Remembering January the 13th

On the 13th of January 25 years ago I do not remember much. I remember that my parents weren't sleeping all night and watching tv broadcast from the secret tv station. I didn't understand much, only that terrible things were happening and it had something to do with our freedom. But I was still terrified, I didn't know if I go to sleep that night, I will wake up in the morning. And that was only from perspective of a child.
In reality people were defending the parliament and press house with their bodies, because life was the only thing they had and were willing to sacrifice to defend the freedom of whole country. A right to speak, to think, to move freely, to know the truth. Lithuania re-declared it's independence on the 11th of March in 1990, but on the 13th of January in 1991 it showed how much it was willing to pay for the freedom. It was a resolution of many more people to stand as one against guns and a price of 14 innocent lives stopping tanks with their bare hands.
It's true I don't remember much from that night. But I know that every freedom that I have now is because of that night.

green light in action

Keeping promises is a good habit. It also removes this burden from the heart. And frees your mind for other things. So, there is a little bit of my unburdening - my first attempts to shoot the Aurora Borealis. All the other things have been said in the previous post about Northern Lights.

Millions of hours on a train

So, the train started moving at 9.10pm from Bodø. It stopped at 7.48am in Trondheim. I boarded another train at 8.25am. I ended up at 3pm in Oslo. Can anybody count how many hours it has been on rails? Most of them were spent sleeping in awkward and uncomfortable positions. But I did sleep. First I tried to read Gogol's "Dead Souls" in Russian, but  I felt very sleepy instantly. The same happened on a day train too. Internet was not working, or rather it was working in cafeteria and wc. Well, I was in wagon 8, so, I guess  I was too far away from the source.
As I'm falling asleep at the moment in a hostel at Oslo, all I can say that I finished my day by buying gifts home and walking around in the center with a camera.

A lazy day of the 1st of January

So, I had very little sleep. As normal. The checkout from hostel was until 11am, and I wanted to have my breakfast. I had meeting today at 12am with a fellow couch surfer, which had kindly replied to my public request. So, he took me to see the same hill we were exploring at night while hunting for northern lights. He let me borrow his gear for walking on ice, so, we could climb the actual hill - Rønvikfjellet - a raven hill. Then we hiked to the three lakes: the lower one, the upper and the black one. Some being fully, some partially covered in ice. While we hiked we were fighting the wind at the same time. Thank god, I had my heavy backpack on, otherwise I could have been thrown from the hill. Well, maybe not really, but it could have been closer. So, I had the opportunity to observe the Bodø from the very top - magnificent view. Then the fellow took me to the beach With a light blue water. They call it Osvika. I liked the sound of that name, partly because it has a shorter name of me in it.
As the rest of the day - sheltering in a living room of hostel, as my train leaves late in the evening, reading a book "Quest for Adventure" by Chris Bonington, looking for inspiration for my next journey.

The Northern Lights. They do exist

Yesterday, was a long day too. I'm getting used to this new regime - sleeping few hours, waking up at 8 or 9, going to sleep at 4 or 5 in the morning. As it was the 31st of December, and sort of everything half closed, there were limited options on activities. So, I've heard of "Nyholmen skandse" - a fortification at the end of small cape and a lighthouse. So, I packed myself in a tent of skiing jacket and trousers, prepared a thermos of hot tea and set out into a walk that appeared to be longer than I have expected it to be. Strong wind was not helping at all. Once I finally reached that place, I found out I can't climb the fort, because there were fireworks being set up for the evening. So, I turned back, buying some sparkling lights on my way. And I was starting to feel hunger.
The grand firework was at 6.25pm. Well, a little bit early for New Year's celebration, but this firework was actually meant for 200 year anniversary of town Bodø. It took as long as five minutes, technically. But watching those different flying colors in the sky, it seemed that it took longer.
It was time to go back to hostel and give up into action, whatever there was going on. Actually, not much. Solo travels were keeping on soloing. Group travels were keeping it in their group. Luckily I noticed a Chinese guy I met a day before has returned from his day trip in Værøy island. So, we had different experiences to share on Lofoten islands, and we kept talking as the midnight was approaching. But we didn't come up with any solid plan where it would be the best place to go watching for fireworks. Obviously, we ended up in the wrong location - next to the church of Bodø. There were stifle firework shooters, but all the other beauty, or so to say serious stuff was blocked by surrounding buildings. On the way there we met a couple from Norway and Thailand(one of them was living in the same hostel too). So, we double-sized our company, and it was way better. The Lady from Thailand was terribly afraid of falling on the ice and the fact that she had not the proper shoes did not help her overcome that fear. After lighting our sparkling firework for kids and observing the other miserable ones, we came back to hostel.
Others were coming back too, and started bragging about observing some shades of Northern Lights. It trigger our lust for adventure and a huger to see one. I actually was already giving up to observe them during this trip. But now altering hearing this news, we were ready in five minutes, heading somewhere into the hills - we wanted to retrace the first journey, but somehow missed it. The journey took longer, or it seemed so. As we were approaching the end of light zone, we started seeing some weird shades and shapes in the sky. Somewhere of them were clouds, but unusual ones. But when we witnessed the green ones, we knew this had to be it. And it was quite intense. I haven't properly trained for shooting Aurora Borealis, so, was still playing with my camera, getting useful tips from my fellow adventurer. Yes, there was it - the Northern Lights in all it's captivating beauty, unpredictable, moving fast. And it really was addictive, observing it, and setting up my camera for the right shot. I even didn't notice that I was kneeling in snow with my jeans totally wet at the knees. I didn't care about that neither about the fact it was 4am in the morning. As always on this trip, the screenshots of proof will come later.