I really think that Spock had the right idea. It would have been great to be able to just teleport ourselves from one city to the next.
We spent the bulk of the day travelling from London to Tromso via Oslo. And to top it, we had booked a Northern Light tour for the evening. We figured that if we did this on the first night, we could learn where to look, and go looking for them again later.
Asbjorn, our Northern Lights Tourguide, also booked us a car, so we could drive ourselves to his house. This would be Tertius' first driving experience outside of South Africa, and started with trying to fit four rather large suitcases into a Toyota Auris. This may not sound like such a difficult thing to have to do. Except that the ground was covered with ice, which meant that, hard as Tertius tried to use force to make space for more suitcases, he just kept slipping on the ice.
We found our accommodation quite easily, and after a short breather, we set off to go find Asbjorn, and hopefully some Aurora Borealis. This time we suspect we added some additional detours to the suggested trip, but managed to find our way in the end, including the ferry ride required to get to Lyngseidet.
Nicole spotted it first. A weird movement in the sky. Surely not? Then Frances spotted it on her side of the car. By now, Tertius was freaking out. He had to keep his eyes on the road! What was he missing? It felt like forever before he could stop and we could all get out of the car. And there it was. Waves of green light moving gracefully across the sky. We were looking at the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights! It was freezing cold out there next to the road, but I don't think any of us really felt anything at that point. Other than complete awe. It is impossible to explain to anyone just how special it is to be able to see this exquisite dance of nature.
Asbjorn took us to an area where the city lights were not infringing on the arctic darkness. He was hopeful that we would see more 'lights'. We did, although we did not see them as beautiful as the ones we saw on the road. It is quite weird. You can see them building up in the sky. They look a bit like light cloud formations. And if you set your camera to a long exposure, they actually end up showing up green on the photo. We considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such clear green lights earlier though.
We escaped the cold for a while for supper at Asbjorn's house. His wife had made fish soup with bread, followed by coffee with traditional norwegian biscuits. We were very happy to have warmed up a little. By now some clouds were building up, and because you cannot see the Northern Lights when there is cloud cover, we decided to call it a night, and head back home, a two hour drive away.
Today I shared something exceptionally special with my children. I am eternally greatful that I was able to give them this.
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