Some days you just stumble onto fun. We are walking to the polar museum, but run across a house that says restaurant and museum. So, of course, in we go. There are no people. None. A self pay machine let us in. The building has been a warehouse on the dock. It houses a fun collection of Sami cultural artifacts, fishing artifacts, tools, and films about the Northern lights. Nothing flashy, just lots of interesting objects up close and personal. There are only six people in the place, none of us work here.

I am trying to imagine a scenario where a museum in the U.S. would trust you to let yourself in and behave yourself among the artifacts. We take our time and enjoy the collections.

A few doors down, the polar exploration museum is crowded with tour buses. Yuck! I hate crowds and tour bus crowds aren’t always the most pleasant tourists. So we keep walking across the bridge where other tour bus tourists are paying $100 plus apiece to don a wet suit and float in the bay for 20 minutes. Seems like a strange way to spend your money, but nobody asks me. I happily keep my opinion to myself. If they are happy, then money well spent. We wander around the harbor and take a walk on an icy and windy causeway. This is only happening because I feel confident in my new ice crampons.

Eventually we head back to the polar museum. It is still busy, the the three big buses are gone. Inside, artifacts from many polar expeditions including the Fram (an early expedition to the North Pole with connections to Tromso) are on display. There are recreations of cabins, stuffed animals, and numerous artifacts from life at the arctic. The small museum seems a little crowded for the number of people, but the exhibits are interesting. I try not to be bothered by the five, seven foot tall dudes who keep surrounding me as I try to read the interpretive signs.

After the harrowing tales of adventure, we are hungry. We are not yet ready for a full meal so we find a shop with cake and coffee. It is full of locals enjoying their weekend. The best kind of place, tucked away from tourists, a hidden gem.

The northern lights cake with a caramel center certainly make my Saturday. But it is weird that I have to ask for a computer chip tag to take downstairs to the mall bathroom. I place the chip on a monitor, and wait for the access code. Norway is very protective of their toilets. At least I didn’t have to use a credit card to use this one.

Refreshed, the next crazy adventure involves a lot of trolls. We wander into the Troll museum attraction on a lark. The ticket seller sounds Irish, so I ask what county he is from. He says,Carlow. I say “we rented a house in Rathvilly not to long ago.” He says “my Dad is from there!” I say, “it was beautiful. We love it there, a perfect place to hike.” He says “thanks for giving me perspective. Maybe it isn’t a fecking shitehole after all.” That is when I know he really is from county Carlow. The Irish always make me smile.

The Troll museum is fun and interactive. It highlights the Norwegian tales of trolls. Water trolls, stone figures, sirens, and mountain trolls abound. It is cheesy, corny, and all the other adjectives you can think up. Yet we kill an hour having fun and playing like children. We move sand to create a troll habitat, become trolls through the magic of virtual reality and take photos with trolls.

Eventually we have to eat a real meal and opt for Chinese. The restaurant is beautiful and the food is spicy and fresh. Anywhere in the world, we can always count on pizza, Chinese, and an Irish pub.

What you can’t usually find everywhere is an ice bar. We pay to enter and Magic Ice Tromso gives us a heavy arctic overcoat for the -4 c experience. The rooms are all made of carved blocks of ice. Music makes us dance. My husband isn’t usually much of a dancer, but he needs to stay warm. Even the welcome drink is in a glass made of ice. Reindeer hides allow us to sit on blocks of ice or even an ice throne. It made for strange but luxurious comfort. We couldn’t stay long, but it was unexpected fun. When in the arctic, always say yes to an icy adventure. Which is why we reluctantly leave the ice bar and head to meet the guide we hired to help us find the Northern lights.