On our last night in Norway, I convinced Holly that we should have another go at seeing the Northern Lights. Given the photo above, it’s probably not too much of a spoiler to say we were more successful than last time.
Category: Europe
Leaving Norway
Tromsø ✈ Oslo ✈ Copenhagen
Accidental Aurora
I was out around Tromsø last night taking photos (the weather forecast was not looking good, so we decided not to try another light hunting tour), and this photo was one of the last ones I took in the night. At the time I thought I was just taking a photo of the bridge, so was rather amazed when I saw the shade of green in the sky. Turns out that even if you can’t see the Aurora, they can still be lurking behind clouds, and visible to a camera.
The Other Northern Lights
We’ve been in Tromsø for the last few days. We’ve come this far north (we crossed the Arctic Circle to get here) so that we could see the Northern Lights, which was the inspiration for doing this entire holiday. No pressure though…
Life lessons from Norway
…a list in progress.
1. Everything is less fun when you can’t afford to eat.
Fjord and back
They say the journey is more important than the destination. When the journey is an eight hour round trip, then that rule certainly applies. On paper, yesterday’s trip sounded like it was going to be amazing – a bus trip through the valleys, a two hour ferry trip through the fjords, a winding railway up the mountain and then another train back to Voss. Sadly the reality was not quite what we’d been expecting.
Bergen
In England, wandering around the sixteen thousand historical sites we visited, we learned (inter alia) about the invading hordes from the North that preceded the invasion of the Normans. Obviously, our next stop was destined to be the home of said hordes, that is, Norway.
Transit
London ✈ Bergen
And in the end…
It’s our last night in London, and today has been, as expected, a whirlwind of more sightseeing. More history, more London streets, and the pedestrian crossings that cross them (well at least a specific one). But before I get there, let me backtrack through the highlights of the last few days.
Steyning
In the 1990s, my grandfather conducted some genealogical research and determined the following:
In or around 1853, a man with my surname set sail for the recently-founded colony of New South Wales. He apparently did so voluntarily (though I have ample evidence to support the theory that others of my ancestors were compelled in that direction). On arrival, he (again, apparently voluntarily) sired thirteen children, some nine or ten of whom survived to themselves reproduce. Thus were spawned pretty much all the Stennings you see around you in Australia today.