Welcome to Tromsø, Paris of the North!
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| Welcome to Tromsø |
It feels like a dream when the plane finally landed at Tromsø, the northern part of Norway.
Together with my Director and one of my closest colleagues at the office, we attended the bilateral meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway. And as they also hosted the Asia - Europe Meeting on human rights education and training in Tromsø, the bilateral meeting was held in Tromsø as well.
And what a lovely city Tromsø is!
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| the ship by the fjord.. |
We flew through Istanbul and Oslo to reach this lovely city dubbed as Paris of the North.
It was quite a long journey as we transited here and there.
But once we arrived and saw the beauty of Tromsø, it all worth the journey!
Tromsø warmly welcomed us with piles of snow.
Can you imagine the beautiful snowy rain at minus 6 degree Celsius approximately welcoming us with Indonesian 35-degree-Celsius-all-year-long fatigue bodies?
Well.. good thing we were quite ready and wore our winter clothes and boots :).
Otherwise we would be drop dead frozen.
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| The church right in front of our hotel. |
The first agenda we had as we arrived in Tromsø was dinner.
Yes, what beats lovely dinner in a cold, cold place!
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| Look at the view! |
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| Our big delegation.. |
The restaurant is called
Du Verden.
It was our and Norwegian delegation coming and enjoying dinner in one of the best restaurants in the city. As it was probably more than 20 of us, we spent quite a long time waiting for the food LOL.
I loved the creamy mushroom soup and the baked fish they served.
And the dessert? Heaven!
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| My fave! |
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| love the fish and the gratin |
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| wanna have some dessert? |
Plus, the restaurant was located by the fjord, so we really enjoyed the wonderful scenery outside of the window of our tables.
Lovely indeed.
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| Our bilateral meeting |
Then the following day we had the full half - day meeting, followed by the ASEM seminar opening in the afternoon.
There were a wide range of issues being discussed and we really had a productive discussion.
Many deliverables and proposed programs were being put forward and I am excited to continue our cooperation in so many fields.
Again, as we met and discussed so many important topics on human rights, the snow solemnly fell outside and we could clearly see it from our wide-windowed room.
So serene!
We were also priveledge to have the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Norway to come and join us at the closing session of the meeting. She's so young yet very intelligent.
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| The minister at the closing session.. |
After the meeting, we all went back to our hotel and got ready for the Northern Lights hunting.
Yeees...we were hunting for that famous aurorra.
In the middle of the winter night!
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| Solemn night before aurorra hunting |
And later I will share some practical tips for hunting Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway.
Just stick around and stay with me and My Purple World, okay.
And incase you haven't checked my WW post on
Northern Lights in Tromsø, check out Northern Lights Hunting at Tromsø, Norway.
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| Lucky us! |
Do you like snow too?
Where do you see snow for the first time?
Do you always get well-prepared for winter time?
Cheers and see you in the next adventure!
