No reason to sleep, really

I made this snippet at 1 AM one night, filming the surroundings of our rented flat. No photoshopping, that's the actual light. Of course, you can't see the sun itself in my hometown, the mountains surrounding it's too high - but go on top of them, or out to sea, and you will...

If you'd like to visit the same place in daytime, try this one.

Yes, I know, I was mumbling. Trying not to sound too mad out there ;)

Back!

... and the only things worth mentioning we forgot to bring north were - my address book (all cards written, but will be sent ... after tomorrow) and all the kids' tooth brushes...

Luckily one of my childhood friends is now a food store manager (or whatever it's called) and Saturday night = closed shop did, of course, not stop her from rushing to our rescue :)

All photos not yet uploaded, but a quick preview! Coming in the harbour of my hometown.

Going up north

In 24 hours, exactly, we'll be sailing in this harbour. According to the weather forecast, it will stay like this for a while still - hopefully they're right!
Looking the other direction, also at 9 PM, you can see the sun is still high. And it won't set until July 22nd - sunny weather or not...

Haven't been 'home' for three years! Can't wait to be back and breathe properly again...

Lofoten in wintertime

This is from Ballstad, a smack coming into the harbour.

And if you go here, you'll find a whole bunch of recent photographs from the same area. You wouldn't want to miss out on that, would you?

It looks like a postcard...

- But it's actually the view from my mum's balcony. And today is a gorgeous day, it seems (much unlike Oslo today)!

In case you're wondering, yes, that's the Atlantic ocean, or at least part of it, right there...

This morning - in Lofoten

My mum took this on her cell phone this morning, it's from home, Lofoten. I know, mum, sometimes I wonder why we've moved so far away too... But at least we'll be coming back in the summer :)

HAHA - that's positively hilarious!!

So the photo below will be changing as the days go by -- this one above will - hopefully - stay the same... It's from today at 11:30 AM. Now - satisfied, y'all? It ISN'T that dark...

UPDATE!! (was: "the polar night?")

Really, Rarity - as a Norwegian you should have known there was something wrong...

My below post was written exactly to show you how dark it ISN'T in daytime "polar night" -- but then, apparently, I must have linked to the actual webcam, and not to the photo from 11:18 --- thus giving you exactly the impression of dark as I wanted to rid you of...

I think that's precious...

Well, when daylight hits again, provided there's no rain etc. etc. I'll try to give you a static photo next time, to show you what I mean.. (Yes, if you double click the photo below you may be able to detect the time on top of it - saying, e.g. 23:20 - an hour in which darkness will reign in most hemispheres...)

****
This is right now (11:18 AM) in Henningsvær, Lofoten


So - the sun disappeared December 5th, to come back January 6th. But it's not that dark, is it? People (including Norwegians from further south...) tend to think it'll be pitch black all day. I just thought I'd show you that it isn't. Or - it doesn't have to be. (Whether it's there or here it will be dark and gloomy in bad winter weather...)

Similarities (or daydreaming..)

Top photo was taken by my mum on her new mobile. It's from Svolvær, Lofoten. The bottom one I don't know who took, but it's from Ipsos, Greece.

Different, but same. See?

Today

This is now, at home in Lofoten. It's cold, but impossibly beautiful.

Down here it's another humid, grey day, but with images like these... I can dream, can't I?

I'm so grateful this is where I grew up!

(These aren't postcards, some have been taken by my mum, some by me. And incidentally, our house is not in any of the pictures!)

Just thought I'd mention that you can see the view from Svolvaer harbour live on webcam here http://www.lofotposten.no/webkamera/. The top photo, that is - the other one's from further west (not my area..)

Different perspectives

When I was studying in England there were students from basically everywhere on campus. (No, not everywhere on campus, but everywhere in the world, staying on campus..)

Before end of term we'd discuss what plans we had. Most of us were going home to see our parents. Equally un-interesting, you may think. But, oh no! Myself I was going to Lofoten. (Which is beautiful, but not that warm...)

Others were going home to, say, Bali. Or Dublin. Or Greece, even Crete! And pretending it was just as boring as anything! Have they no respect? Admittedly, 25-year-olds don't, as a rule, find it dreadfully exciting going home to their families. But "having to go" to some Paradise or other, even if it's infested with family, how could I feel sorry for them?

Now, I would have given my right arm to be going "home" to Crete. (Just a thought, ok, I actually need both my arms..) My hubby's only flaw is that he is, in fact, Norwegian...