Honningsvag

July 12th
Honningsvag

Today was my return to the Honningsvag, a day I’ve been looking forward to for the past 4 weeks. If you recall from my previous post from this port, this was the day I climbed the mountain and met the old man at the top, the one I called the “keeper of the list.” If you didn’t read that post, go back 4 weeks and find it, it’s worth the read.
Anyways, I was excited about today and taking my old man friend up on his offer for tea when I returned to the city. I got off the ship a bit after noon to make my way through the city to the address I had written in my note pad a month earlier. I had no problem remembering my way through the tiny city and soon found my self at his door, 5 Prestevannsvein (yeah, that’s be the street name). I rang the doorbell, slightly nervous about just showing up, and after a few moments…nothing. I rang again, knocked on the door, still nothing. I started walking around the front of the house looking in the windows for a sign of life, but to my dismay, still nothing. A neighbor of his saw me checking out the house, and considering how suspicious I looked, came outside to ask me something in Norwegian. I let him know I was looking for Basse Larrson, and the neighbor let me know he’d gone into the city and would be back in 10 minutes. I thanked him and took a seat on the front steps of the house to wait for my host. I waited 10 minutes, nothing…30 minutes…an hour…still nothing. After over an hour of sitting there doing nothing but watching the occasional person walk by, I decided to write him a note and walk around for a bit before I lost the entire day to a tea party that might not happen. I tore a sheet of paper from my note pad, wrote him a greeting and reminded him of who I was, left an email address, and said I’d stop back again a couple more times before I left port. I walked one direction toward the mountain I’d originally met him on, enjoyed the view, then returned to his house…still nothing. I walked the other direction towards this peninsula that jutted out toward the ship, enjoyed the scenery and returned…again, nothing. By this point, I was out of time to sit down with him to have tea and began walking back to the ship while keeping an eye out for my friend. I stayed on land as long as possible looking but to no avail, my hyped up return to Honningsvag had culminated in an anticlimactic day of unfruitful waiting. Thankfully, the waiting was accompanied by an absolutely gorgeous day, likely the warmest of the year, and I enjoyed listening to the birds and passively observing the city, but that wasn’t at all the outcome I was expecting. I returned to the ship, and disappointed by the falling through of a plan built up with 4 weeks of anticipation, made my way to the theater for the usual rehearsal with a usual guest entertainer.
Unfortunately, that’s about all I have to say about my day in Honningsvag. I’ll be sure to let you know if I do indeed receive an email from my friend. But till then, I guess I’ll just continue sailing out of northern Norway looking for my next opportunity for a good adventure and great story to write home about.

One last thing – I did see the north cape as we sailed out of port. The North Cape, a huge seaside cliff, is the northernmost point of continental Europe, and has a majesty certainly worthy of the prestigious location. It was a gorgeous site and nice treat as I left northern Norway for what may likely be the last time. Thanks for reading!