Norway? Yes way.

It was the start of January, nearly five months since first arriving in Spain. Despite days of below freezing and terribly cold windchills (Spain-wise), I still hadn't seen snow. So where does one go to guarantee seeing snow?

The Arctic Circle. Of course.

I began my three-week solo journey across Europe with a few nights in Tromso. (Why, exactly, did I pick Tromso? I can't tell you - I don't know.) The tiny, snow-covered town sits on an island in the very far north of Norway, making it much colder than Spain, but surprisingly not as cold as Canada's prairies. At only 1C during the day and -10C (at the absolute coldest) at night, I survived with layers of leggings, sweatpants, and rain-pants as my space-saving alternative to snow-pants. (Yes, it's a lot of pants. But it was still magically less bulky than snow pants.)

Although so many pants & sweaters were needed, one thing that stayed in the suitcase was my sunglasses. In the winter, Tromso sees only a few hours of daylight, if any. And by daylight, I mean the completely black sky turns into dark blue for a while around lunchtime but you never actually see the sun. Quite truthfully, you don't see this as grim or depressive until you actually see the sun again.

My highlight of Tromso and the reason why many tourists make the trek so far north was the northern lights - the famous, green, glowing aurora known around the world for being so magically enchanting. With our layers on, cameras charged & hot chocolate inside the thermos, myself and eight others from my hostel hopped on a van, headed on a hunt for those green, glowing skies.

We drove just over two hours east of Tromso, eventually hitting the border to Finland. I shouldn't even say "hitting" the border. We just crossed it... as if we were just going from one province to the next, not one country to the next. Thankfully though, Finland made a perfect break spot to start a campfire, roast some marshmallows and see if those lights would show up. (Mind you, the Finnish guard did stop us on the way home...)

Low and behold, we saw our light show! Not as much as we had hoped, due to a strong storm coming in. In fact, just our eyes even had trouble seeing the lights. For our eyes, it looked like dark green against navy or black. Only our cameras, set with 30s+ exposure times, and sitting on tripods, were able to see the lime green glow.

Unfortunately, all that came to our little site for lights had disappeared with the storm's wind within half an hour. On a hunt for more, we re-loaded into the van, exploring more of Finland, and eventually Sweden. Another hour showed no signs of success, and our "in-house" meteorologists suggested that the storm had won this time. (Though, not without a few good turn-outs on my first try photographing the Northern Lights!)

With so many more adventures awaiting, such as snowmobiling, reindeer feeding, and snorkeling with whales, I am already dreaming about my trip back. As well, Tromso has designed its area to prevent over-tourism, meaning that all of its greatness can be preserved for many, many years to come!

After Tromso, I found myself in the slightly warmer, and (thankfully) much sunnier city of Oslo. With only one full day here, I made sure to make full use of my time. I explored the marina, Frogner Park area, and Karl Johan's Gate. But my favourite part? The Opera House! The Opera House in Oslo is uniquely designed so that you can climb to the top of it, seeing a gorgeous view of the city and coast once you reach the viewpoint. The only performances I saw at this opera house were of people slipping and sliding their way up and down the icy slope. Great late-afternoon entertainment - I would recommend.

As the first legs of my three-week trip, Norway treated me very well and left me filled with excitement to continue traveling, as well as dreams to someday return. I highly recommend this Scandic country to anyone with a good set of winter boots and a love of the outdoors!

Until the next post,
Al