And yes, of course, to attend my brother’s wedding, which undoubtedly weighs more importance (hmmm nah). This might be the “the most exciting one”, unless I happen to decent Mount Everest alive. After successfully completing a one month long visa-approval havoc, we boarded a big commercial flight, endured hours long layovers and finally landed in front of my brother. Read ahead to get a taste of Northern lights, reindeers, seals, and a lot more!
Highlights of the Trip:
Northern Lights Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’ll get to watch the Northern lights dance its way through the Scandanavian sky. You could describe it as mythical or unearthly because I felt like being inside a sci-fic movie! Well, not sci-fic, but I did get the The Polar Express vibes. Imagine looking up at the dark starry sky and watching a pinkish-green stream of thick vapour floating through them. Bizzare right? Northern lights or aurora polaris, as it is sometimes referred, is one of the most unpredctable natural spectable. And I witnessed it! You can read more about it here. The viewing conditions and timing depends on the weather, how clear the sky is, and also, your luck.
The Night Wedding: I’m sorry if it sounds like Red Wedding (hehe). Well, it wasn’t exactly “night”, but Tromso gets roughly four or five hours day light in November. And you can say that they got married at a mid-noon-night hour. Plus, it was nearly Christmas and the streets looked magical with its snow and decorations. Annndd the best part is that my mother and I wore sarees at -2°!
What else you got, Tromsø ?
I think Tromsø deserves a better introduction. Because of its stable weather and unique location (over 300 km North of the Arctic Circle), it is said to be lady Aurora’s dance floor. The city also has the nickname “Gateway to the Artic” and is situated in the middle of the auroral oval, an area that has the highest probability of seeing the northern lights.
It is not just the best place to watch these mystical lights, but also one that can astonish you with the midnight sun, which is a phenomenon that occurs in the summer months.
Snow snow snow!!
Every Indian, especially a South Indian would get excited about the snow. And Tromso is enormously covered in snow! I must have weight at least 3 kilos more with all the extra layers of clothing.
Hey Mr Rudolph
You know how we love our cows? Reindeers have similar status in Norway. They are very shy and timid animals. You ought to be very gentle around them. We were fortunate to see a few in their natural habitat:
Polaria and Artic Cathedral
We visited Polaria towards the end of our trip. It’s noted as the world’s most northern aquarium which is mainly focused on educational experience. You get to watch four beautiful bearded seals getting trained and fed. As you can see, the architecture is also quite interesting.
The Artic Cathedral is another notable structure in Tromsø. It stands facing the Tromso Bridge, and is a familiar face in the city’s hot spots.
Fjords
Norway is synonymous with fjords. These are narrow water inlets with steep glacier steeps.
The lack of sunlight, or even proper daylight made the place look like it was closing hours. That was the only aspect I did not like about the place. But hey, that’s the specialty of this place. Sun’s gotta set!
P.S. This is a November 2019 story, long before COVID 🙂
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