After my disappointing photos of the Northern Lights last night, imagine how annoyed I was with myself when friends showed me their photos. I should have made the effort and headed upstairs where people were getting great photos. The lights were more forward than starboard so if I get another opportunity tonight I will know where to go. There is not a cloud in the sky in Hammerfest today so maybe we'll get lucky.
It is a glorious 19 degrees as we head out of town today towards the indigenous Sami Camp. I've not heard a lot about the Sami but they have lived in Scandinavia for thousands of years. There are around 80,000 Sami and they typically make their living from herding Reindeer, deer hunting, fishing and farming. They are spread across Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. When we arrive at the camp we are ushered into the round timber houses covered in turf that are called Goahati. The Sami elder has us all sit around the fire on reindeer skins while he tells us about the history of the Sami. 
After the story-telling we are taken to another turf house that is a large dining room with a cooking area in the middle of the room. Our hostess feeds us small portions of reindeer - smoked, boiled, and dried, along with smoked salmon and a small focaccia like biscuit. The reindeer was delicious compared to the reindeer steaks we had at the Regent dinner a few weeks ago.
After we have finished eating and drinking our hot beverage we are taken to the reindeer farm where we are given another talk about how the Sami herd the Reindeer. Herd is not really a good word because the reindeer do an annual migration naturally and the Sami are really just following them. Before winter the reindeer move south to country that is not iced over as it is in Hammerfest. It takes them around two months to reach their destination and then when spring returns the reindeer migrate back. 
Hammerfest has a fence running around the perimeter of the town to keep reindeer out of the town area as they can become a bit of a pest. But the reindeer seem to find a way through the fence and we see dozens of them on our scenic drive around Hammerfest.
Hammerfest was destroyed mercilessly by the Germans in the Second World War so the architecture is very much 50's style with colourful houses again the order of the day. I love this style of architecture that is a great contrast to the rocky mountain backdrop.
We are back at our ship in time for lunch and as we are docked here until 10pm tonight, we decided to do a little more exploring of Hammerfest on our own. Our tour guide briefly mention the Struve Geodetic Arc that is in easy walking distance of our ship so that is the first place we headed. The Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest to the Black Sea through ten countries covering 2,820 kms. These are points of survey carried out between 1816 and 1855 by a group of scientists that were used to measure a long section of meridian thus giving us an accurate size and shape of our planet.
Next, we headed into the town centre on the ships shuttle bus to wander the streets. The town is a strange layout and we never did find the main area, but we were content to walk around the very attractive waterfront on this beautiful sunshine day. 
We are both feeling a little weary today after our northern lights awakening last night so it will be an early night for us I would say. Our tour to the North Cape tomorrow is at 7.15am so we will have to get a good nights sleep to enjoy this northernmost point.
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