Day 8 - Tromso, Norway

This was Ruth and Eric's last day of the trip! So sad! After a quick breakfast in a little shop we split up for a couple hours while they went shopping and we went on a cable car. The view of Tromsø was beautiful and cold and of course the cable car was very exciting for William.

Once back downtown we met up with Ruth and Eric again and stopped for lunch. We failed to get a photo or the name of the sandwich shop, but it was so good! I had another sandwich that I think of often -- Italian salami with olives, onions and tomatoes on one of the best wheat baguettes I've ever had. After lunch, a stop at the Polar Museum was in order, partly in homage to my dad who loves anything and everything to do with the Poles and Polar expeditions. It was quite interesting to learn more about the crazy lengths that these explorers went to to reach the North and South Poles! Brrr!

We also managed to cram in a visit to the Polaria Museum which mostly had exhibits on different animals living in the Arctic. It was slightly interesting but we probably could have skipped it altogether.

Unfortunately, it was then time for Ruth and Eric to catch their flight back to Oslo and then back to LA. We were so sad to see them go!

After we said our goodbyes and had relaxed at the apartment for awhile, I decided to venture out on my own. I wanted to find William a new little blanket to replace his fox blanket that had met an untimely end during our run to the train station in Bergen a few days prior. John gave me his wallet with the credit cards and his ID and I headed for the mall that was just a couple of blocks away. I was having a fantastic time walking the streets in the cold with the lights shining in the store windows and lots of people out shopping and walking around. I stopped by a few stores in the mall before finding the blanket and buying it. As I was leaving the store I put John's wallet in my pants pocket rather than my coat pocket, specifically thinking about the possibility of being pick-pocketed. I left the mall and then walked about 1/2 a mile to pick up some dinner to take back to the apartment. However, when I went to pay for our food I realized that the wallet was gone!