Spitsbergen - Svalbard

Dear Friends
I am very happy, thanks to the organisation by Jean-Luc, to have had the occasion to visit the island of Spitsbergen i the Svalbard archipelago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard .
Although in the polar night, the visit was exiting and interesting although not crowned by the meeting with polar bears and northern lights. Only Jean-Luc (cf. http://eurastro.blogspot.be/2015/01/longyearbyen-un-nouvel-au-spitzberg.html
- see the last image) reports the vision of one of them. But for me interesting is the concept that the island tries to communicate to the visitor, i.e. the triumph of nature, research and hard work.
Happy New Year
Giancarlo