If you’re ever lucky enough to see the true Northern Lights….you’re lucky enough! This feat has been on my Bucket List for many, many years…BUT I hate the cold. So I had to make up my mind, the experience would be worth freezing for a short time. And, it absolutely was worth every minute!

We started our expedition in Tromso, Norway. The entire country is less than 6 million people, and Tromso is a small town in the far north with only 80,000 people. Finland is slightly larger than Norway ….and Sweden is the largest of the 3 countries. 2/3 of Norway’s population….most of the wealthy live in the south. There are
23,000+ islands to explore if you can handle the Arctic cold🥶. Actually,
Norway is warmer than Finland or Sweden.

On arrival in Tromso, we found that Finnair had demolished Cecilia’s suitcase and damaged mine. Great start!🤪. We weren’t too happy with the Air B&B that first night, but as time passed, we became more comfortable and when we woke to daylight and saw the spectacular view of the Fjord in our front yard, our attitudes quickly improved.

Our first day out, included a parking ticket (we can’t read the language) and a lunch of fresh cod … so tender it melted in your mouth. I will mention, there’s a parking app called EasyPark and it marks where you are and allows you to set the time you’d like to pay for…. Very convenient. No physical ticket required. And, if you need more time, you can add minutes directly from your phone. Really cool app. Next was an exciting adventure to the grocery store where we couldn’t find ranch dressing but I did pass the course on how to use a bread slicer…all the breads were fresh baked.

Second day led up to us booking our first hunt for the Northern lights. We were among the luckiest because we actually saw them within a few minutes of our arrival to a dark spot at a lake a couple hours south of town. The small campfire, reindeer soup (😩)and hot chocolate were lifesavers to help keep us warm as we spent a few hours admiring, photographing, and learning about why the lights are different colors and the fact that the green color with some magenta are the “true” Northern Lights because of their distance from earth.

One evening, after we were all in our pjs, Connie decided she wanted to drive about an hour further north to see if we could get some more shots of the Lights. Obviously, I couldn’t let her go alone, so I pulled on TR’s oversized jogging pants (the only really warm pants I could find when packing since my house had flooded and everything warm I owned was packed by the movers and in storage). We did get a few shots, but I have to admit, being out in the freezing weather in the total dark in a foreign country was a little scary for moi.😳

Some simple facts about Norway….

*Free health care and most of your education..unless Dr, lawyer etc

*Can’t drink in public… only government stores can sell it and there were only 3 in the entire Tromso area… and they can’t sell on Sat night or all day Sunday. So of course, we stocked up on the wine and Jameson day 1.

*Spiked tires in winter instead of chains – which requires you to have 2 sets of tires and get them changed over in summer…pain in the butt.

*Kids learn to ski at 3 and it’s a required course in school

*Reindeer – only 1/2 of them are wild …herds can roam free- you can only hunt them in certain seasons. No predators in Norway like wolves or bears…with the exception of the Polar Bear further north than we stayed.
Some moose – and they are always wild and dangerous.

We did spend one day going to a nearby island to see multiple fjords and a beautiful waterfall. We ended up on a white coral beach having a picnic….yes, it was windy and freezing…but the troopers we are, we survived and took some beauty shots😉

Well, time’s up here….moving on the Finland for 10 days.

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