On to Norway

Since we crossed the Arctic Circle in Finland, we headed to the North Cape. North Cape (in Norwegian Nordkapp) is the farthest north you can drive anywhere in Europe, and we came here in search of the Midnight Sun. We arrived at the end of the road to find dozens of RVs and several buses, but the crowds weren’t oppressive, and our private Champaign and caviar reception was nice.

We got there around 11 and the sun was still high in the sky. We watched as it slowly descended toward the horizon, and kept our eyes on our watches at the same time. As midnight approached, we were apprehensive as some clouds began to gather, and the sun was not really very close to the horizon. Imagine our surprise that just after midnight the sun began to rise again – it never got anywhere near the horizon! The whole experience was just plain fun.

We set out for the western coast where all the fjords are clustered. But before the fjords we headed to Alta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the early 1970’s, rock carvings were discovered in several sites around Alta. Scientific dating methods have placed the oldest at nearly 4,200 BC. We got a chance to walk among several groupings of rock art that were quite impressive. My favorites had to be the big game hunters.

Also, it turns out that Alta is one of the three cities with concentrations of slate quarries producing nearly all the roofing and decorative slate both for Norway, but also for much of Europe. We visited one quarry and got a demonstration by an artisan of the age-old practice of hand splitting a foot-thick sheet of slate into a roofing tile thickness sheet. He split it flawlessly!

After the demonstration, he gave each of us a piece of what he had just split, and some traditional slate hand tools. Then each of us set out to create our own souvenir of our day at the quarry. We each carefully chipped away with the hand tools and grinding wheels to create our own slate coaster – what fun!

We learned that the real Vikings weren’t Norwegian. The original Vikings were actually Danes who raided and established settlements in Sweden and Norway to find new homes and supplies for their expanding populations. The Vikings then set our west, establishing settlements in Iceland and Greenland, and finally making their way to North America on the coast of what is now Newfoundland. We had actually visited L’Anse aux Meadows when we were there.

On our way to Trondheim Norway, we decided to pay a visit to Hell. Hell is a small town on Trondheim Fjord that has become a bit of a tourist attraction solely because of its name, not because of any particular amenities. At a population of just over 1,500, there’s not much to do. But at least I can now say honestly that I have been to Hell and back!

In Trondheim we were able to see some actual Viking long ships that were complete and fully functional. The reason for this is the Viking practice of burying wealthy kings in their ship. They would dig simply huge graves, bundle up the body and place it in the ship, and then bury the entire ship. Because of this practice, historians have been able to exhume completely functional Viking long boats, and several are on display. It was really cool to 3 complete ships that are well over 1,000 years old in just one museum. 

Talk to you soon.