Park Inn Poliarnie Zori, Murmansk

There is love in my heart as I peer from Vadso harbour across Varangerfjorden towards Kirkenes,the half way point of this voyage and the end point of the E6 road (if you can believe it).<br><br>But, first, there is the dawn and a wonderful sunrise as the MS Nordkapp enters Vadso harbour.<br><br>This is going to be an interesting day with place names and map reading. It will be grand. We start the day at Vadso on the north side of the Varanger Fjord, spend ...

... The day was overcast, and soon rain started and kept on for most of the day. At one point, a truck drove past, its engines working heavily to get it up the hill, spilling liquid all down the road towards us as it disappeared into the distance. The smell soon hit us, as we saw it run down in streamlets on the road, and into the gutter under our feet. They were dumping sewage on the roads. Nice. <br>We cut off into the bushes at point, made sure nobody was watching us, and ...

I have stayed in this town several times and always start in this part of the country when I shall visit my customers in this part of our long country.<br>The city is very close to the Russian border and you can go on a trip to Murmansk. You also have the possibility to visit Grense Jakobs Elv (the river between Norway and Russia), where you can se beautiful beaches. The temp. is very low and you can't go for a swim unless you like freezing water.<br>

... years ago when he was 15 to work for the fish factory. In Kirkenes we did some shopping. I can recommend second hand shops. And in the Sparland they sell nice shoes. You can also here lots of Russia there. When we came back to Bugoynes we took a kick sledge and did our last tour around the village. We stopped for awhile to collect shells from the beach and listen to the impressive sounds of the waves of the ocean. Tomorrow we have to go.

(Jim) Our Norwegian cruise is over, and we are flying south. We don't even have time to make a quick detour to the Russian border only twenty or so miles away, though some highway signs are double-posted in Russian (Cyrillic characters) and Norwegian (Roman). "Murmansk this way." According to Travelpod, we've traveled only 1% of the world. I think we'll be pretty tired by the time we break 50%, if we ever do.

... to write about the border! Hard to say if they were friendly or not. They dont smile and there is even a booklet at the border explaining the ins and outs of Russia. Didn't help us. No women were allowed near the bikes during inspection which meant me and Danny were in charge of unpacking and repacking the panniers. Not a wise move. Things never did go back in right! Apparently I tried to bribe the officer with a badly ...

... style, you can have a look of the fishing vessels and compare the Russian's ones and the Norwegians ones. Also a part of the city was destroyed during the WW2 and you can see the different style between the traditional colorful small house and the new building not so beautiful. Kirkenes is one of the last city between Europe and Russia and was the place of may military actions it was one on the only direct border between Europe and Russia ...

... It doesn't help that everything is in Russian, who use the Cyrillic alphabet, which is nothing like ours. So with thick snow covering everything, strange signs, and people staring at me, not to mention the dirty old buildings everywhere, this is the city where I have felt most of place. Anyway, I made my way down to the train station to attempt to book our train ...

... the shaven head, face and eyebrow person in my passport photo was me. They were very nice about it, and I don't think they were just trying to show their authority, but I had three guys come up and try and work it out. They asked me to sign my signature, and then a few questions about where I had been, paying close attention to the South American stamps. Not sure if they thought I was a drug smuggler. Finally they waved me through, and I thought I was all good, but going through ...

... vegetarian, we were warned, would be a challenge as the word doesn't seem to translate into russian. the locations where the 3 members of the vegetarian segregation table, as we were always placed in a specific often remote corner of the restaurant while everyone else chose their eating partners and location, received the best and most "vegetarian" food was in the least seemingly likely cafeterias. Considering that for the first ...