Hammerfest, Norway

Here we are at the very northern tip of Norway, at the gateway to the Barents Sea in the Arctic Circle.  We are very lucky with the weather today, because it is brilliantly sunny with gorgeous clear blue skies -- something we are told is a rare sight in this part of the world!

We visited the Polar Bear Club -- a small museum dedicated to the different kinds of wildlife indigenous to this general area (although there are not actually any Polar Bears here in Hammerfest! -- you have to travel to Svalbard to see them). 

We did, however see real reindeer wandering around town -- two were calmly grazing on the soccer pitch of a local school, and one magnificent horned beast was loping along beside the road as we passed him in our tour bus.  We also visited a beautiful little sand beach near town, and  admired the view of our ship from a vantage point where we also saw some houses used by the indigenous Sámi people.  (See extras)