Northward to Norway

Random Fact: My FIL likes to sing "Northward! to Alaska!" whenever it seems appropriate--which means whenever North is mentioned. 

Well, Mark and I went North.

This is the library.

While the main goal of this (finally successful!) Norway trip was to see the Northern Lights, and we theoretically could have done that in Alaska, Norway is more exciting. Any out-of-country travelling is exciting, because you get to see a much different culture, lifestyle, and maybe even foreign-language use that really makes the experience more memorable.

For example, neither Mark nor I could pronounce any of the towns we went to, or read any of the road signs we passed. [Important note: while basically everybody in Norway speaks English, the road signs--at least in Northern Norway--are exclusively in Norwegian, and most museum exhibits/menus/library book collections have limited English translations/options]. 

I've been to Norway before, but it was southern Norway and 10 years ago, so I didn't mind a second trip.

I'm standing at Tromso. Mark is standing at Stavanger

General observations this time round:

• Norwegians are [in general] very friendly and helpful.
• All of the street signs in the city of Tromso could use some SERIOUS examination to make sure they are a) present; b) not covered by stickers thus making them illegible; and c) prominent. Even with Google Maps it was difficult to identify where we were. Actually, road signs may be a problem throughout the north, because most of the signs we saw were illegible because they were covered in snow.
  
  
  
• The weather is pretty changeable, but I'll note that the changes were mostly rain-to-snow. We didn't see a patch of clear sky for probably 7 of the 10 days we were there, and we only saw the sun on one of those [partly the lack of sun is because we were in the Arctic Circle, and it's winter, so very short days].
• Bertha's Bakery seems to supply all of northern Norway with sweet baked goods. Our hotel, the grocery store, tour groups--that company's mark was everywhere. Fortunately, tasty.
• There is a higher percentage of crazy exercise people up there. Norwegians are riding bikes in blizzards, running with crampons in ice and snow, skiing in snowstorms...but always wearing something reflective, so I can't say they completely ignore safety.
• The main economic drivers of northern Norway seem to be fishing, tourism, and snow removal. They employ a lot of people to deal with the snow.

This post, btw, is intended to be one of many. There are too many things we did and pictures we took to crowd them all into one. It's not that I doubt your attention span; I doubt my ability to write coherently for that long of a post.

:)