Tromsø

Our last few days in Tromsø have been very relaxed. We've woken up and made the most of the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, we've been trying to get as far through the day without having to eat anything else. We've been mostly successful, only eating things like packet rice and cup-a-soups for dinner.
Iesha booked a Northern Lights hunting tour as a celebration for Ethan's final results being released while we were in Bergen. Unfortunately, even though the lights were very strong that night, we could barely see anything because there was a thick cloud bank that seemingly was covering the whole of northern Norway and even Finland. We caught a glimpse of some green through the clouds which just confirmed that there was an awesome being put on in the sky that we just couldn't see. There's always a silver lining though - on the way back we had to stop for a group of moose or reindeer crossing the road (we don't know for sure which they were but it was Ethan's goal for the night once it became clear that we weren't going to see lights).
The following nights have also been strong Aurora potentials only to be disappointed by 100% cloud cover again and again. Now get the idea of how most people feel on these trips. We're so very grateful for getting the displays on our first two nights here, some Norwegian photographers are calling them the best lights they've ever seen!
We've spent our days resting at the hotel and wandering around Tromsø. On our second last day, we went to the Troll Museum which was actually heaps of fun, especially for us because we love myths and learning about folklore. It was the museum we were hoping all museums would be like so far on this trip. We gave in to the gimmick and had a snack at the most northern McDonald's in the world. This was very consistent with our expectations (cold chips) but Iesha had a local McFlurry flavour which was quite nice. We also went to the Magic Ice Bar which is a cool little bar made completely out of ice (even the seats and glasses)! It's kept at a constant -7°C so we were giving some trendy ponchos to wear while inside. We noticed the drinks were all lightly coloured with mixers like Grenadine, Iesha said that would be the bar's trick to see spills when they happen.
On our last day we had a lovely seafood lunch and Iesha had been craving mussels so she finally got to have some (the biggest serve ever). All in all, Tromsø has been an interesting experience. We had 5 nights here which would have been not enough if we had clear skies every night (they get Auroras essentially every night the only concern up here is clouds), but as it happened there's not a heap to do around town and when the Lights aren't happening. This led to the biggest problem of the trip so far - Iesha has successfully gotten Ethan invested in Grey's Anatomy which he's managed to avoid up until now. It was a dream to get the displays we did on our first two nights, hopefully they're not the last of our trip!Read more