Monday, August 13, 2007

Longyearbyen

The largest town in the Svalbard archipelago, and my home for the next two days is Longyearbyen. It was begun as a coal mining town, and coal is still important here, although tourism seems to be the biggest industry.

Coal staging area on the airport road
Shetland ponies
The town from the glacial moraine above
The Longyear glacier:

Some Dr. Suess flowers:
The glacial outwash is pretty:

A reindeer. These are much smaller than I expected. I went for a walk up the valley this morning, and saw reindeer tracks, and then finally this guy. The tracks are about cow-sized, but the actual animal is goat-sized. No polar bear tracks though. You're supposed to bring a rifle if you go outside the settlement here. The foot of the glacier is practically in the town, though, so I didn't bother. There are places here in town that rent rifles, so if I go for a longer walk I'll probably bring one.

1 comment:

Anita said...

Hey,
Wow, the trees are amazing!!
Glad you survived the trip, you better be on the lookout for bears so one doesn't 'neak up and 'nack on you. Polar bears are meaner than grizzlies, remember?
The credit card police called. Some....thing.... about FRAUD, your not allowed to travel you know. Anyway we assured them that you were on official business with that buddy of yours, Karl what's his name? The pictures are really neat but probably don't do justice as usual. What an awesome experience. be safe and be cool:)
Neetie