2015-12-30

Roadtrip: Svolvær - Å - Svolvær

In the end I did get some sleep after listening to a conversation of the crazy classical music lovers. One hour.  Then I stepped out into a cold dark night of Bodø, which seemed more livelier than 6pm that same evening. I had to walk to airport. First it was fun - love to of lights on the streets, even pavements were glittering from ice. But then at some point they ran out of light poles or later they bulbs, and I had to walk in total dark only using my smartphone as a light source.
Probably I was the first one to arrive at the airport - there was not a single soul there. But I could go in, and it was warm there, and they had wifi.
Me and another Norwegian lady were the only passengers at that time. But we still had to listen to security instructions. In both languages! The plane was small and we were forced to sit in the back. So, we talked. She asked me where I'm going, what I will be doing. After hearing my unplanned trip story she said, that aLost everything is closed in Lofoten on these days and that I will have trouble going from airport to Svolvaer. I didn't have any concrete plan, but just an idea that I could rent a car and drive around. Well, she pointed out the cheapest company I could use for service. But there was still a problem. I haven't booked a car in advance and it was 5.30 in the morning. So, I had to wait until 7am. So, I sitted and browsed Internet and smiled to airport employees. Svolvær airport is not big, so, there isn't many employees.
Then about 8 o'clock I was sitting in a white Hiunday with a mileage of 10000 kilometers and figuring how the stuff works. After it was light enough(or not too dark), I set out by the route E10 making little detours I knew of. It was dawn(sort of, because I didn't see the actual sun), and it was magnificent. Add all this colorful beauty to breath-taking landscapes of Lofoten Islands and you get the address for paradise. Yes, it exists. Yes it is accessible to living people. No, it's not on some tropical island. It's up in the north and it's called the Lofoten Islands. After each magnificent landscape opening before my eyes, I knew why everyone acted surprised finding out that I was going there for one day. It's not exactly true. I'm going there back next year in the summer.


I was driving and stopping to take pictures( there is one of smartphonish quality). And the dusk I arrived to a village with magical name Å, walked around a bit, found everything closed. The village was engulfed by peacefulness. And then drove back as the darkness was approaching me. It was somewhen around 2:30pm. Describing the beauty I found on the road requires a separate post, so, I will write it someday with semi-decent pictures I took.

Now I'm sitting in the airport and sort of everyone knows me: greeting a wishing happy new year. Kind of cool.

Arriving at abodø

What Excel I could probably have for not writting a post yesterday? Well, the day literally pasėdėti though my eyes. It was a train ride day from Trondheim to Bodø and it took almost ten hours. 3 cups of cacao and other eatable stuff. I arrived here before 6 and no surprise - it was already dark. This place called Bodø is a little bit above arctic circle, so, that explains a lot. Once I stepped out the the train that after making two steps forward I was making one backwards - the wind was so strong. And it was all ice on the pavements and roads - my biggest nightmare. But somehow I dragged my luggage with broken handle to a hostel next to train station up to the third floor and received a room on the 2nd - oh, well lots of luggag dragging. Then I was told that it's actually a nice weather, but it doesn't change the fact that there is nothing to do in Bodø(not exactly the truth).  I met other guests at the living room and they were talking about going there tomorrow, that is today.  At 1am. OK. That's not normal, but there is no other reasonable options. Well, there is, but they aren't reasonably priced. But the earliest(and cheapest) plane was leaving just before 5am. Well, I thought - that's way much better. At least I would have more time to sleep before flight. So, I thought. And I bought tickets - I tried once on iPad, once on my smartphone, but I succeeded only normal pc. Any normal person having an early morning flight would go to sleep earlier, I went to hunt for Northern Lights with another guest and hostel employee - so, having almost personal guide and expert on all the slippery roads and paths in Bodø, I acted on impuls. We couldn't see any northern lights, but at we least had a good exercise in refreshing((re)freezing, I mean) weather.

2015-12-28

Monday in Trondheim

A night train ride wasn't that exciting, but tiresome it was. Ok, except for the part where I noticed that there was -14 degrees outside somewhere between Oslo and Trondheim. Oh, boy! I thought, but the temperature ended up a bit milder than that - "only" minus 8. I couldn't survive with jeans and warming underpants layer, but when I switched to skiing pants, it got a lot better. Then I bought a scarf and one more layer of gloves. Having sorted out the cold fighting armour, I was ready for sightseeing. I knew about the Trondheim's Nidaro Cathedral:


It's not only very beautiful, elegant, but it is being warmed from inside. But the ticket is quite expensive as for entrance to cathedral(80 NOK). There are few museums as well, but because it's holidays and because it's Monday, most of them were closed.
As my time in Trondheim and daylight were very limited, I did the walking tours that were suggested in tourist map. I happened to be there when the sun decided to go up, so, the buildings were in really beautiful shades. They are beautiful by themselves, but with a light touch of sun, they were like from fairy tale. The old wooden houses in the old town seem like ordinary ones. But they aren't. Hugging the canal, beautifully decorated for Christmas that just passed - they are perfect. Same perfect picture was reflecting in canal water.


Then I strolled along the fjord coast and headed for the Kristiantens fortress(there you can find many canons, as well). It was the right time - the sun started setting down. Oh, I did sweat a lot, but the view of the city was rewarding. I sweat even more when I had to descend the hill - the snow was pressed so much, that the protector of my shoes had no effect.



Trondheim is one of those cities, that makes you want come back at different seasons - to find out what colours and shades it will wear then. But tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Bodø.

2015-12-27

Snow, trains, Oslo and other things

But you should actually reserve a train ticket in Norway. Jumping from one seat to another is no fun at all. The up side is that you may talk to different people if they are not sleeping, and the downside is that you may be politely asked out to free the seat. So, today I experienced both things. The old lady that I got a chance to sit next to was very kind and talked English pretty well. So, we talked a lot and shared our thoughts about Christmas in Lithuania and Norway. She even explained me the meaning and purpose of colors of Norwegian houses.
Have I told that we finally have some snow there, haven't I? Well, we do. And when it snows, it snow we differently than in Lithuania. In Lithuania most of the snow melts right away. In Åmli and surrounding locations it stays a bit longer. And as always it has it's upsides and downsides. The beauty of the nature becomes even more stunningly beautiful. The downside - well, if it snows too much - you might stay at home even if you have a planned trip. Especially, if your is no good for winter conditions - just like my friend's. So, we didn't go to Arendal as planned. But then I got to go to Oslo earlier. That means more time in Oslo! Yeah, right... The wind is so cold there sometimes, that I have to stop breathing. And six hours is way too much to spend just in train station. I had to run an errand - retrieve my cards that I so unexpectedly forgot under my bed in hostel(don't ask how I manage to do this, but it's way better than losing them somewhere else).
Then I walked on a slippery roof of Opera and Ballet theater, went out for a cup of spicy chai latte in Starbucks and ended up in a really interesting place In Brenneriveien street - with graffitis on the wall and really huge chandelier hanging just in the street. Funny thing, that I was lured there by blue light under the bridge.
Two and a half hours till night train to Trondheim leaves. I was planning to go there tomorrow morning, but then I would have had very little time in Trondheim. I guess, the snow changing my plans turned out to be a good thing.

Snowy Nelaug's train station

2015-12-26

A picknick in Tvedestrand and Borøya island

It's the second day of Christmas and the streets of Åmli are pretty empty. It was colder than usual at night - the grass and moss around the house were covered in silverfish frost. No sitting at home for us! Exploring ghostish towns is quite fun. Today's destination - Tvedestrand - an almost two hundred year old small town with white wooden houses climbing the shores the fjord of Oksefjorden. It is called a town of books and indeed we could see new and old books shops on every corner. Technically, all of the were closed, but one of them had an outdoors book shelf - there you could leave a certain amount of money in the hole and take the book you like.
There is a tern( a seagull) in the coats of arm of Tvedestrand, but we did see very little of those. But there were plenty of ducks in the harbor - they weren't afraid of us at all, and even started following us when we walked on the pier. I guess they are used to tourists feeding them, and we were almost the only ones at that time.
Cats there are very friendly too. One, the ginger one, was making sure that there aren't too many ducks on the pier. The grey one just came to us and started snuggling to our legs as if we were his owners. It was a pretty nice cat and didn't look homeless at all.
After having a small picknick at the harbor it was time to move forward. Me and my friend's boyfriend were secretely hoping to see a sea. Not a  fjord, but a real open sea. That could happen if we would go to one of the many islands there. But the drive to any of them is really crazy. Well, the views through the car window is amazing, but the drivers have to be really careful. Some roads were fit only for one car in any direction. On one side there would be a steep rock, on the other - either lake or river and that's only few meters away. Anyway, we talked her into driving us to Borøya island without telling all the difficulties that will be waiting for us ahead. And although the trip was stressful, the view from the beach into the sea paid off. There were some people already there, but not too much. The shore was covered with tiny brownish summer houses - so typical to Norway. Almost all of them were empty now. One can really run away from people in Norway.
Having seen the see we called it a day and we were back home before sunset. According to weather forecast, it should be snowing tonight in Åmli. Finally!

2015-12-25

A Christmas Day walk in Åmli

As the time was approaching the noon, the sky was becoming more and more clear. The nature was giving us the present of sunny day. And really, the rock in front of the house on the other side of river was painted by the sunny gold. It seemed like the colors had returned to the nature - no more black and white movie shades.
Having learned the lesson that one can't hesitate when it comes to weather in Norway, we were ready for a walk in no time. We borrowed a dog of friend's neighbor - a white Samoyed, called Kela. A walk to the town's center took half hour, we crossed the same bridge and headed to the beach. Funny, as we were approaching it, we could see parts of road covered with ice. It seems that every tiny ray of sun matters there. But the weather wasn't very nice to us - while the sun was shining, it was raining at the same time. Add a stark wind, and the only wish is to go hide somewhere - but we had to come back home first.
Christmas in Norway is different - all the shops are closed, there are barely any people on the streets. It looks like a ghost town. Combine it with a stunning beauty of nature - and you get the moments of such calmness and peacefulness.



2015-12-23

An attempt on Trogsfjell

The view from the house of my friend overlooks the river called Nidelva (as wide as our longest one Nemunas), a layer of high fir trees  and a steep  and bare wall of rock - about five hundred meters in height. The water in river is calm, reflecting the always green trees and the mood of the sky. The view makes the viewer feel small instantly and gives that spine-shivering feeling of Twin-peaks like atmosphere.
There aren't much residents in the Åmli town, which spans alongside both shores of river. All houses white or brown, modestly decorated with Christmas lights. No sign of snow there yet, but the rain is a constant companion these days. We took off for the hike to the center first, hoping to continue our journey up the hill. Armed with a thermos of hot tea and a heavy bag of camera and lenses we started our journey. Soon we were greeted with a cloud of rain. It started raining lightly, our upper bodies were protected by proper skiing jackets(what works for snow, works for rain, right?). As we continued it started getting more wet and our jeans were totally wet by the time we reached town center. We went into the pharmacy our friend worked and asked for the keys of car to get back home.
The second round of conquering the hill started by carefully studying weather forecast and drinking the tea from the thermos we have prepared earlier. In two hours the rain almost stopped. Now we drove to the center, left the car there and went over the stone bridge (which was built in the 1918). The path to Trogsfjell peak was starting just few steps ahead. But the wasn't any real path - just bare steep black rock and the moss growing on the path sides. Firs and pines, blueberry bushes, fallen thorns on the wet stone. A walk up was long and slow, and nature tried to attack us with rain again. But at the height of mere 290 meter we gave up - the rock was too steep, too wet for us coming unprepared. The view, however, however was still breathtaking. We gulped our pride and descendent down even more carefully.
Because our friend was still working, we went to see the church - a white wooden one with a cemetery around it.

Åmli's church

And the evening comes early to this town - at 8 pm it feels like like a deep dark night. Everything is closed, and there is zero social life. A real small mystery town.

From Oslo by train

It turns out that even if you can't get a reservation for a train on specific time, there still might be a place for you on that train. And you won't need to sit on your luggage after all. I talked to three nsb (Norwegian rail) officers hoping at least one of them was a conductor of my train. None of them was. But one of them told me to go to wagon, choose a place from 13 to 20 and just wait for conductor. And so I did. The conductor didn't show until the train started moving. Technically they can ask you out, but humanly they won't. And if you have a rail pass(which means it's a ticket valid for specific dates), then in worst case there is some space in restaurant wagon. Standing there for three and a half hours would have been quite difficult, I think.
Once I got on a train and it left Oslo, I couldn't take my eyes off the window. And the weather was quite nice. Medium height mountains, bays, fjords, valleys painted with the warm shades of sun. White or brown wooden houses, following same design principles - similar and different at the same time. The railway was dangerously going across the lakes, rivers, tunnels. Sometimes it seemed like there was only a half meter between a rock wall and a train window. Good weather ended soon. The mountains hid their peeks in the pillows of clouds and cloaks of fog - but it still looked magical to me. Though there was no snow to be seen, the small lakes were frozen and looked like mirrors on the surface of earth. Only the reflection wasn't quite clear - as if it has been covered with hot water steam. The spring water on the rocks - tiny waterfalls - that was frozen too!
As the train moved towards my destination - Nelaug - everything became engulfed with a light rain, the sky was just gray and everything else was of that colour as well. The two-coloured houses of white and brown fitted into that landscape very well.
Nelaug was just the train station where we had to get off - we were going to far more disconnected place - Åmli - no trains, just local buses going there. Therefore, a friend had to pick me and her boyfriend from train station. As we got off, she was already waiting for us.

2015-12-22

It's getting hot before Christmas

It's geting too warm these days in Lithuania. Synoptics promise 11 degrees by Celsius. Exactly the same as last year in Rome. So, I decided to head somewhere more cold - Norway! I did manage to win few degrees, but it's still 5 degrees above zero and no snow at all! Of course, this reason of my journey is a total bullshit and I'm going there to visit my friend for Christmas. And maybe few other things.
One thing I already learn is that Norwegians travel a lot by train and to reserve a ticket in advance even if it's not mandatory is a must. Especially in this period of festivals. The price of gaining this knowledge is not huge yet - I'm hoping to sit on my luggage for 3 and half hours on a journey to a small town of 600 people.

2015-12-19

The final concert of Kaunas Jazz 2015

It was a not so early August Friday morning. I was still in my bed lazily snoozing my alarm clock and browsing the web on my smartphone. In these days the majority of us do it. But I could compare it to a morning newspaper reading - it's the only newspaper time I have, while still in bed.
The article that a famous pianist is coming to Lithuania for a jazz festival, made me jump out of bed, run to computer and order a ticket. I didn't read properly when it's going to happen, I just knew that the prices of the tickets will go up very quickly or there might be no tickets at all if I delay my purchase. Well, as it has turned out, the concert is going to happen in December and that famous pianist is Omar Sosa. The first piece of him that I listened to was Toridanzon and it made me fall in love with his music. The very first notes of it covered my skin in goose bumps and carried my imagination away to a sudden summer rain with thunder. And every time I listed to it it still does so. So, there is no surprise that I somehow jumped out of the bed and was in the process of buying an expensive ticket.
Yesterday, the 18th of December was a day of his concert for Kaunas Jazz festival final concert of the year. I left from work earlier, rode to Vilnius(even stuck at the traffic jam) and there I was sitting in the front rows waiting for the magic to start. Usually in concerts, a pianist would be dressed in a black suit and even if his hands would become crazy in some moments, all his posture posture would remain straight and the rest of the body would be calm. When you come to a concert of Omar Sosa, you have to leave your attitude at home.
He walked into scene wearing white robes and somewhat futuristic hat, carrying a candle and some sort of an amulet in his hands. Some little rituals he made at the keyboard section(I don't know how to call a set of grande piano with 2 more large electric piano keyboards and one smaller one) and then he touched the keys. There was the magic happening right in front of me ten meters away. Other musicians walked into the scene one after another bringing a new musical layer for the song they were playing. Note after note it made me believe that I'm sitting somewhere else but the concert hall in Lithuania. It could have been Cuba or other warm island, showered in a light rain interchanging with the rays of sun. Extremely long musical pieces combining latin rhythms(of cha cha cha, son montuno), wild jazz and nostalgic piano solos nailed the audience to their seats, while the musicians were going wild on the scene. I admit I wanted to jump and start dancing to those rhythms. But being jailed in the middle of the seat row made it impossible to do so. And while this was a perfect place for listening and observation it was the worst place in this concert for me.
In this two hour concert I forgot that it was the middle of December outside, just a week before Christmas, that there was no snow outside, it was windy and foggy with a light drizzle. The days were short and it was dark outside and our streets were lit with cheap Christmas decorations. No, my heart became warm not because of them, but because of the light I found in the music that evening.