Leaving the Arctic Circle

We were lucky to have seen the Northern Lights on our first night in Tromso, for they did not appear again - presumably because of cloud cover. The downside to seeing them so early in our trip was that it was a sort of anti-climax, as we were left with no great sight to anticipate. Tromso is a magical sort of place for someone who has never seen solid snow before, and the surrounding mountains are breathtaking, but the great problem at this time of year is the few hours of sunlight, the weather and the fact almost every shop and restaurant is closed for Christmas. This meant that for a great part of each day we were confined to our (albeit very nice) hotel, entertaining ourselves with ever more competitive games of Uno! As Simon said, the experience had the slightest touch of The Shining to it, thankfully minus the sinister spiritual presence! 

From Tromso

We were able to find one restaurant outside of our hotel that was open Christmas Eve - the hotel next door! On offer was a traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner - buffet style - including salted lamb chops, pork ribs, Christmas sausage, salmon, spiced cabbage and a lot more. Each of us ate more than our fair share, complemented by a Christmas beer from the local brewery (Mack's)!

Sadly it rained almost all night, washing away the snow so that Christmas Day was not white. We dined in the restaurant hotel for Christmas lunch. Rebecca, Simon and I all went for the reindeer (yes, we ate Rudolf!) and were rewarded with tender, flavoursome meat. Rebecca and Danny even came bearing gifts, which helped bring a little more Christmas to the occasion.

On our final day in Tromso (Boxing Day) we got to see bearded seals (see Simon's photo) and a panoramic film of the Arctic at the Polaria museum before being treated to the sight of snow falling while tucking into pizza at the Norwegian equivalent of Pizza Hut (Peppe's Pizza). The day ended with a snowfight and beer!

A 4am start on Saturday for the first flight out of Tromso. It had been snowing most of the night and the city was covered in a thick, white coating. We were a little worried the snowstorm might prevent us taking off, but no fear, the airport was well set up for this with a de-icing vehicle that sprays aircraft with a special liquid to prevent snow and ice from sticking to the body and wings.

Each of us chose window seats one behind the other and were greeted by a gorgeous red sunrise after takeoff. As we headed south and into daylight high above the clouds, I have never so appreciated sunlight and its natural warmth. Tromso was a great place to visit, but I don't think I could survive the long winter nights!

 

I was glad to get back to London, although something is amiss when you start thinking the UK capital is reasonably priced. I suppose that's what happens after you've just paid the equivalent of £3.50 ($7 Australian) for a bottle of Norwegian water!

North to Norway

I have just seen the Northern Lights. I cannot believe how awesome they are. I even cried a little! Backtrack a few hours ... 4am today I was out of bed, trying desperately to ignore my winter cold as I headed to Stansted Airport for the three-and-a-half hour flight to the city of Tromso in northern Norway. Tromso is about as far north as you can fly directly from the UK and is within the Arctic Circle. This means we are hoping for a White Christmas!

I'm here with three Australian friends who are all based in London ... we figured we might as go somewhere for Christmas seeing as our families are tens of thousands of kilometres away!

Views from the plane of snow-capped peaks were a great prelude to our arrival in Tromso. Stepping out of the plane onto the icy tarmac (-3C), we were surrounded by mountains and twinkling lights from snow covered houses across the harbour. It was like a scene from a fairytale. The sensation of crunchy snow underfoot was entirely new and exciting.

We dumped our stuff at the hotel (which, by the way, has amazing views of city lights nestled beneath great mountains) before taking a look around. Thoughts of lunch in a cafe were quickly dumped in favour of takeaway from a convenience store after acknowledging that warnings of Norway being expensive were well founded, even by London standards! To give you an idea, a Burger King burger and a glass of beer in a pub were about £5 each (that's more than $10 Australian). Ouch! 

It is a little disconcerting to find yourself in the dark at 2:30pm, but that's what happens this time of year this far north. You don't even get to see direct sunlight because of the high mountains surrounding Tromso. I blame the early sunset for my run-in with a footpath - I managed to slip on the ice and fall on the ground!

In the evening we joined an organised tour out of town to attempt to see the Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis. Some of our fellow tour-goers were heading to the same location for dog-sledding, so we also got to see about 200 Alaskan and Siberian Huskies up close. While playing with husky puppies, the guide pointed out a subtle, green cloud-like light in the sky - this was the Northern Lights. Sometimes this is as good as it gets, but gradually the light seemed to grow in intensity and size. Within about 30 minutes we were twirling around finding the lights in different parts of the sky. Then came the climax, as the lights began streaking, rippling and moving across the sky, appearing all around in different patterns and with subtle hues complementing the dominant green. A veritable feast for the eyes! It was an extremely moving and profound experience that brought at least two of us to tears. You need clear skies and a bit of luck, but I highly recommend trying to see them if you ever get the chance!

Drinking culture

I have written before about the drinking culture in the UK (or is it just London?), but it never ceases to amaze me. Thursday night was our work Christmas party (apparently Thursday was THE night for work functions across the city, even though it means going to work the next day) and as expected, most people had a merry time and overindulged (myself included). Fair enough. Friday was our team's work Christmas lunch. Now, had I been back in Australia I might have expected everyone to be taking it easy and trying to get over their hangovers with plenty of water and soft drinks ... far from it (although chowing down on delicious curries certainly helped), we were straight back on it - with more than enough BYO beer and wine to keep everyone's glasses full for the entire afternoon. And no one batted an eyelid because it's just the way things are done here. And if that wasn't enough, we capped the afternoon off at the pub! Makes Aussies look soft!

Dodgy District Line

The Tube is a marvellous thing ... when it's working that is. The District Line, which takes me directly to Westminster, has proven rather troublesome. Last week I got as far as Whitechapel (all of 2km!) before being held on the platform for 20 minutes or more because of a fire alert at the next station and then having the train withdrawn from service and the whole line suspended!

The very next night I boarded a District Line train at Westminster for the journey home and got exactly nowhere ... the train was held at the platform and subsequently the line was suspended again! Most frustrating. This forced me to take the Jubilee Line, whereupon I had my first encounter with an aggressive/rude traveller. Given that the train was jam-packed (nothing unusual) I had to squeeze through to get off and change to the Central Line, and must have accidently pushed a fellow commuter. This young man gave me quite a push and started swearing profusely at me ... I don't understand why people have to be so aggressive? What happened to courtesy and understanding? He clearly had some sort of chip on his shoulder!

Groovy Greenwich

Today I jumped on the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) for a trip to nearby Greenwich, famous for its colourful art and craft market. Greenwich is an atmospheric village with quaint old-world charm. 

The BBC promised it would be sunny ... instead it was overcast and freezing! Thankfully the market came to my rescue with its array of food stalls covering cuisine from all over the world. I went for a plate of Ethiopian vegetable dishes, steaming hot, delicious, filling and (relatively) healthy! 

Taking a stroll through the Old Royal Naval College was like going back in time - horse-drawn coaches clogged dirt roads as people in period costumes went about their business. It was being used as a setting for a feature film!

Next stop the impressive National Maritime Museum (grateful relief from the chill), where the collection included a gold pocket watch retrieved from a drowned passenger aboard the Titanic. Its rusted hands show the time when its owner entered the water. Eerie! There was also an original ticket for a trip on the Titanic's fateful journey - luckily the ticket-holder had to change his plans!

Final stop was the Royal Observatory ... home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian (0 degrees of longitude). After climbing a steep hill you are rewarded with fantastic views of Canary Wharf and east London. Here you can straddle the Prime Meridian (it's the touristy thing to do!) and learn about time keeping and navigation in Flamsteed House.