Norway- Part II = Tromsø

The view flying into Tromsø

Picture this: a Brazilian, from a city where the worst weather, in the dead at night in the middle of winter MAYBE gets as low as 10 degrees Celsius (about 50F), going to a place way above the Artic Circle in the middle of the winter, a place where the average temperature in the middle of the summer, is 11 degrees Celsius. I'll let you imagine what the average temperature in the winter is...

But I happen to have a friend there (and if you're thinking that I have friends EVERYWHERE in the world, yes, you're absolutely right, I'm lucky that way! :) ) so I wanted to go visit him... and the result is a Brazilian in the Artic Circle... :)

If I thought that Oslo was winter wonderland, I now know better... Tromsø is winter wonderland... :)

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Joar is there, although he moved so he looks a bit like a ghost... but he's real... really!

(This picture was taken close to the ocean, on the same pebbly beach where Joar took that much better picture with his family...)

It was very, VERY cold and the wind from the ocean didn't help at all, but it was beautiful... 

I took that picture when we were leaving... from inside the car cuz by that time I was already too frozen to have the motivation to get out into the cold again... 

The next night I insisted we go out in an attempt to see the Northern Lights.... we had gotten a LOT of fresh snow during the day... and this is where my slight obsession with snow-angels (already mentioned in the previous post) kicked into high gear... :) 

I've sunk in above my knees!!! 

Falling....

Like an angel... :) 

Happy! :) 

We had a good walk... unfortunately the ski did not clear... No Northern Lights for me... :(

The next day we walked around, had some tea, went to a photo exposition and then went to the Artic Cathedral... it's an awesome place to take pictures... 

This is it from the back...

I just love this picture! :) Possibly one of the best I've ever taken...

Well, unfortunately my time in Tromsø was VERY short, but it was SO good to see my friend again, and we had a great time... But I really wanted to see the Northern Lights and that didn't happen... I left 12hrs too soon because that night they showed up in full glory... you can see some of Joar's magnificent pictures  here.

But I guess that only means I'll have to come back next winter... ;)

Inspiration

That's it. I'm inspired. Just finished looking at some pictures from a friend who went to Colombia (and she's probably reading this... :) )and realized something: Traveling highlights the best parts of anywhere... including ourselves. You know that phrase that goes "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" that was eventually paraphrased into "Beauty is in the eyes of the beer-holder"? I'm going to paraphrase it again and say that "Beauty is in the eyes of the camera-holder."

As Christians, or actually, as normal people, members of the human race, shouldn't we aspire to see the best in people? Shouldn't we aspire to innocence and trust? Maybe I'm being naïve, and as a frequent traveler, I know we have to keep our eyes open and our purses close at hand, but how many people have I met on the road that actually had bad intentions? Not very many!! And how many TONS of people have I met who were helpful and gentle, smiling and trying to help the best they could?

Why is it that we only put the bad stuff on the news, and make it look like it's the rule, when actually, the large majority of the world is honest and caring?

Pictures have the ability to bring the best out of a scene, a country, an event. I want to travel and take pictures of people, to bring out the best in them. To open my eyes and see the beauty, not only of the world, but of the people in the world.



In the jungle, in northern Thailand... this lady was mute, but not deaf, and she was ALWAYS trying to help us weird silly foreigners who invaded her home... I was fascinated by her...