Tromsø is another rare long port visit, but I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to explore the city in the dark and rainy night – at 2:30 in the afternoon (see the first photo below, snapped at that time of day). Instead, I shopped in the stores in the ferry terminal, requiring only a brief foray into The Weather and buying all of my trip gifts in one fell swoop. I asked the kind clerk who helped me fill out the tax refund form how she feels about the total darkness. “It’s very hard for me,” she said, tears welling, “I need to buy one of those lights.” She spent a semester in southern England and was confused by its bright wintertime. I do not consider the English winter bright; I cannot begin to imagine what fulltime life up here is like. Icy rain; icy streets; darkness at midday. Yikes. Although I now get why there are so so many knitters around here; it’s a warm distraction.
Speaking of rain, it does not bode well for a date with the aurora borealis.
Live all you can (hopefully in daylight); it’s a mistake not to.
Holy Moley! Gives one some perspective…🇳🇴🌴🏄♀️🍸
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Yeah, sure does. Gives “lucky you live Hawaii” more punch!
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So very hard to imagine darkness all the time. But beautiful and they make it that way, very humbling.
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I definitely will not be considering moving to this area!!!! Give me bright light, please.
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Wow–I can’t keep up with you and all your fantastic pictures. I’m shivering just reading about the cold. i cruised through Prince Christian Sound in Greenland a few years ago in August (!) and caught a terrible cold because I stayed out on deck too long with my camera.
On another note, have you looked through your window from the other side? I thought I was in an exposed room but discovered I had a one-way window.
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The cold I am handling (so far); it’s the dark that’s hard. Yes, I did try a peek into my window and it is very much two-way. This is also obvious by the many people who stare in, quickly avert their eyes, or even salute me through the window!
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