Lectures in Longyearbyen
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
8
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Longyearbyen,
Svalbard and Jan Mayen,
Norway
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The prices are a little better here because there are no taxes like on the main land. If I can just make it to the ship, I can start a tab on the American Express. At least most of the shops take American Express here, unlike on the main land. I think I might even get a circular polarizer. It would help my pictures and it is the same price you'd pay in the US, surprisingly.
In the morning we got up early and had breakfast. The breakfast here was slightly sparser than what we had on the main land. It consisted of the same stuff, though. It was quite busy. I guess Guesthouse 102 is a popular place.
I should say a little bit about Guesthouse 102. I'm staying in a room about the size of a dorm room. There are two beds, a coffee table, a small clothing organizer unit, and a sink. This place is pretty rustic. The beds are unmade and you have to put the sheets on them yourself. There are community bathrooms. The bathrooms are single occupancy, but shared by everyone nonetheless. The inside is rather drab and looks prefab, like I mentioned in a previous post. There is one long straight hallway on each floor (there are 2 floors). Each floor has a lounge area with a TV, some books, chairs, and a couple couches. Each floor also has a kitchen area, though only the downstairs kitchen is used in the mornings. It is located about 1.5 miles from the center of town up a slope. It is definitely not deluxe, but it does the trick.
We walked all the way down to UNIS (University Center in Svalbard). From my estimations on Google Earth and my handy GPS receiver, I think the distance from Guesthouse 102 to UNIS is about 1.7 miles as the crow flies. It is probably more like 2 miles taking the paths and streets. It was sunny today and warmer. It made the whole valley much more welcoming and less like the end of the earth.
UNIS was really nice. The University itself only has about 250 students, so it is not very large. However, it was built about 10 years ago. And like most things public works in Norway it is a deluxe building. We got the use of a 200 person lecture room, which had electronically controlled lights and screen.
John Hesse gave us a lecture on mercury toxicity in fish in the Great Lakes. He was active in banning mercury in household paint and some chemical plants. He also tied into how the native Inuit have high levels of mercury from eating fish, but to have them stop eating the fish would force them to change their entire way of life. Patrick Lederle gave the next talk. He lectured on how getting the polar bear to be listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act has far reaching consequences. For example, some groups were worried that listing the polar bear on the endangered species list is a backdoor into getting the government to have more stringent policy on global warming.
We had lunch at the UNIS canteen. They charged us about 650 NOK for all eleven of us to eat lunch. That is about the cheapest I've seen in this country.
We had one more lecture talk by the Norwegian Polar Institute's Chief of Operations, Ken Pedersen. He gave a quick talk on what the NPI does in the Arctic and Antarctic. It was pretty fascinating. He had to run because he was only in Longyearbyen for a couple hours while the research vessel he was on was in port to pick up some scientists.
After the lectures we went to the Svalbard Museum. The museum was really nice. It gave a great overview of Svalbard in general and Longyearbyen specifically. It went into some detail on the Russian role in Svalbard's history, which I had never heard before. It also went into each animal that was hunted regularly. The timeline covered went all the way up to recent times and the World Seed Bank. They apparently did have a section on the German involvement during World War II. Unfortunatley I missed that part. I picked up a nice guide to Svalbard and map of the archipelago.
We were done after the museum. Madison, Lindsay, Pat, John, and I went to the library to use the free wireless wifi. I took the chance to catch up on some email and travel blogs. The building the library was in stayed open until about 6:30, but the wireless was on all night. It is possible to get a signal outside of the building.
We walked up to Huset again for dinner. On the way we took a footbridge over some pipes and ended up in the middle of the moraine. Unfortunately, a stream blocked us from crossing the moraine totally. So we followed the stream up to a road crossing. I got some pictures of the mountains with the sun behind them.
At Huset I had the hamburger. It was kind of dry and had mayonaise, bacon, and some kind of cheese. It was not the greatest burger. It was big, though. After dinner we strolled back to Guesthouse 102. I got my glacier trip for tomorrow all set up with Trond. It was 550 NOK (~110 USD), which is not that bad for a 6 hour trip. Then I just chilled out in the lounge area until I got tired and went to bed.
