Northern Lights

Good day everyone,

I've been feeling a bit of writers block so have gotten totally behind on all of my adventures. Things have really been super busy and great the past month though. I have been very fortunate to have spent time with my family and traveled to some beautiful places. I'm just going to do several posts with my different trips so that this isn't one huge post.

My visit with Pa and Laurie was absolutely perfect.  We had a lot of good chats and laughs and made lots of memories. Since I last posted about our travels around Edinburgh we went to Tromso, Norway.  It is a beautiful little city nestled between some mountains in the Arctic Circle. We stayed at the Viking Hotel which had the nicest people working there. It included a traditional Norwegian breakfast of muesli, salmon, meat, cheese, bread, jams, and caviar in a tube. At first I didn't think I would really enjoy the breakfast, but it turned out to be really filling and tasty. Some of the best strawberry jam I've ever had.

Retail prices in Norway were about the same as in the states, but the food was ridiculously expensive in US dollars. The Norway Kroner was 5x great than the dollar, so when the menu had main courses for 300 Kroner, that meant it was $60. We arrived in the evening so after we got checked in we walked to a restaurant. It was pretty fancy and had this special, small menu. Laurie and I went ahead and ordered a main course and Pa just ordered the mushroom soup. He was expecting it to be creamy and a nice big bowl like we would have in the states. Well... the meek little waiter came over and set a bowl down that had what looked like dried mushrooms and chicken on the bottom, then told him that he ordered the soup, and poured a dark broth on top from a tea pot thingy! You should've seen Pa's face. Goodness it was funny. Definitely not what we were expecting. The story is much better in person, but this is something I never want to forget.
Our other food experiences were about normal so nothing exciting to tell about that.

The main purpose of our trip was to go see the Aurora Borealis/Northern Lights. Apparently while we were having the delightful dining experience detailed above the Aurora was so bright they could see it in the city, but we had no idea it was going on. So we went on a 6 hour Lights tour with a company that takes you to the best places on the island to see it. Unfortunately we had a not super active night. Solar flares cause the particles to bounce around and create the light and it goes in cycles. When it was showing in the city it was because there had just been a flare, so it had calmed down a bit 2 days later when we went looking for it. However, we did get to see it appear 3 times. The last time was the best, it was moving really fast and lasted about a min (sounds short, but it was good). It was bright green and changing forms.. it was the coolest thing. Can't imagine what its like to see it for longer. 2 minutes of Northern Lights over a period of 6 hours really isn't that great... BUT, when that last wave occurred and we could really see it, I got this great feeling..its really hard to explain. It was like a calming sensation, and inspirational. Afterwards it made me realize that Earth is the greatest artist, humans can't begin to capture the beauty Earth holds. I'm sure everyone has different feelings and experiences with the Aurora, but I can tell you, it is totally worth seeing, even if only for a minute. Put it on your bucket list.
The rest of the trip consisted of going to the Planetarium and acting like kids, Polaria aquarium and watching the seals, walking on lots of ice, going to a midnight concert at the Arctic Cathedral, and playing cards. It was such a lovely weekend.
I just don't know how I got so lucky to have such amazing and inspiring people in my life. I am truly blessed and so grateful for all they have done for me.  I could relive this trip and their time in Edinburgh over and over. Definitely will be going back to Norway--when I get lots of money to cover the food bill--to see more areas cause it was stunning.

Take it easy, and let me know if you ever make it to see the Northern Lights and what kind of feeling you got!

With thoughts of Norway,
Alyssa