9th of October first snow!

Very suddenly snow appeared on our little Island!

On Monday evening 23:00 the first snowflakes started falling silently from the sky like cotton in the wind. I never expected it would stick to the ground as the floor was not even frozen and temperatures had been up to 14 degrees a few days before. But yet, very suddenly there was a drop in the temperatures and in the morning when I opened the window .. there it was .. lying on the ground like a little carpet covering every thing and sticking to all the leaves of the trees. Beau-ti-full! But way to early!!! This time no body was prepared to it. Nor was I. Suddenly it feels like Christmas and staying home warmly with a fire in the chimney and candles on drinking hot drinks.


(View of the university on the way to work)

Kroken- and tromsdal-dalen 31st september

(Pictures of this trip on http://picasaweb.google.com/lays.natacha/KrokenAndTromsdalDalen )

All ready two weeks ago we had a splendid weekend. Two days of bright sunshine and very warm temperatures for the area and the season. We had 14°C on Saturday, when I went to the center to have a hot chocolate on an terasses, and up to 17°C on Sunday. On Sunday Laura (ex-house mate, Nationality dutch) and I went hiking together. We adventured ourselves on a totally new way, unknown territorials. We had climbed before the mountains Kroken, Rundfjellet and Tromsdalstinden, but had never walked from one valley to an other. So with a good map and a compass the both of us started walking in kroken valley. We started really gently walking up along a river flowing in between the two mountains.

Suddenly we arrived on a total flat piece of land with some rivers ending up in a kind of delta. There we rested a little and took up some drinking water. (picture left)

A little bit further there was an other flat area with a lake of drinking water. Spectacular views and amazing decors that none of us had expected. From the lake on we had to climb up on huge rocks along a waterfall. That was a bit scary, but while orientating us with the compass we managed to reach our objective. This was to reach the platform where Kroken, Rundfjellet and Tromsdalstinden have some ground in common. There we decided to sit down and have a deserved lunch with a nice view on the tromsdalstinden and Tromso Island.
(picture: laura and me after lunch)
After that we started walking again and picked some blue and red berries on the way and saw some reindeers. We were really relaxed enjoying every step and every view. But we weren't suspecting that a hard part was coming.

The way down into Tromsdalen was a bit dangerous and unconscious with moving and slippery rocks. We missed the path there, but managed anyway. It was just a little bit less cheerful than the rest of the trip. (Picture: the steep way we walked down and the thumbs stand for, 'good job right' )

But we had a good day and I even managed to get some freckles on my nose ;-)