Arena Travel and Rowan partner up....

We made it!  at the top of Fløyen, Bergen, Norway

When I first saw that Rowan and Arena Travel were putting together tours for knitters, well, of course I was interested!

(Arena are know for their tours based on specific interests - their catch phrase is "Passionate about your passions" - they offer Quilting Holidays, Elvis Holidays, Antique & Fine Art Tours, Heritage & Literary Tours, Official Queen Events (for Queen Fans), Connoisseur Chocolate tours, Bridge Holidays and Iron Maiden Fan weekends - so of course Knitting could only be next LOL!!!)

Knitting in Tuscany, Italy - lovely - some day perhaps.
Knitting in the Shetland Isles - sold out almost instantly - a 2nd tour is now being offered....in case you missed the first one

and Northern Lights Knitting Cruise in Norway - well, just the ticket - so I booked the Hubby and I and we packed up our cold weather wardrobe and off we went! (This link takes you to the page for the 2012 tour - already on the calendar and ready to book!)

Toronto - London to catch up with the Arena tour, then London - Stavanger - Bergen - where the tour stayed overnight in a lovely hotel right on the water (the clarion Hotel Admiral, Bergen) and started our first full vacation day with a coach tour of Bergen to show us the lie of the land.....and then we were free for the afternoon.

Alan and I decided that the Fløibanen Funicular was a must and it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel - so off we went!

View on our way up!

Higher still!

At the top!

We also wanted to wander through the Hanseatic wharf
-  we could see these buildings from our hotel room across the water.

Then it was back to the hotel to board the bus .... to catch the MS Nordnorge, one of the Hurtigruten Coastal Steamers that cruise the Norwegian coast all year round.

We were starting in Bergen working our way North to the Arctic Circle "Hunting the Light".