One of our prime reasons for coming to Abisko was to see the
Aurora Borealis. When I started writing
this last night Anna and another couple of people were off to find a darker
spot to hopefully view/photograph the aurora.
I went outside the back of the hostel with the others and we could see a
hint of the (up until then) elusive aurora.
But I was not confident to walk in the dark – I have enough trouble
seeing ice in the daylight and I have already had two “ice encounters”. More damaging to my pride than my person, but
wasn’t about to venture any distance in the dark!
Success!
Photo is thanks to our fellow Australian Emma, who has been
great company the last couple of days.
However, back to Thursday October 24. As that was the last day of our Eurail pass, we
decided to catch the train down to Abisko Ostra – not far from where we are
stopping at Abisko Turiststation.
As we were walking from the station, we came to a handicrafts
shop. The owner was sweeping snow away from
the front of her store however she said it was closed. I said quietly to Anna that at least it would
save us money! However just as we were
leaving, she said that if the lights were on the shop would be open. As we were crossing the road on our way to the
supermarket, I had my first “ice encounter” and ended up sitting on the road –
rather embarrassing as I had an audience!
Since then I have discovered that the shop at the Turiststation
sells Nordic Ice Grippers, which I hope will help me remain upright if I again
encounter ice!
After Anna helped me up, we made it to the supermarket and
bought some supplies for lunches – we have paid for breakfast and dinner at the
hostel but lunch isn’t provided. Our
next port of call was the service station/shop where we had lunch and I bought
some waterproof gloves – I only brought woollen ones with me. We then decided that we had exhausted the places
of interest and were making our way back to the station to wait in the
warmth. However we noticed the lights on
in the handicraft shop so went in. I
bought myself a necklace, which I love and we got a free cuppa thrown in. It was quite pleasant to sit in the warmth
and chat. I am always amazed how well so
many Europeans speak English.
We then made our way back to the station for our very short
return journey.
Although we will get an extra hour of sleep tonight - the end
of daylight saving - I plan on going to bed now and will write more later…
No comments:
Post a Comment