Norway 13 August 2024

Laura dropped me at Manchester Airport with tears in my eyes. Again, I think Garry should have been here to see his daughter now  a 40 year old woman driving confidently around the busy motorways and cities of England.

Manchester airport is a bit tired looking and very crowded, but I made my way to my gate without any hitches.

I sat in the very last row of the plane with a handsome young man from Manchester  who was very eager to tell me all about his job as a marine engineer on a £200 million  Super Yacht, that is owned by  Mr Simony from Microsoft. Having completed his time on an oil wanker, he wanted something better. And he has definitely found it! The boat owner was 85 and married, so I decided not to ask if there were any jobs going.

Two flights, first to Oslo the capital of  Norway for a quick change, then 3 hours to Kirkenes which is right at the top of Norway, close to the Russian border.

The bus station was at the door: $24 for a 40-minute ride into Kirkenes.  15°C

They drive on the other side of the road which I hadn’t expected. Note to self: look again before crossing.

Hostel is a bit tired too, but  I have an ensuite  room to myself and clean sheets, so nothing to be concerned about. It is called the Barents Breakfast hotell on the websitev but there is no breakfast.

I was hungry as I had had no food since my cucumber and fried potatoes breakfast with Laura and a banana and an apple at Oslo airport, which cost $3.20.

9.30pm, still daylight, so I dropped my bag and went for a wander. Nothing open except posh hotel, so I spent about $45 on a very nice reindeer hamburger and chips.

Went back to my room and did of bit of research about this area.

Another note to self:  All the major predators can be found here, and luckily, I didn’t become their dinner as I went searching for my dinner.  There are about 20 known brown bears in the area, and  Kirkenes is also the home of Wolverine and Lynx. Wolves are observed on rare occasions, but these are only stray animals coming from Russia.

Being in the Arctic Circle this area is covered with deep snow for most of the year, but the sun was out as it is mid summer and 24°. There is a Snow Hotel here which I didn’t visit.

On the next  day I visited the Museum and found out that Germany invaded Norway in April 1940 and had a huge military build-up in this town ready for its campaign against the Soviet Union. This upset the Russians so Kirkenes became the  2nd most bombed place in the war. 3,000 locals lived in a large underground bunker under their mountain. 10 babies were born underground , and 3 people died. 

Most of the buildings in the town were ruined, and the Germans set up awful prisoners of war camps in the area.

Looking at the buildings here now, I don’t think they had a lot of money to rebuild.  I noticed that the buildings are very  plain and functional compared to the UK, which is full of  very ornate buildings.  Maybe they won’t want snow piling up on their gargoyles. I was reminded of Lhasa in Tibet.

Apparently people are not permitted to enter Norway on foot. They thought this rule would keep out the rif Raf backpackers (like me) and any refugees. So, a 🚲  company set up on the Russian side  selling cheap bikes with no gears or brakes. Thousands of Syrian refugees have cycled across into Norway and more recently 33,000 from Ukraine. Their bikes end up in the tip as they need to have brakes to be ridden here.

The earlier history of Norway is all about fighting and squabbling over land. The Vikings and came from Norway. Iron Ore and oil have provided wealth.

I had a whole day wandering around but saw very few people, the place seems deserted, sad and lonely. I booked a bus tour for the morning to go to the Russian border. Russia is at war with Ukraine but there hasn’t been any action this far up north. I will be on my best behavior  .