I THINK IT WAS JOHN D. MAC DONALD who wondered what value we would place on a sunset if it occurred once every 20 years. Here in Tromsø where the last sunrise was on May 13, this isn’t just a random musing. There won’t be another sunset until the end of July! With the capricious weather in North Sea and the Solstice approaching, these photos are of the last sunset we’ll see for a while.
The last sunset—how much is it worth?
At a few minutes after noon yesterday—my 75th birthday—we crossed the Arctic Circle. We are officially in the Land of the Midnight Sun. This is our fourth time above the Arctic Circle; we drove to Coldfoot, Alaska in the summer of 2007, flew into Tromsø in December 2013 to see the Northern Lights and we made it to within 1000 miles of the North Pole at Devon Island in 2016 on the polar expedition ship Sergei Vavilov.
Approaching Tromsø
Tromsø—prettier on the way in
Tromsø was more interesting in December’s darkest days than it is today. True, we were able to enjoy views of the snow-capped peaks and glaciers as we sailed through the fjord this morning but “town” isn’t showing itself well. We’re docked in an industrial container port four miles from the center. Princess has the nerve to charge $21 for a shuttle into Tromsø so like many of the passengers we’ve decided to stay aboard.
Not the warmest welcome—Tromsø
Spoiler Alert!!!! In our six days above the “Circle” we never did experience the Midnight Sun—it was more like midnight overcast.
