From August 30 to September 21, 2012, I vacationed in the Arctic. My companion Paul and I started out in Oslo, Norway. From September 4th to the 17th we cruised on the Akademic Sergi Valvalov, operated by Quark Expeditions ( http://www.quarkexpeditions.com/) and organized by Digital Photo Destinations ( http://www.digitalphotodestinations.com/). After the cruise ended in Reykjavik, Iceland, Paul and I remained in Iceland for a few days. We toured southern Iceland with Christopher Lund ( http://photoguide.is/), a local professional photographer and an excellent guide.