Thursday 24/8

Sun is shining, weather is sweet here,...

Had no private guide today ;) so I went for the touristical things. I visited the arctic museum (pic @ right)
and went on a little hike. There is a cable car here which gives you a beautiful overview over Tromso. But I'm spending so much money on beer here (not that I drink that much, it's just the price ;) I'm used to lower prices) that I have to save up on other things, so I hiked up the mountain instead of using the fjellheise (= cablecar) :)


(<= Tromso Yacht-basin seen from the bridge )
(the bridge form where the previous pic was taken=>)

No, just joking, I felt like a little excercice. It was awesome, (once I reached the hill) every ten paces I did, I turned around and saw more and more of tromse. The hill was really steep, and it became to warm to quickly, so I had to go up bare-chested. The view was nice, but not better than on the way there, and way to much (lazy and spoiled) tourists (who brought with them to much trash wich they left behind) .

Tonight a goodbye party, Tromso, another place to vistit twice!
PS: Wannes, they want you to come as well! I've told them already about you animalo :)


<=Tromso overview=>

Wednesday 23/8

Nowhere in Tromso a charger(for my camera) for sale. Good news?: the guy of the camerashop had a charger of his own so he offered me to reload my battery for free. So when I can get the opportunity I'll be uploading some pictures with the messages that are without at the moment.

Truda (one of the studens I'm staying with) showed me around town through her eyes,... that's my preferred way of travelling. So thank you again Truda!

Tromso pulsates with the vibes of an old, cosy town where it's hard not to enjoy. To bring a little image: Wooden houses in the most different colors, street musicians playing their tunes, a fountain on the background. I walk up to a muslim-violin player and ask him to play a tune for me when I sit in the sun, next to the fountain. While I look for some change,... he smiles at me and says "I will play for you, and you can pay me with your smile." He puts his violin on his shoulder and starts playing in pure harmony with the sun and the water. Suddenly it sounds if there are two violins playing, but no other violins in sight. How wonderful can the world be?

In the evening we went to grab a drink in a pub where they had a raggae and hip-hop evening. No party, just the chill beats on the background when we speak English and I try to follow in Norwegian. Having a nice evening out, but if you know me, I want to dance. The problem was that Bord has organized a protest for Palestine, and he has to appear on the radio the next morning. "Won't you stay an other night, it would be great having you over for one more night,..." they said. Who am I to disagree? I want to travel the world and the seven seas,... :)
<= inside view of the popular rockin' "blue rock" (it's bla rock with an o above the a, but it sounds like i've written here)

The Tromso Kino, the (so they said to me) the oldest cinema of Norway that still shows movies =>

Tuesday 22/8 part 2

After a nice trip, which contained a busride and two ferrys, we arrived at Tromso, where I said goodbye to Mari. Before we left I called Runa, the next HC member I would be visiting, and she would come to the busstop.

The sun was shining, so I didn't mind to wait a little bit in the town dat actually is an island. After a few minutes Runa came to look for me and guided me to a student-bar "Driv" to grab a beer while learning to know eachother. There were already a few friends of hers who came by to say hello. Runa (and her friends) were so friendly to start talking English to eachother so wouldn't feel left out. Enjoying our beer, covered under some blankets because we were sitting outside, we had a beautifull overview over the water. After a while it became a little bit to cold so we headed for her place.

There were some other students awaiting our arrival. The house is situated on the end of a dead-end street, right beside the swimmingpool. So partys wouldn't be a problem there :)
After a little snack and some chatting and laughing (with the TV on the background) Truda took me out to the "Driv" again. In Norway the school just started so there was like an introduction week with all kinds of fun stuff for the students, including some groups performing there.
Once again met a whole bunch of people who gave some interesting tips and phonenumbers for the near or even long future ( even for Finland). Among the people I met there, was a Belgian exchange student from St. Kat. Waver (De Nayer: where my brother used to go to college as well)

In all the positive there was one minor point,... You know a bubble can burst by a little thing? Well my illusion bubble has burst yesterday, the illusion of Norway beeing just PERFECT. Finally I met a Norwegian I really didn't connected with. Maybe it was his kind of humor, so I can't judge him, but I didn't catch the funny part in his jokes if it was ment like that.
It is just a detail really, but if everything works out so perfectly, it really hits you in the face if you find such a little flaw in your journey. As tiny as it is.

My illusion of perfection might be gone, but my love for this country stays :)
This won't be the last time they saw me passing Norway!

Tuesday 22/8

I just realize that I'm not even a whole week in Norway, oh wait one minute,... Well now I am :)
There is just so much happening in such a litte time. I'm now @ storslett library updating the blog. We dropped of the Germans on a good hitchhiking spot, but before we went there Mari took us up in the direction of the local national park.

Never ever felt SO stupid about forgetting a battery-charger! There was a huge lionshead formed in the rocks. I hope the German hitchhikers can send me the picture! (counting on you guys!).

Mari and I will take the bus to Tromso, it an easy way and that way I can talk a little bit longer to Mari. She's an alternative healer (theta and Inca - natural medicine I think) who's really in touch with nature, I just love to talk to her and learn about her vision of the world. It makes the world seem even just that little bit more beautiful than I first noticed.

Well I think I don't have to tell you, but I'll be coming to Norway again in the future! So many experiences and I haven't even seen like a half percent of it.

Monday 21/8

The morning started clouded, but I was ready for the challenge. I left a little note to thank Roger and Arnhild again, called Mari to tell her I would be coming over today and of we could go.
Lynn dropped me of on the main road so I could head of straight away. At first I started to walk and ended up at the museum where I could say goodbye to May.
Well I was going to hitchhike and the 'lonely planet' warned me already that it could be a difficult and patient-testing experience. (The government in Oslo makes sure everybody is able to buy a car so if you haven't one, you're a bum)

Indeed, it can be a long time to wait,... But in my head there was a song playing "Hold your head up,... HIGH!" I guess my inner music was seated next to my inner child in my head cheering each other up. So I just chilled, waited, and smiled, because I couldn't really complain, the scenery was just beautiful. (although the weather wasn't to great to stand there)

After a few hours I had my first ride with a very gentle lady; Doris. She didn't go far (for Norwegian standards), but it was already that. She lived in a town a little bit further (which means 36km) named Tarvik. It was a nice cozy little village by the fjord and the worst thing was that my battery was flat. I tried to take pictures and here is the result:








Again a long time waiting,... But if you know me a little bit, you should know by now that patience isn't among my qualities so I just started to walk. Not a bad choice considered the scenery I saw. After a while there was my next ride, and from there on everything went really fast. This ride was good to practice my Norsk, because the driver did speak a very broken English (but he managed well!) so I tried to speak as much Norwegian as I could . Once I got out of the car (He was heading for oksfjord and I had to go to storslett) I only had the time to take a "pit-stop" and holing out my thumb twice. Jihaa next ride all the way up to storslett. It was a lovely German family heading for Narvik. I tried to speak a little bit German and I think they understood me with a little effort :) On our way we saw another to hitchhikers, but the family said it would be to much.

In Storslett they dropped me off, and they even went onto the road I was heading so I hadn't to cross the road. This time I even had the time to put my backpack on! The first car stopped instantly. A very nice (old) fisherman, who didn't speak one word of English. "Moskodal?" I said, and he nodded "ja" but not all the way I think he meant. The plan was to go to the center of Moskodal and grab something to eat there before I would head for Mari. Only one problem,... It has no center :) just a store in the middle of nowhere standing there solitary.

Mari came to pick me up there and offered me something to eat and showed me my room. IOn the evening I went for a little hike aroun her place and I could use her camera with my memory card in it, so maybe I'll be able to show some pictures later on, when I can find a charger for my battery. (and an internet connection offcourse)

OH my, I was so overwhelmed,... To much beauty in a few days time, I almost felt like crying but in a happy way. It was actually an emotion I never have felt before so don't ask me to describe. It was a bit to much for me. Mari was heading to town to buy her some cigarettes, so I went along, because I was,... Well pulled off of my feet of some sort.

In town who do I see standing there,... The two hitchhikers that I passed earlier! Still hitchhiking. I felt a little bit sorry for them, and told the story to Mari. "maybe we should invite them to my place" she said and that's what we did.

So in the end of the evening we had a little international conversation, laughing about the differences and mistakes of languages. They are members of a small hiking-travel organization "wanderfugln" or something in that sense. (if you read this guys, leave the web-address) . At 12 o'clock I went exhausted to bed for a good night sleep...

sunday 20/8

During the daytime it was hot hot hot hot,... I was walking around in short trousers and toppless all day long,... but once the evening comes the temperature drops instantly. Thats the moment you remember you're even more north than the arctic cirkle.

This day wasn't very interesting to tell you about, it was all preparation for the next days, writing in my personal diary, updating the blog, just hanging in the sun, taking pictures of the dogs,... (@ left one of the pups down under the rest)

In the evening we took Camilla to the airport. She was leaving for Oslo, so I'll see her there again.


Luun (don't know the correct spelling) the fox-wolf.- Calix in a artistik pose.- and F16 hanging in his seat :)

Saturday 18/8

OK, it was a great evening yesterday, but today there was a hangover visiting. @ the festival I hung around with Lynn most of the time, and we had a great time together. We've met some crazy but utterly fun people there :) almost in the end of the evening Maren came to say hello (the girl I met on the flight from Oslo to Alta), and lucky she wrote down her e-mail for me (with a huge permanent marker on my arm) because I was already to drunk to make an intelligent conversation.

I slept in the cabin on reindeer furs, and in the morning it was like if I ate a mouse, my mouth was filled with little hairs, but the experience was worthy enough to coop with that. This was the first day I took a good breakfast, just to get my stomach at ease.

-pic: the cabin I slept in-

I also saw the opportunity to do a little laundry, so the day was well spent already. My plan was to hang the rest of the day, just to recover a bit, but even with the hangover we went for a jog today. In the evening Arnhild took us to a restaurant and bought us a dinner,... Yummy! I let Camilla choose for me, so I would end up with a Norwegian dish. (It was reindeer with mushrooms and it tasted delicious) THANKS AGAIN ARNHILD! You're the best!

After the dinner we hed back for the festival, and this evening there were even better groups than yesterday. The coolest part was that in the middle of a gig there was the northerlight that appeared in the sky. Beautiful! (I always thought it came only during the winter, but I was wrong) I've got to say it was a different festival than I've ever done. It was smaller, cheaper (for free!), less specials in effects (just plain spotlights) but the bands made up for that. There were a few groups (especially 'Austin Torpedo' and 'the Cumshots' ) that made it impossible not to join in the clapping and singing along. They really had the crowd on their hands, or maybe better, at their feet.

Finally we ended up on an after(party?)drink in a bar in Alta city. Again met a lot of interesting people, but Mai (I'll try to come to barca beautifully peacebird), who's working in the Alta-museum made the biggest impression on me. Together with Mats (a fishing-addict friend of Camilla) that is. He has seen the world, lost his heart in Alta (which I can understand) and has the most heartwarming smile I ever saw on a face with a beard.

I know this post is long, but actually it is already sundaymorning. 6 o'clock in the morning. I don't think I can fall asleep here (don't want to burn precious Norwegian daylight. I'll just take a breakfast in a few minutes, and start with the next (hopefully) adventurous day.
- pic: Camilla and Mats -