NORWAY 2019 - Part 8: Final destination Kirkenes

My ship reaches Kirkenes at 9:00 in the morning. I am now about 2600 kilometers away from Vienna as the crow flies, and the thermometer shows four degrees above zero. It will reach seven degrees later in the day.

The steelworks here at the end of the world fascinates me. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out if it is still in operation. Only a starving and slightly overgrown railway track from the steelworks to a nearby iron mine caught my attention during the 25-minute bus ride from Kirkenes to the airport. Just like the Cyrillic addresses next to the local Norwegian on supermarkets and shops here in Kirkenes. After all, the Russian border is only a few kilometers away from Kirkenes, and they are probably happy to welcome affluent customers from there as well.

I have to wait ten hours for my flight to Oslo, so I decide to go for a several-hour hike through the almost treeless landscape that reaches to the tundra. A hill with a somewhat peculiar-looking structure seems to be a suitable hiking destination, but soon I realize, as I reach a barrier, that this is a military training ground and a restricted area. No wonder! For decades, NATO and the then socialist Soviet Empire were armed to the teeth in a face-off at the end of the world during the Cold War. There is no one to be seen in this wilderness. However, I still don't have the courage to jump over the barrier.

I have now chosen a plateau in the distance as a new destination. A destination that will have paid off really well, to use the future perfect tense for once. Because unexpectedly, I pass by a village inhabited by the Sami people during my hike. Many times before, during my 26 years as a teacher, I told the children in first grade about the Sami people in geography lessons. And now I am standing there, seeing what I have already told them about so many times in real life...

The Sami people live off fishing and reindeer herding, and I actually come across small herds of reindeer at some distance, which I bring closer using the zoom of my camera. The view from the chosen plateau, now surrounded by gentler hills, makes my heart skip a beat once again.

Hours at the airport pass by quickly with drinking coffee, eating, pondering, and reflecting on the beautiful trip. Around 23:30, I finally enter my wonderfully comfortable hotel room in Oslo... and after the days above the Arctic Circle, I once again enjoy a real night with the undoubtedly accompanying darkness.