Way Up North in Norway on the Russian Border

I wanted to see the sun just circle the sky, never setting - at least until August. Cris and I booked a one-night stay in Kirkenes to experience that. Kirkenes is above the Arctic Circle, and it is east of the top of Finland, adjoining Russia. It's even east of St. Petersburg and Istanbul!

The weather was fine, not cold and not hot. We bought stocking hats for the evening "King Crab Safari by Riverboat to the Border". We didn't need them! We were eight folks in a boat. The water was smooth. The sky was blue. We had life vests that not only floated, but also kept you from freezing as quickly if you fell overboard.

First stop - the crab pot. The females are thrown back to have more baby crabs, while we got to pass around one of the males. Look! See! I caught a King Crab (from the guest next to  me in the boat).

We continued up the Pasvik River, which forms the border with Russia here, to the Barents Safari dock where we stopped. We left one guide to cook, while the other took us to the border posts. The Russians, Norwegians, and Samis had a very close relationship until Russia invaded Ukraine, with cross-border travel easy and common. They hope that things can go back to normal soon. But for now, we were not allowed to step farther than Thor in the picture. (I apologize for not remembering the second part of Thor's name.)

Cris and I at the Norwegian border post, with our unnecessary stocking caps

Time to eat! We had a lesson in opening the crabs, and we set to it. There was white wine, bread on the side, and great conversation with a couple from Germany. After a while, they made us stop tearing apart delicious crabs and move onto dessert - cloudberries topped with cream, plus coffee. 

Back downstream to Kirkenes we motored, fully satisfied with our tour. It was around 9:30 pm, and, guess what? No sign of sunset. We struggled to stay up till midnight, then walked down to a good view spot. Here's what we saw...

Back at the room, I played with AI to give you this picture...

Besides sun and crabs, there is the Borderland Museum, with displays on the Second World War, when Germany occupied Norway and the Russians freed them, and one on the iron-ore history. They have a website about life in the border area which you should definitely check out!