We had a full day in Kirkenes, the northern terminus of the coastal ferry line. At the North Cape, we were above tree line, but the coastline swings southward again after leaving the Cape, and in Kirkenes, seasonal color was everywhere.

Tree line was more than a little disconcerting for two Coloradans for whom tree line means "11,000 feet." Seeing bare rocks and tundra landscape at sea level seemed quite strange!

Our guide Trine is a Sami.

I related some of the information she provided in my entry last month when I discussed memories of times 60 years ago. She was very well prepared for our visit, and we all felt our day with her was one of the high spots of our trip. In addition to our brief stop at the area where Norwegian teachers were imprisoned, she also took us to an iron mine now standing idle, but which may be reopened. (Pictures from there were VERY unexciting, but the link above does include "Northern cloudscape" which I took that morning.) Russia was just across the river. Highway signs are in both Norwegian and Russian, and the local library has Russian as part of its welcoming signage. Not surprisingly, there are remnants of the time when the cold war border was monitored from this area and we visited an unused watchtower which is now a tourist stop and snack bar.

Trine then took us to her home. As you can see in the photos, she wore her traditional dress for us, and among other things, demonstrated her shoelaces! They are ingeniously designed to keep feet warm when walking in deep snow. She and her husband have a camp where they welcome tourists for overnight visits, and where they provide fun with these for company.

They have built a "longhouse" designed after Viking structures, complete with kitchen and firepit. We were served an elegant lunch of reindeer stew, two kinds of whole grain bread, coffee and dessert. Then we had a stroll through the woods, with the Russian border just in view between the trees, and time to visit with the sled dogs. As I said, the whole day was one of the high points of the whole week.

Then back to the hotel, where courtesy of the weak dollar, we had one glass of wine, and a bourbon and water for 24 bucks!

Travel can be so lightening! (Not enlightening!)

Since we had clear sunny skies that entire day, we all had been hoping to see the Northern Lights, but no such luck. The hotel staff seemed to be quite used to visitors from southern latitudes who pestered them with questions about the aurora, and quite willingly took requests for wakeup calls should they be visible. We woke in the morning after a full night's sleep, and came back home hoping for another chance.