Friday, July 11, 2014

TOPPING OFF NORWAY - NORTH CAPE

Readers:  
To read the adventure in the order of the Day by Day Trip Report click HERE. To see all the photos for the day click HERE.

AS FAR NORTH IN EUROPE AS YOU CAN GO

Oh my, but this excursion was magnificent.  The North Cape is the furthest distance north you can go and still be in Europe (71 degrees 10 minutes north of the Equator). It has been said, "You are standing at the edge of the world. This is where the world ends."



At the gift shop (even the Top of the World has a gift shop!) we were able to post cards which will bear the postmark of Nordkapp (North Cape.)  We watched a brief film, beautifully done, which showed the promontory area thru all four seasons.  We are here during the Midnight Sun season which begins in May. The film -- almost an IMAX -- had fabulous shots of the Northern Lights, reindeer, flowers, snow, mountains, and snow plows.






We had a great lunch/picnic looking toward Russia/Finnland and out into the Barents Sea.



It has been so very warm...we cannot believe that we have to keep taking off layers of clothing...we are all getting a little tan. Our message from Birger is that Norway experienced 32 heat records today. Aelsund was 93 degrees today which was a record. 




5000 Reindeer dotted the barren landscape on the way to North Cape. We stopped and viewed a SAMI family with a closeup of their reindeer.


This was a most exciting day, the sun shining and clear blue skies, the fact that we are as far as we can go and that we have been here. 



TROTTING AROUND TRONSØ, THE PARIS OF THE NORTH

Inger suggested we do two things, and both ideas were excellent.  First we did some tromping around Tromso.  We got off the ship for a few hours to enjoy Tronsø which is the largest town in the High North and third largest in Norway. Lovely little fishing village with a beautiful white very modern church called The Arctic Church. We walked the village, made plans, did a little bit of shopping, more plans, had a coffee, enjoyed the sun, made more plans.

(Shopping inventory:  Becky bot yarn!  Inger got a great shirt!)






We end our trip on the Hurtigruten as we enter the Harbor toward Kirkenes in the High North Country. It was a terrific trip with special moments that we hope you could share with us. 
We stayed up until midnight to share the "Midnight Sun". 
Wait until the "rest of the story"!







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