North Cape

We have a long drive to North Cape. The bus is wheels up at 0730. We travel a good part of the trip in darkness. The drive hugs the coast along a massive fiord. At times only a few meters are between us and sheer cliffs and the fiord.

Even nearing 1100, a half-moon is visible as the sun begins to color the sky.

We stop at a gift shop which serves as the only restroom on the trip. We'll return to it tomorrow, it being the only facility in this area.

We pass through a 7km tunnel under the sea to get to Magerøya Island. The tunnel gets to a depth of 212meters or 696 feet under the sea. It has automatic anti-freezing doors at each end.

There is a 1000-foot climb to North Cape. What a great ski run the serpentine road would make. 

North Cape is the northernmost point in Europe accessible by car. It is located at 71 10' 21" North.

At North Cape there is a visitor center, monuments, a globe, and usually heavy winds.

Our group assembles for a Champagne (actually Prosecco) and caviar toast to reaching the northernmost point in Europe accessible by car.

Our Austrian tour guide, Herbert, making the toast.

It is 4pm when we load the bus. It is dark. If not for the reflective poles on the sides of the road, we wouldn't be able to make the descent. When the reflectors are hit by car lights the road looks like an airport runway.

While the group tours a local artist's gallery on the route to Honningsvåg, CJ walks the quaint seaside town.

Destination Norway

We begin our trip north to Inari without leaving the town. We make a quick stop at a small ski resort. It's just cruel taking CJ to ski lifts in the winter and not allowing him to ski.

We travel a few hours to Inari and the SIIDA museum. It's a well-designed small museum.

The museum traces the history of the Sami people and their culture.

Before departing Inari we stop at a souvenir shop. The sky is beginning to put on a show.

We pass reindeer in the road.

There is a beautiful sunset on the drive to Norway.

Cross border into Norway.

Our Scandic hotel in Karasjok is located 12km west of the Finnish border.

SUCCESS !!!!!!! WE'VE SEEN THEM !!!!!!!

At dinner Mike shows us pictures he's snapped of the northern lights walking to dinner. Why didn't we see them.

After dinner, we go in search of. Now we know not to look only for what we've seen in pictures. If you see what appears to be clouds with the naked eye, the camera may capture the Northern Lights.

SUCCESS !!!

Each roof is a separate cabin.

The yellow on the cabin is the glass roof.

These are our first sightings and pictures of the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis. For pictures of the Aurora, CJ's older iPhone takes better pictures than his highly touted newer Samsung. The fingernail moon has a corona.

These pictures were taken from inside of our cabin.