Wonderful photos. Thank you Ken!!

Zayatsky Island in the White Sea:


The Cookery on the left and church on the right.


We had to walk through this boat from the tender to get to the dock.


Entrance to the church.


The guide was showing us the The Ancient Stone Labyrinths of Zayatsky Island. The labyrinth remains
one of the most mysterious symbols found on Earth – they are thousands of years old, it appeared at the same
point in history on all inhabited continents in the world.


The Ice House.


Leaving the island.

Murmansk, Russia:


Hugh Statue at thw WWII War Memorial.








The Port of Murmansk from the Memorial.


Linda, Sheila, & Chris - Taken by Nikon Ken.

The First Nuclear Icebreaker in the World:




The NS Lenin was launched in 1957 and was taken out of operation in November 1989.


Specifications:
Length: 148 m to 159 m (approximately 136 m at the waterline)
Beam: 30 m (28 m at the waterline)
Draft: approximately 11.08 m.
Height (keel to masthead): approximately 55 m
Displacement: 23,000 to 25,000 tons
Maximum speed: 18 to 22 knots
Cruising speed: approximately 18 to 20 knots
Crew: 138 to over 200
Passengers: approximately 100
Reactors: 2 OK-900A, 171 megawatt each
Propulsion: 3 propellers totalling approximately 75,000 hp
Maximum ice thickness: 2 to 2.8 m
Endurance: 7.5 months at sea, 4 years between refuelings




The Crew Mess.




Engine Room.




An officers cabin.

The Bridge.






Officers' Mess.

Honningsvag, Norway:


Pam & Jim in Honningsvag - Taken by Nikon Ken.

After two days in Russia we went to the North Cape. Having been there multiple times before we decided to stay on the ship and just walk the town.

Everyone that went enjoyed the tour. It was foggy at first but then cleared up. As always the scenery was wonderful on the trip from the ship to North Cape.

Then onto Kristiansund. We have only been here once before. A unique port with the area made up of islands with the ocean highway connecting all the islands. Kind of like the road to Key West. Plus two undersea tunnels one is quite long about 30 minutes. Interesting place. One of the group did not book until late and did not have tickets so we gave our tickets to them and walked into town. Last time we were here we did not see the main town as we did the tour.

It was a lovely Norwegian town with the locals with the blond haired children at every turn. There was a very unqiue modern church. Fairly close to the churh was a big park with different lakes and birds everywhere. A big white swan seemed very possesive of a statue of a boy at lakeside. There were a variety of birds, including ducks, peacocks and swans. It was a nice 2 hour walk and it was nice to just stroll and enjoy the afternoon. It was sunny and partly cloudy.

Tomorrow Geiranger and it promises to be a good sunny day, fingers crossed.

Ngaire, your description paints such a nice picture in my mind. It sounds like everyone is really enjoying this beautiful cruise.

I'm happy to report that Clay is doing an amazing job during your absence. A real chip off the block.

I'm just now catching up with this thread, and what a fascinating and relaxing trip. Ngaire, I love your posts. Ken, your pictures are stellar as always. Keep them coming. We are in HOT weather here in Dallas, Ngaire and Ken, so enjoy the cool!

What event did they have for the Gold, Platinum & Titanium event?

The Gold and above event was an exclusive musical performance by guest entertainer, guitarist Byron Johnston in the Constellation Theater. Unfortunately we were unable to attend, perhaps someone who did will come along and indicate how many attended and how the performance went.
So sad to be packing, the last 20 days flew by.

When we were leaving Murmansk, Barbara took this photo from the Compass Rose Restaurant of a Russian Submarine with her iphone. Its a little blurry, taken from the window.