We docked at 6:30 am and the alarm went off at 7:00 am. I am so excited because I am receiving a special guest on board this morning.

When I walked the Camino Frances, I met 4 amazing mature Norwegians who were so kind and sweet to me. They told me of the wonderful hiking in Norway and I had hoped to travel to see it firsthand one day.

That was in 2017. I had tried emailing Vigdis, one of the ladies from the group but the messages were not responded to. I figured it went to her spam mailbox and didn’t think much more of it.

Fast forward to this week. Vigdis reached out to me through this blog. I was thrilled to read she still followed my adventures and learned she lives in Trondheim. We were able to sync her schedule with the boat schedule and at 8:00 am this morning she boarded the ship. I greeted her with a smile and a hug as she arrived up the gangway. She looked so vibrant and healthy. We grabbed a coffee and caught up.

Vigdis took a bus and then walked the icy roads to meet me. I can’t express how touched I was. ❤️

Vigdis is an impressive woman. She is a volunteer and greets pilgrims arriving in Trondheim after completing one of the 9 routes of the St. Olav Way, a pilgrimage similar to the Spanish Camino Frances. She is one of the founding members of the St. Olav Ways team and is now an editor for the magazine. A 77 year old rockstar!

We shared a cup of coffee and caught up on our lives and as quickly as she arrived, she was gone.I even had a Norwegian language lesson on how to pronounce Bodø. I won’t insult the language any further. lol

It was a short but sweet visit. Vigdis came with a book about the pilgrimage and a beautiful pilgrim card with the Irish Blessing for both Yordie and I. Very kind Vigdis! I am sending my best regards to Torbjørg, Håkon and Dragun who couldn’t make the early journey.

This is our last full day onboard the MS Nordnorge (pronounced nude-nor-ee-a).

This morning was the disembarkation meeting and some last day lectures. Did you want to learn about Norwegian Mythology and Legends, a lecture was available. If you were interested in salmon farming, there was an interactive segment outside on Deck 7 for that with samples. I opted for the mythology because I have eaten salmon every day. I was also hoping to learn more about trolls. A Canadian friend, Kim Czender recommended watching Trolls, a Norwegian subtitled movie before I left. It was a little predictable but it did pique my interest to learn more.

After doing some laundry and organizing my belongings for tomorrow’s departure, I rejoined Yordie, Astrid and Paul in the lounge and we had some more laughs. Bev and Nick from Brisbane came by, and we shared email addresses and Facebook profiles and blog links, etc. We have met so many nice people on this trip and I hope we can stay in touch. Each and everyone has made this trip special.

We just got received an announcement that we will be heading out to open sea and we are to expect a rough ride. Hang on to your ‘hatt’ (Norwegian for hat) people, it’s going to be a wild ride.