A banana squashed into to a fresh baguette was my breakfast on the way to be picked up for my tour to the Russian border.
We drove to the terminal to pick up some people from the Havila, my cruise boat. As I waited watching the passengers disembark I thought, “Oh, no, they are all old. No-one is carrying a backpack.” Maybe old and a big wheelie bag means rich?
Then I remembered that I was now officially old even if I am carrying a backpack. That probably indicates that I am not rich.
Originally from France, the tour guide had been living in Kerkenes for 20 years. I learned that winter lasts 8 months and, interestingly, that the original town was all on the hills. The flat part was reclaimed from the sea mostly by the Germans during WW2 to enable their ships filled with soldiers, supplies, and machinery to dock.
The town was completely rebuilt after the war using shiploads of kitset houses from Sweden. Hence, the nicknames for the area is Ikea. All the houses are the same, but some have made alterations since, especially to the insulation as the original ones were not designed for winters above the Arctic Circle.
No additional houses have been ever been built in the town area, so any new builds are some distance out of the town. There is no infill housing here.
He gave us a good run down of the history, much of which I have forgotten already. It included Vikings but no Trolls. The indigenous people are the Sami and they own all the reindeer. They were originally nomadic people who followed the reindeer across the Arctic area in line with the seasons
But now that there are borders in place, they settle within a country, either Finksnd Norway or Russia. The reindeers knows not to cross the borders as the knowledge is passed down the generations. Maybe the young are told about Great Granny, who went across the border and was made into Reindeer Stroganoff, rather than Norwegian hamburgers.
Then we drove to the end of a gravel road to a border with Russia.
The two coloured poles mark the borders. They are only 4 metres apart at this point, so the No Man’s land is very narrow. Yesterday, 2 Germans took photos of each other standing on the Russian side and leaning on the Russian pole. Very quickly, the Norwegian police were there arresting them. They have a huge fine to pay and will probably be prevented from traveling to most countries from now on. Idiots.
We also went to the official border crossing to Russia, which is the only border open into Russia at this time because of the current war with Ukraine. Russians can come over to visit relatives for the day only.
Norwegians have been asked not to cross into Russia and apparently, they always do as they are told.
I was delivered to my boat about an hour before departure on my 6 day cruise through the fjords of Norway. Norway has the 2nd longest coastline in the world. 103,000km compared with New Zealand of 15,134km and Australia with 25,760km. Ten points if you know which country has the longest coastline.
I was feeling quite excited and pleased to see that the ocean was calm.
Last night I watched a few videos about cruise ship disasters, so I am well prepared in case anything untoward happens. I don’t like cold water, so I will let off my PLB and see if New Zealand will send me a helicopter, seeing as I have Frequent Flyer status.
Aha, it’s Canada. 🇨🇦