Quad-biking outside Langyearbyen, flying to back to Tromsö and visiting the Ice cathedral, 2009-07-09.

Ingela and Ernst on one of the quads.
Erik and I.

The global seed vault contains a collection of the worlds "all" seeds. A kind of Noah's ark, if you like.

The grey building in the background is where they store the seeds, i.e. the actual seed vault.

Hehe, no I didn't look silly on purpose. It is the goggles, I swear! I think that diving goggles have the same effect..

Erik tries to get close to the raindeers..

View from Tromsö, Rica hotel. In the background is the beautiful Ice cathedral wich was built to resemble stacked ice blocks.

Town view over Tromsö.

The Ice cathedral from inside.

We all went to the midnight concert. It was very different to what we normally do on holiday, but still a nice experience.

Outside the Ice cathedral, after midnight. The midnight sun was at its lowest point.

Midnight sun view over the water. It looked like everything was in silver. A truly magical light!

Talking a walk in the most "fertile" area in Spitsbergen and visiting Ny-Ålesund, 2009-07-08.

Caught in flight..

Normally there doesn't grow much on these islands, but when birds get together for nesting in a spot, that hill is usually at least a little green. They make the ground fertile and bring vegetation to a desolate place.

Every plant on Svalbard is protected because they are so rare and fragile, so nothing can be picked.

The remains of a whale. As you can see, nothing is wasted in this place. This was probably a feast for a couple of arctic foxes..

Five star accomodation, just by the sea! =)

Ny-Ålesund. This is a village where people come to make experiments and to do research of various kinds. During the summer it inhabits about 200 researchers and during winter only around 30. It was from this village that a successful north pole expedition was carried out by Roald Amundsen, Umberto Nobile and Lincoln Ellsworth. They flew there in 1926 with a Zeppelin called "Norway". What a crazy thing to do..!

It was freezing...

This was the closest I got to see a polar bear..

Girls night out, the timid version. First dinner at Texas Longhorn and afterwards Britney Spears concert!

Looking and feeling very satisfied with my dinner in the sun with a dear friend.

Nina doesn't look like she would complain either!

What a great show it was! Not a single boring minute went by. It was one and a half hour of pure joy! Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday. I want more of these kind of weekdays!

What a mess!

This sight greeted me as I stepped inside the hall. It will take me half the night to clean it up.. I were in a great mood after the Britney concert, but now no longer!

Walking where the whalers once worked, watching Erik being a polar bear, watching glaciers calve & passing the 80-th latitude, 2009-07-07.

This is a shore where the whalers dragged the dead whales ashore, cut them up and boiled the blubber.

Beautiful scenery.

Ernst and Erik really deserve to be called polar bears since they took a swim in the ice cold water!

True polar bears!

Glaciers all around!

Taking a boat ride and watching (and hearing) the glacier calve. So cool! The ice first makes a noise that resembles to the one to thunder, then a few moments later a big chunk of ice falls into the water.

Passing the 80-th latitude, that has to be celebrated with champagne!

Some more "evening sun"...

Embarking M/S Expedition and having a look at a russian village in the middle of Norway, aka Barentsburg, 2009-07-06.

Yes! Finally on board!

The oldest house in Barentsburg village.

You can't miss that this is a russian settlement. Everywhere you look, you are reminded.

The one and only café they have..

The village. No more, no less. It inhabits around 500 people and the single line of business is the coal mining.

The village is infested with this kind of kitschy, communist romantic, art.

Can you guess what the sign says? Yup, Barentsburg. Instead of the polar bears there should be miners, that would be more accurate!

Having some fun with all the silly hats they sold in the souvenir shop..

This one I really liked!

The miners had put up a show for all the tourists. It was hillarious!

M/S Expedition, and me.