Today was a travelling day and a day to rest. Overnight in tysfjord approximately 15cm of snow fell, and well it was beauty defined. Planning for a nice relaxing morning, easy breakfast then head on a bus to Bødo for a flight back to Oslo. But when i opened the curtains to my amazement, white everywhere. Plans change, grab a jacket, grab the camera and I've got 30mins of shooting before grabbing my gear for the bus. I love those kinds of plan changes! You don't need gloves when you have that much adrenaline pumping through your veins. It felt very much like i was in the north pole and Santa lived just around the corner, yep i still believe! Just when you thought you'd defined how beautiful one place can be, it beats it by ten fold. I've seen snow, I've been in a blizzard before, i know what heavy snowfall does look like. So it's not just the snow, it's everything combined, it made the pristine nature of Nordland better, more untouched, virginal and more pristine. It's really hard to write the amazement i felt seeing it and looking at such beauty! I felt like a kid, and no i didn't snow angel, i had jeans on and they would have got soaking wet. The sound of fresh snow under my shoes the fresh and coolness in the air, and no sound what so ever. Tysfjord has blown me away with it's beauty and has more than made up for hiding the killer whales from me. My sister and my mum have been telling me that Norway was voted the best place to live (it was published while i was there!), and you won't find me debating that for one second! It's so far from everything i know, and everything I'm used to. Our beaches and hinterland are really beautiful places but inside the arctic circle life seems so much simpler. No rush, no hectic schedules, no managers watching over your shoulder finding ways to cut hours. From the busy life of London to the absolute wilderness of northern Norway, i can't think of any scale with such extremes! After mentioning to an old friend how much i could live in London, and how much the lifestyle, culture and prestige there is and it's in a place where so many of my passions are. Norway has shown me it's the simple life, the real necessities, the bare bones stuff that makes you really happy. For me it's never been about brands, cars or the expensive things, it's about passion. Live you life with passion, when you having a shitty day and nothing is working i know it's a hard time to think about the people less fortunate but look at with a head tilt, find the positive. If it's a setback, it's not meant to be......yet. This will not be the end of my Monty Python quotes, but a song in life of Brian. "Always look on the bright side of life.........." I've spent well over two thousand dollars on my trip to Norway and i haven't done a single thing that i wanted to, but fuck I've had a great time!
Back to my travels and away from Wormald's philosophy. Icy roads greeted my bus driver, it feels so slow. Constant thoughts of missing my flight were going through my head, back up plans were being plotted for the worse case scenario. I need to be able to get to Oslo airport by 7:15 at the very latest. In an earlier post i mentioned about being out of my comfort zone, tripping over things and not having a level head, well my mind is back, I've found my comfort zone! I've been pretty sick lately and when i wasn't on the water looking for orcas I've been curled up in bed, coughing, sneezing, sore throat and headaches. I think I'm past the worst of it, i hope. I didn't want to write about it so you wouldn't be concerned. I don't get sick very often, i needed to have some cement tablets and harden up for the chance to see my orca friends.
As we've made it Fauske, I asked the bus driver our approximate arrival for Bødo airport, about 1:35pm, check in closes at 1:55pm. Sounds great! I managed to check in with about 9 minutes to spare! Flight was ahead of schedule and arrived 20mins early. An easy night with a disrupted sleep just by being a bit unwell. Woke up with plenty of time to get ready and head to the bus, checked some emails and F1 news...... Probably should've waited. I just missed the 6:45 bus to the airport, but one comes every 15 mins so I'll get there 7:08. I must be checked in by 7:15, 45 mins before an international flight. So standing outside the hotel waiting for the bus in -6 degrees. Behind they have a screen it flicks through advertising, Oslo plane departures and bus transfer times. The transfer section has i think four pages, and cycles through one transfer page every cycle. Transfer starts at 4:15 then has a slot for every 15 mins...........except for 7:00......What! I figured that out at 6:59! Walked inside, so is there no bus at 7:00, nope none til 7:15! Can you please call a taxi!?! It will be here in 8-10mins! Oh your kidding, c'mon can Schumacher be driving this car? Nope, up turns a Volvo! I try to stress that i needed to be there 5 mins ago, but he keeps playing with his fare screen. Dude, I'll give you all i have if you get me there!!! We leave the hotel just on 7:11, bus takes 8 mins, volvo took 8!!! I gave him nearly double what the fare said and grabbed the my gear and ran. The norwegian airline desk is down the opposite end, of course! And then some dick Brit family just stood there after being served all laughing at their little girl, awwwww, now get out of the way! Can i please check in for the Berlin 8:00 flight? Sure. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! Sorry I should say takk, takk, takk! So with a bit of Norwegian leniency I'm on my flight to Berlin! I'm usually a pretty punctual person and that's why my trip is pretty tightly scheduled. I've just had a few close calls!
A few things on norway. Relaxed people, love their pastes......strange. They had caviar, prawn, fish, and some meat in a paste tube! Nidar make great chocolate, they have a aero/bubbly version called stratos and they had similar to chips and choc, but it's a wafer chip half dipped i choc in a tube similar to pringles, both very delicious, but only discovered them the second last day i was in the country. So if your ever in the Norwegian neighborhood!!! Try a hot dog on the long distance trains, and give stratos choc a definate try! Much better than the abortion that was cadbury UK!
Berlin 3 degrees and low fog. "The fog is getting thicker, and Leon's getting larger!" Windmills dotted the countryside, about 20mins out from Berlin or maybe we were over Holland at the time? I know the country are very smart with their power and electricity production. I remember watching a documentary where the government subsidized people installing solar cells (i know we did the same at one point) but also if they produce more electricity than they consume, they get paid for it! Before i left on my voyages i was given a number for a 24 hours information and translation hotline! So i used it today! Thanks for the Berlin advice Stephan! He mapped out a route of all the major sights in Berlin. A saw Brandenburg Tor and the Topographie des Terrors an outdoor museum with a collection of text and images translated in english and all around the ruins (rueeeeens for family guy fans) of the former Gustapo and SS headquarters and part of the wall ran along the south side. It was a very interesting read, learning more about the Nazi history who started the party, how they came to power, how they started street violence to scare people into submission, and completely controlling the news and media. What was hard to read that there was some Jews who would tell the nazi's where other jewish families were in hiding. And in turn get provisions and not have to wear the yellow Jew star that identified all jewish people. How could you turn on your own people? Some people will always find a loophole and exploit it, not thinking about the consequences of those affected by their own selfish act. That shocked me! If you didn't fall in line you'd be sent to a camp, if you were seen to be genetically inferior, your sent away. There was actually Jewish people still living in Berlin during the war. But they were just singled out by wearing the 'jew' star, and the general 'conforming' population was told to ignore Jewish businesses. See these things i was unaware of, a lot of these facts i was previously unaware of. I want to learn, i want to understand what happened. I will never understand why!
It gets cold quite quickly here and soon it was time to head back to the hotel, do some washing, eat and watch F1!! Ooh Webber second! One more race! Great new hotel only opened on Monday! Very funky, has beach footprints at the carpet in the hallways. I must admit it has been a bit lonely. I have been staying in hotels the whole time, no backpackers. I'm not afraid of sharing a room, it's just i have so much expensive gear with me i can't risk it. And at the end of this blog i will thank those who are making me less lonely! Tomorrow i will plan my day to see the other things on Stephan's list as well as seeing Brandenburg at night! I'll be prepared with my jackets!
"What ever you do, don't mention the war!!!!!"
A few thank yous. Thanks to Pete for the Erin birthday present delivery, thanks to Lizzie for texting me while i was on the icy roads. Thanks to Amber for the London help! Thanks to Bas for doing the Bas pat, how nice is the guy! Thanks to mum and Trina for the FB love, and a big thanks to JP for the messages and emails! Keep em coming! You guys are the best!
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