The Artic Circle - 11 to 19 Jan 2018

The Artic Circle is the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude. It marks the northernmost point at which the noon sun is just visible on the December solstice and the southernmost point at which the midnight sun is just visible on the June solstice. Because of this definition, the position of the Artic Circle is not fixed and it's latitude depends on the Earth's axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2 deg over a 40,000-year period due to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the Moon. Currently the Arctic Circle is drifting norhtwards at a speed of about 15 meters per year. (All information courtesy of Google.)

Auroras, Northern Lights or Polar Lights, is a natural light display in the Earth's sky, mainly seen in the high altitude regions - around the Artic and Antarctic. The Lights are emitted by the atmospheric components when they are "excited" or ionized by both the solar winds and magnetospheric plasma - in form of protons and electrons - when they get into the upper atmosphere and their energy is dissipated due to the Earth's magnetic field. (Courtesy of Google).

With this introduction, it sets in context reason why we traveled to the Artic Circle in the harshest wintry time of year.....we wanted the experience of chasing the Northern Lights, and if we are fortunate enough to take some photos of this natural phenomenon. We were indeed lucky. See the following photos...

The contrast between the house lights on the right corner and the Northern Lights blazing the skyline on this frozen lake in Lousto.

Ethan preparing for his shot! This was over 2 hours in this deep freeze.

To be honest, I think we all tried very hard to "capture" the Aurora. The plan was for us to travel Rovaniemi for one night, Luosto in Northern Finland for another two nights, then onto Kirkenes for another two nights. From Kirkenes we boarded the Norwegian Hurtigruten fjord cruise (about 36 hours) from Kirkenes to Tromso....all in hope of catching a glimpse of the elusive Aurora!

Ethan has another good shot at the Northern Lights about 11.15pm on board the Hurtigruten cruise just before we docked at Tromso....

The Northern Lights captured on our last night on the "Richard With". The shore lights from the houses complete the beautiful picture.

Pat took this photo from the cruise ship's level 7 Panaromic Lounge, through the glass windows. This was done with "Northern Lights" app on her iPhone.

Unlike in a ship, in the open lake at Lousto, we had to take shelter from the minus-15 deg chill, at a nearby hut with hot fire.

Its now obvious why Rudolf has a red nose. Its freezing cold!

It was a real "bonus" for us to have two good photo opportunities, and one bonus shot through the ship's window, of the Northern Lights, on this trip.

Our full Artic travel itinerary is best summed up below --

Our Artic Circle travel itinerary

When we landed at Helsinki, we quickly transferred to a domestic flight for Rovaniemi. From Rovaneimi to Lousto and then Kirkenes is by coach (most comfortable), and by Hurtigruten cruise from Kirkenes to Tromso. We flew from Tromso to Oslo (about 1,600-km) and from Oslo to Helsinki (about 1,000-km).

Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland, Finland

Rovaniemi is a.k.a. Home of Santa Claus! It has the Artic Circle passing through the town. This is also the heart of the Finnish Lapland and the home of the Sami people. The Sami or Saami people or the Lapps or Laplanders, are a Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sapmi, which today encompases large parts of Norway and Sweden, northern parts of Finland, and the Murmansk Oblast of Russia. (Courtesy of Google). They are mainly involved in sea fishing and reindeer herds management.

The Sami are an indigenous Nordic people. Today many of the touristy stuff we do have locals dressed up in traditional Sami costumes (who may be Sami themselves), to give us an unmistakable taste of Artic adventure!

Santa Claus village is an amusement park founded in 1985. It is located about 8-km northeast of Rovaniemi city, and 2-km from its airport.

Larger-than-life snowman

Artic Circle marker.

Santa Claus Post Office. Warning: Mail posted today will get to us by Dec 2018!

Santa and his L.G.E. elves.

It is as cold as it looks!

The shopping mall street and Christmas tree in Rovaniemi

Our Santa hotel in Rovaniemi

Husky rides in Rovamieni

Our husky sleigh drivers.

Setting up the teams

The husky teams are tied to a tree to prevent them from running off. Each dog can pulled more than 60-kg, and so its a very powerful team with 5 dogs.

Pat and Ethan.....with their husky crew

The two "muscle" huskies at the rear

Pat's middle dog - the "accelerator" in the Husky pack.

Pat's front dogs

The passenger has taken a stroll to pet the husky team.

The pack leader barking orders to his team!

The pack leader is on the left

Take me home!

Hugo the Husky sleigh driver.

Tired crew taking a break on the snow

Our Husky safari instructor

Husky enclosure

This was ambulance taking injured staff to hospital. He tried to stop a runaway sleigh (whose driver fell backwards) with his snowmobile, and hurt his ribs against a tree.

Rauna Zoo, Rovaniemi

The resident Lynx lured out with food. No cat food here, only fresh meat preferably on bone!

Resident owls - illusive to spot.

Its built like an American bison, but this is a goat.

Snow Hotel, off Rovaniemi

The snow hotel is made entirely of ice cut from a nearby lake. This hotel was not "completed" till late December, or less than a month ago..

Snow bar sans the drinks

The ice bed is covered with reindeer skin for comfort.

Master bedroom

Ice sculptures inside the rooms

The Snow Hotel's chapel

Luosto, Finnish Lapland, Finland

We visited the Jaakkola Reindeer Farm in Lousto. At the end of the ride, we are "granted" a reindeer driving licence, valid "to drive reindeer sleighs not only in the snowy forests in Lapland, but also in his/her own country." Obviously, there are no reindeers nor that much snow from where many of us come from.

Pat and Hugo had the "boss" reindeer. Handsome fellow!

Ethan and CK's reindeer stopping to snack on his lichen

Feeding lichen to the reindeer

Our coach parked next to Santa's Hotel in Lousto.

A iceman in the making.

Our igloo from the outside

A shapely mannequin in the window of the igloo.

Luxurious interior of our igloo.

Ethan stepping out of his igloo

Pat kissing the fox outside our lunch restaurant of same name.

Kick sledging - local pedestrian commute in Inari.

Our road from Luosto in Finland to Kirkenes in Norway. Courtesy of Google.

Last rest point in Finland before Norway.

Kirkenes, Finnmark, Norway

Kirkenes is at the crossroads of Norway, Russia and Finland

From Luosto our driver took us by road to Kirkenes, Norway. Finnmark is the most north-eastern county of Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland (Lapland region) to the south, and Russia (Murmansk Oblast) to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea (which flows into the Atlantic Ocean) to the northwest, and the Barents Sea (Artic Ocean) to the north and northeast.

Travel 7-km southeast-wards and its Russia, and 37-km west lies Finland. Norway lies west of Sweden and Finland, but Kirkenes in Sor-Varanger is part of Norway is east of both countries!

Kirkenes' tourist maps and brochures: "Sor-Varanger claims of being the bridge between Europe and Asia. As far back as the Stone Age, Sor-Varanger has been melting point of different peoples from the east and the west."

Our Scandic hotel in Kirkenes

Kirkenes Church was built in 1862. Kirkenes means "church headland" and that became the name of the city.

Sor-Varanger Museum - Kirkenes

This is also called the Grenseland / Borderland museum is its exhibitions reflects on life and culture in the borderland histroy between Norway, Russia and Finland, with special exhibits on life and hardships during World War II. Kirkenes is only 7-km from the Russian and 37-km from the Finland border.

The museum's reception

Sculpture of 3 dancers in front of the museum entrance

Icicles from melted snow from certain sunny days!

Being very optimistic of our physical prowess, we chose to walk to/from the museum The snow fall was pelting at our faces!

On hindsight, it was poor decision to walk in such windy, snowy and slippery conditions. With snow pelting our faces, and drifts flying all over us as cars zoomed past us on the road, there must have been many locals passing in cars who wondered what these "Syrian refugees" were doing...! See above for yourself.

Except for lady in the red-pineapple beanie with pink "face veil", the rest of us slipped and felled on our backsides later!

Snow plough pulling through beside us as we walked about 2-km up to the museum. Shows the harsh wintry conditions we were exposed to.

Snowmobile and King Crab excursion

Our safari signboard in front of the Scandic Hotel.

Our snowmobiles parked in a row. We had to drive one each to the hole in the frozen-solid Barents Sea's surface.

CK and Hugo drove a snowmobile through the frozen surface of the Barents Sea. Pat and Ethan took the open sledge.

Barents Safari folks pulling the King Crabs from a net from a hole through the ice.

Pat 's new crusty vest - by Hermes, who else?

Hugo with crabbie friend

We had to catch our Alaskan King Crabs for dinner......

Our first of 3 King Crab servings

Small ash bits settled on our hair and clothes from the fire!

It was actually very cold outside - minus 2 degrees!

Enjoying a great King Crab meal! Ethan ate 8 legs, Pat and Hugo 2 legs each, CK had 4 legs!

The next night, we had the same Safari folks come help us chase down the Northern Lights....

The Aurora seekers from Barents Safari with us, on a spot 30-km outside of Kirkenes.

We looked all geared up, except that we saw no Northern Lights. It was reputedly too cloudy that night.

Outside the Thom hotel in Kirkenes later that night (2am-3.30am) again - searching in futility!

After two nights in Kirkenes, we took the cruise...

Hurtigruten Norwegian Fjord Cruise

Hurtigruten (meaning "Express Route" is also known as the Norwegian Coastal Express), is a Norwegian cruise, ferry and cargo operator. Founded in 1893, the Hurtigruten ships sailed almost the entire length of Norway and mainly between Bergen in the south and Kirkenes in the north. Hurtigruten was a substantial breakthrough for communities along its path, with towns in remote and not easily accessible by land, many located on islands along the long fjord coast lines.

The trip has been described as the "World's Most Beautiful Sea Voyage", offering great views of the famous Norwegian fjords. Please see our photos of the fjord scenery below. Our ship was named after Captain Richard With, its founder. Most of the Hurtigruten fleet was sunk during World War II, and many ships were also lost before that, to grounding during poor visibility. The current fleet has easily more than 20 ships with several under construction.

The "Richard With", at Hurtigruten Terminal in Kirkenes.

"Richard With" in port at Hammerfest

Hurtigruten terminal in Kirkenes.

Toy huskies with Sami sleigh driver.

Forward bow.

Last look at Kirkenes!

Our cabin view from the level 5 deck

Rocking with the waves!

At the "Richard With" rear section.

The ship was supposed to call at Vardo between Kirkenes and Hammerfest. Due to strong winds buffeting the ship (risk of running aground!), the captain announced over the intercom that the ship would not dock in Vardo. What we missed was to go see the famous Vardo Fortress built in the 1300s to defend the north-eastern Norwegian territory. The Vardo Fortress also gave the Finnmark county its emblem.

Fantastic views from sailing on the Hurtigruten.....

A sunrise at 8.45am from the starboard of "Richard With".

At rear deck, Pat trying to "catch" her Northern Lights!

A map of the Norwegian fjords

Hammerfest 2-hours stopover

The "Richard With" stopover for 2 hours in Hammerfest, in Finnmark.

Queueing up to get on shore. We didn't have to queue like this at our last cruise on Seven Seas.

Coming off the gangway.

Fresh Cafe where we had hamburger and hot chocolate

Polar Bear museum

Trumso, Finnmark, Norway

8 am on a main street in Tromso

Trumso's shopping street. They really cleaned up the snowy and icy slush from the streets.

The icy grounds have gravel stones thrown in to enable pedestrians to walk safely.

The Tromso Cathedral was built in 1861, on the site of an earlier Royal Chapel built by King Haakon IV of Norway in 1252.

Tromso Cathedral - the world's most northerly cathedral built of wood.

Lady with baby on grounds of Tromso Cathedral

The tourist office - we went to check the opening hours of the museum

Hurtigruten office in Tromso

Pile of snow. Scandic hotel at Tromso is in background

The bright poster-colored buildings on Tromso harbor.

The iconic Artic Cathedral of Tromso

The art museum is called Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum. Some of the more iconic art pieces on display in the 3-storey building.....

The Battle of Stamford Bridge - by Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831-1892). c 1870.

It's curious why a painting about a battle fought in an obscure English town in 1066, is in this gallery. Even more curious, it's painted by a famous Norwegian historical painter, Peter Nicolai Arbo.

The battle took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, in England on 25 September 1066, between the English army under King Harold (Godwinson) II (1022-1066), and an invading Norwegian force led King Harald Hardrada (1015-1066) and Harold's brother Tostig Godwinson (1026-1066). King Harold II repelled the invaders, and both King Harald and Tostig perished.

For the Norwegians who were vanquished and return home with their decimated ranks - the Vikings came to England with 300 longships and departed with only 24 longships! It symbolized the end of the Viking Age.

There was another invasion to defend, and King Harold II had to forced march his troops south to fight the new invaders led by Duke William of Normandy (1028-1087). This was the Battle of Hastings which changed almost every facet of life in England forever! King Harold II was killed on 14 October 1066, and the Normans began their domination of England.

Significantly for England, if King Harold II did not had to fight two major battles in quick succession with his tired and exhausted army, the Normans may have been repelled just like the Norwegians, and Anglo-Saxon England would be a different place today! The Norman conquest broke England's links with Denmark and Norway, and connected it to Normandy and Europe.

Let us consider "what if" - had the Normans invaded first, and had been defeated, and Norwegians afterwards overcame King Harold II's weakened forces, England may have become a province of Norway instead! The truth is more likely that Duke William being a master strategist, planned a latter invasion, in the hope his Norman force would be able to subdue a weakened victor/enemy.

Ironically, the Normans were also Vikings. Their chief Rollo (c.860-930) was given lands in Normandy by the French King Charles the Simple (879-929) in exchange for not attacking, and also helping to defend the French borders against intruders. By 1000 AD they considered themselves as Christian French men and no longer Vikings. Duke William was 5th generation descendant of Rollo.

The Bird of Sorrow Rises Soon - by Ellinor Flor c.1992

As Time Goes By - by Kjell Hommerstad c.2000

The Minister Laestadius Preaching - by Francois-Auguste Biard c.1840

Fighting Polar Bears - by Francois-Auguste Biard c.1839

Food and beverage

Besides King Crabs, we also had good dinners with generous offerings of caviar and salmon especially in Norway..

Reindeer hamburger lunch in Rovamieni. They have also a "Rudolf hamburger" which is naturally a vegan sandwich.

Breakfast and lunch restaurant on "Richard With".

Lunch on board "Richard With" - caviar and stuff

Chablis from a co-operative in France.

Chablis and pizza lunch in the Fox restaurant at Luosto

The two best dishes from Chinese restaurant in Kirkenes - stewed beef and prawn omelette

Caviar - is almost as common as butter in the Norwegian side of our travels

After we landed on Hammerfest, we looked for a place for brunch. The winds were so strong and the grounds were so icy and slippery, we had to hold on the buildings and street furniture just to get to the cafe below...