On the Hurtigruten July 31

OK - time to catch up. Our young girl guide from Honningsvåg on the tour bus to North Cape on July 30 had to provide information in Norwegian, English and German. She also speaks Polish and Finnish. Most of the guides were incredibly gifted in languages. Last night had whale meat for dinner.

On the 31st of July we arrived in Kirkenes on a 70 degree day. This is the turn around point for the Hurtigruten and most of our German traveling partners flew home. Normal high in summer is 58 F and normal winter high is about 28F but can get to 50 below in winter. Area of the town is bordered by Russia on the east and Finland on the south. The lilacs were just blooming on July 31! Took bus out to Russian Border. Only 150 miles to Murmansk, Russia. But if you want to visit Russia you wait about a month for the visa and pay several hundred dollars (a lot less if you are not American). The cold war is still on here as the Russians have about 10,000 troops guarding the border and the Norwegians about 500. The Norwegians have mined their bridges to stop the Russian invasion if it ever came. If you poke a toe over the border to say you have been to Russia, plan on paying a 1000 dollar fine. Kirkenes is about 1500 miles away from Oslo and 3000 miles from Rome. Latitude about 71 degrees north but it is as far east as Istanbul. Speaking of Istanbul, a Spokane Mountaineer named Paul rode his bike from North Cape to Istanbul a few years ago. I attended his slide show. Quite a ride! Kirkenes is the only town in Norway with street signs in both Western and Cyrillic script.

Since our German dinner companions left us at Kirkenes, they were replaced by 2 Aussie ladies who both own caravan parks on the beach near Sydney. They flew to Kirkenes to join the ship - 36 hours from Sydney via Saigon, Paris and Oslo. They will spend a week touring Sweden, Finland and Denmark on the way home and 10 days in Vietnam.