One of the coolest ways of getting around, however, is by cross-country skiing! Norway is a very active country, and they especially love to ski. Many people use skiing as an exercise or leisure activity, but many people also use it to get around the city. Often when I'm in the office, I see people walking through the halls carrying a change of clothes and their ski gear.
I usually ski for fun rather than as a means of transportation. I'm still not great at cross-country, so I don't like to rely on it when I need to get somewhere on time. However, I practiced skiing to university the other day. First off, it was super tiring! By the time I arrived, I was very sweaty and soggy because it had started sleeting. At the same time, I liked the feeling of using my body to travel around. The other reason I like skiing as a mode of transportation is because it's better for the environment. Using public transportation (like the bus) contributes less to global warming than driving your own car, but it still releases harmful greenhouse gasses. The only greenhosue gas released by skiing is the carbon dioxide that you breath out of your lungs! I don't think I'm going to use skiing as my everyday transportation, but I do hope to do it more often.
Cross-country skiing to get around isn't something you can do everywhere. Tromsø has designed special ski trails that connect a lot of different areas around the island. These trails are called Lysløper, which means "light trails" because they are lit so people can use them even during the darkness of the polar night.
