Up until earlier in the day when we first encountered cold weather, the people in our group had spent the days in shirt sleeves. That night when we all walked out of the hotel to board the bus, we couldn't recognize our fellow travelers. After listening to warnings from everyone about how cold it is at North Cape, every single person in the group had layered on a hat as well as every warm item he or she had in the suitcase. We looked like a pack of grizzly bears coming out of winter hibernation. And it WAS cold, but not as bad as we had been led to believe.
The hotel where we stayed is open only three months of the year, and employees work for four months: two weeks before its open to get the place ready, and two weeks after the end of the season to close it down for the winter. The building itself was more like a series of double deck trains united by an exterior metal walkway. The lobby of the hotel was a huge room with a high domed ceiling.
The rooms had no television nor radio, and the heat was provided with individual heaters in each room, and yes, we had to turn them on even though we were there on July 2nd. The walk from the lobby to the room was extremely cold because the wind gained force in the areas between the buildings.
The biggest surprise of the entire trip was the number of buses we encountered at the North Cape. The parking lot was massive, and at least 40 big buses were parked there. There is an entrance fee of approximately $26 per person. And since we were told that the crowd is as big as it was that night every single night of the summer, it is evident that the entrance fees pay for the tourist facilities there.
Our guide also told us that it is a common trip for locals to drive motorcycles up the coast to North Cape. I wouldn't want to brave that cold on a bike.
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