Svalbard - Longyearbyen

Elizabeth had the opportunity to travel to Svalbard, Norway which is the nothernmost inhabited place on earth. Courtesy of the Svalbard treaty, Svalbard is part of the Kingdom of Norway but is not part of the Schengen area (so that people from the countries who signed the treaty can work in Svalbard without the usual procedures required to live and work in Schengen). Practically this resulted in getting passport stamps and flying in and out of the international terminal BUT not being allowed to shop at duty free! Northernmost is the buzz word - I went to the northernmost Sushi restaurant and the Northernmost Brewery (not pictured). Here are some images from the rainy and unseasonably warm weekend in Svalbard...

The view from outside the airport.

We stayed in converted coal miner's cabins. This was the view from the back of the cabins.

There is still some coal mining taking place in Svalbard because that is the only source for fuel (there are no trees) but this mine, called the "Santa Claus mine" is no longer in use.

Although there are more polar bears than permanent residents in Svalbard, I only saw stuffed polar bears like this one at the Svalbard museum.

Glacier behind the cabins where we stayed.

Svalbard reindeer have short legs which makes them look fat in the summer when they pack on the pounds to get through the winter.

Bird in flight on the boat trip to Pyramiden.

Although the weather was warm and rainy, there were a few bright spots in the sky.

The moon through the top of the boat.

There are six reindeer in this picture (like the ones above from the museum). We were very far away but it was fun to see some wildlife.

There is usually more snow this time of year but the weather allowed us to see the incredible colors of the rock formations.

We spent some time viewing this large glacier from the boat. This is one of over 2,000+ glaciers on Svalbard (60% of the islands are covered with some type of glacier)

Our destination on the boat trip was Pyramiden which was a Russian mining town (and is still technically Russian soil). The town was abandoned in 1996 and the ghost town is now a tourist destination. This is Ivan, our guide.

This sign marking 79 degrees is the farthest north we went (and very likely the farthest north I will ever go!)

Better visibility on the day we left of this glacier behind the coal miner's cabins.

This "igloo" is actually a greenhouse. It was a spot included on a tour that also went to the entrance of the seed vault where they store seeds from all over the world.

Sign outside the front of the airport.

View getting on or off the plane! Like all Norwegian air flights, this has a famous Norwegian on it - in this case Edvard Munch!