Copenhagen, Denmark

Fifteen years ago I went to Copenhagen for a weekend, with my mother-in-law and our benefactor:

Martin's great-aunt Elsa, who, at 95 years of age, wanted go to Copenhagen for "one last trip".  Little did she know at the time that she would have thirteen more years left in her, finally dying in 2022 at age 108!  Understandably she never did make it back, so I hope we provided her one last rockin' trip to the Danish capital.

It would not be my last trip, however.  1.5 decades and two kids later I would return.

We met up with friends from Pennsylvania, Pia and Ryan, who visited us in Norway 2 years ago when I was literally about to pop with Fiona.  I love not being pregnant, and equally love the idea of meeting friends in fun destinations.  Our friends are so widespread I feel like a holiday with "just us" is a waste of precious travel time and money.  I realize this makes me a terrible wife and mother, but it also makes me a good friend.

We could have gotten on a plane for a 1 hour flight to Copenhagen, but we had 3 daycare-free weeks to fill, so chose the slower means of transport:

The closest thing to a cruise I've ever been on!  A meat cruise some (we) call it, as it is customary for Norwegians to stock up on duty free meat and alcohol onboard as it is much cheaper than in Norway.

We were completely without [motorized] wheels throughout this entire journey.  We took the train from home to Oslo, walked 20 minutes to the ferry terminal, boarded the ship where we promptly began drinking at the outdoor deck bar.

Fiona was asleep in her pram and Freya, just in the very beginning of the stage of life when she's tolerable to take anywhere, busied herself coloring.  It was a tiny taste of our previous (dearly beloved) life of carefree travels, and it was nothing short of glorious.

It is really a beautiful journey out of the Oslo harbor, though chasing after two littles we didn't get to stop and enjoy the scenery until we were out in the open ocean.  There's a pool onboard, restaurants, and a kids play area that sells beer comparatively cheap to Norway.  We entertained ourselves (beer) as best we could between departure at 3pm (beer) until we docked in Copenhagen the next morning (switch from beer to coffee) at 10am. 

Our Airbnb was in an incredible central location, and as we were dropping off our luggage we saw a huge crowd gathering at the Amalienborg Castle, literally right next door.

It was a changing of the guards ceremony at the official residence of the Danish royal family.  Our neighbors for the week!

Boat tour

We met up with our travel companions and they were literally coming straight off an international flight, so thankfully Pia had pre-planned a fab daytime activity to keep themselves awake and keep us all entertained while we awaited check-in at our accommodation.

Within the first few hours of arrival we saw all the highlights of Copenhagen from our private boat.  Its capacity was approximately 150 people less than the standard tourist vessel, so I feel very fortunate to get a VIP experience compared to the gargantuan boats most people get.  

Copenhagen is really pretty from the water and the weather was perfection.  Never a guarantee during Scandinavian summer!  Highlights of the boat tour include: bare boob sunbathers, bunjee jumpers from a crane, a sea plane taking off and:

The Little Mermaid statue

Away from the crowd, so very VIP!  I felt so fancy seeing her from a different vantage point and becoming a tourist attraction ourselves.  A Chinese woman was taking pictures of us, rather than the statue, no doubt to capture our lily white children.  I love being a spectacle!  I hope our fine selves are plastered all over her holiday slideshows.

Bike tour

Now that we'd seen the town by sea, the next day it was time to see it by land via bicycle:

Every time I've ridden a bike in the past decade it's always been for tourist purposes.  But I've never had one of these awesome kid-carrying bikes before, which was highly entertaining for them.

We did a big loop around town, stopping at various playgrounds to entertain the kids.  Copenhagen playgrounds are bountiful and impressive.  Shout out to Max at Copenhagen Family Tours for hauling the 8 of us all around.

Would I rather look at historical artifacts and fancy royal things?  Yes I would, but I am simply not at that stage of life right now.  So we will continue to stop at 3 playgrounds per day on holiday for the foreseeable future, and return to the boring museums and tours full of grey hair [decades] into the future. 

There were also plenty of breaks for refreshments.

And of course we had to cycle ourselves back to the biggest (surprisingly small) thing in Copenhagen:

Crazy crowds there!  But you can get good photos if you walk down on the rocks right next to the water.  Far more impressive than this toddler-sized statue is located right next door:

Gefion Fountain

This fountain is big and beautiful and tells the tale of a Norse goddess who turned her 4 sons (OMG, that poor woman) into oxen.  It's a must visit if you're in the neighborhood to see the Little Mermaid, which you almost certainly will be.  It squirts water in just the right places to allow kids to soak themselves without being overly annoying to passersby.  

Which is precisely what you will also find on the Stroget walking street:

Pro travel parenting tip: find a fountain if you want some time to yourself.  After a disastrous dinner at the Torvehallerne food haul (OMG these kids do not sit and eat) we stumbled upon this water feature that is really not for kids to play in, but our little hellions took it upon themselves and had a ball.

They got soaked to their skin, and I have some hilarious pictures of Freya walking down the street in just her panties with a towel wrapped around her neck like a scarf.  I just know those photos will come in handy someday.

Fredriksborg Castle

The next day we headed out of town on the train to a castle, one of approximately 75,000 that seem to exist in tiny Denmark, as Pia found a blog post about how great and kid friendly it was.

Spoiler alert: it was not.  At least not for pram-aged kids, so hauling Fiona around was cumbersome.  Plus the costumes they let kids play with, literally the draw card to bring us there, were put away after a certain time that is not published or mentioned anywhere on the internet or in person.  What the hell?!

There was some nice architecture and artwork and stuff that would have been infinitely more enjoyable without kids.  But without these precious angels we wouldn't have made the decision to stop at the local mall to escape the rain and play in the various play areas:

While I may sound sarcastic (I assure you that is my intent) it was actually an interesting glimpse at real Denmark and Danish people, which was rather lacking in tourist-heavy central Copenhagen.  This was a little ways out of town in a suburban mall, so we very much got a peek at normal Danish life that we otherwise would not have seen.  I was so impressed with the free play areas (plural), so the day turned out to be much more kid friendly than a crusty old castle could provide.

As is our custom, we split the adults by gender and had one night out and one night home with the kids.  I let Pia plan whatever she wanted (on ladies night out and the trip as a whole, because we can theoretically go to Copenhagen whenever we please) and she wanted to go to a strictly Scandinavian restaurant, so we chose Restaurant Barr.

A place this popular requires reservations months in advance, so snagging a table felt like quite the feat.  A chic place like this adheres to the tenants of minimalism and Scandinavian design, one of them being not cooking their beef.

Beef tartare is so not my jam!  I'm a huge hypocrite, though, because if it was carpaccio I would've been all over it.  But Pia loved it, so I took one for the team and ate raw ground beef with flowers on top.  

The best part of the evening was finding a bar in the touristy, usually not-to-be-patronized Nyhavn neighborhood and drinking spiked hot chocolate until they closed down...at 2 a.m.!  

I haven't closed a bar down or been out that late in at least a decade, so that was a treat.  A successful mama's night out!

Rosenborg Castle

Would you believe it?  Another castle!  There are 15 working Danish royals and I swear they probably each have a handful of castles to their name. 

We didn't make it inside due to poor planning but the highlight for me was right outside, a pond full of big fish looking for a snack:

I will never not stop to look at fishes!

Tivoli Gardens

Almost as popular for tourists as the Little Mermaid statue is Tivoli, the third oldest amusement park in the world.  The oldest one is a short 30-minute train ride away and Ryan, a roller coaster superfan, went to that one on his own one morning to do what he does best.  The rest of us only went to this one, which really is a necessity for kids.  Freya rode her first roller coaster!

That face cracks me up as it accurately portrays her nervousness about the ride.  

Her reaction was very similar to mine when skydiving: terror before and during, followed by jubilation and a sense of accomplishment after the fact.  Brave girl!

Now that she's 4 she got to ride a few tame rides, while poor little Fiona...did not.

I took this kid leash from my sister as a joke, but it actually came in quite handy!  Don't hate on people who put their kid on a leash.  It's necessary sometimes!

Side note: how amazing are these matching Bluey outfits?!

These 4 Aussie citizen kids are forced to like Bluey whether they want to or not.  Not optional!

Sadly it was time for us to get back on the boat and head back to the rainy pathetic excuse of summer in Norway, while they were off to the sunny shores of Greece.

The boat ride back was similar to the boat ride there, except the weather was a million times worse so there was no more leisurely beer drinking out on the deck.

We had a fabulous trip which was 100% made possible by the fact that our friends have kids around(ish) the same age as ours.  Kids entertaining kids so the parents can enjoy themselves is nothing short of absolutely priceless!  I highly, highly recommend this tactic.  

I hate to jinx myself but when it comes to traveling I dare say we are getting our groove back.

 

London Calling

This trip is well over a year old, and it's taken me that long to emotionally recover from the trauma to write about it.  Don't get me wrong, it was 90% good (fantastic, actually), but the 10% that was bad was super bad.  I will elaborate on that cryptic statement later.

Early in 2023 I saw a post on Instagram from my beloved one true lover:

I sent this screenshot to my actual husband and told him, "One day before I die!"  

A few weeks later, he comes to me with an envelope, containing real tickets to see Jeff Goldblum (and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra - don't forget about them)!  Tickets to see Jeff Goldblum in the flesh!  In London!

Let it be known this is the greatest gift I've ever received, and the greatest gift I ever will receive.  There simply is no topping this.  I was shocked!  And so, so happy-slash-excited.

While fighting back tears of happiness I immediately set to work booking flights, accommodation and activities to fill my weekend, which just happened to be Easter weekend.  The Easter bunny can wait, kids, mama is going to London! 

Almost immediately I booked tickets to another show, one that I had wanted to see for a few years but was thwarted by Covid when living in Australia:

Hamilton

I went to great lengths up to that point to know nothing about this musical until I could see it live on stage.  I didn't know a single song, or anything about the story line.  All I knew is that it was a musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton, with a historically inaccurate racially diverse cast, written by a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient named Lin-Manuel Miranda, and that it was hugely popular.  That is all I knew!  And I also knew I was very likely to love it.  

And I was right!  It kicked so much ass.  The songs were super catchy and fun, the dancing was incredible, and I was with two fun girlfriends to add to the experience.  Yes this was a solo trip, but I reached out to my British friends to arrange various activities, such as drinking champagne and seeing Hamilton.  Jerusha (seen here in 2013 and 2016) and Tori, who I both know through Martin, joined in the West End fun.

We were having a fabulous time, despite them both being British and knowing absolutely nothing about US history, plus one of those two don't even normally like musicals. 

This is where things go south for this meek little tourist from Norway.  When the performance ended I realized my phone was GONE!  I had been robbed in the second row of the theatre watching Hamilton!  It had been there at intermission, but was gone by the end of the show.  I assumed such low class, petty criminality would not be as cultured as I with their entertainment, but clearly I was wrong.

This thievery put such a damper on my trip, because of course I relied so much on my phone to get around, and logging into a new phone is damn near impossible when everything requires 2-factor authentication to a phone number that is probably in Romania before the next curtain call.  It was so, so, so incredibly stressful and thank god I had friends with me who could be in contact with Martin at home (alone with a screaming toddler and screaming baby) to help me with the 2-factor authentication from afar. 

So that sucked.  Hard.  And totally ruined one of my London bucket list items, eating good Indian food that every foodie in town recommends.  It also ate up the half day that should have been spent at the British Museum, which I had meticulously planned to see all the good stuff in exactly 3 hours.  But it turns out due to strikes it was closed that day anyway, so I would have missed out even if I hadn't become a crime victim.  

Imperial War Museum

Another must do item for me was to do some WWII tourism, which nowadays is pretty standard for me regardless of destination.  After weighing up my many options I settled on the Imperial War Museum (on Lambeth Rd, there are a few locations) which has sections on WWI, WWII and the Holocaust. 

Sadly I lost so many cool pictures from this museum, as I foolishly hadn't backed up my photos between going here and going to see Hamilton.  I'm glad that I got all the photos taken by my travel companion, but sadly missed out on photographic evidence of my favorite thing in this museum, the smallest boat that crossed the channel during the evacuation of Dunkirk.

But I do have a picture of my second favorite thing there, a huge bronze Eagle statue that was (literally) ripped off a Nazi building, complete with scrapes and holes from the fall:

Such a fantastic museum and so interesting to my WWII obsessed self!  I could spend days here. 

Actually, my favorite thing within the IWM, which I do I have a picture of but won't post it here, is a picture of a Nazi soldier, Franz Ziereis, naked, dead and strung up on barbed wire when the concentration camp he was in charge of was liberated.  You can find the picture online.  Cathartic!  

Afternoon tea at The Dorchester

Another must do for this trip was fancy afternoon tea.

Preferably featuring a grand piano made out of disco ball material:

Check and check!  Plus, make it champagne afternoon tea, to combine the two greatest things on earth into one magical event.

There are so many fabulous places in London to choose for afternoon tea!  Traditional, modern, I didn't know where to even begin.  So I let Tori do the choosing for me, and she wanted to try The Dorchester.  As long as it was fancy, I was down!

By this time I had a new phone (400 un-budgeted pounds later) up and running so I was starting to feel human again, and could actually enjoy the exquisiteness around me.

Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra

I am no jazz fan, but if that's what it takes to see Jeff Goldblum in person then I am happy to jam to the smooth stylings of him and his band.  Thankfully a good 60% of the show was him chatting to people in the audience, telling funny stories and making observations about London and the world.  He is just so likable!  In addition to aging like a fine wine.

It was a fun show to watch, and I would absolutely go see them again because more than half of the show is guaranteed to be different from what I saw before.  I went to the show alone, but I definitely didn't feel alone thanks to my very personable and chatty #1 celebrity crush. 

I still can't believe I got to see Jeff Goldblum live and in the flesh!  I will never not be in love with that man.

Jerusha and I went to Borough Market for some food market good eatin', but sadly those photos did not live to see the light of day.  We also rode a double decker bus, which my podunk American self really got a kick out of.  I'm still pissed over a year later that those photos were lost to some thieving yet bizarrely cultured asshole! 

Tori and I did some sightseeing while pharmacy hopping, so I could stock up on good kids drugs that aren't available in Norway.

As a Commonwealth citizen I of course paid my respects to QEII at Westminster Abbey, where she had been laid to rest about 6 months prior:

But then my mates went back to their regularly scheduled lives, and I was on my own.  I was scheduled to depart 9pm Sunday, and planned to meet up with a third friend for a day of shopping and dining before departure, but she had to cancel on me.

However could I entertain myself, alone?!  I had been with Jerusha and/or Tori pretty much the whole weekend up to that point, or on a date with Jeff Goldblum.  Then I noticed a theatre conveniently located between the tube station and my hotel.  

Wicked

Sunday matinee, the perfect way to spend a day on my own and squeeze in one more show.
 
For those keeping track, I saw three shows in three days while in London.  I love the theater!

I'd never seen Wicked before, and I have a life goal to see every musical that exists on stage, and while we're at it I will add a goal to have afternoon tea at every establishment in London that offers it.  That is my idea of a luxurious life! 

I wasn't as ignorant about this show as I forced myself to be about Hamilton, and I have always loved the song Defying Gravity.  I can safely say it was the best piece of live music I have ever heard in my life.  It was beyond incredible and whoever that singer was I hope she's got multiple Tonys (or is that just for Broadway?) or Grammys under her belt, because homegirl deserves it.

I had such an amazing weekend away that was actually quite relaxing as I had respite from being responsible for 2 small human lives.  Yes, there is a big pimple on my memories of this trip, but the positives outweighed that one big negative.  It was the greatest gift of all time!  

Svalbard

It's hard to put into words just how far north the island of Svalbard is, so I will put it in visuals and numbers:

Svalbard is closer to the North Pole than it is the Arctic Circle.  The town of Longyearbyen, where I visited, is at 78 degrees latitude.  Reykjavik, Iceland, by contrast, the northernmost capital city in Europe, sits at a mere 64 degrees.

It seems every single thing there is the most northern of its kind on the planet.  The northernmost settled town, commercial flight, brewery, daycare.  The northernmost misspelled baked potato food truck!

Similar to my trip to Mumbai, India five years prior, this was a work trip, but with a twist.  The college I work for does an annual travel course to Svalbard, but my tagging along with 11 students was on my own time and my own dime.

Sadly the only polar bears I saw were taxidermy'd, but that was fully expected since I didn't venture too far out into the wilderness.  But polar bears can come right up into town, so one must be prepared and watch their back at all times!

I was fascinated to learn that my hotel, the Radisson Blu Longyearbyen, previously lived in Lillehammer during the 1994 Olympics!

But how?!  And why?  I imagine little 'ol Lillehammer, where we visited at the end of last year, doesn't have quite the need for hotel rooms today as it did during the Olympics, but this solution fascinated me. 

We set out on a tour of town to get our bearings - not hard in a town with pretty much one street - and stock up on some provisions before the shop (singular) closed at 7 p.m.

But no bringing guns into the liquor store!

Guns are quite ubiquitous here, because of the aforementioned polar bears.  If you are going out of town, even a little ways, you are required to be packin'.  They even have lockers around town where you can store your gun while you shop, go to the post office, etc.

We had a big group dinner, our only one of the trip, where some exotic meats were on the menu:

I remain committed to my abstinence to whale, but some of the students braved it and this appeared to be dried or a whale jerky, which I thought was an interesting preparation method.  Though I personally never saw it on a menu I know some students also ate seal.

My first (and only) wildlife experience happened the very next morning at breakfast, with a reindeer grazing right outside my hotel:

Being isolated on an island, these reindeer are a fair bit smaller than the Rudolph-esque kind of the mainland, making them very adorable.  They are also very docile and relaxed, as evidenced by their wandering around town, unafraid of the people taking photos of them. 

Visit Svalbard Tourism Information Centre

Our first academic stop of the trip was the tourist information center:

We had one mandatory event for each of the three full days we were there, and students had a mandate to do "something else" each day with the 23 free hours available to them.

We had a sit down discussion with the CEO of Visit Svalbard to talk about the tourism landscape present and future, relations with their many Russian neighbors, and their role as the de facto government relations office, balancing the wants and needs of industry and tourism operators with the mandates handed down by the Norwegian government.

Which brings me to my next point: Svalbard is Norway, but it is very, very different from regular Norway.  Namely, the social welfare system here is non-existent.  You support yourself, or you're shipped out.  As any heavily taxed person who lives in Norway can tell you, this is night and day different.

Nobody is born on Svalbard.  Nobody dies on Svalbard - the medical system simply cannot handle either.  Though there is a "hospital", major medical procedures are handled in Tromso, a 1.5 hour flight away.  Taxes, both income and sales, are substantially lower.

Most interesting of all, one does not need a visa to live and work in Svalbard.  You just show up, regardless of citizenship, and you can stay indefinitely and work.  I don't think I've heard of this anywhere else in the world!  But on the flip side, living here doesn't earn you (or your kids) any right toward Norwegian permanent residency or citizenship. 

After Norwegians, who make up about half of the 2,600 population of Longyearbyen, the largest groups of people are Thai and Filipino.  There's something like 50+ citizenships represented in the population.  A truly fascinating place!

My two colleagues and I went to Cafe Huskies for lunch, an adorable concept where dogs just hang out around the joint.

This trip is the only time this year I will get time away, meaning get a break from my kids.  Five straight days of sweet, sweet peace.  Even if there were a few work elements, my main goal for the trip was to relax and veg out.  Behold, one of my favorite things ever, which I didn't know the hotel had until I arrived, the outdoor hot tub:

Alone!  With a beautiful view, and an outdoor temperature hovering around freezing.  It was truly magical.

I could have soaked all day long (if it were allowed, which it's not as there is a booking system and limited spots) but adventure awaited me.

Dog sledding

This was such a cool experience!  We first got to hang out with the dogs, while the guide got everything set up.

It is crazy how loud and energetic these dogs get when they feel that departure is imminent.  They live outside all year round, even in 30-40 below zero, and insanely they love it.

We drove 7km out of town, and 7km back in, therefore the guide had a rifle and flare gun strapped to his back - the flare being the first point of call if there is a run-in with a polar bear. 

I was a passenger on the guide's sled, which allowed me plenty of time to talk to him and ask questions about life in Svalbard, the dogs and his guiding experiences all over Svalbard.  I was too chicken to drive, but was happy as a clam to sit back, enjoy the scenery and learn a lot from this knowledgeable, adventurous French dude.

Fun fact: these dogs aren't huskies, they are Greenlanders.  They are slower than huskies, but strong and low maintenance.  The guide said huskies are Ferraris while Greenlanders are tractors, which sounds rather derogatory to me.

We were so lucky with the weather the entire trip, and especially dog sledding that runs regardless of weather.  It was hovering around freezing, as where previous trips the college has taken it was 20 below zero and windy.  

Svalbard Museum

Our second mandatory educational activity was a trip to the museum, which covers the history of Svalbard from its early days as a whaling outpost to its more recent, soon-to-be former, industry of coal mining.  The Norwegian government is putting the kibosh on that industry effective next year, but allowing the tiny nearby Russian settlement of Barentsburg to keep on keeping on with their mine.

There is no indigenous population, so when Arctic explorers came snooping around it was literally the first people to step foot there.  For most of history it was just polar bears, reindeer, birds, Arctic foxes and seals.

 

There are more snowmobiles than people on Svalbard.

Their license plates are different than the rest of Norway:

You need a passport to get on and off the island, as it is outside of the Schengen zone.

My second goal of the trip was to learn as much about this place as possible.  I am genuinely interested in learning about places when I visit them, and I feel like I excelled at that on this trip.  I was tempted to write a 3-page reflection paper like the students were required to, though quickly came to my senses as someone who is staunchly against any more formal education.

Longyearbyen in a Nutshell tour

This maxi taxi tour took us around town, telling us facts about Svalbard and stopping at various landmarks.  The polar bear sign at the edge of town was cool:

I bought a miniature one of these to keep in my office to always remind me of this trip while I'm slaving away at my desk (jokes, I really do love my job). 

We stopped to look at the coal railway, visible on the mountains above town, that could carry 700 kg (1,500+ pounds) of coal in each bucket:

Also visible in the mountains around town are avalanche fences.  Tragically two people uncomfortably similar to my family's demographics died when their house was buried by snow, not that many years ago.  I could have happily lived without that tidbit of information.

But the coolest thing we saw, and the absolute highlight of the whole trip, was a stop at the Global Seed Vault:

I could go on about this place for hours.  It is that cool!  In fact, I did just that with the students who were also on the tour, and again the next day when we had a group wrap-up meeting.

Basically, this place houses seeds from all around the world as a back-up copy, in case they are lost due to weather catastrophe, war or whatever else.  It is an insurance policy for regional "genebanks", of which there are 1,700+ in the world, who are tasked with keeping seeds safe and accessible to farmers, crop breeders and scientists.  But if those get destroyed, as they were in Syria a few years back, Svalbard will be there to bring the seeds back to life.  Literally! 

I am endlessly fascinated and I want everybody in the world to know about this place, and genebanks, and why they are so important.  Without seeds there is no agriculture, and without agriculture there is no us.  It is so important to back them up because crops go extinct all the time.  Once they're gone, they're gone forever. 

The plane ride there is one of the few child-less plane rides in the next few decades of my life, so I spent that peaceful time reading Seeds on Ice by Cary Fowler, the agriculturalist who had the idea for the seed vault in the first place.

If you order this book from a library in Norway you might just see this dork-ass picture of me that I taped inside the book, LOL!  I consider this benign vandalism, a victimless crime.

You can't go inside, as this is one of the most secure buildings in the world.  So the entrance is as far as we got to go, but that alone was worth it.  So, so worth it.

UNIS - University Centre in Svalbard

This conglomeration of various Norwegian universities is a major hub of Arctic research.  Students from undergraduate to PhD from all over the world study abroad here to take classes and do field work on Arctic-related subjects like glaciers and polar bears.

We talked to their head of media relations about their operations, and of course about life living and working on Svalbard.  Each person has such an interesting story to tell of how they wound up there.  Some of our students were interested in studying there but the subjects covered are exclusively in science, sadly nothing in the Humanities or Social Sciences, which our students gravitate towards (that and Business). 

The coolest thing we saw was their emergency kit that all groups have to take when out doing field work:

There are extra warm clothes and boots in here, a tent, cooking and fire making utensils, and who knows what else.  And don't forget your gun!

I thought this was funny.  Right here is storage of BYOGuns.  University issued guns - again, mandatory for anybody leaving city limits - are stored elsewhere.  A big part of the week-long orientation session for new students is marksmanship.  Pew pew!

I wrapped up my last day on Svalbard doing some of my favorite things in the whole world:

Drinking champagne in a hot tub, and thrift store shopping.

In that order - what a classy combination!

The greatest thrifting concept I've ever seen anywhere, Bruktikken (a combination of the Norwegian words for 'used' and 'store') is FREE!  Run by volunteers, they take in used items and "sell" them to the public. 

I felt bad taking from the island, where resources are limited, so I donated a wool blend sweater and (clean!) wool blend socks that I bought just for the trip, knowing the people of Svalbard need them more than my indoor dwelling self will in the future. 

The day we left, March 8, marks the first day each year that the sun reenters town.  On sunny days we could see the sun up in the mountains surrounding Longyearbyen, but it doesn't officially hit town until March 8.

There are several months of "polar night" per year, when the sun simply does not rise.  On the flip side, in the summer months, the sun never sets and is up 24/7.

I'm trying to think of a more unique place I have been in the world and am coming up blank.  Svalbard is so different from anywhere I've ever been and I'm very grateful to be a hanger-on with my college to a place I wouldn't normally go. 

It's crazy to think that this is, guaranteed, the farthest north I will ever travel on this pale blue dot!