We have crossed the Arctic Circle heading south

Good morning! A little less than an hour ago, we crossed the Arctic Circle heading south. We had been north of it since leaving Helsinki. Amazing! We have learned that the north is warmer than Alaska and Siberia because of the Gulf Stream and the North Sea. That is not to say that these are warm areas - it feels like winter here now. It rained much of yesterday but happily that did not change the beauty of the scenery; in fact it made the fact of where we were more real. Yesterday we saw what is supposed to be the most beautiful of the passages we'll see on the ship - Trollfjord. The ship went into an unbelievably narrow canal and did a 180 turn in place. There were steep high sides of rock all around, with waterfalls tumbling down. We tried to take pictures but the overall effect was impossible to capture. If you have a chance, goggle it or look it up some other way and check out what we saw.

A couple of days ago, I found out that my mom has passed away. We expected that would happen while we were gone and made all the preparations that we could before we left. My sister has been there to begin taking care of details but we will be returning to Seattle on September 15 for the service etc. We will fly back to Paris on the 21st. Thank you for the kind thoughts and prayers that I know you will send our way.

I'll write more in a couple of days from Bergen. Between now and then we will see our friends Laurie and Gary Axling in Trondheim! What fun to have that to look forward to! Au revoir!