Red Northern Lights

Recently received card for the Scandinavian RR, a fantastic red/yellow display of the Northern Lights. I always assumed that the Lights were visible in whole of Norway, with different time-span and intensity depending on region - but apparently on the very south that is Oslo region they weren't spotted for a long while, as Joerg is explaining here. Hope you get to see them this year Joerg! Esp as there is a Postcrossing Meeting on the 8th of December in Tromso - and any postcrosser can join in! It is my great wish to make this come true for myself too, as it is exactly on my birthday, and I love Norway...aah the dreams.....

Aurora Borealis - The Northern Lights In Norway

During the 1st Norway cruise we saw the Northern Lights peeking through the clouds, and only on one of the two nights; the rest was just enjoying the snow and anticipation. The second time around (phew!) it was the real deal, on the 12th of Feb I saw them sprawling across the sky; once they made a continuous streak all the way across the sky, and that's when you do the unstoppable exhilarated 'Woooow' :)

The place where we went for the search of the lights (where all the tours went) was pretty amazing too, there were open fires, tents, delicious home-made cakes and hot cocoa, plus a huge friendly and superfluffy samoyed :D They were actually two different spots but I am unable to retrogradely work out where exactly. In any case Alta is situated at 69°N, which is north of the Arctic Circle so yea 
pretty cool - in more ways than one :)!

And here is one of my photos...

Alta, Norway

The Northern Lights Cathedral - Alta Church. The building was constructed of concrete and wood with external cladding of titanium sheets. The central feature is the spiral with belfry. The interior contains art work by artist Peter Brandes.

The World Heritage Rock Art Centre - Alta Museum. Situated in Hjemmeluft, a small bay on Altafjord near the Arctic Circle, the museum is situated at the site of early settlement of Finnmark dating from around 11 000 years ago. 

Aurora Borealis In Lapland, Finland

I usually see postcards with green northern lights, seeing this one made me wanna have it instantly! Shame about the scratches left by the sorting machine :/ The matching stamp is a delight, thank you Marko!

I had such big plans about seeing Aurora Borealis this winter...but I went to the United States instead. Its a bit of a miss because in the last few years the lights were at their activity peak, which means they were visible even at the more southern places than usual. I speak in the past tense even though the winter is not over yet, because I know I won't be able to go see them before October, or November...but surely they'll still be on display for me at that time, so no probs :)

Icelandic Nature Delights

 

More views of the beautiful Iceland, images that we can easily associate with this enigmatic island of the far north: aurora borealis during the great solar storm in March of 2012, 40-meter-high Seljalandsfoss waterfall on the south, and eruption of the Fimmvorduhals volcano in 2010. Lovely stamps, including Europa :))