This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 Today, we visited Poolepynten, a headland at the eastern coast of the Prins Karls Forland in Spitsbergen, Svalbard. This mile long stretch of beach is part of the Forlandet National Park and is home to a group of walruses that use that area to rest. …
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 This morning dawned bright and sunny, with a temperature in the mid-40s! We entered the Kongsfjorden and are at Ny London, a mining operation that went bust in the early 20th Century. We are at 78 degrees, 55 minutes. As little as 15 years ago,…
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 By the next morning, the pack ice had thickened and we got a chance to see the ship’s icebreaker bow in action.  At 6:40 am, the Expedition Leader made an announcement that there was a polar bear off our starboard bow, about 150 yards out. …
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 We continued our northward sail during the night to the area of Woodfjorden and Liefdefjorden to visit a trapping cabin known as Texas Bar. In the morning, however, we were pretty heavily socked in with fog, causing a delay in going ashore. Texas Bar was…
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 Our first landing of the trip was at Gravneset that is rated as one of the most beautiful fjords in Svalbard. It is surrounded by tall mountains and glaciers. It’s also one of the largest burial grounds (over 130 graves) in Svalbard dating from the…
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 Today, we flew from Oslo to Longyearbyen. It is located at 78 degrees North — just 1316 kilometers from the North Pole, with a resident population of 2400 people from 53 different countries. It was nearly a three hour flight from Oslo to get here…
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 On our first evening in Norway, we started our swing of the fjord lands of West as we flew into Alesund, Norway. Despite the fact that July is typically one of the driest months in this area, it has been raining steadily for a couple…
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This is part of a series called Nordic Sojourn 2022 We are off again, on the last of our Covid-delayed trips. This time we are off to visit a subset of the Nordic countries — parts of Norway, Svalbard (an unincorporated part of Norway), Greenland, and Iceland. This trip will be all about planes, trains,…
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This is part of a series called Galápagos Islands and Macchu Picchu 2022 After Machu Picchu, we took a different route back to Cusco and ended up in the little town of Chinchero, the weaving center of Peru, at 12,500 feet!We stopped for a weaving demonstration at a textile co-op, where the local ladies showed…
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This is part of a series called Galápagos Islands and Macchu Picchu 2022 The day finally arrived for our trip to Machu Picchu. The only way to get to Machu Picchu is by train — or one of the many Inca Trails that lead to, or leave from the complex. There are no roads of…
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