Goldie Bear ventures into the Arctic Circle

It has been an exciting day for Goldie Bear. The boat we are on the MS Nordkapp crossed into the Arctic Circle at 7.58am this morning Norwegian time (that would have been just after tea time in NZ) and the crew on the boat put on a special celebration. Cromwell sits at 45 degrees South. Bodo where we visited today sits at 67 degrees North.

It is pretty cold this far North and there is snow on the mountains as we go through the fjords. You can see that we are in warm coats and hats. Goldies fur is keeping his head and ears warm, he has lost his polar fleece hat. Maybe we need to find him a special new hat to remember this adventure. Goldie met Mark at the celebration. He is a school custodian from Idaho in the United States of America. Custodian is what the Americans call their caretakers. Goldie thinks that Ray and Mark would get on really well.

The Arctic celebration included getting ice poured down your back by the Norse god of the sea Njord. It made us shiver!

Goldie got to meet the captain of the boat.

He also got to celebrate with Njord!

Trains, boats and Bergen

Goldie loved being in Oslo and exploring the city. Next it was time to take a train to Bergen. Norway's second largest city.

Bergen is very pretty with lots of little alleways and old buildings. The weather was pretty wet so Goldie stayed tucked up in Mrs Harrison's handbag but he did meet some characters - a polar bear (stuffed), rubber duckies and a troll!

He had a good look at the city before getting on the Hurtigruten boat MS Nordkapp that will take us to Svolvaer in the Lofoten Islands.

He is enjoying looking out the window on the boat and lazing on the comfy bed. He's off on a hike later today.

Goldie Bear in Scandinavia

Goldie Bear has been in London with Miss Jolly since the beginning of this year in her Year 4 class in London. He was ready for another adventure so I picked him up from Miss Jolly and he is joining me travelling in Norway and Finland.

He has had his first day in Norway today in the capital city Oslo. Beginning with a visit to the Palace to see if the king would let him come in and say hello. Nobody answered the door.

So he took a look around the palace grounds and visited the special sculpture garden designed by Norwegian school children to check out the sculptures.

Maybe we need to design a sculpture park for Goldfields.

Goldie’s off on another adventure

Goldie bear is off on more travels. He’s joined Mrs Harrison, her husband Craig and their son Joe on an epic trip to Tokyo in Japan. 

He’s staying in Shin-Ōkuba but has also visited Shinjuku, Akihabara, Asakusa and Sumida so far. The picture above shows him enjoying lunch at a sushi train restaurant in ‘Electric Town’ Akihabara.  Check out the pictures for his highlights so far. 

Exploring the alleyways in Shinjuku. 

Spotting Godzilla looking over a skyscraper in Shinjuku. 

Checking out the sumo museum in Asakusa. 

Taking in the view from the Tokyo sky tree in Sumida. 

Tokyo Sky Tree

Meeting the Tokyo 2020 Olympic mascot. 

Meeting Goku from Dragonball Z on the street. 

Visiting the Sensō-ji temple. 

It has been a busy few days and he’s looking forward to more adventures over the next week. 

Back home to Cromwell via Tokyo

Goldie’s adventure has come to an end and he is back home in Cromwell. He took a little side trip to Tokyo on his way. 

The picture shows him on the Narita Airport express train on his way to catch his flight home. 

Japan was a new and exciting experience for Goldie. Tokyo is a huge city full of big buildings, interesting alley ways and lots of people. 

One of the highlights was the fabulous food. 

Sitting on cushions on the floor to eat. 

Japanese breakfast. 

Machine for ordering breakfast. 

Lots of new flavours to try and new ways of eating - using chopsticks, sitting on the floor on cushions at the table and ordering food at crazy machines. 

Another highlight was the Samurai Museum in Shinjuku. The history of these ancient Japanese warriors is fascinating. 

We even had the chance to try on a helmet and mask and hold a samurai sword. The helmet was too big for Goldie so Jack tried it out instead. 

It has been a great adventure for Goldie but he’s glad to be home. He’s collected badges from many of the places he’s visited - he’ll bring them along to school with some other things from his trip to share with the children. 

An exciting visit to The Emirates Stadium for Goldie

Goldie is staying in Islington while he’s in London and in this part of the world football is the main sport and in Islington, Arsenal is the team. 

Goldie joined the Harrys on a game day tour of the Emirates Stadium - Home ground for Arsenal. 

He got to see behind the scenes to where the board members, diamond club members, media and players get to sit. He saw the ground and all the action as the club was setting up for tonight’s game. 

He even got to see the FA cup. 

Biggest surprise of the day - he was offered a Premier League contract to play for Arsenal!

Of course he turned it down - he knows he’s needed back in Cromwell.