A Walk and a Float 2025: Float Days 4-6 (Tondheim, Sea Day, Honningsvag (Top of the World))

Three more days in Norway, working our way North. First was Trondheim (4th largest city in Norway), where we made our own way about town for the day. 2nd was a sea day as we continued north. Third started at Honningsvag, and we took an excursion North to the northernmost part of Europe (or at least very close to it). Here, when Jana asked Siri "What time is sunset," the answer was "In more than seven days".

Trondheim was a pleasant town. And has been here for a long time (see photos below). We did our normal geocaching thing, to serve as a tour-guide, and did some normal exploring. Jana and one of her acquaintances went on an expedition to find some more yarn, which was a bit harder than they first thought - it turns out that yarn and rope translate the same into Norwegian, and sailors use a lot of rope, and there are a good number of rope stores that do not sell yarn.

The sea day was a sea day.

Honningsvag was a full day adventure. Started by going to a museum and outlook at the top of a massive cliff at 71+ degrees north (the northernmost point in Europe). The tongue of land immediately west does extend farther north, but is at a huge slant, so building anything on it (like a tourist museum for the northernmost point in Europe) is impractical. But there is also not enough time on a tour to walk around the inlet to that spit and to the end, and get back in time to get your ride back to the ship. So we will pretend that one spit does not exist.
The end-of-the-world certainly did look it, with tall and steep cliffs, and jagged rocks and skies that looked like the clouds were torn. A lot of scattered small wildflowers in the tundra scrub. Saw a couple of Snowy Plovers, but no other birds (or any other wildlife) over the 2.5 hours we were there.
After returning to town, I strolled the town looking for wildlife - lots of flowers, but almost no birds (except house sparrows - anywhere there is a house, you will find house sparrows). So I climbed a hill where the trail was steep enough to require stairs (if I counted correctly [on the way down], 1003 of them). Nice views at the top. No birds (except 3 Meadow Pipits), but a lot of good wildflowers. I guess inland birds have better places to be than to visit the northernmost city in Europe.
Overall, a very pleasant day with incredible geology and nature.

Anyway.... Onto photos!

Day 4: Trondheim:
A lot of different kinds of bees in Trondheim. This one, alighting on a flower, was a Red-Tailed Bumblebee. With a reddish tail.

A calm day with temperatures about 50F. All contributed to a very reflective water surface in the inlets:

Found a clever geocache on this art installation of an old gear system. The cache was embedded in the bolt at the 2nd photo.

Mexican Restaurants in Norway are a bit different. Under "Ceviche & Tostada" it has "Beef Tartar Tostada".

A lot of flowers all around town (and a lot of bumblebees):

One of the famous spots is this set of houses over the bay. So I took a picture.

We walked into the library. It was part library and part museum, from when they excavated that spot to build the library. I guess I should have taken a photo of some of that, but I found a different relic that I did take a picture of:

My first photo of a Eurasian Tree Sparrow - note the black cheek patch (the physical identifier to differentiate it from a House Sparrow).

A street of umbrellas.

A Damask Rose, and within, a Marmalade Hoverfly (hoverflies mimic bees/wasps, but are actually flies):

And a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, with a buff tail.

Trondheim has been around for a long time. Their current hospital predates the Mayflower arriving to the New World. By about as much as the time between now, and ... the the Mayflower arriving to the New World.

A Hooded Crow (new to me). The grey vs black patterning was not very pronounced, but it is there.

Another Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, with a buff tail. This one let me get pretty close.

Going back to port, a couple of interesting art objects. The first seems kind of like an expensive pun. The second is a bunch of ear-trumpets, and you can get inside and listen, and is entitled "What does the Fjord Say?".

And I was amused by this one. A statue of Lief Erikson. A replica statue donated to the city of Trondheim by the Lief Erikson Society of Seattle in 1997 (to honor the 1000 year anniversary of the founding of Trondheim). So I travelled n-1000 miles, to take a picture of a Seattle statue...

Day 5 (Sea Day)
Back on the ship - a photo of an immature Black-Legged Kittiwake that was tailing the ship:

And skimming the water, a couple of Northern Fulmars:

Day 6: Top of the World
In case it is not clear, this picture is two pieces of land. The sloping lower chunk in front extends further North, but is not suitable for building anything. The one behind is a massively tall cliff, and is where we went for our excursion (North from Honningsvag). This is as the ship approached (and then passed, and turned south to reach port).

As we passed the North Point (Nordkapp), the size of the cliff became more clear. If you zoom in on the point, you can see the monument at the top. It also shows how rugged/steep/primal this landscape is:

And as we turned South towards Honningsvag, the fabric of the sky looked like it was being torn apart, north-to-south. Stunning.

Part of a boar:

And the town of Honningsvag from the ship as we pulled in:

Side note - check the fences above the town. As we were leaving on the bus, one of the passengers asked if rocks ever fell from the cliffs into the road. The driver said that the fences were precautionary, that no rocks ever came down the cliffs. The driver was trained well.

So we drove up to Nordkapp, the Northern-most(ish) point of Europe. A picture of Jana in front of the center, at 71deg 10min 21sec. A remarkably clear, and 'warm' day with little wind:

As might be guessed, the area was tundra, and rocky with some scrub:

But within the scrub were a lot of patches of wildflowers. Like Moss Campion, Cinquefoil, and Eightpetal Mountain Avens:

And very steep cliffs out to sea:

Jana and I posing in front of the monument, along with hundreds of others:

This is a picture taken from a bit west - of the same monument and the same clot of people - and I am still unable to share the immensity and ruggedness of the cliff landscape:

The one bird I saw, a Snowy Plover. A very lucky snap to catch this one in flight:

And dont forget. Innkjoring forbudt.

On the bus ride back, a photo of some of the tarns and mini-glaciers in this tundra landscape:

Back in town, had plenty of time before the "All Aboard", so I went to explore the town, starting with the bay-side:

Hey. Do you suppose that visibility is sometimes an issue up here?

I found poppies! Alpine Poppies! Yellow ones and white ones.

And Dandelions as big as my foot. I guess 24-hr sunlight will do that to a plant.

After walking around town a bit, and looking up at the nearby peak, and seeing people on that peak, I thought to myself. Self, you could be on that peak. So I started to walk to the base of the trail.
As I approached, I saw this European Globeflower, and if you look carefully at the front, you can see the passenger.

The sign that told me that I had found the trail-head. Turns out that most of the people I saw 'up on the hill' were at this lower landing (the portion of the hike before the stairs). But now that I was here, I figured I might as well climb...:

Hiking is one thing. Climbing stairs is another thing. The hill was steep enough that the stairs had to do switchbacks. At one point, I stopped to catch my breath, and took these photos up and down the trail:

So, 1003 stairs later (counted on the way back down, but I may have miscounted a few), I reached the peak. Signed the summit logbook (the red box). And took a few pictures. Fortunately, there was one other person up here, and we swapped cameras for non-selfie summit photos. Very windy and cold, which was nice after the climb. Some photos from the top. In the last photo, you can see the town below. Wonderful views: