The Great Partly-White North

I’m writing this in the kitchen of the northern-most Swedish family in the world, looking over the world’s northern-most concrete plant, with my back towards the northern-most hospital in the world. I believe that right now, I may just be the northern-most Finnish freelancer in the world, and for sure, this is my northern-most blog entry ever.

First 1100 kilometers north, then 600m straight up.

I’m in Tromsö, Norway – the self-proclaimed “Paris of the North”, where everything is the world’s northern-most. The golf course, of course, but also – according to their own submission – a brewery (and by extension all the beer they brew), a university, a business school, a protestant cathedral, a soccer team, a volleyball team, and a basketball team in the highest national league, a botanical garden, a glass studio, samba parade, an electric car association, a catholic church, an observatory to study the northern lights, a windsurfing club, and if the plans for a mosque for the 1000 muslims in the 65000-people-strong town become reality, that would be the northern-most one in the world.

It’s a nice niche.

It reminds me of a car dealership in Ilomantsi, Finland which right after Finland had joined the EU, advertised itself as the eastern-most car dealership in the European Union. Not sure if that brought them more business, but we all have to live with the niche we’re dealt with.

Surprisingly, Tromsö doesn’t have the world’s northern-most McDonald’s. That honor goes to Rovaniemi, Finland.

But I’m sure the Burger King on Storgata is the northern-most BK in the world.

And Storgata is the nicest street I’ve ever seen this far up north.

4 thoughts on “The Great Partly-White North

  1. Your thoughts in Tromso are not original.

    Over 1,000 years ago, Ohthere of Hålogaland reported that he lived "north-most of all the Northmen", and that "no-one [lived] to the north of him".

    Little known fact: Ohthere’s best friend was named Heythere.

  2. And my husband had the honor of being the northern most dentist in the world when he was in Thule, Greenland for a year. Not a title he minded giving up!!!

Leave a Reply to Ruthe Cancel reply