Tromso, Norway

Ticking off the Arctic Circle was a byproduct of chasing the Northern Lights - something we become  obsessed with after failing to spot them during a trip to Iceland. With every social media post by friends of the Aurora Borealis across various Nordic cities, we were increasingly envious and motivated to tick this natural phenomenon off our travel to-do list. So after some research, we booked flights in March to the student city of Tromso. Known also for its high concentration of bars per inhabitant, at least there was something to do if we weren't successful. But we were and this is a recap of our trip.

Bergen, Norway

Our weekend trip to Bergen in mid September had been scheduled as a result of a travel clash between our plans and Olie's work related commitments in the USA.
The change in season for our travels from mid Summer (and perhaps experiencing a midnight sun) to early Autumn did little to improve the weather - as Bergen lived up to its reputation as the 'City of Rain'.
Bergen is located on the west coast of Norway and is famous as the gateway to the fjords, pretty medieval wooden architecture and the most delicious creamy fish soup.

Helsinki, Finland

Our short trip to Helsinki resulted in us completing the milestone of visiting all the Scandinavian capital cities. In comparison to its peers, Helsinki lacks an abundance of pretty historical buildings like Copenhagen or Stockholm; as it spent a lot of its history caught in the middle of the war between Russia and Sweden. However, the absence of grand UNESCO listed monuments was quickly forgotten as our adoration of the city was confirmed when we discovered some amazing salmon sashimi. Loving Scandinavian salmon!

Stockholm, Sweden

Our trip to Stockholm at the end of April was brimming with sunshine and the Old Town area (Gamla Stan) and the river-frontage of mansions, cafes and sightseeing boats had a pretty picturesque appeal. The city felt like a combination of Denmark (with its green copper roofed churches), Venice (with the canals) and the chilled out cafe culture similar to Melbourne. Unfortunately for us, the at the time we visited, ice was still blocking up the canals and many island tours had not started for the tourist season. Despite this, the city was full of beautiful green parklands and flowers.

Trondheim, Norway

The traditional Christmas scene that you see on cards, snow-globes and chocolate tins is that of powder-white pine trees, family gatherings and plenty of food and drink. Christmas 2012 will be etched in our festive memories as our first White Christmas and proper Northern Hemisphere celebration in the land of the Vikings - Trondheim, Norway. On this trip we stayed with Michelle and Marius, met our extended family, ate traditional food (including brown cheese and reindeer) and relaxed indoors next to a real pine Christmas tree whilst temperatures outside fell to -15 degrees Celsius.

Reykjavik, Iceland

How should you react when your tour guide casually mentions that the glacier that you are about to walk on actually covers a volcano that is overdue for an eruption? Panic? Should we phone home? What were our chances of survival if an eruption did occur? Answer - zilch. The volcano, Katla is best known in popular literature as the inspiration for Jules Verne's story 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'. It also has an impressive eruption history of about every 80 years. The last major eruption occurred in 1918, so it is now overdue. A great fact to find out when you are just about to climb it.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is a city full of pretty medieval architecture and many tall elegant looking people with glowing sun-kissed tans and long limbs riding bicycles. We were jealous of their near perfect physiques kept trim despite the temptation of numerous hot-dog carts.
Hot-dogs the Danish way are prepared using a variety of sauces and pickles piled up inside hollowed out rolls, half the sausage sits outside the bun and flaps around while you try to prevent the leakage of sauce down your arm.

Oslo, Norway

Keeping up with our international travel schedule, we were back at Stansted Airport early Saturday morning to catch a Ryanair flight to Oslo.We soon discovered Norway as the stunning country of fjords, Viking heritage and also one of the priciest places in the world to buy alcohol. Our travel plans for this trip were initially put on hold after news of the inner city bombing/mass shooting. The events made us anxious about safety and the mood of the city. However, this was an over-reaction as Oslo was brimming with energy, activity and resilience.