The aurora in Iceland.

   I worried very much whether I would wake up or not on the day. Until 5:00 a.m. I had need to leave my house for the airport. In my life, I had never concerned about my wake-up time, but since my retirement on this March 31 my body condition was changed. I sometimes could not wake up when I had need to get up in the morning. Well, the result was fine.

   I just happened to travel to Iceland. After a long interval, I planed to go abroad this year. But, the tour I want to join was not available or the tour I didn’t want was available, so I just couldn’t turn it into reality. Finally, I could schedule this tour. It just happened and I saw the aurora there. You envy me? (^_^)

   After I returned, I examined the bus route with Google map. First, I examined place names in Katakana(カタカナ), but I found so many names didn’t appear. Next, I looked for the names by Icelandic spelling. I’ve not found some names yet. But most part I found, I think. (See figure 1).

   Before my departure, I saw how to take aurora. It needs ISO800 and exposure 3 seconds at least. My digital camera (CASIO EX-V7) has no such ability. It has a manual shooting mode, but if I use both manual aperture and shutter speed, the ISO is fixed at 64. ‘Be damned if you do, damned if you don’t’. However, I can’t afford to buy new one only for this purpose. I wondered later, nowadays, whether I could have rent a digital camera which has such ability.

   As a result, it wasn’t possible. I dare post my pictures here, subtle. You can see the aurora there, but they are so grainy because of ISO1600. This time, I joined a group travel of a travel agent, so I had company. The group was small, just gentle people who were punctual, so the journey was pleasant. The group included a person who more prepared to take pictures of the aurora, and I asked him send his aurora pictures for me. If they arrive, I’ll show you them to compare with mine……