This was a fun and relaxing day. After breakfast, Astrid, Svein, Ivan and I bundled into their car and headed north on the E6, also called the Atlantic Highway. It's a road that goes from Oslo, in Norway's south, to the North Cape, the northernmost point in Europe. We were headed for Latitude 66°33' North - the Arctic Circle. It seemed totally fantastic to me that one could hop into the car and, within 30 minutes, be standing on the Arctic Circle, but that's precisely what we did! Ivan stood next to the monument and I took his photo. Afterward, I was gazing at the monument with a bit of awe when Astrid - my kindred spirit - hopped onto the monument and exhorted me to join her and Ivan took our photo.
The sad thing about this monument and the road leading up to it is that, during WWII, Russian and Polish prisoners of war were forced to build the road. Conditions had to be unbearable with bitter cold and biting wind. This area is devoid of trees and is mostly low rolling hills and hard, stony ground. I'm sure that many lives were lost. Perhaps the people who visit this place will take this knowledge away with them and will do what they can to see to it that the term "prisoner of war" becomes archaic and unused.
No comments:
Post a Comment