So even though the past two days have meant working inside a lot I still get to look out my office window and see this;

After work I took a walk through town and the clouds went away long enough to see some bright blue sky. Also I found a row of houses that I had seen in numerous pictures of Longyearbyen and  the reason why is very obvious.

In fact most of the houses and buildings in Longyearbyen are brightly colored and very few are simply white. Next I took a walk to the end of the valley which is where the student housing for UNIS is located. As the road ended in Nybyen, which is where the student housing is, the sun attempted to come out from behind the clouds and produced a very beautiful scene.

Then as I was walking back into town I saw a sign that is very common here in Longyearbyen and all of Svalbard I'm sure;

Almost every family here has more snowmobiles than they do cars. Next to the average house you may see a car or two, but you generally see at least 3 or 4 snowmobiles. My boss for example has one car but then has 4 snowmobiles, because for most of the year it is an easier mode of transportation. Also simply taking trips up into the mountains on your snowmobile is very popular. Finally here is a nice shot that I got of the main section of the town of Longyearbyen.