The Northern Lights

The main reason for our trip to Tromsø was to see the Northern Lights.  Due to bad weather I didn't get to see them in Iceland back in 2013.  So on Saturday night we went on a seven hour tour.

The Northern Lights, or the Aurora Borealis, is a light phenomenon when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the earth's atmosphere.  The bright, colourful dancing lights can be seen above the magnetic poles in the both the northern and southern hemispheres.  In the southern hemisphere it is called Aurora Australis.

We were driven to Sommaroy, about an hour away from the city where there wasn't any light pollution.

The thing to remember about chasing the lights is that you can't control the weather.  Sometimes the lights are visible around midnight and sometimes there's nothing to see.

The guides built a fire at our site and we were given tea and mushroom soup.  Followed by Norwegian cake, reindeer treats, a local brown cheese and marshmallows.

Unfortunately the tour was pretty much a bust.  A few people got pictures with their cameras but you couldn't see the lights with your eyes.  To me, that just doesn't count so chasing the Northern Lights remains on my list of things to do here in Euroland.  For try #3 perhaps I'll try Finland.  If that doesn't pan out then maybe I should just try the Southern Lights.