Travels thru Life: 6/3 --North Cape, the Northernmost Continental European Point

We started our day early to do laundry cheap on the ship before leaving tomorrow. We had a light breakfast, because our 'lunch' is brunch today since our landing time in Honningsvag encompasses the entire lunch hour. While I was finishing yesterday's blog entry (slow photo uploads stopped me last night), Jim noticed it was snowing! and tried to take pictures but I don't think the snow was visible. Fortunately, it stopped soon.

After brunch, we headed for our bus to take us to North Cape. Honnigsvag, where we docked, is on an island and doesn't qualify as Northernmost City, apparently. We saw reindeer several times but missed most of the photo opportunities. The road to the Cape inched upward past summer cabins and one big hotel complex, and a couple lakes. There are only ephemeral rivers for the snow melt on the island. North Cape is a popular biking destination despite the arduous trip -- you get free entry to the cape visitor center if you walk or bike in.

Snow fences to prevent avalanches in the town

Scandic hotel

Those little white things are reindeer.

We walked around outside before going back into the visitors center for a 15 minute panoramic film of the seasons here. There were other displays as well, highlighting famous visitors, including, surprisingly, King Chulalongkorn of Siam and 'Anna and the King of Siam' fame. We went back out afterwards to explore more of the area.

Looking due North, there is nothing there

The Thai king's signature was carved into a
stone and is reproduced here in the museum.

Stela of a Norwegian king's visit

In addition to the globe display at the tip of the cape, there is also an installation from 1987 called Children of the Earth, with a statue of a mother and child and seven reliefs designed by seven randomly chosen children from around the world. It is a foundation that annually awards a prize to an individual or a project which, over time, has demonstrated compassion and ability to help children that suffer somewhere in the world.

Look carefully: this is the end of their airport's runway

We also heard about our guide's frustrations with the visitors who flaunt the rules about not hunting whales, seals or reindeer. He is a native of Spain who moved north quite a while ago and only goes home once a year.

Back on the ship, there was a presentation about the Sami people (formerly called Laplanders) who were discriminated against and their culture suppressed until the 1980s. Children were taken from their home to be educated as Norwegians, forbidden to speak their native language, and only allowed to go home to their parents at Christmas. It soon became easier for them to never visit their parents. Unfortunately, many of these children and their offspring don't even realize they have Sami heritage. We will visit a Sami village in a couple days and it will be interesting to hear their version of this history.

Sami Flag

We also got instructions on how to prepare for our departure tomorrow morning, when we head to Finland. After we left port, we sailed into the Norwegian Sea, which meant sea swells that bothered me, so after we did our preliminary packing, I rested with a book. There was an announcement about spectacular landscapes, so Jim saved the day by going out to take pictures.

I was planning to crater as soon as I am done with the blog (back at sea after dinner...) when the ship announced a waving contest between us and another boat at 10pm. I guess we will participate, since we have to leave the big bags out about then and it seems iffy to do it when hundreds of people could be streaming past them by the elevators!