Around the World With Uncle Moose: Days 7-8: Tromsø and the Northern Lights

March 7: Tromsø

We arrived in Tromsø at about 1:00 PM and spent the afternoon wandering around the town. The daytime temperature was about 25 degrees, and there was a lot of snow on the ground. We had actually visited Tromsø in June, 1988 on an earlier trip to Norway. The weather was quite different then.

Tromsø in June 1988

Tromsø in March, 2019

Tromsø in 1988 (1:29 AM)

Tromsø (same spot), 2019 (about 1:29 PM)

We spent most of the early afternoon walking around Tromsø, visiting some souvenir shops.

My first opportunity to taste moose

Eastern shore of Tromsø, featuring the Arctic Cathedral

Central Tromsø

Even though the streets and sidewalks were covered with packed snow, walking (and driving by my observation) were pretty easy, because gravel had been spread everywhere.

Another view of central Tromsø from the ship

Bridge connecting the western and eastern parts of Tromsø

Central Tromsø at sunset (about 5:30)

I haven't mentioned the Northern Lights yet, because we hadn't seen them yet. For tonight we booked a tour from a local company, which involved a 2-hour drive out of town in a mini-bus to an isolated spot for aurora viewing. Of course, if the Northern Lights didn't show (which is usually a good possibility), it would have been a long bus ride to see nothing.

A view of Tromsø on our drive

Well, we hit the jackpot. As soon as we got off the bus, we looked up and saw this (the picture below and several others were taken by the tour guide):

Our first view of the lights

Those of us who had brought cameras and tripods immediately tried to set them up. However the temperature was 15 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were next to a lake with the wind blowing off of it. To top it off, we were standing in a foot of snow. It takes about a minute to set up for a shot, and after 15 seconds, both my hands and feet were freezing.

The first order of business was for our guide to take pictures of us in front of the aurora. This meant that she had to take a flash picture of us and then keep the shutter open for 20-30 seconds to get the aurora in the background, while we stood still.

They had built a bench out of snow and ice next to the lake and put reindeer skins on the bench. That's what we were supposed to sit on. I tried to take pictures (using the tripod) while sitting on the bench. Due to the cold, I was only able to take about 5 shots before my hands and feet got so cold, we had to go back and sit in the bus. Fortunately, we were able to see the Aurora pretty well from the bus.

Even though the auroras that you see in photographs are green, they actually appear white while viewing them in real time. Apparently they are a very pale green and taking a 30-second time exposure intensifies the color in the picture.

The aurora does slowly move, sort of like a cloud. Also, the stars were spectacular. The next few pictures were taken by our guide.

Despite freezing, I was able to get some good shots with my camera:

After about 20 minutes of sitting on the ice bench and trudging through foot of snow, my hands and feet were completely numb, and I had to go back to the bus, where I viewed (but couldn't photograph) the aurora. The light show ended after about 3 hours (11:30) and we made the long drive back to Tromsø. The guide said it was one of the best light displays she had ever seen in Norway. And it turned out to be the last (and only) good display during the cruise, even though we had clear skies on most nights.

March 8: Tromsø

For our second day in Tromsø, we booked an excursion to a reindeer farm from a local tour company. At the farm, they gave us buckets of food to feed to the reindeer.