Honningsvåg. Norway-Ready, Set, North Cape
Nordkapp · Honningsvåg · Arctic Circle
On Top of the World
Three hundred and thirty miles above the Arctic Circle, the endless daylight and the cliff above the Arctic Ocean make the phrase literal.
Field Note 01
I feel a lot better lately. It is as if I am on top of the world. Oh, wait a minute — I am.
At roughly 330 miles above the Arctic Circle, in Nordkapp near Honningsvåg, the metaphor stops being a metaphor.
The great journey for travellers was once limited to explorers and expeditions. Now it is accessible to anyone crazy enough to take a fourteen-day cruise to get here and back to Europe.
Nordkapp in the endless Arctic daylight.
The cliff above the Arctic Ocean carries Rock of Gibraltar gravitas.
Endless daylight is hauntingly constant. The cliff plunges into the Arctic Ocean with the gravitas of Gibraltar.
The Arctic Circle, North Cape, polar light, and the long road north.
The Elixir
I am on top of the world.Not figuratively. Not aspirationally. Literally — above the Arctic Circle, under endless daylight, looking into the open water at the northern edge of Europe.