Norway is beautiful. The cars and coaches drive on the compacted snow with only stakes alongside the road to guide them. It is incredibly expensive with a pint of local beer costing approx £7, the cheapest bottle of wine in a restaurant costing £32 and a macdonalds  'big mac' costing nearly £10!

Arctic Adventure to Alto Igloo Hotel, Coastal Cruise and Tromso

February 2005 - Our Arctic adventure began in Oslo, then we flew to Alta in Northern Norway and arrived at the Alta Igloo Hotel early afternoon. We went on a snowmobile safari to the Finnmark mountain plateau before dinner.

After dinner we marvelled at the Ice Hotel with its chapel, bar and many ice sculptures. We had a few vodkas at the bar and then went outside to view the Northern Lights before retiring to our ice bed.

In the morning we had a 3 hour coach trip to Hammerfest where we boarded the coastal cruise ship to arrive in Tromso just before midnight.

We stayed at the Clarion Hotel Bryggen in Tromso for 2 nights giving sufficient time for exploration. In the morning we had a guided tour of Polaria, an information centre with aquarium and exhibitions about the Polar region. In the afternoon we visited the Arctic Cathedral, went to a museum and saw the world's northernmost brewery, Mack.