Chris and I purchased a really nice tripod and a remote control shutter release just before we moved. This weekend we used them for the first time. It was a bit chilly out, so we just took a quick walk to the lake and snapped a couple pictures there. We're gonna have to get the hang of using the tripod, the shutter release, and the manual setttings on our camera if we are going to capture the northern lights like we want to! We're practicing up and readying ourselves for it.
An interesting side note: Chris and I have been taking a beginners Icelandic class four mornings a week for two hours. When we bike to class in the morning, we look to our left and basically see the top photo. The sun doesn't rise until 10:30, and our class starts at 9:10, so the disco bridge whose lights continuously changes color is still glowing bright for us in the dark, dark morning. It's a beautiful view! The language school that we go to is a 20-25 minute bike ride away, and mostly a gradual uphill ride. The ride home takes about 10-15 minutes as we glide downhill practically the whole way home.
For those of you who don't already know this, Icelandic is a very difficult language to learn. The class has helped us quite a bit, though, and we plan to continue with the classes and move on to level 2 in January, along with some of our classmates. I will go into more detail about why Icelandic is so difficult in another post. For now, just know that we find it fun and simultaneously very challenging.
For example, here's a video of people trying to pronounce the name of the volcano whose erruption halted air traffic here and abroad not so very long ago, Eyjafjallajökull.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jq-sMZtSww&w=560&h=315]