Kirkenes, where we turn around and head back to Bergen

And Kirkenes, we got a bus tour up to the Russian border. We stopped for some wonderful borscht and bread, and we made some vista stops. I was surprised at the Russian border because we really basically didn’t see any soldiers. It’s a fairly open border where residents living within a certain distance of the border can cross back-and-forth at any time. The Norwegians go over to Russia to buy cheap gas. There are many Russian workers in Norway. The Russians are very welcome in Norway because they spend a lot of money. At the border we had some fun playing with a sled. I got to push the road scholar group leader around on one. At the border was also a little gift shop that the guide was calling a shopping mall. It had Russian souvenirs in it. There was also a beautiful friendly husky outside. When we returned, we were treated to a wonderful Arctic Circle dinner featuring reindeer.

4 thoughts on “Kirkenes, where we turn around and head back to Bergen”

  1. Did you cross the border? Can you say you’ve been to Russia now?

    No mention yet of Northern Lights….have you had opportunities to see them?

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    1. Yes I was able to go a few feet across the border. I just saw the northern lights. Unfortunately depressing because they were kind of gray. To the naked eye they do not look green. I was able to get pictures of them looking green but they were very hazy not focused at all. Turns out an iPhone is not the way to take these pictures. People with good cameras were getting better pictures and I will have to get copies from them. But it would nice to see the northern lights that look a little better than just kind of clouds in the sky at this point.

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  2. It looks great! You are missing our HEAVY fog/smog/whatever right now. We are socked in again this morning. I can barely see beyond the Sequoia tree below me. But yesterday afternoon was beautiful. Typical Fall morning…..

    Anne

    On Tue, Nov 5, 2019 at 8:09 AM RobbieLambertsTravels wrote:

    > roblynnlambert posted: “And Kirkenes, we got a bus tour up to the Russian > border. We stopped for some wonderful borscht and bread, and we made some > vista stops. I was surprised at the Russian border because we really > basically didn’t see any soldiers. It’s a fairly open border ” >

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