has long claimed to be the farthest city north. In reality, Honningsvag probably has it beat (even when you don’t include Nordkapp). Like many of the towns at this end of the country, it was not truly settled till the end of the 1700s. And, like the rest, it was completely destroyed by the Germans at the conclusion of WWII. The rebuilding was carefully planned according to the architectural best of the day.
Unfortunately in my eyes, except for the wood, it bears an uncanny resemblance to much of the former east. Extremely plain lines without embellishment or decoration, the town is saved from complete ugliness only by the use of bright color on most of the houses.
Hammerfest is also home to the Polar Bear Club which has a small museum, fishing, and reindeer which wander free. In spite of hiking all over town twice, I must have been one of the only people to miss them completely!
Yarn – ah! Even such a small town offered choices. D Wulff on the main street offered a variety of yarns, fabrics and embroidery supplies. Unluckily for her, apparently her credit card machine was not working so that she could accept only cash. Not wanting to pay the high price of the exchange I turned instead to a lovely small shop on the second floor of Nissen. The proprietress was welcoming, helpful and was more than glad to sell her stock. She also had a wonderful line of baby clothes and other nice things for the home. On the shelf to her right you can also see stacks of mittens, hats and stockings she has for sale, being what she does while waiting for customers. (She had not heard of Ravelry. I hope I did not do her a diservice!)
It is 12ºC today. Better I guess than the 4-5 of yesterday. The one shop keeper mentioned that is was 22º in the shade on Norwegian Independence Day. 17 May (just in case you did not remember).
Once again, I am just posting the pictures at the end.
