Busy day...

Yesterday we finished assembling most of the furnitures. Today I finished the spare bed-room in between work, meeting icelandic pilot friends Davíð Smári Jóhannsson and Johann Jonsson Gentry, picking up a car on the air-port and helping a co-worker with a locked door...
Now I can´t wait to board Nordstjernen and go on a relaxing cruise for some days with Anna...

Container arrived

On Monday our container arrived from the mainland. Unfortunately they didn´t deliver it to our door-step until this very morning. But better late than never;0)

After three hours this evening Anna and I had managed to get everything but the heaviest things into our apartment, which now looks very crowded. Unfortunately we have to wait for the governours people to come here tomorrow (hopefully) to check the papers, so we can get tax money back. Svalbard is a tax-free zone.
On Friday we are leaving for a 3 1/2 days cruise with Nordstjernen, so we want to finish unpacking most of the larger items, especially since my friend Dominique is arriving while we are away and would prefer a bed to sleep in;0)

At the same time this week is quite busy, going to the shooting-range quite often, as the reindeer-hunting starts next week, and some tests are required to pass...

Boat trip

Steinar fishing

Last week-end Anna and i where so lucky to have good friends like Hilde & Steinar who invited us on a boat trip in their big 36 feet motor-boat. We got picked up on Saturday afternoon and then we went down to the harbour. The weather was pretty good but quite some wind, so the journey across the fjord to Skansebukta in Billefjorden was a bit rough, but all ended well. A cruise-ship arrived just before us, so the beach was crawling with German tourists for a few hours;0). We also went ashore, grilled some sausages and drank some champagne while enjoying the good life in the Arctic. Two of the guides were also some good friends of us.

Anna in Skansebukta

During the evening we set the fishing net to see if we would get some nice "röye", which is some sort of salmon. Steinar had already gotten some the day before so we had a wonderful dinner with grilled "röye" mm

Next morning the good weather had reached an end, but the boat is large and comfortable, so a bit of rain didn´t bother us. After a late breakfast we followed the fjord into the bottom of Billefjorden and the abandonned settlement of Pyramiden. This used to be a Russian settlement, but it was closed down in 1998 after a huge air-plane crash in 1996 killing 141 people an other factor was the difficult conditions mining the carboniferous coal. Due to the rain and wind we didn´t go ashore in the town, but sailed slowly back to Longyearbyen, watching the landscape and the many birds flying by.

Thank you for a fantastic week-end

The eider ducks have arrived

Our friend Juni struggling with some dogs

Since I have neglected my blog for such a long time, the postings come in the totally wrong order. You will have to excuse me for that!

In the beginning of June I went to the dog-yard just outside town. Every year the eider ducks come here to mate and give birth to their little ducklings. They are protected by the dogs from foxes, so they do their thing in reasonable peace, except for photographers like me wanting to see this. If you are lucky you get to see the King Eider, who is pretty seldom. Last year i didn´t, but this year i had the chance. It´s such a colourful male, compared to the others which are black and white.

The King Eider Duck

May 17th

The parade moving around in town

Anna (grey) with the Norwegian flag

May 17th is the national day of Norway. It is also the first time Anna could experience this. Therefore we had some friends inviting us over for a traditional Norwegian breakfast, where everyone are dressed in their nicest clothes, drinking champagne and saying hurra hurra. It´s all very nationalistic, but things are like this with young nations and it´s very cozy at the same time.

After eating and drinking for a bit we walked out and joined most of the town in the parade through town, ending up at Svalbardhallen (the gym building) for games, cakes and sausages.
In the evening we sat down on the beach and made a BBQ and drank some local beer...

BBQ at the beach

New apartment

The view from our new apartment over the fjord and the mountains

Around one month ago Anna and I finally got a new apartment in Longyearbyen. After living in 35 Sqm. it was soo good to move to one of 70 Sqm and with a great view over town and the fjord. This place is called Gruvedalen (miners valley) but nicknamed Beverly Hills of Svalbard ;0)
Suddenly we have space for all our things and even a guest-room, so now you can come for a visit...
Last week I was in Oslo, where I had 2 1/2 days to fill a container with furniture, so we have something to fill up the apartment with ;0). The container will arrive here on August 6th.

The view from the bed-room towards Sukkertoppen

I am still alive, but not doing much blogging...

I see i haven´t been active on my blog since Christmas, which is an awful long time ago. Shame on me!!!
i will start with the recent news. Last week i had my first vacation since Christmas. I had one week off where I went to Iceland to attend a family clan meeting. This seldom happens as my family is huge and widespread over the northern hemisphere. The weather in Iceland was great and i met a lot of members of my family, but known and unknown ;0). Them meeting was held in Kaldalóns, in the Westfjords of Iceland. My family name comes from this beautiful place, a carved out u-shaped glacial valley with green vegetation in a barren landscape. My great grand-father wrote some of his most famous music in this place.

Kaldalóns

I will write more later...