For the first few days in the Lapland, the weather went against all my hopes of seeing either the stars or the northern lights; the sky was completely covered in clouds, day and night.
On the third day, walking back from the center of Inari, I experienced almost a déjà vu of my first adventure here. Again pitch dark and again trying to survive the cold and the passing cars on the side of the road.
It was just 4 o’clock in the afternoon but already as dark as it gets.
Just moments before being rescued (once again) by Jussa’s father, I noticed a light in the sky. At first excited, I quickly realized it must just be a small hole in the clouds, from which a small spot of light was coming through – nothing like the clear sky I was hoping for.
It was just after dinner that the single spot was joined by a multitude of other lights.
Taking this as a sign, I started checking aurora forecasts regularly to keep an eye on the solar wind gauges. (Funny thing about the aurora forecast service: every day, a single guy, in Finland, checks the solar data, the sky and his gut feeling and updates the website with the forecast of the night.)
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Northern Lights
All posts tagged Northern Lights
The arrival in Rovaniemi was nice and smooth, despite my host not being around at the time (she was working as a nurse at the ER). Her brother was there and he kept me company in the evening. We tried out the house-sauna and afterwards jumped in the snow. Freezing amazing! (quite lame, I am aware.)
Delimitation of the Arctic Circle (the blue light) at the Santa Claus village
Rovaniemi is a small town where the highlights are the Arktikum museum, the art museum and the Santa Claus village just on the outskirts.
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Here I am, back to normal.
This has been an amazing trip; I met loads of interesting people, seen amazing places and got closer to the North Pole (one of my goals).
It was a very long trip but it was all worth it.
And finally, here are some of the pictures I have taken in Tromsø.
Right now, I’m on the train that will bring me to Boden first and then Umeå.
My return has begun; this has been an amazing trip.
Met so many friendly people and seen landscapes that are likely to be the most beautiful places I’ve had the chance to see in real life.
Tromsø is a quite small town; I believe the best of it can be experienced while being on one of several hills/mountains in a clear night.
With no artificial lights, the sky is breathtaking, especially if the Aurora pops up during the stay.
I’ll soon post some of the few pictures I have taken (I’ve seen most of the best landscapes from the moving train), just to actually share a part of the Arctic experience with you (yes, you).
Take care.
N.
13.56, Abisko station; 1500km away from Stockholm.
The sun has almost left the sky, only very dark isolated clouds are visible right now.
I left Luleå this morning, a very snowy morning, at 7.50; and passed by Kiruna at noon.
2 hours and I will be in Narvik (Norway), where I will, hopefully, see and photograph the Aurora.
The forecast seems to be on my side: a pretty much clear sky and high magnetic activity for tonight.
As I am typing this quick post, the sky is now dark; what an amazingly short day.
Bye for now.
N.
Here I am,
on a train that will eventually bring me to Luleå (Sweden).
I have left Göteborg on a very cold Friday and stayed a few days in Gävle.
This is finally my trip for trying to catch a glance of the amazing and colourful Norrsken. The forecast is against me and my plans, but I keep hoping.
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Hello,
I’m back and finally I found the chance to put myself here to update the blog a little.
This week has been quite not interesting, due to the weather and to the fact that my team and I took a week of vacation from the school project, I have not done much.
In fact lately here in Göteborg it has been raining and, sometimes, snowing quite a lot. With the omnipresent wind helping out, going out, even to just catch a bus, is a though adventure.
About me: I am quite good physically, even if emotionally is a whole another story.
Last week I finally started searching for information about a trip I’ve longed to plan and, of course, to do: go to see the Northern Lights (For whom who are not aware of them, or simply do not know what they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(astronomy)). They are also called Aurora, and since we are in the northern hemisphere they are called ‘Aurora Borealis’ (from Greek).
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