s by a Norwegian woman and is still a family business with now 40 employees. The founder passionately participates in major sled dog races and is very successful. Every time she is away from home for such a race, she calls it "Housewive Holidays" ;-). Her biggest success was her participation in the world's most significant sled dog race in Alaska in 2006. Despite an eye injury she sustained a few days before during training (she couldn't see anything in one eye temporarily), and despite the fact that her main lead dog injured its paw before the start, she participated. And she finished as newcomer No. 28 out of more than 80 participants. All of her employees on the farm were incredibly proud of her! We learned all of this from a 15-minute film. Before that, we got to visit the 8-week-old baby huskies in their enclosure: But they weren't interested in us because they were hungry and their mother didn't show any signs of starting to feed them. I would be in a bad mood too!The babies stay together with their mother in a separate enclosure for the first few months, so that she can teach them and they can slowly get used to humans. When they are six months old, they get their own hut with one of their siblings. And depending on their talents - apparently, the farm's founder quickly recognizes which dog is a 'racer' and who is more of a Winter sled puller, etc. - they are then used as working dogs. When they are about 10-12 years old and too old to work, they get to choose which of the 40 employees they would like to live with and retire. In the sled dog teams, the front two dogs in the front row are usually female dogs - they have to understand what "Left" and "Right" means and then run in the right direction. The second row are the fun ones, they jump and bounce all the time and motivate the rest to run fast. And in the last row are the experienced, strong dogs who do most of the work pulling the sled. As you can see, today we not only cuddled dogs, but also learned a lot of new things! As a reward, we had self-made chocolate cake in the traditional Sami tent: Now we are back on board and continue our journey north. By the way, today the weather was unpleasant for the first time with rain, but a fellow passenger read us the weather forecast, and it said that tomorrow there will be a more pleasant mix of sun and clouds. And tomorrow: We are heading to the North Cape, the "northernmost reachable point on earth".
