Jeg har kjørt bort, og jeg kommer ikke tilbake!

Well, we made it

(nearly)

to the top of the world.

69° 56’ N 23° 18’ E

Alta, Norway.

Nicknamed the Town of the Northern Lights – though I have to imagine many towns within the Arctic Circle also boast this claim.

We had two days to explore the area with the hopes that we could go up into the mountains in the evening to see the elusive (to our cruise ship apparently) Northern Lights.

The Finnmarksløpet (a sled dog race) started the morning we arrived.  It’s an annual race of 1,000 kilometres run over the course of 6 days through the mountains and across the frozen rivers of the Finnmark area of Norway & Sweden.  We didn’t dock early enough to see the start of the race, but we were able to participate in the festivities in downtown Alta. 

There was music playing when this happened.  Promise I didn’t just start busting a move on ice to the songs in my head.

To celebrate the race, there were ice sculptures and snow carvings in the main square along with craft booths, lots of food and blaring loud music.

Some bit back.

After all that time outside, we need a warm up.  Luckily we happened across a cozy little hut.

No, I don't know why there is a ladder on the roof

And they sold hot chocolate around several fireplaces.  What could have been better!

Fully warmed we headed out again to visit the Northern Lights Cathedral. The Cathedral was finished in 2013 and was built to resemble the Northern Lights.  I’m not sure I see it.  It cost a mere €16.2m to build and apparently was built 6 meters (about 20 ft) off the plans so the altar on the inside is off center so that it remains on the consecrated area.  (Yes, Mom I asked, they couldn’t just consecrate a new spot to move the altar to center of the building).

Having fully explored the downtown of Alta in about 2 hours … including the hour coffee stop … we got ready for our next adventure of the trip – Dog Sledding!