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Norway, My Love — Bodo
A new experience in the land of the polar icecap.
In my previous story, “Norway, Mi Love — Trondheim”, I told you that after some spiritual experiences and walking around this beautiful city for 2 days and also along the fjord, early one morning I boarded the train, this time bound for Bodo, a 10-hour trip north. I was excited about crossing the Arctic Circle. I don’t know what I thought I was going to find or see, but as we climbed higher, the landscape became stonier and more desolate.
The Arctic Circle is the beginning of the Earth’s polar ice cap. It is the southern boundary, at latitude 66º33', of the surface where the sun does not set on June 21 and does not rise on December 21. The northern limit is the North Pole. This area can reach 24 hours of light at the summer solstice, and then get to 24 hours of total darkness at the winter solstice.
As is customary, the train driver announces we are about to cross this imaginary circle or meridian and begins to slow down to a minimum, until he considers everyone has already seen the sculpture that marks it. It is exciting to know we are already in the polar cap, much more in summer, because the days are very long, and the nights are super short.
