Oslo

Flying in Norway is super easy! Self-check in and doing your own bag drop is a great idea, especially when you get to play with the barcode zapper...ptchuuuu! The only trouble is that James bought the wrong train ticket to to the city so we have a bit of a wait. When we get to the hostel it's definitely got the best facilities and we even get a private bathroom (it is much more expensive that the other places though so we think it's only fair). No night out for us tonight since it's £8 a pint so it's a studenty tea of cheese and beans on toast and some films on TV.

Time for some sight seeing today so what can we do for free... first stop tourist information for a handy map with a useful phrase or two: James makes Christine squirm by saying to her "Hei snuppa" (hey babe) a bit too much! We find the Nobel Peace Center in a nice spot by the water front and spend a while checking out the native art decorating the city hall. The art is a series of massive carved wooden pictures showing the mythology of Norway. It's a bit violent!

The nominations are in...And the winner is...

Here comes mighty Thor

The next stop is a walk up to the fortress and castle where we get a good view of the fjord.

Kaboom!

James is caught out playing in the snow, possibly chasing his tail?

Don't jump!

Guarding the fortress against the riff raff (that'd be us)

Behind every man, is a giant ass woman...

We've underestimated the weather so we go back to the hostel for more clothes and a flask of tea (Norway, you've changed us!) before going in search of the number 1 tripadvisor activity which is walking on the opera house. It's a weird building supposedly shaped like an iceberg and in the winter it's a death trap walking on it since it's made of smooth Italian marble. Great idea Oslo! It's a good view from the top out across the fjord and the other way over the city but it sure is cold.

Opera house or ice berg (or death trap)

Random iceberg sculpture in the harbour

We didn't want to smile but we got frozen like that

Look. Over there. Isn't that awesome?

Next it's off to the cathedral which isn't that impressive compared to others in Europe. As James pointed out "that's just a church" so we keep walking. The map suggests going to the 'hip' areas of town and we're glad we did, lots of second hand and vintage shops to rummage around which means Christine can stay in budget buying James' birthday presents. After a bit more strolling it's that time again - food and films back at the hostel.

James meets a real superhero

Save me Captain America, they're trying to steal my shopping!

The next day sees us walking in the other direction towards the royal palace. It's grand and we like the idea of the King just going out for a stroll in the city. Lizzie, why aren't you a bit more sociable? We keep walking towards Vigeland park full off interesting (and mostly naked) sculptures and manage to find the famous 'Angry Baby' statue.

A grand day out

It's a boy!

No I won't wear a nappy!

Wrestlemania: Oslo edition

The pinnacle (literally) of Vigeland Park - The Phallus!

Pile-on!

Christine finds a kindred spirit

We've had a lot of walking today so we treat ourselves to a tea in a wooden tea house before braving the cold again for a walk round the harbour. The sun is setting and its a beautiful view out across the water. It would be lovely to win the lottery and afford to have a meal with that view but it's more curry at the hostel for us!

Scenic harbour views, lovely.

Sunset over the fjord together

A romantic evening stroll. A bit cold though, brrr.

Rudolph goes bad-ass!

"Blow me far away to the northern lights" (It's a Super Furry Animals song, have a listen to it)

This is it, the moment all three of us have been waiting for, the hunt for the northern lights!

Landing in Tromso we feel weird, it's 11.30am but it's still dark. The city looks incredible; as we fly in as it's all lit up showing the shape of the coast. We quickly realise that this is as light as it gets in Tromso so we'd better get used to it, which might be tricky since we have a hard enough time getting up normally!

12pm and the lightest we saw Tromso, it didn't last long.

Excited and hopeful to see the lights.

Awww bromance.

Pretty church.

The Arctic cathedral.

We all want to do a northern lights chase where a guide drives you around to the most likely places to see the lights. The lady at Tourist Information seems quite eager for us to go tonight so we book our tickets before going for a snooze before the chase. At 7pm we meet our guide Karrina who explains that she will take us to the best places to see the lights: it has to be a clear sky with no artificial lighting if we want the best chance to see it. We're all very excited as is the rest of the bus, we get chatting to some Australian girls who are just as giddy as us to see the lights. They tell us that someone they met yesterday is going up in the cable car to try and see the lights over Tromso, that's one for us to remember! Driving along different roads for hours we are disappointed that the sky isn't clearing up for us, we both have our faces pressed against the windows looking out for any sign of the lights. Alas, no luck yet. Karrina stops for a bit, gives us some homemade apple cake and tea before driving us all the way to the Finnish border. The sky still isn't clear but we all have fun in the snow using bum sledges and have our picture taken with the Finland sign. Its so weird standing in the middle of a road that just disappears into the darkness in both directions. On the way back to Tromso, Karrina stops the bus. She thinks she's spotted the lights! We all pile out but can't see anything. Karrina explains that sometimes the lights are there but can't be seen by the naked eye (boo!). People with fancy cameras get some vague green sky pictures and we think we might see a strange haze in the distance but we're not going to count this as seeing the lights, we want more! It's 3.30am before we are dropped off in the centre and although we didn't see the lights we know Karrina tried her best for us. We've got to try again another night, but can we afford to?

Waiting for Karrina to take us on the hunt.

At least we got to visit Finland!

Today we catch up on our sleep before having a walk through the town. Christine is first to fall victim to the ice and gracefully lands in a heap on the floor, ouch! We go to the northernmost brewery for a Northern Lights and an Arctic beer and then decide it's dark enough to jump on a bus and head for the Fjellheisen cable car for the view over Tromso. It's a very pretty sight and since it's much clearer than last night we can see some stars. Suddenly we spot a misty spot in the sky, could it be the northern lights? Yes! They're not very bright but we can definitely see them and are able to get a few photos of them and we're very pleased with ourselves. It's not quite the spectacular event that we've seen on TV but there're no camera tricks and we're actually here with them! A few minutes before we have to get back in the cable car and the lights disappear, did they play out especially for us? Back down in the town we're all on a high, we've seen them! Time for a celebratory beer (despite the prices!).

The northernmost brewery deserved a visit.

Don't listen to him Mr polar bear, I'm not a real seal!

A cable car to the top of the mountain, will we see the lights?

A beautiful view of a beautiful city.

There they are!

Right over the city 

Ian is chuffed.

And so are we!

Christine is dedicated to getting the perfect shot.

Elvis gets in on the action.

Still on a high the next day we float to the northernmost teashop, Tanty Ingers, and each have a lovely cup of tea. Ian asks Aunt Inger for some advice about seeing the northern lights and she gives us some great tips so we can avoid paying loads for another chase. The weather is poor tonight so we'll try some spotting tomorrow. Next we go to the Polaria to see some bearded seals and other weird sea creatures...hang on, where's Ian gone? Oh, the ice has claimed him too and he's sat on his bottom in the middle of the road, it must be James's turn next. The Polaris is great and in their panoramic cinema we are shown videos of Norway's nature (flying over Svalbard was top) and the northern lights (hehe, already seen them!) as well as being treated to a seal show. As the weather is poor we go back to the apartment where the fellas cook a gorgeous curry and Christine makes herself useful by, errrr, err mm... being the DJ.

Ooh we do love a good brew.

"Shall I be mother?"

Proof that we were at the northernmost teahouse.

The Polaria (taken during the day!)

Poser!

Just chillin'

Can you sea cucumbers?

Psychedelic seaweed.

We thought this fish was on it's side until we noticed where it's other eye was. Weird fish.

'Ello mate!

I'm the king of the castle!

It's a bit snowy in Tromso.

There isn't much to do in Tromso during the day so we go shopping to prepare ourselves for the amateur lights hunting that we have planned for tonight. Flask? Check! Tripod? Check! Here we go...
On the advice of Aunty Inger we make our way to Ersfjordbotn via 2 public buses, climb/fall down an icy hill and sneak behind a little wooden hut. A film crew have beat us to it and picked the best spot and as they are using a fish eye lens we can't go any further which is a bit of a pain as the rest of the fjord has street lamps surrounding it. A french couple who had joined us decided to drive to another spot but before he left the guy said "We travel to see what makes the world beautiful", very nicely put. We decide to stay where we are even though it's a little light.
After an hour we notice a misty spot in the sky, we know from Karrina that this could mean the northern lights are coming to play. While Ian and Christine stare intently at the misty spot James points behind them and says "What about that over there?" Turning around we're gobsmacked, there they are! They start moving and changing at one side of the mountain before expanding to cover most of the sky with a tornado shaped light going into the fjord between the mountains. They are dancing all around us, we don't know which way to look! They put on a show for about half an hour, it's amazing and everything we could have hoped for. We missed the bus home but who cares?! After celebrating with a cup of tea we get a taxi to the centre and a bus to another good northern light spot in the mountains away from the city lights, we're not finished yet! We see a faint line going into the mountains but it doesn't get much stronger and we're running out of tea so we decide to walk home across the bridge and back to the main island. After the spectacle earlier it doesn't even matter, we're buzzing. We hope the French couple got to see an amazing show as well.

These pictures are all in order so you can see how much the lights changed and grew:

The second location.

The next day we have time to kill before our flight and what better way to kill it than to go and say a huge thank you to Aunty Inger at her teashop for her excellent advice. This time we try some of her homemade cakes which are delicious. She seems thrilled that we saw the lights and is happy to pose for a photo with us. We leave the teashop and guess what? The ice claims it's final victim, bye bye James, enjoy your icy bottom! It was only fair that we all experienced a fall during the trip. At the airport we hug Ian goodbye and look forward to our next stop...Oslo.

Thank you Tanty Inger!