Journal

In search of the Northern Light

Note

We Japanese refer to the northern light as "Aurora" which is a shorthand for it's scientific name "Aurora borealis".

Diary

February 18, 2001
Flew from Narita, Japan to Copenhagen, Denmark. We wanted to take this opportunity to do sightseeing in the land of Andersen.

February 19, 2001
My co-traveler wanted badly to see the "Little Mermaid." So we took a taxi to the riverside. Took a picture with a queen's guard. There were a very few sightseers. Perhaps because it is winter. Had marinated haring and vegetable for lunch, of cause. Flew to Sweden in the afternoon.

First stop is at Dundret, which is a ski resort. O.K. Let's start Aurora watch. Bad luck. Cloud is covering the ski. Sky begun clearing at around midnight. We took turns to go out and check the sky every 10 minutes. At 3:30 am we retired. Next morning we learned that Aurora appeared at 4:30 am. Darn!

February 20, 2001
Started snowing at 10 am. We reserved a snow slay trip to the mountain tonight. At this rate, it will be impossible to see the stars even on top of the mountain.
They say that cancel charge is 100% of the cost. So we start out the slay trip in the blizzard. Slay is being pulled by a snow mobile. Thanks to the heavy outfit which is rented from the lodge, we survived 30 minutes of slay ride in the open. We had dinner at the mountain top cottage, which consisted of smoked reindeer meat and salmon stew. Crew taught us how to start a fire and how the Lap people lived in their tent.

February 21, 2001
Went shopping to Gallivare town, which is close. We learned this city's population is 14,000 and their main business is mining (gold, silver, tin). Therefore, this city has a railroad station. (@_@)
It is clear tonight. But no Aurora. Sigh.

February 22, 2001
Moved to Yukkasjarvi which is 2 hours northwest from Dundret by bus. This place is famous for the Ice Hotel. Everything is made with snow and ice. In side, it is -5 degrees Celsius whereas it is -36 degrees outside. Therefore, you feel warmer inside. You can stay overnight in the "hotel room" wrapped in a sleeping bag made with reindeer skin. There is a church also made with ice. At the bar, we had a drink called Northern Light.
Tomorrow we will leave for Japan. Tonight is our last chance to see Aurora. We pray to every god on earth.
At 9:30 p.m. we came back from dinner. At about 10:30 p.m., we saw faint white light to the northern sky, like a spec of cloud. Grabbing the camera, we rushed out to a darker location. There it is! To the north, at about 30 degrees elevation, thin, but unmistakable curtain of light! It is changing shape slowly. Also at almost overhead, a white band is stretched from east to west across the sky. This band is changing its shape also.
Setting up the camera, I started to take pictures. To keep the camera's battery from freezing and thus making the camera inoperable, I kept the camera in a heated carrying bag with good heat insulation. Every few minutes I took it out, mounted it on a tripod, shot a few pictures and put the camera back. This operation requires bare hands and after a minute your hands feel pain from the cold. And while you are at it, you are missing the aurora's beautiful and graceful display. So I quit taking pictures after two dozen shots and concentrated on recording the images in my brain. Other reasoning was that the pictures would not be good because the northern light is so thin and ground light is strong.

What a surprise! The pictures turned out to be better than what we actually saw. Reddish color visible in some pictures was not visible to the naked eyes. Also color is much brighter in the pictures. I suppose long exposure time makes the film more sensitive than the human eyes.

Travel Tips

*	Tips are not obribatory unless you received an unusual service.
*	Most purchases can be made with a credit card. You can use the card for taxi. I used the card for a glass of beer at the airpot. Therefore, changing to the local currency is not necessary for a short stay.