Ok, there is no bravado anymore, it's cold in Norway! Woke up, looked outside and reminded myself, this is actually Norway, I'm in friggin Norway. Awake at 6:30 to get my train to Hunderfossen. What's in Hundfossen? the Olympic bobsled track about 15 minutes drive from Lillehammer, luckily for me the train goes straight there, and is about 500m walk to the track. Excited??! For shizzle! Haha i'm so white! That Jamaican heritage isn't that strong! Checked the weather last night and it's going to be grey, and looks like snow and rain is forecast in Tysfjord for the killer whales, hopefully at least one clear night....... Finger crossed. I'm going to sit back and enjoy beautiful scenery of norway from the train and write more when I'm on my 17hr train trip to Fauske!!
At the station i made some beverage purchases, and got some change, how cool, they have holes in their coins, crazy Norwegians! Ohh, does anyone remember the Seinfeld episode when Putty and Elaine were coming back from Europe, they were in a cab and Putty kept annoying Elaine about the holes in the kroner! Things that make you laugh.
Just as we leave the station at Lillehammer, my first sight of European snow! I just have to be weary of the dreaded yellow snow! I'm in Hunderfossen, place of the 1994 winter Olympic bobsled track. I found it! I had a massive smile on my face when i saw the sign bob ojndfivjh or whatever it said , walked around the corner and there it is, I'm actually at a bobsled track! Didn't get lost, and had heaps of fun getting up the icy roads. Icy roads are very tricky with nearly 30kgs on my back! The only problem is signs, none, thankfully i did a google maps satellite view before i left, so i could tell exact where it was from the station! It a bit wet, and bloody cold, the first and i don't think the last time i will be wearing my ski jacket and gloves. It's 12:45 and there has been some French Lugers doing some practice runs, and now they are gone. I'm sitting in the control room of the track with all of the cameras on all of the corners. No one is here now and i have the dreaded feeling that this isn't going to happen. My emails back and forth with the facility have been a bit random and there probably weren't clear to begin with. I did email them before i left just to touch base but i didn't get a response. The emails read that the track was open on the day I'm here (6 hours) and hopefully we can organise someone to hop on the bob with me......but the problem is, there is no one around it anywhere at the moment. It might be lunch time....... Where do i get lunch from? I was under the impression that a driver will be available and all i had to do was get another person to join me. My spirits are dampened to some extent. But i knew what i was getting into, and i knew that it is a distinct possibility that a) i wouldn't be able to do the bobsled run, and b) I'd be sitting in the little town of Hunderfossen for 8 hours. But there is a good side to all of this, there always has to be a positive. By not doing the run I have saved nearly 1000NOK or about AUD$175. Didn't get to use my on board go pro camera but that will get a flogging when I'm racing around the nurburgring. But, the cool thing is you can walk around the track and watch it from anywhere! Literally lean over, all i need is a cowbell! Oh, another funny moment is when they had the PA system going for about 10 mins and guess what the first song was........ Don't fear the reaper! "I need more cowbell! In the video section of google search for "SNL don't fear the reaper" it won't be on YouTube because NBC keeps taking it off. It is one of the classic sketches, i may have even put a link on my Facebook..... "Last time i checked, my name's Bruce Dickens. When i put my pants on, i make gold records" Christopher Walken and Will Ferrell! I nearly fell over when i heard the song, why now put music on outside and of all songs, the one that would put me in hysterics!!! What's next ice ice baby? There maybe a chance to ride with a learner driver in a two man bob, but it the bob is not made for tourists, I'm ok with that but, a learner driver......... If she does the run at 6:05 then yes, but any later I'll miss the start of my 15 hour train trip, 17 in total! I should steal a luge and ill get to the train station nice and quick. And the walk down to the station is downhill, weeeeeeeeeee! I've got monty python, flying high, hangover too keep me company, and i can always write. The weather is still very wet, not windy, just constant rain and the occasional snowflake. I guess this is how autumn is, in lonely planet they say November is 'horrific' for weather. Still in jeans, haven't got my sexy thermal leggings on yet, don't worry you'll see photos of those! The scenery mixed with the weather has a great feel to it, a good sting of cold in the air, you can see your breath, but it's a bit romantic. Mountains, massive pine trees, fog over the valley. Makes you wanna get rugged up with someone special, in front of an open fire, warm drink a nice blanket. And i don't mean helmet special!
This time tomorrow I'll be in Tysfjord, base camp for the killer whale tours. I was reading their sightings and diaries last night, and they have been spotted recently, not where they are were looking but get reports from different ports and locals about sightings, so hopefully perfect weather and i nice healthy pod will welcome my arrival. Weather might be a bit rainy/snowy on wednesday but the tour's on Thursday and Friday. I'll have 3 nights to try and see aurora borealis too! Could be a bit hit and miss. Maybe that could be Norway's new slogan: Norway, expensive and a bit hit and miss. Again these are all risks I'm prepared to make, gotta try. When in Rome.
Well it was a no go on the bobsled ride. Was a shame but not a complete waste of a day. I managed to grab a few zzzz's in the middle of the day and got some cool shots of the track at night and tried some blur shots of the French luge team who were back. It was good fun, i love my photography, and now i can say I've shot luge! Pretty difficult with only spotlights and a bot of rain, but i was really happy with the end results. The walk back to the station was one not for those scared of the dark, very spooky, low fog, darkness everywhere. What helped a bit was the town lights about 15 mins away were hitting the low fog and making somethings visible. Every step you are testing the icy ground for some grip, the second I looked around and stopped thinking, bam!!!!! Right down on my ass, though I did get style points from the judges! Was laughing so hard! I did manage to turn it into a John Travolta move, one arm up and one arm down, but still on my ass! Unfortunately no one managed to see it, though when I'm home I will gladly re-enact for everyone! Now I'm on the train to Trondheim, then on the sleeper train to Fauske. And if you want a really good hot dog, the Norwegian rail makes the best ever!! None of that hot dog regret you normally get when you think a hot dog is a good idea, then after having it realize you should have had the foccacia. For the record there was no foccacia!
Good morning. That was a strange way to sleep, rocking up and down in bed, not side to side like in a cot when you're a kid, but your body drifting like a curling stone. In the end I got about 7 hours of good sleep which is the longest since KL. As Frankie (the amazing friend who inspired me to come to Europe, thanks Frankie!) told me, Europe isn't about a relaxing holiday. And she's right, but i would gladly swap 8 hours for the 4 hours I'm getting and the places I'm seeing. This is the first country, Malaysia doesn't count because i was in a hotel most of the time, that don't have english as their first language. Even in Malaysia they had english newspapers. Here it's like listening to the Swedish chef all the time. I know this is silly and i've heard other languages at work all the time, but i'm listening amazed that each other knows what the hell the other one is saying, its all gobbledy gook to me! You can pick up on a few words and i guess if you can understand what they are talking about you can generally follow, bit like some other languages, a lot of their words are similar, you just have to guess the context!! Not a very chatty population, neither was London, but that is a business city, and not in reference to me, but even to each other, no real banter or laughing. If i knew norwegian I'd make them laugh, maybe physical comedy will breach the language barrier?? They drive on the right here too. I'm currently on a bus to killer whale base camp, Tysfjord Turistsenter. And the scenery is absolutely breathtaking!!! Postcard, jigsaw puzzle and dreams come true kind of scenery. It's absolutely stunning, and it's ridiculously hard to get a good photo from a moving bus with dirty ass windows. We are winding along glass lakes and fjords with snow capped mountains, through tunnels and gorgeous little norwegian cottages. It's simply awe inspiring. I cant wait to get my camera out. It makes me love my photography again, i just hope when this bus stops i can give it the impact to you as it has on me! And even though i missed out on the bobsled run, the photography made it all worth while!! When i checked the weather on monday night it was supposed to be rainy and snowy, but it's clear and gorgeous! Have to stop writing and take it in..... Wow unbelievable! That bus trip was the best every. I haven't been to too many places in my life but this is the most gorgeous place! My neck should be hurting from all of the looking around, and oh look at that, and it was really hard to get a good oho to from the bus. Roads were snowy and icy too. Just ask my ass how slippery it can be.
Checked into the hotel, i have Internet, and phone reception. I watched family guy at 1am in Oslo, freakin sweet! Tour begins at 9am with an orca talk, finger crossed the that they are waiting for us!! I'm off to explore this amazing scenery.
Wish you were all here!
A side note that i completely forgot to mention is there was no big replay screens at the Manchester United game, none at Old Trafford! Understandable, but the first ground I've been to without them.
No comments:
Post a Comment