Thanksgiving in Norway

We celebrated American Thanksgiving this year with a cousins trip to Norway. Our cousins flew in all the way from New Jersey to meet up, and we stayed in a lovely cabin in Trysil, Norway, where the kids played and hiked and sledded, we cooked Thanksgiving dinner, drank gløgg, and caught up on each others’ lives. At the last minute we even opted to take a 2 day trip up to Tromsø, Norway, in the arctic circle, to try our luck seeing the Northern Lights. And saw them, and some whales too!

Everything about Norway in November looks magical – the skies, the snows, the lights and the early darkness. Pretty much I spent our trip photographing sunsets, sunrises, and sparkles.

Trysil

Our place in Trysil had a gorgeous view, and is a perfect skiing spot (if there is snow, which there was not during our visit). It also came complete with a sauna. Oooh, sauna. There was plenty of room for four kids and four adults and an entire Thanksgiving meal from planning to preparation to execution.

In the evenings we found ourselves sitting near the fireplace with some hot chocolate and chatting; it was so great.

On day 2 in Trysil, in the morning the sky just glittered with hoarfrost – it wasn’t exactly snowing, or sleeting, sort of just shimmering. Completely magical. It felt like a fairy tale. Walking through the nearby woods and along a small creek, seeing the frost covering all the moss, stones, trees, and grasses, felt almost otherworldly.

Another day, we had a double sun halo, complete with rainbows. Just incredible. I could have stared out the windows all day in Trysil, and never been bored.

Tromsø

In Tromsø, our main objective was to see the northern lights. In order to do so, we signed up for a Northern Lights Chase, which simply means that you drive in a charter bus as far as necessary, then sit outside for hours, until you see some aurora activity, hopefully. With the weather, there are of course no guarantees. Since the night was overcast, this was our best chance to see the northern lights, and, after a couple hours of riding in a bus, quite a long time of sitting on a beach in the freezing cold and wind, a lot of complaints and a dead camera battery (curses!), we saw them :).

The kids were amazed, even at 11:00 P.M. with complete and utter exhaustion setting in, and we adults were pretty ridiculously excited about it, too. Here are a few notes on what I’ve learned about chasing the aurora borealis:

1. what we saw looked different from the photos – in the sky the lights were much less green, and a lot less intense. This was due to the low activity on the night we were out
2. to get a good photo you need a long exposure – that’s why in my pictures the sky looks bright even though it was very late at night
3. to get good photos you also need a good camera and a tripod. As my camera battery died, we resorted to phones, which wouldn’t mount onto a tripod. This is why the photos are blurry
4. in the future, I feel relatively confident that we could rent a car and just drive north, get away from the clouds, and see the aurora

During over visit to Tromsø, another interesting arctic circle phenomenon took place- the polar night had begun. This happens during the winter within the arctic circle, and simply means that the sun doesn’t ever rise above the horizon. During our stay, the brightest the day became was similar to twilight; not pitch black, but not sunny or light out. Tromsø obviously is used to the long, dark winter days, and has a lot of indoor activities available for this reason. The Ishavskatedralen, the Arctic Cathedral, is emblematic of Tromsø, and its triangle can be seen from many parts of the city. Polaria, the aquarium, is another iconic structure, as is the city library. These are all places worth checking out while visiting Tromsø, particularly if you need a break from the cold and the dark.

We saw a lot of street art, which was fun to spot. And the Blåst glass blowing workshop was a beautiful stop as well.

We had some really good food – the adults actually got a night out, and we ate at a place called Skirri. I had a beautiful soup. So pretty that I took a photo. And in the morning we got coffee at Kaffebønna, and it was delicious and lovely, too.

We decided to go on a whale watching trip, and it was amazing! We saw orcas, lots and lots of them, which I’ve now learned are actually a type of dolphin and not a whale, and also 2 humpback whales. Watching them was really something.

On our last afternoon (so, so dark) we headed to the Tromsø University Museum, where the kids (and us) learned all about the indigenous people of Norway and Finland, the Samis. The exhibit explained Sami culture, folklore, and way of life, past and present. It got high reviews all around.

Oslo

On our way back to Copenhagen, we took the ferry from Oslo. We had a little free time, so we stopped to see the Gol Stave Church. The drive itself to Oslo was stunning, due to sunny skies and hoarfrost, and we pulled over a few times for photography’s sake.