Day 13 – Kongsberg -> Oslo -> Frankfurt -> Osaka

January 4th, 2011

We woke up after only about three hours sleep – at 4am. I’d mostly done my packing the evening before (always a good idea) so all I had to do was shower, dress, caffeinate, finish packing, and I was ready. David was going to Sweden for a job interview, so he also had to bring some stuff. He decided to take his skis since he might have got a chance, but also it made a good story for the people at the border crossing. It seemed that saying you were looking for work somewhere other than Norway was not the done thing. He ended up taking more gear than I had – but I think mine weighed more.

It had snowed the night before, so we’d covered David’s car with a tarpaulin. That had been a good idea since it was much easier to shake the snow off the plastic than to scrape it off the windows. We packed the car then hit the road just as the snow started to pick up again.

David had to tread his way quite tenaciously at times along the highways, since some hadn’t been cleared properly so the tyre tracks were the only safe way along the road. If he ever deliniated slightly from his course, I could feel the car start to move about and threaten to swing about and spin off into chaos. Changing lanes was done not very often, and at reduced speed. Driving behind trucks was very dangerous too, since the snow thrown up blinded the driver, and stuck to the windscreen. David drove with his wipers on most of the way, since the windscreen was often fugged up with ice and snow thrown up by passing motorists. As we neared Oslo, the roads varied between clean and clear, and waiting to be ploughed with some deep snow in parts, and tunnels beneath the metropolis above.

We arrived at the airport. I wa slightly relieved to be there! I wa glad that I didn’t have to drive through that kind of weather very often. It had been an occasional hazard in my Japanese adventures so far up to that point. David faced a long drive to Sweden, so I wished him luck and we parted ways. It had been great to stay with him and experience something of regular Norwegian life, even if it had been through the eyes of another ex-pat.

A long line awaited myself at check-in. I wanted to see if it was possible to upgrade to business class for the flight back to Japan, so after checking in my suitcase, and discovering I couldn’t at that desk, I asked at another desk. It would have set me back half a million yen to do so! Errrmmmm… [picked up jaw from floor] no way. I then realised I’d forgotten to ask for a good seat allocation anyway, and I’d been given an obscure window seat at the back of the plane. Crap. I thought I could ask to change that at Frankfurt.

The flight down from Oslo was mostly uneventful. There heaps of kids on board the plane with parents, so a few found the conditions not to their liking. The breakfast was of the bought variety, so I didn’t bother. Soon enough we touched down. We had to park away from the terminal building though, so it was a rude introduction to minus five degrees and snow beofre being ejected into the labyrinthe of the terminal B building. Thankfully it was the same terminal for the Osaka flight, but there was no information about which gate it would be departing from. The terminal B building actually consisted of three seperate departure areas, each with its own security checkpoints, so instead of going through one and finding it was the wrong one, I waited, biding my time at the duty-free store (where I purchased my mandatory three bottles) and at one of the available departure gates. Eventually the information updated so off I went.

At the desk for the gate I discovered that the flight was full and there was no way I was going to have my seat changed. Crap. I sat, read my book, and stewed quietly while waiting for the flight to board.

They were boarding in sections from the back tot he front, so that meant that every person who was sitting in a forward section without kids or being disabled, was a nitwit. There were surprisingly quite a lot of them. I should have swung my bag around a bit as I made my way to my seat. I was not in a good mood!

I arrived at my seat to find it already taken by a little Japanese lady. Fine by me! You take the window, and I’ll gratefully take the aisle. At least I didn’t have to ask. Having a little Japanese lady there also meant I didn’t have to worry so much about being the huge piece of freight that I am. If it had been another big person there it would have been a truly sucky flight home for both of us.

We had to endure a little delay as we waited for the de-icing machines to pay a visit, but when they were down we were soon above the clouds and off over northern Europe and heading back to Japan.

I hardly got any sleep again, although I did try. The movie delection helped by changing from mostly unwatchable on the way over, to completely unwatchable. It got a little bumpy at times, and there was one persistant child who wouldn’t settle. The food was OK, but not very memorable. I guess that’s a good thing going by some of the awful meals I’ve had on flights!

The plane had to make a detour from its graceful arc across the northern hemisphere by negotiating its way around North Korea after we’d flown over Beijing. Eventually we landed in Osaka, at Kansai International. We were all herded through immigration, my bag came off early, and the customs guy was nice, so it was an efficient and quick entry to Japan – only to find I’d missed the Himeji bus by five minutes and I would have to wait an hour for the next one. Crap.

But all in all, it was a successful trip. I’d done what I’d set out to do. I read a quote the other day that said, “A traveller sees what he sees; a tourist sees what he has come to see.” By that definition I’d fulfilled both criteria; I’d experienced a White Christmas and the aurora, but I’d also seen stately Nordic architecture, received Norwegian hospitality, driven a dog sled, skied, caught up with an old friend, seen towns and landscapes I’d never banked on seeing, endured freezing cold and snow and something of the life of a person who lives at those lattitudes. It had been good. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again (but who does, really?) but I am glad that I have done it.

Day 12 – Kongsberg

Jan 03, 2011

We woke up a little earlier in order to go to the bank and the post office. That done, David took me to one of his favourite cafés for lunch. One nice pannini and a cafe latte later and it was off to the old town with me and a camera.

Once again, a very pretty place, covered in picturesque snow, up on a hill so it overlooked the rest of the town to one side, and the river and the new town on the other. I slipped and slid around a bit, but no spectacular collapses. I tried to take some shots of the river too, with the dark waters rushing between sheets of solid ice. It was quite the scene as snow started to fall. Very pretty.

I think this is going to have to be my one word to sum up this country: “pretty”. I have a habit of finding a single word to describe places or people, so here I have arrived on the definition of Norway. It’s good to have done so.

I found some reindeer slices in the supermarket, so David and I had a sandwich made from Norwegian brown bread and Norwegian brown cheese to go with it. We washed it down with some Norwegian beer – including the unfortunately named ‘Aass’. The reindeer was very good: a lot like beef, but not quite as heavy.

After a while it was time for dinner. We went out for Indian; one of the great Norwegian restaurant food groups. The curry was very good, but I found I preferred Japanese style naan more, being thicker and chewier than the thin and crispy variety done in this particular establishment. To accompany the meal we had a Bangladeshi beer, which was a lot like other beers from tropical climes; light and easy to drink, well suited to hot food.

Another ice cream, another cup of tea, another good movie on TV (Bourne Supremacy) and it was time to try to get some sleep before a very early rise and departure for Oslo airport and the conclusion of my trip.

Day 11 – Kongsberg

January 2nd, 2011

Another midday-ish start to our travels. My sleeping patterns were pretty much back to normal. This time we went to the coast, to a town called Tonsberg. It was a very pretty drive through the setting sun, the winter snowscape and several small towns along the way.

We parked in the city centre and had a walk along the riverside, with a view of the frozen river and marina, as well as the industrial area across the other side. Most of the boats from the marina had been taken out from the water and were on stocks, all lined up along the bank. Most were covered in canvas but some had been left to face the elements. We headed back in a circle through the town, taking in the sights of the old buildings, new buildings, mostly closed buildings and the occasional open one. Lunch was taken inside a converted warehouse by the water’s edge, along with a tasty beverage.

The actual ‘beach’ was about twenty minutes’ drive from the town. We parked by a stable then walked down a short path, which opened up to the seaside. It was mostly rocky outcrops and inlets, looking mysterious in the rapidly fading light. The sea was mostly covered in ice, but the tide had opened up gaps in places, and pushed up the ice in others. It was a fairly adventurous walk out along the water’s edge. The rocks and paths were patchy with snow and ice, making the going rather perilous at times. The view was magnificent though. The sky in Norway was virtually free of dust, so there was almost no orange in the sunset, apart from very close to the horizon.

There was an ancient lighthouse on a rocky outcrop, so we went up there to have a look, covering some very icy ground in the process. After surviving that trip, we went back to the car, then back to Kongsberg via Drammen and the highway.

Reheated pizza and Czech beer for dinner – pretty good!

Day 10 – Kongsberg

January 1st, 2011

Ouch. Pain. Stiffness. Yeah, Happy New Year. Needless to say, I was not going skiing again. I watched a South Park marathon on TV while David got himself ready. It was afternoon and the sun was setting when we went off to the ski centre.

David took up his alpine skis and used my leftover pass from yesterday while I wandered about and took pictures of the action. David had joked that Norwegians were born with skis on their feet and it was easy to see why he’d come to that conclusion. Parents introduced their kids to skiing when it looked like they had barely mastered the idea of standing up. The beginner slope had special lifts for kids and was well used. The regular slopes were also quite busy with skiers and snowboarders. They even had some jumps and moguls set up and a few adventurous sorts were leaping off them. It was a pleasant sunset again, but not much in the way of clouds to add an accent to the procedings.

Once David finished his run we packed up and headed off to Knuttehutte, which was a lookout above the old Kongsberg silver mines. The mines were Kongsberg’s raison de être for many years. Themuseum and mines were only open for tours during the brief summer months though. The road got pretty narrow and windy but the view from up the mountain was something special. There was a cafe up there too, but it was closed; story of the trip eh! David tried to go further up the road, but it was snowed in, so he executed a perfect 17-point turn to get the car around and headed back down to civilization.

For dinner we headed out to enjoy one of the five main kinds of Norwegian food, if the type of restaurants that were plentiful were to be used as a judge of a nation’s culinary focus. The main kinds of food in Norway are as follows; kebabs, hot dogs, hamburgers, ethnic food (Chinese, Thai and Indian being the main varieties available), and pizza. So we ended up at a Peppes Pizza, which was one of the two main pizza chain stores in Norway. Dolly Dimple’s was the name of the other one. Peppes was decked out like a more atmospheric Hard Rock Cafe on the inside, with guitars and shrines to various bands throughout the restaurant. (Naturally, there was one to A-ha!) They also did take out, as evidenced by the constant stream of customers coming though. They were short some staff due to illness so it took some time to get served, but the pizza was pretty good.

Walking home in the freezing cold probably used up all the energy we got from the pizza, so we got some ice cream from the service station. Pretty good stuff too. Norwegians do chocolate and ice cream very well.

Day 09 – Kongsberg

December 31st, 2010

Another late start – especially when there’s so much TV I could catch up on… well, I did want and need to relax a bit!

We went for a drive to the local ski centre via a town called Notodden. It was where David first started out when he moved to Norway, so we went on a bit of a sightseeing / reminice around the town. We stopped off at the cycling shop where David helped out. It was run by another Australian blke, but he wasn’t there. We guessed he was off skiing somewhere. It seemed like they were on a good thing with having David help out around the place. He’d organised and systemised the stock room to some extent (it was pretty messy – a result of NOT having David around for a week or so) and I think they were paying him in parts and equipment for his bike! I guess David appreciated the chance to get more stuff, but I feel they were getting a good deal.

From there we drove through the hills to the ski centre near Kongsberg. It was a series of downhill runs and cross-country tracks criss-crossing a mountain above the town. I hired a set of cross-country skis to try that out for the first time. Needless to say, it was not very easy at all. The idea was to step forward and slide at the same time. The flats were OK – along with any slight inclines or declines, but I found it easy to lose grip on the snow so climbing was especially difficult. The idea being to step upward and use the edge of the ski to dig into the snow as you pushed upward. I found that when I did that the ski slid out from under me, causing a faceplant – or near faceplant – to ensue. That was the curse of being the height and weight I am…

We went a fair way along the easiest track, but I was getting tired, so we turned around and headed back to the ski lodges at the base of the ski area. I was able to change the skis over to alpine ones without much hassle and scored a couple of free lift tickets into the bargain. I think they were taking pity on me since it was obvious I was out of my depth… sometimes it’s good to be the obviously foreign guy…

The lift up to the top was a nice ride as the sun was setting and the few clouds there were, were a peachy pink against the cold clear blue sky. At the top I was unceremoniously dumped onto the waiting snow and made my way towards the green run back down to the bottom. I’m glad that it was the ‘easiest’ run as anything else would have been positively suicidal. There were quite a few declines that were too hard for me to negiotiate. Even other skiers stopped to work out the best way to go down them. So I spent more time on my backside (and front and side) than sliding majesterially down them. I ended up with some nice deep bruising on my right hip and thigh as a result of my misadventures down that hill.

After we got back to David’s apartment and had hot showers to thaw out and soothe injuries, David made some pasta for dinner and we settled in to watch some DVDs. Not a partying new years by any stretch, but that was OK.

Outside, Kongsberg was in the process of setting the sky alight with firewworks to welcome in the New Year. Even at 7pm people were setting off bursts in the dark sky. By 11:30 it was a steady stream of plumes coming from multiple sites around the town. By midnight the whole cityscape was alive with bursting rockets. It was a unique way to see in the new year for me, that was for sure. By 12:30am, the celebrations had died down, but still there was the occasional setting off by some overly celebrative party.

Day 08 – Kongsberg

December 30th, 2010

I woke up at 10:15 – the latest start so far by a long way – and watched TV until David surfaced soon afterwards.

We pottered about for a bit, breakfasted, showered and I did some laundry. We ended up going out after midday and headed in David’s Audi A3 to Rjukan in the Telemark area for a bit of a look-see. The mountains and lakes created a wonderful winter’s scene and we were able to stop and take it in a few times along the way. The roads were icy, but the winter tyres held firm and David knew what he was doing behind the wheel.

Rjukan was famous for the heavy water factory that was blown up by the Norwegian Resistance during WW2, as immortalised in the Hollywood movie, “The Heroes Of Telemark”. We saw the hydro-electric plant slash factory that was hit by the resistance fighters, as well as the rest of the town, which was so pretty I wished I could stay there and just drink in its loveliness on a daily basis.

We ventured up a mountain road to a ski resort above the town. There we had a beer and a chat, a walk to the hotel, another chat, a walk around the chalets and ski-runs, then finally back to the hotel for dinner.

The interior was all pine and warmth. It smelt of wealth and wood-burning fires. The restaurant was a medium-to-large dining hall in area, but with lower ceilings and the pine helped to retain some sense of intimacy. There was a piano player playing a fairly eclectic range of tunes (‘Imagine’, to ‘Jingle Bells’, to ‘My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean’, to ‘Nights Of White Satin’ – quite a mix!). There was a very limited menu on offer (sadly no reindeer) so we both had veal, which was roasted to tender perfection and shared a bottle of Chilean Cab Sav. The restaurant was filled with wealthy Norwegian families and retirees enjoying themselves, so we both enjoyed the atmosphere.

From there we made our way back to Kongsberg, stopping off at the local supermarket for supplies and doing a circuit of the ‘old’ mining company part of town to check out the buildings there. Once again, another pretty, pretty town, full of history and character and looking a treat frosted with snow.

Apartment, chocolate, computer, bed.

Day 07 – Tromso -> Oslo -> Kongsberg

December 29th, 2010

 

Up at 7:30 and down to breakfast. No spoons again, so this time I when I asked the waiter for one and the other diners down there asked for one as well, he remembered to bring out a bunch for any other possible spoon-user. It makes me wonder what the staff are thinking when they set up for breakfast every morning. There were all manner of cereals, mueslis, condiments and accessories for breakfast munching, yet it never crossed their minds to put out spoons for at least two days running.

 

I dressed and packed as the dawn caressed the dark sky behind the mountain across the fjord from my window. It really was a pretty scene, but that was the story of my trip so far. Norway is such a pretty place in the winter-time – and I suspect as much during most other times of the year as well.

 

I caught a cab to the airport, checked in (I had to pay extra for the five kilos my bag had mysteriously acquired during the time in Tromso. I didn’t buy anything, surely?), went through security and took my place in the waiting area amongst more very handsome Norwegians. They are a very handsome group of people. It was also interesting to note the number of young families with children. Japan could really learn something from here about how to fix the demographic time-bomb. What a shame it’s already too late.

 

The flight down was uneventful. Food was of the buy-if-you’re-hungry variety – so I didn’t. The sun rose as we went further south. It was nice to see the welcoming rays once again.

 

Touchdown, bags, outside, hello David! David and I went to high school together and he’s lived in Scandinavia for the past six years or so. He was between jobs, so he had gone down to the Netherlands for Christmas with some family down there, then arrived a few hours before me, so he’d rested his weary head in a cafe for that time then woke up to greet me and show me around Oslo. We trained to Oslo, dumped our bags in a locker and ventured out into the minus ten degree afternoon. We visited the central areas I’d wandered before, only this time the shops were open, there was light in the sky, and there were poeple and cars around the place. The city looked quite different at times.

 

We went along the waterfront, occasionally stopping in some shops for a look. David is an outdoorsy kind of person, so we looked at outdoor gear a fair bit. It was also useful to get indoors and out of the cold for a while – it was piercingly cold, even with jackets and thermals on. We skipped in and out of shopping malls then ended up at a watering hole for a refreshing drink. I tried a cider, which turned out to be a Danish pear cider – pretty sweet and a bit ‘girly’. Not really what I was after, but I drank it down and we continued our way back towards the station.

 

We had dinner at a place named ‘Peoples’, which was a bar/restaurant with a range of tasty-looking goodies on the menu. Our waitress was a friendly sort and soon we were ordering all manner of tidbits. I had a house Portergaff which was rich and yummy. David and I shared a bowl of nachos then we had a burger each. I had the BBQ and blue cheese burger, which definitely was of the knife-and-fork variety. It drew the admiring glances of the female couple next to us. Words were exchanged but sadly that was all. The burger disappeared appreciatedly, along with the beer.

 

Back tot he station and our arrival timed nicely with the departure of the train for Kongsberg, a ninety-minute ride away. We both ended up snoozing for some of the trip.

 

Once at Kongsberg, we had to walk the few hundred metres between the station and David’s apartment. Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a problem, but the footpaths and roads were slick with ice, making the going quite a bit more interesting. Thankfully my backside didn’t meet the ice and we made it there without incident. Kongsberg falls nicely into the genre of ‘small Norwegian town’ with older buildings dating from its time as a silver mining town, to the more modern-looking, yet still charming varieties of architecture.

 

Relax, TV, sleep on sofa, warmth, happiness.

 

 

 

Day 06 – Tromso

December 28th, 2010

 

I breakfasted around 8:30. The restaurant was pretty disorganised – the worst I’d experienced thus far. I had to ask for a spoon for my cereal. Seriously, there were no spoons. The food was fine though, but fitting the ‘standard’ Norwegian hotel breakfast model.

 

From there I suited up and headed to the port for my morning cruise. It was myself and an English couple plus the husband and wife crew on board an ocean-going catamaran. I took the offer of the full body suit. I had learned my lesson well last night. We spent about half of the time outside on the deck at the back of the boat, snapping photos of the passing view of mountains and towns bathed in the rosy-yellow glow of the mid-day dawn. The rest of the time we spent inside the cabin with the pilot and his wife, chatting about Norway and all sorts of other stuff. The water was calm and the wind was still. The only motion was of the slowly moving landscape and the few birds we could see flying about. They said that they sometimes had porpoises shadowing the ship. It was a good way to spend a couple of hours.

 

Once back in port, the daylight was already past its peak and by 1pm it was getting dark again.

 

I had some time, so I went to the (self-proclaimed) northernmost brewery in the world – well actually to the pub attached to the northernmost brewery in the world, Olhallen (lit. ‘beer hall’) It was a real old world kind of pub with an open atrium entering from steps leading to a big old heavy wooden door. The atrium led to the bar as well as to several side rooms and nooks and crannies. Oh, and there were two stuffed polar bears standing in menacing poses to greet the incoming guests. I tried a couple of beers, their dark malt ale, which was tasty, but without much of an aftertaste, and their Xmas beer, which was very rich and complex – very nice indeed. As I sat down, a Norwegian couple struck up a conversation. Eventually it turned into a party of eight including a native Sami woman, and American lass and another Aussie guy. Tromso hospitality at its finest. It was a fine three hours well spent.

 

From there I went back to the hotel and prepared for the dinner cruise. I went back to the same boat as from the morning. This time there was an English lady, a couple from Hong Kong, one from France, and one from Switzerland. We slowly made our way north, away from the city lights and hopefully towards the northern lights. The Hong Kong couple had spent the previous evening in the company of a professional aurora photographer, so they were able to pass on some tips. Their pictures from that evening’s expedition were amazing. It didn’t take long for the lights to switch on, so we were all outside and up to the viewing deck to try to get some shots. I got a few, but it was only after fiddling with the camera settings and another burst of aurora before I got some decent shots. We had one more burst during our dinner but then the clouds rolled in and although we could see the colour and movement a bit, the beautiful detail was impossible to see. We headed back to port tired, but happy with the chance to see what we’d all come to see.

 

 

Day 05 – Trondheim -> Tromso

December 27th, 2010

[Please forgive the lack of accurate spelling. Norwegian purists will note the inaccurate use of vowel notation, for example, 'Tromso' should be written as 'Tromsø' and so on, but owing to the fact that these blogs were drafted on a very much out-of-date laptop computer that crashed the last time I tried to load the Character Map program, I hope my tardiness will be excused. Perhaps I will go back and edit all the place names at some later date, maybe not. Forgive me.]

Another early start. Thankfully I’d done most of my packing during my lack-of-Northern-Lights energy burst, but I think I only got three hours of useful sleep. Running on empty is not good, but running on empty while nursing a cold I’ve had for two weeks while journeying through lands where zero degrees is warm is doubly not a good idea.

The ship eventually docked at Trondheim and a couple of people were getting off along with me. They were picked up by friends, but there were no taxis, no buses and no clear way to get to the train station, which is where I wanted to be. The guide written by the tour company suggested I take in breakfast at one of Trondheims cafes. I can tell you very clearly that at 6am on a mid-Winter’s morning there ain’t NOTHIN’ open! I ended up dragging my suitcase along the icy streets for around 30 minutes before reaching the terminal. Thankfully there was an airport bus there, ready to go. I caught the sights of semi-industrial Trondheim on the way out of the city and dozed off for maybe 20 minutes before we arrived at the airport. There were only two other passengers on board.

At the airport I checked in and they used a fingerprint scan for reference for the rest of the way. To get into the pre-boarding area (Yes, you get on before you get on – thanks George Carlin) you used the fingerprint identity and then the machine spat out a piece of paper with your seat allocation on it. No boarding pass required, although I saw some other passengers clutching them. I caught 40 winks in a very comfy reclining airport chair before pre-boarding, then boarding for real. The plane stopped along the way but thankfully we didn’t have to get off and get on again. The double jump killed my ears though. Hours later and they still wouldn’t pop. We were served a continental breakfast (roll, OJ, tea, coffee) on the first leg and the second one had stuff you could buy.

The plane descended into Tromso by doing a big circle around the island. It was a good introduction to the basic layout of the town. Tromso is a university town, so the demographic is younger, and there are lots of places to get out and about. I disembarked, grabbed my bag and waited for a bus while the dawn lit up the sky from the south. No rays of sunshine even hit the tops of the mountains. The was a place of twilight only. The sky was clear though – YES! – so it reflected all kinds of hues onto the surrounding peaks and into the dark, clear water. (I noticed this especially in Alesund yesterday; the water is crystal clear all the way to the sea bed.)

After checking in and exchanging pleasentries with the Russian receptionist (from Murmansk) I dropped my bags, grabbed and camera, and hit town to grab what shots I could in the now fading light.

The main street was lit up festively and the SHOPS WERE OPEN! Something of a shock, but at least I got to see what Norwegian streets looked like with a bit of hussle and bustle. Seriously, if I’d gone home last night, I could’ve been mistaken for believing that Norway was abandoned for the winter. It’s easy to see why the Vikings came from here, and so many Norwegians (and Scandinavians for that matter) are held up as being examples of beauty – the people are mostly good-looking, strapping people, fit and ready for action. Of course I stared, wouldn’t you?

I paid my traditional journeying visit to a Burger King, but this was special as the BK in Tromso is the northernmost one in the world. It tasted the same though – unsurprisingly – and proved to be a most adequate lunch.

After that I wound my way along the streets, snapping away, then back to the hotel along the port. It was already getting quite dark and by 2pm it was essentially night, although the last of the dusk wouldn’t fade until around three.

The hotel is situated right on the edge of the waterfront, overlooking the city and mountains across the fjord to the east. It’s pretty although the carpets in the room seems to have been salvaged from a Las Vegas casino from the late 70s. Also the foyer smelled like roasting meat – constantly! The restaurant’s specialty is reindeer so I know I’ll likely be eating there tomorrow night. Tonight though, was dog-sledding and Northern Light hunting, so I spent some time upstairs getting ready for that.

I doubled up on the thermals, including the silk/cashmere set I’d bought from China on eBay. Yay. eBay! It certainly came in handy.

The bus picked me up form the hotel at 5pm and we drove southwards for about 90 minutes, including a toilet stop, since the loos at the campsite were frozen solid! It turned out to be about minus 20 where we were going. The bus followed the main road for quite some time before finally turning off and we headed into an area of total darkness, save for the lights of our vehicle. We pulled over to a small cabin where we were given our outdoor gear for the night’s activities. Naturally I had to wear the biggest stuff they had! I put on a one-piece arctic suit and enormous insulated boots. They also gave me mittens rated to minus 17 degrees so I ended up putting them on over my gloves. From there we were bussed into the campsite, about five minutes away frrom the roadside cabin.

They had a number of Sami-style tents set up so I stashed my camera gear in one of them then met our guides for the tour. Since I was a lone traveller, I was paired with one of the handlers, a tall German fellow named Linus (website Egg Trek and a pic of me enjoying the driving – here.). Since we were both on the bigger side, our dog team consisted of five of the strongest dogs they had. The sled was made of wood, with a steel brake that you stepped on to dig it into the snow. In order to keep the dogs from taking off, I had to stand on it with all my weight. If just two of the dogs surged forward, the whole sledge would lurch. They weren’t big dogs, but they were certainly powerful. At our base camp there were four teams of dogs, and they were excited to get going, with all manner or yelps, whines, howls and barks filling the silence of the valley. Linus said that they have to have a 20km run every day otherwise they go nuts. We were covering about 16km on our round trip. Once the dogs were running they quietened down so the only sounds were the pitter-pat of their feet, the sliding of the wooden rails over the snow, and the breathing of oneself. The bonus about being paired with Linus was that he often had to go and assist the team behind us when they got into trouble. This meant that I drove the team for all but about ten minutes of the three hours we were out on the trail. Aside from the headlamps we were given there was no other light source, but the starlight was reflecting off the snow-capped mountains around us so that helped a little. The light from our headlamps reflected off the snow and refracted through the ice crystals on the ice-encrusted trees as we sped by, glittering like diamonds.

After the initial climb up into the valley, the running became much easier for the dogs and I didn’t have to assist so much by pushing off the rails at the back. All I had to to do was ride the brake and to lean in the direction to help the dogs turn when they needed to. On the way back, one of Linus’ favourite dogs got tangled in the harness in the team behind us. He had to spend about fifteen minutes untangling the dog and making sure it was OK. Apparently it was a very near thing – a broken leg is death for a sled dog, much like horses. Linus was visibly shaken by the experience. We made it back to the base camp without further incident. While the handlers took care of the dogs, we were all ushered into one of the tents where there was a roaring fire, reindeer fur lined benches, and bowls of delicious hot thick ‘alibut soup. Some of the other tourists had been enjoying snowmobiling on an ice-covered lake, or taking reindeer for a ride in a sleigh.

No Northern Lights during the trip, but on the way back, as I was snoozing, the driver pulled off the road and said, “Aurora photos!” No other invatation was needed as all the passengers piled out of the van and looked upwards. The entire northern half of the sky was covered in what looked like a thin green silk sheet. To our right, and partially obscured by a mountain, the lights were quite bright, in ripples like a bedsheet, but occasionally one ripple would move or ‘switch on’ as the lights moved and changed. Directly overhead there was a streak that suddenly appeared then faded away. I tried in vain to get some pictures, but in the end everything I tried proved futile. The aurora started to fade, and it just wasn’t bright enough for my inadequate equipment to capture it at all. It really was a good lesson to learn, and it increased my respect for the pros who capture those amazing images of the lights tenfold. You really need time, patience, good gear and experience to take those kinds of pictures.

The rest of the ride back to Tromso was spent expectantly looking out the window ahead, but there were no more lights to see – even after getting back to the hotel and watching out the window to the north. The yellow-orange city lights reflecting off the snow providing the view instead.

Day 04 – Bergen -> Alesund -> Trondheim

December 26th, 2010 – on board the Hurtigruten ship, the MS Richard With

 

OK. Who wants to guess what time I woke up this morning? If you placed your bets on somewhere between 4 and 4:30, collect your prize! Thankfully I managed to get in some snoozing time before the alarm went off at 7. Showered in the tiny cubicle – not so much room as to not be able to swing a cat, but unlikely you could get a cat in there with you in the first place!

 

One interesting thing about the MS Richard With was that the vibrations from the engine went through the whole ship – quite visibly at times. The result of that – along with the motion of the ship itself – was that it felt more like sleeping on a train than a boat. The calm waters of the fjords meant there was no perceptable pitching or rolling. Another interesting thing was that all the shipboard announcements were made in Norwegian, then English, then German.

 

Through the windows I could see towns passing by, and snow reflecting in the moonlight off the mountains.

 

Down to breakfast. On the way I came across a couple coming in from outside, the man was singing “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in a booming bass voice. I said, “That’s why I’m in here!” He laughed and agreed.

 

The breakfast spread was the familiar variety that I’d seen in the hotels so far, albeit a little more noticably ‘from the can’, but it didn’t matter too much. I skipped the eggs and bacon and went for yummy dark-bread toast with jam instead.

 

The ship made a brief stop at Maloy as the sun started to make its presence known, but the moon and Jupiter were also still up. Maloy is built on the side of two mountains so they loomed over us as we docked. It looked like a pretty town, all lit up and at peace in the late-December dawn. After Maloy we ventured outside the protection of the fjords and hit the North Sea. The ship started to pitch a little, but the sea was very calm really.

 

It was another long, slow dawn. Around 10am the sunlight was hitting a mountain in the path between us and it, sending clouds of evaporating snow into the sky, blazing like it was on fire. Around 10:30 it disappeared behind more mountains as we moved northwards. The sun continued its teasing for some time, and finally, about 10:45, it broke through, sending bright rays of yellow goodness our way. I took a couple of shots with the big camera. It’s going to be interesting to see if any of them turn out. Several passengers were out and about, pacing the decks and enjoying the sun even thnough the air temperature was something more like minus five, or lower! It was certainly bitingly cold outside.

 

We had one more brief stop then it was onwards to Alesund.

 

There are some places in life you should visit – places of astounding beauty and the power to move you. I suggest you add Alesund to your list. In its icy glory, it was just lovely to walk around the art deco buildings and take it all in. The whole city at the time burned to the ground in 1904 and was rebuilt quickly after a huge effort. The buildings were all constructed in the art-deco style, so it all fits together beautifully. Buildings were often painted in complimentary shades of yellow, red, white with the occasional green or blue slipping in to liven things up. As I was wandering around I had to keep reminding myself that real people live here – that this was everyday life for them. After my cookie-cutter apartment in Tatsuno, I hope you can appreciate the fact that I was constantly walking around looking upwards with my mouth slightly open and making ‘wow’ noises. I did slip and slide a few times on the icy roads and footpaths, but thankfully I didn’t end up on my butt. You can also scratch any time I said ‘powder’ in reference to snow before this entry. The powder here was truly weightless and almost evaporated when kicked or trod upon.

 

Nothing was open, save a couple of cafes and one supermarket, as far as I could see. The roads were mostly empty, save for the occasional car or pedestrian. The two hours we had allocated to our stay were rapidly drawing to a close, as was the available sunlight, so it was time to get back on board, kick off the warm clothes and shoes, and kick back with a beer and a book and watch the sun set. Admitedly I mostly watched the passing landscape than read, but it was good to just relax. Norwegian beers so far have been quite good to drink: hoppy lagers with a bit of kick. I am looking forward to trying some of the darker brews available from the Mack Olbryggeri in Tromso. The sun dipped below the horizon around 3pm and last of the light disappeared by 5 then we were in darkness once more.

 

The sky was mostly clear and the forecast was for cloudy days ahead, so if I was to see the aurora, then this would probably be the best night for it. I was tired and sleepy (maybe the second beer wasn’t such a good idea) but I was determined to see the Northern Lights if there was a sniff of a chance of doing so. I had a practice in my room at setting up the rig I had in mind. I’d brought two tripods – one from Josh for his medium-format Pentax, which had the long pin needed for the setup, and my own regular one for the digital Nikon. I’d bought one of those flexi-claw type tripods and practiced attaching that to the side of the second tripod so I could also hook up the Panasonic digicam. There was no way I was going to miss getting a shot! The vibration from the ship (as well as its motion) was probably going to be a problem though, since I’d have to use some long exposures (at least 30 seconds, I reckoned) to get any decent shots.To be honest, it was mostly guesswork. A lot of shots I’d seen on the web had been 30 second exposures, but they were usually with better cameras (with good noise reduction) and definitely better photographers. They also weren’t shooting from ships, I hasten to add.

 

I took a little time to have a look from the viewing area on the 7th deck (the top one on the ship). I was watching Orion when a shooting star appeared to come out from one of the stars making up it’s belt. I hoped that was a good sign for me…

 

Dinner was a sit-down-and-be-served affair with one dish on the menu – Halibut. It was my first time to try this tasty dish – and it was tasty – but all I could think about while eating was the Monty Python sketch ( “E’s an ‘alibut!!”) and a Japanese TV show which portrayed the hunt for the elusive fish with a lure with TV camera attached. The ‘alibut was served with whole potatoes in butter and dill, a cheesy sauce and a couple of vegetable side dishes. Dessert was a cinnamony-applely-crumbly thing with ice cream and a single half-strawberry. Oh, and there was the starter. The starter… The starter looked and tasted like Cream Of Spaghetti-Os. Thankfully the rest fo dinner made up for that sorry beginning. Calling it an ‘appetiser’ would have been a misnomer. I washed it all down with a half-bottle of Italian red, which was very pleasant, sort of like having one’s insides of the mouth caressed sweetly with a Mozart concerto. It was a most elegant sufficiency. Some passengers got dressed up for dinner, but I didn’t (no room – no idea) and thankfully neither did some of the other passengers.

 

I will say this about Norwegian women though:Epic Curves. (It does need to be capitalised)

 

Went back to my cabin and watched a movie on the iPod. The ship pulled into another port for an hour or so. I got dressed up and headed to the top deck to have a look-see. Nothing doing, but the town looked pretty enough. There was a big old stone church and they’d made a sign out of lights saying, “God Jul,” or “Merry Christmas,” in Norwegian on a hill overlooking the port. By this time it was just after 11pm – getting on for prime viewing time. I know I wasn’t being patient, but I did have an agenda, and I was counting on Mother Nature to play ball.

 

I went back to the viewing deck for an hour or so. The sky was clear, the moon started to rise, I thought I saw a glow so I got changed and went outside with the Nikon. Turns out the longest exposure possible with that camera was 30 seconds anyway so I tried it out on Orion and got four stars to show up. Not a good start. The glow was probably the lights of a town in the distance anyway but I tried to get a shot nonetheless. No dice. It was going to work in full-on aurora madness or nothing. I think we were just too far south and the sun was too quiet for anything to happen. Bummer.

 

I had to be up at 5am and off the boat at 6 anyway. Good luck to me getting anything resembling sleep tonight, but I was going to have to try. Tomorrow was going to be a full schedule and I was going to end up on a dog sled in the evening aurora hunting anyway, so I guess I had to call it a night and hope – hope – that the forecast cloud cover wouldn’t eventuate.