North Cape

Visiting the country of Norway during the two summer months when the sun never sets (yes, it literally is the land of the midnight sun) was a treat that had been on my bucket list for a very long time. Every year from May 21 to July 21 the sun does not bother sinking below the horizon and it’s worth staying up to see. [When it was time for bed my brain would only fall sleep after I covered my eyes with cloth. I thought maybe my eyelids were thinner than most but the local residents I spoke with all seemed to have some similar trick to help them get to sleep.) Lest you think that because the sun stays above the horizon for 24-hours a day that the weather, therefore, is warm, think again. Honningsvag, Norway, touted as the northern-most town on planet earth, is at Latitude N 71^o 10’ (similar to Latitude N 71^o of Point Barrow, Alaska). “Warm” here is about 45^o F. By way of reference 6^o C is about 43^o F. And even though the Gulf Stream flows by these Norwegian fjords, come fall and the temperature can easily fall to minus 15^o C. You do the math. I just know I’ll be glad to be back home by then.  The North Cape, most northern part of Europe and 1300 miles from the North Pole, is bleakly impressive.