At the bottom of the page click on the YouTube link to see the photos.
We continued pressing north. Now there is no more darkness around us. Somewhere on the beautiful coast of Norway we crossed the invisible boundary of the Arctic Circle where the sun simple ceases to set. Round and round it circles, rising to its highest point in the southern sky during the middle hours of the day, dipping toward its angle at the northern horizon as midnight approaches.
As we came closer to Honningsvag – the world’s northernmost city – the bleak, spectacular tundra made theNevada High Desert
We got off the ship, transferred to a bus and drove to the northernmost piece of rock, the North Cape, about an hour from Honningsvag. I couldn’t get myself to believe that people in this remote archipelago live an organized human life. The Cape itself is a massive rock with a steep wall climbing over 1000 ft. from the Arctic Ocean itself. To my surprise, it has a host of facilities, including a tourist center, souvenir store, restaurant & bar, and a post office. The highlight is the wide-screen cinema. A spectacular 15-minute film took us on a journey to the “end of the world”, emphasizing the four seasons of the Cape, and told the people’s story and history with beautiful pictures and music.
I said a little prayer to all those in need of a prayer at the world’s northernmost chapel. I was told the St. Johannes Kapell (my father’s name) is a popular venue for weddings, providing you have a few fur coats and like the harsh, remote, fragile and inaccessible land, where reindeer and polar bears kiss each other good night.
On the way back, we stopped at a Sami Camp – the largest indigenous ethnic group in Northern Europe. Nobody knows exactly the numbers of the Sami population today; though the Norwegian government thinks there are at least 30,000, but there may be twice as many. We said our thanks and moved on. But that isn’t the end, because the Sami people seeded memories that will blossom for years to come.
Back in Honningsvag, we “chilled out” at the Artico Ice Bar, an igloo-style building made entirely of ice. The cold months of winter have been simulated in this indoor palace – including the temperature at just 23 F (minus 5 C). Thankfully the owners provided us with proper winter clothing before entering the bar, where everything is made of pure ice from the lakes of Lapland. We ordered a drink that was served in a shot glass made of ice. It had the same internal temperature as an Eskimo Pie.
The ICE BAR needs to be rebuilt every year. Why? I don’t know…something about the different types of ice, textures and formation……..I didn’t quite understand the lingo and frankly my dear……………. But I did understand that when the season ends in September, the bar closes, and the construction crew heads to the far north and everything starts all over again.
Returning to the pier, we savored the sights and smells of the bustling Saturday food market, where the locals didn’t bat an eyelid at the price of reindeer sausages and whale steaks. It’s a meager existence up here and the thought that in two months summer will be slipping away gives me the chills.
As the clock ticked over to midnight, the sun refused to surrender. Crowds gathered at the Lido deck, armed with all manner of cameras, to record this calmly surreal occasion. The Norwegians have a saying “Do not sleep away the Summer-night” and none of us is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4MfAEOsZ1k
Click on the above YouTube link to see the pictures.
As we came closer to Honningsvag – the world’s northernmost city – the bleak, spectacular tundra made the
We got off the ship, transferred to a bus and drove to the northernmost piece of rock, the North Cape, about an hour from Honningsvag. I couldn’t get myself to believe that people in this remote archipelago live an organized human life. The Cape itself is a massive rock with a steep wall climbing over 1000 ft. from the Arctic Ocean itself. To my surprise, it has a host of facilities, including a tourist center, souvenir store, restaurant & bar, and a post office. The highlight is the wide-screen cinema. A spectacular 15-minute film took us on a journey to the “end of the world”, emphasizing the four seasons of the Cape, and told the people’s story and history with beautiful pictures and music.
As the clock ticked over to midnight, the sun refused to surrender. Crowds gathered at the Lido deck, armed with all manner of cameras, to record this calmly surreal occasion. The Norwegians have a saying “Do not sleep away the Summer-night” and none of us is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4MfAEOsZ1k
Click on the above YouTube link to see the pictures.