Icelandic summer nights
I'm always reminded of the old hymn from Psalm 113:3: "From the rising of the sun unto the going down." Except that here in southern Iceland, the "going down" of the sun is quite late in the summer, and the "rising" quite early. Icelandic summer nights are quite short.
In mid-July, the nights here are about 4.5 hours long. And it's not like it gets dark at sunset and then light again at sunrise...
I took some photos last week to illustrate the bright summer nights here.
Sunset
I took this picture on July 13th at 12:44 a.m. The day before (Saturday) had actually been a beautiful day, but then it clouded over in the evening, and Sunday (July 13th) was a rather gray, cloudy day.
Sunset here on July 12th was at 11:22 p.m., so the picture was taken over an hour after sunset. Yes, it wasn't bright daylight anymore, but it definitely wasn't dark either. With that light, I can still walk through the house at night without having to turn on any lights.
Sunrise
I took this picture two days later when I happened to wake up in the middle of the night, glanced out my study window, and was delighted to see the dawn breaking in the sky. The picture is from July 15th at 2:49 a.m.
Sunrise that day wasn't actually until 3:42 a.m., so I took the picture almost an hour before sunrise. Nevertheless, it was already getting light again.
But the days are now getting significantly shorter again.
The longest day is about 21 hours
The longest days here are around June 20th, when sunset is just before midnight and sunrise is just before 3 a.m., so the day is almost 21 hours long - and it doesn't get dark between sunset and sunrise.
At the end of July the day is only about 18 hours
At the end of July, sunset is already around 10:30 a.m. and sunrise is only around 4:30 a.m., so the day is only around 18 hours long, which is already 3 hours shorter.
Sometime in August, I'll have to turn on the light again when I walk through the house at night...
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