Kirkenes, Norway, behind the customs office building

Thursday, 23 January 2025 - It's become a habit of mine that whenever I travel with family, I wake up earlier than everyone else, sometimes hours earlier, to go for a walk by myself, wherever we happen to be staying. I do this to make up for the fact that, during the day, spending time with my family, I don't often get to see or do or explore as much as I would like. And yet I do want to spend time with my family.

This was my first morning in Kirkenes, in Norway. We'd arrived on the Hurtigruten ferry the day before, and I hadn't yet had time to explore the city much on my own. It was cold. The ground was frozen, and to get to this spot, to take this photo, I'd had to shimmy my way down a really icy road, grabbing railings and street signs along the way to steady myself, as the road itself lay on a slope. It was really calm and really peaceful, and only the few cars on the main road and the lights on in this boat hinted at any activity.