Pics, shots and photographs galore!

It's the last day of the holidays and my Easter has been wonderful. I've spent it entirely in my own company, which some people may think is strange but I actually love just hanging out with myself. At least then I can be sure I spend my time with someone sensible, am I right? ;) I started reading the Harry Potter-series and also Jane Austen's Persuasion, so that when I tired of one I could read the other. I've watched tons of movies and all three seasons of House of Cards. I hadn't seen that show before and was feeling left out, since it seems everyone else has... Of course, even I would go crazy without any form of human interaction for over a week, but I've been skyping almost every day with friends and family. My friend B. and I have started watching movies together while we skype - we just set up our tablets next to us in our sofas and start the same movie at exactly the same time - it's almost like the real thing :)

On sunny days I've been taking my camera out for long walks. My brother is into photography, and so am I on a lesser scale. Or rather, I think I'm just as interested, but I'm not as accomplished as he is. He linked me some websites ("10 tips for better landscape photos!") and gave me some expert advice, so of course I had to go try it out!

On the first truly sunny day I went down to the colonial harbour. It's very picturesque, even when covered completely in snow, and I suspect it's full of life during the summer. When I went there everything was closed, but the day was so beautiful that I didn't mind. Towering on a hill over the harbour is the statue of Hans Egede. Now, I google'd this because I've been mocked for being a little hazy on the details: He was a missionary who went to Greenland in 1721. He had expected to find vikings here, but found inuits instead and immediately started spreading God's word. He founded Nuuk, which is why there is a statue of him on the top of a hill next to the colonial harbour (I expect the inuits already had a settlement here, but isn't it just typical of Europeans to put their name on everything?). 

I decided to climb to the top, but in my ignorance proceeded to take the worst route ever! You see, I was not aware that on the hillside facing away from the harbour there was an easy little climb on an actual path that went from a quiet villa road up a gentle slope to the top. No no, I decided to make my own path up the south side, which was a whole lot steeper, longer, windier and with knee-deep snow. *Sigh*... Oh well, as one of my friends has so rightly commented, "Why make it easy when it can be difficult?"

Notice the hang-glider, by the way!

On my next photo safari a few days later I didn't need to go further than the apartment building next to mine. On the photo to the right, which was taken out of my living room window (I know, I'm a terribly lucky girl), do you see the little blue staircase on the lower left side of the photo? Those stairs are attached to the corner of the building next to mine and it's the closest you can get to the water, so I decided I had to get down there to get close to that stunningly turquoise ice. The stairs were completely covered in snow and ice and they were horribly creaky, which made me think I was bringing about my own very wet and cold end - it would be just like me to stumble over the fence and down into the water, hah. Luckily I survived, and so did these photos...

So the last thing I must share are the photos I managed to get of the aurora borealis the other night :D My first real photographs of northern lights, and the only reason I was able to get these is because the lights appeared before the sun had even set. It was still light out! It was very difficult holding my hands steady enough, so the frames are a little shaky - in fact, they're not great photos at all - but screw that because the lights are clear enough! ;)

The sun was setting...

... and this happened

They were only there for ten minutes...

... before the sun set...

... leaving a lone star to stand vigil in the night