Spitsbergen Guesthouse Longyearbyen

... a medical check-up. These three seals are apparently the only bearded seals in captivity. After that we got some beers, the first few beers that we have been able to afford! These were the cheapest at 1 pound a bottle, and the cheapest that we have found so far. We also went for one more walk, but again no luck.<br><br> A nice and early start for our journey towards Boden, where we stayed the night before carrying onto Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland!

... Paris of the North". Various versions of how this nickname came to be have become imbedded in the mythology of Tromso. The most romantic seems to be that the fine women folk of the town wore finery that was the envy of the north, and every bit as fine as the fashions of Paris. But, pick your poison to continue on a theme.<br><br>Tromso is linked to the mainland by a well designed bridge measuring 1,016 metres. The volume of traffic on the bridge is such that a road tunnel has ...

... when you get into bed too - thank God for airline eyeshades...<br><br>We get on the boat tomorrow afternoon and are on board for 10 days. I think internet, email etc is very limited on board so we likely won't be in contact again 'till we're in Zurich - we arrive there the 15th August. <br><br>keep your fingers crossed for us to see lots of bears!<br><br>Hope you're all well out there!<br><br>love<br>D&amp;N.<br>x<br> <br>

... hyttystä! Voi huhhuh! Eihän tästä tule mitään... Samaan aikaan aurinko oli laskemassa ja tuli räpsäistyä muutama kuvasta upeasta maisemasta, jossa Kilpisjärvi kylpee punaisessa valossa Saana takanaan... Mutta voi kääk niiden hyttysten takia, äkkiä pois täältä! Lähdimme ja hetken päästä syy hyttysten paljouteen selvisikin: vieressä oli jättimäinen suo, joten se siitä.<br>Jatkoimme matkaa, mutta ei mitään harkittavaakaan paikkaa löytynyt. Jonkun ajan päästä pääsimme ...

... bedding, and a luxurious, albeit small, bathroom. WOW!!! <br> <br><br>Having never done a cruise like this I wasn't too sure of exactly what to expect. Certainly the cabin didn't disappoint. The rest of the ship was equally elegant. And although this tour was the most economical of those I researched, it was all inclusive: all meals, alcohol, tips, everything. Not that you can't spend money ...

... are in Longyearbyen because it is the northernmost city in the world and the jumping off point for arctic exploration.<br><br>At 78° North, Longyearbyen is 400 miles more north than Barrow, Alaska, the location of the giant Prudhoe Bay oil field on the North Slope of Alaska.<br><br>Here the sun doesn't set between May and August and doesn&#8217;t rise between November and February.<br><br>During our entire trip the sun will circle lazily in the sky 24 hours a day.<br><br>Here the ...

... which is very creative and impressive. We spent nearly an hour and a half in the building. The things I most enjoyed to do in the aquarium were to watch the bearded seals swimming around in the pool and to watch film in the Panoramic Cinema.The time we left Polaria was around around 3:30 PM, and the sky was almost totally dark.<br>We had a plan, that night, to stay out late to see if we can view the Northern Lights. The time when ...

... accents, and we ended up doing the same trip the next day, so I spent a fair bit of time in their company. The trip in question was by anybody's standards (and particularly Norway's!) a bargain. It cost a measly £40 and involved an outward bus journey through the Lyngen Alps, and a return journey aboard the luxurious (and normally very expensive) Hurtigruten, a large cruise liner that sails up and down Norway's west coast. I claimed the last window ...