FUN-travel: Ny-Ålesund & Fjortende Julibreen, Svalbard – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 2
August 25, 2014 by Susan Clarke
Day 40 – Saturday, August 9 – Ny-Ålesund & Fjortende Julibreen, Svalbard – A&K Arctic Cruise Day 2 – full sun w/clouds in distance – high 40’s – 24 hours daylight
What I LIKE
- Brought my eye shades
- *8:30 – Jino makes really hot cappuccino
- 1st excursion – 9:30 – walk off ship in Ny-Ålesund
- – most northern town in the world
- – buy postcards to send to grandkids
- 10:15 – walking tour sights include:
- old railway engine
- Kingsfjordbutikken is the only store
- original 4 room house – 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room
- Amundsen monument
- air ship mast
- – zeppelin used to fly over North Pole 1926
- 11:30 – all aboard
- 11:45 – mandatory briefing on AECO (the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators) guidelines
- 12:30 – 2:00 – lunch – typical buffet w/salad bar – hot & cold meat, fish, veggies – breads & cheese selections
- 2nd excursion – 2:00 – zodiac to shore, wet landing
- – no dock, why you need waterproof boots & pants
- – to Fjortende Julibreen – translates 14th July Bay
- – named for National Day of France
- – walk on sandy/pebble beach shore
- – main attraction glacier 10 mi long
- – total area of about 75 miles
- 4:00 – return & happy hour
- Nap
- 7:00 – Captain’s Welcome Reception
- 8:00 – Dinner – steak, salmon carpaccio, etc, etc
- – nice table w/couple from Houston – Alice & Bill
- – & San Francisco mother/daughter – Brooke & Gabby
Fjortende Julibreen
Booked the least expensive room – on deck 3
– 200 sq ft & a balcony – close to everything
– all expeditions go from here
– where the main lounge is
Travel motto – you can’t wear an upgrade!
Fjortende Julibreen
- No satellite coverage – no internet
- – just enjoy being in present w/o distraction
- After 11 night night
What I DON’T LIKE
- 5:30 – wake up – too light
- 7:30 – cappuccino not hot
- – it is machine not real
Original House
FUN-fact – Svalbard means cold edge in Norwegian.
More FF – Longyearbyen is home to the world’s Global Seed Vault. There are 1400 gene banks from 100 countries. 6 million seed samples are housed in an underground vault cut into the mountain and each sample contains 500 seeds. The capacity is 4.5 million seed samples with a maximum of 2.25 billion seeds. They are housed here in the case of a catastrophic event like a nuclear war or world war that would destroy them.