Boring borders - anti-climaxes followed by a crazy crustacean!

Had to repack our bags last night - boy was that interesting. We seem to have expanding 'stuff' and I am not talking about our souvenirs which are minor.
Still, managed to get everything in to the bags and had them out for collection well before midnight so we could go to bed a little earlier given that we had an earlier start today.

This morning we were at breakfast earlier than any other morning - 7:30 am, wanting to beat the 8 am 'must be checked out of the cabin' rush.  Same sort of food on offer as previous days - good and hearty to start the day - especially as we won't be getting lunch today.

We pulled in to our last port of Kirkenes and we were all told that the gangway would not be lowered until all the luggage of people leaving the ship here had been deposited on the dock. Donna was pretty sure she saw ours on one of the baggage carts - a little askew.  There were throngs of people waiting in the departure lobby when we finally got down to level 3. We just managed to squeeze into the crowd as we stepped of the lift.  The people in the next left to go back upstairs to wait.

There were a range of tours on offer today - bus visit to the Russian border, fishing for King Crabs, boat tour to the Russian border, quad bike drive and a town walk.  

We had chosen the bus visit to the Russian border because supposedly there was still an opportunity to see brown bears, but nope not one to be seen.  The only animal we saw was the lone souvenir seller's Malamute dog - very cute but I think he is somewhat bore with the tourists!

When I had looked at Kirkenes on Google Earth, it appeared to be an industrial city that was not too well developed. So it was kind of surprising to see very good infrastructure here including all streets paved with gutters.  This used to be a iron ore mining town, although this industry has now folded, as has the local timber industry.  There is a 8 km railway still visible that connected the mine and the town. doesn't go anywhere now other than to lead your eyes to the huge slag heap.  

In their place there is now power generation - seven power plants in all on the Pis River - four owned by the Russians and three by Norway; communications and King Crab fishing.  This is the largest area of processing of this delicacy and the local port has a number of impressive sized trawlers and a million large crab cages - way too big to be called pots!

We see lots of new commercial buildings - fire station,shopping centres, a school and the new hospital that was purchased in pre-fab form from Germany and constructed with all equipment etc  installed ready for patients and staff to walk into in a total of two weeks.

We learn of the loss of Sami names when the government mapped the local area and could not be bothered to retain the names and re-named the three local lakes, First Lake,Second Lake and Third Lake.
The vegetation is interesting - there are plenty of trees and abundant flower beds in some houses.  On the ship until here, the landscapes had been very barren - mosses, lichens and stones on rocks!
We are told that Kirkenes is as south as Tromso, so we are just north of the Arctic Circle.

Our guide, fluent in Norwegian, German and English explains that the local climate is a topic of debate here.  Some of the locals insist that there are four seasons here - a winter of seven months, a spring of two days - 16 and 17 May with May 17 being Norway Day, an indeterminate summer and then autumn before you rush back into winter; while others describe it as seven months of white winter and five months of green winter.  Today has been warm and I did not even put a jacket on.

The Russian border was the biggest anti-climax. A road, a brick fence and a gate and signage that announces the end of the Schengen area, and a 'no walking '(across the border) sign.  It was explained that over the past couple of years, there have been an increasing number of Russians wanting to come and live in Norway.  The Russian government made it particularly difficult. Even though many could afford cars, they were refused the paperwork,you are not allowed to walk across the border and buses were refused to these 'refugees' also.  They got clever - all road pushbikes across!  Yes, necessity is the mother of invention.

We make a quick stop for souvenirs at a little shack run by a lone Norwegian man and his dog. He lives here in what looks like a hovel and refers to all the tourists who enter his shop as his new friends.  Very personable and spoke English very well.  I bought a little fur purse, thinking it was bear, only to be told it was seal! And then there was the Russian man with his bicycle that only wanted me to take a photo of the Norwegian house on the hill on the opposite side of the river!
Hurtigruten has invested in a small lakeside restaurant near here where we are served samples of borscht and a wildflower tea.  Donna enjoyed the soup, I liked the tea!

Coming back into the town of Kirkenes we are told that in the summer of 1941 North-Eastern Norway became the staging area for the German assault on the Soviet

Union. The target for the German Wehrmacht was the harbour city of Murmansk, just 200 km from the border. However, at Litsaelva – halfway between Kirkenes and Murmansk – the offensive ground to a halt and hardly made any further progress during almost three years of hostilities.  Kirkenes found itself in a very exposed position, and was subjected to constant bombing attacks from the hard-pressed Soviet forces. The air raid sirens sounded more than 1,000 times in Kirkenes, and the town was actually bombed over 320 times, making it one of the most frequently bombed towns in Europe. As such,there are few

buildings more than 80 years old and the houses all have a uniformity about them, just different colours.

Tonight we are in the Frokosthotell in a room about the same size as the ship's cabin that we recently left with the exception that the bathroom is tiny - think we might get wet and then need to step out of the room to soap up before rinsing off!  But it right in the centre of town and easy to get to.  It is Sunday and nothing is open here, so we went up to the Arctic Restaurant at the (international) Scandic Hotel for dinner.

Crab and prawn soup - tomato and Paprika based - a little heavy or the crab flavour and prawns that at home wouldn't even make bait.

King crab - you can check ours out at http://www.nkc.no/track/?id=1381832

Mud Hill Sav Blanc from NZ

Finished with a coffee and a Frangelico and a waddle back to our hotel.

Donna is now in a can't move - crab coma!