Norway remains third in the ranks of most-depicted country on this blog, behind only England and Australia, but it’s a while since I’ve been there — four years and ten months in fact (26/4/2018 was its last appearance). I should rectify this. In the meantime, it seems as if Norway is willing to come to Hebden Bridge: why this flag was planted in the square amongst the usual Sunday crowd of visitors, I do not know, but there it is.
95 of the shots on this blog have been taken in Norway, making it the third most-depicted country after England and Australia, but there have been none since I took off from Tromsø airport on the morning of 26th April 2018. I was supposed to be there now, probably I would have journeyed over yesterday, stayed until the weekend, enjoyed the 24-hour sunlight, and the company of friends and colleagues. I could have stood once more where these singers are, namely the balcony at the top of the cable car, on Storsteinen. But we are all prevented from doing these things, and life is diminished as a result. I appeared at the ‘virtual conference’ because I didn’t want to let down people that I respect and like — but I’m not going to be attending any more of them.
Always get a window seat… Last possible view of Tromsø after take-off, as a second or two later we were enfolded in the cloud stealing in from bottom right. Farvel indeed… until next time.
At 69ºN, the world’s northernmost city provides boats, sea, birds, snow…. all that jazz. My last day in Tromsø. Hopefully, not the last of all, though as of yet I do not know when I will be back…
One reason I have come back to Tromsø is to make an educational video, and the filming for that took all day. It ended with this alien apparatus hovering a couple of feet from my face, as Mark and Per-Frank look on. I think their intentions were benign. These are weird things, but effective — I’ve seen the rushes…
Busy day’s work at the University of Tromsø (the world’s northernmost university). Views snatched out of windows were my best option photographically, on what was a bright sunny day — as it always seems to be here when I visit. I am developing a reputation as a sun god among the locals. I like the shapes on this one.
Early flight home out of Tromsø. The first half-hour was spectacular: a panorama of seemingly endless white mountains, the tips tinted pink by the rising sun. Felt like asking for compensation from SAS as I had a rather grubby window beside my seat, but did manage to get a couple of tolerable shots. This one is impressive, first, because of the scale and prominence of the rocky towers on both peaks: measurable from the fact that the shadows cast by both are quite visible on the slopes behind (it’s clearer with the right-hand peak).
But I swear it was only later I realised how closely these resemble… well.. if you can’t see it, translate the title of the post out of Norwegian. Please tell me I’m not the only one that thinks this.
Storsteinen is the name of a 421-meter (1381 feet) summit not far outside Tromsø city centre and reachable by the Fjellheisen cable car. As far as my primitive Norwegian can establish, its name just means The Big Rock. Certainly a fine place for an excursion to pass the time on my last full day here on this particular trip — though I’m due back in about seven weeks.
Even including the picture taken on the summit of Kilimanjaro, and the ones in Moscow in January 2017, I nominate this the coldest of all the 2,386 pictures thus far. According to information on the Fjellheisen web site, it was -13ºC up there today. And I can assure you all that it felt like it.
Let’s have a change from snow and winter. I’m sure there will be more tomorrow. Almost exactly a year from when she was pictured at dinner on 10/3/17, on my first visit to Tromsø (the present one being my fourth), here is Helene again. I know she does a lot more than just eat dinner….
It’s nice to be able to walk to work in the morning, without the prelude of a train journey beforehand anyway. Even if it was ten degrees below zero in Tromsø this morning.
Being 42 