On our first night in Tasiilaq, we spent an hour out in the cold and wind and got rewarded by seeing the Northern Lights. After being back in bed an hour, our tour guide woke us up and told us the Northern Lights were getting strong again. We got dressed and went back outside for another hour to watch them. A woman from Finland was watching with us and said that it was an excellent display. We were very pleased, though our photos were nothing like the ones that we had seen in magazines or online.

The second night, we went to bed at 8 but set our alarm for 10:30. This night, we dressed much more warmly. I got us locked out of the hotel on our balcony and I had to walk around the hotel in the dark. On the other side, I noticed how much better the Lights were, so I got Vicky and we moved around. Eventually, we hiked up above our hotel to a dark area near a lake. We were really impressed and enjoying ourselves. Now, I will quote from my journal of this night:

“But then it happened, at about 11:45pm. We got a nine minute display of the Northern Lights that far outdid all that we had seen so far, by an exponential factor. The entire sky lit up and blocked out all the stars. The color and brightness were magnitudes greater. The sky was swirling and rows of curtains formed and swayed and fell and were replaced by more. It was like seeing an incredible fireworks show for the first time in my life. Vicky and I and six other people were up on the hill and we did enough oohing and aahing for July 4th, Christmas morning, and all the rest of the holidays put together for the whole year. I can’t really put it all into words but it was a nine minute display that we will never forget for the rest of our lives.

We stayed out past midnight and we laid flat on our backs on the hard cold ground with rocks and all to be able to see everything and it was all worth it to stay up late and put up with the cold. It was well worth it for every second of that nine minute display. Now we have really seen the Northern Lights!”

These photos were taken by Karen Gries, one of our travel companions. We appreciate her sharing them with us.

The next morning at breakfast, we talked about it with our Finnish friend who has a lifetime of experience with the Northern Lights. She was gushing about seeing them last night and said it was a thrill to see them. She said it was clearly one of the best displays that she had ever seen. Several other Danes and Greenlanders had much the same to say about last night’s Northern Lights display.