Norwegian adventure

Just got back from our trip to Norway on monday and it was unbelievable. The 10 of us flew into Oslo friday afternoon, walked around for a while and got something to eat (I had shank of reindeer and it was awesome), then spent the night in a hotel. We had to catch a flight to Tromso in the morning, where our guide picked us up and drove us 90 minutes north to some place I can't spell or pronounce. We got there, put on our snowshoes, and hiked for about 3 and a half hours, mostly uphill. On the way back we got to slide about 70 or 80 feet down the side of a hill. Now that was some fun. We then arrived at our camp for the night, which consisted of 3 tipis. Two of them had stone fireplaces in the middle, which didn't really keep us as warm as we hoped in the -24 degree weather unless you stood directly in front of it. The other tipi where we slept had a big nest of twigs on the floor with reindeer skins and a tiny little "heater" in the middle. The heater didn't do shit and none of us really slept very well, but it was still a great experience.

After snowshoeing, they cooked us some reindeer stew over the open fire and we roasted some marshmallows and drank hot cocoa. Then we got in our swimsuits and ran to the sauna. After sitting in the sauna for a while, we ran barefoot through the snow (-24 degrees, mind you) down the hill into the hot tub. We stayed in there for a while, did the jump out and roll around in the snow thing, then ran back to the tent to get changed. By that time, the Northern Lights were out and in full effect. They were absolutely amazing. I had no idea how fast they changed and moved around all the time, which was really cool to see but made it a big pain in the ass to get a descent photo. I only got two shots before the coldness took it's effect and killed my camera. I had fully charged both my batteries the day before we got there, and just one of them should've lasted the entire trip, but the cold completely drained them both. And there was no place warm to store the camera, so that was all she wrote until we got to a hotel the next night and the batteries recharged themselves. 

The next day we took a dogsled tour through the fjords. Each sled had room for one driver and one passenger, with 5 dogs pulling. We were all surprised by how small the dogs were. We expected them to be big huskies, but they were all different breeds from Spain. But they were incredibly strong. I learned that first hand at the end when it took three of us to get one in his cage, who obviously was not ready to be locked up just yet. The trip was awesome. I started driving while Kim rode in the sled. We were going to switch about every half hour so the driver's fingers wouldn't get too cold, but Kim was having so much fun driving that I just let her do it for the last hour and a half. I had fun, but Kim was really having the time of her life, so I was happy to let her keep going. 

After that they cooked us some more lunch on the fire, then took us back to a hotel in Tromso. We spent a little time wandering around and I was able to get some pictures again after my camera warmed up in the room for a while. The next morning we flew back to Oslo and had about 5 hours to wander around before heading back to Warsaw.

It was a great trip and I was really excited that I finally got to see the northern lights. I've been wanting to see them for as long as I can remember and they were so much better than I had hoped. We got really lucky, too. The guide told us that this year has been the worst to see them since 1938, but that weekend was the best they've had so far. They were mostly green, but I got to see a reddish-purple streak for about 5 or 10 seconds.

Fort Piłsudskiego

There is an old fort down the street from us that was built in the 1880s. Kim and I stopped in there once to get a quick look, but I've been meaning to go check it out more thoroughly for a while now. It's kind of like a peninsula with a moat all around it and a big hill in the middle. The fortress is built into the hill and has a bunch of rooms, some connecting to others, but most of them are individual. The flat ground all around is covered with these old storage spaces. Some of them look like they're garages for working on cars because they have compartments in the floor with steps leading down them. There is trash EVERYwhere. And most of it looks pretty new, so apparently this is where people come to dump all their unwanted shit. I don't know if that's cheaper than paying for trash service or what, but it's pretty messed up and apocalyptic-looking. The number of baby strollers is somewhat disturbing.

I spent 2 hours wandering around taking pictures. It was a great place for photography and I can see myself going back later for more. Just not at night. I went in the middle of the day in the middle of the week for a reason. There are ashes, graffiti, and beer bottles everywhere, so it's obviously a place for drunks and hooligans to hang out. Luckily a couple of the fortress rooms are dark enough for me to do a little light painting during the day. I'll be putting the pics up on flickr soon.