To Norway (video teaser)

Norway October 2014: Wild nature

Andrea version, part I

3am, or maybe 2am, not sure, I am kind of sleeping. I am trying to sleep, when something weird make me alert. A noise, just outside my tent. Someone is moving out there. Something is just next to my thin, little tent. Few seconds to shake off the little sleep I was having, and I am fully aware and ready to act. It's the middle of Norway, it could be everything: a moose, a bear, a white tiger just escaped from some zoo nearby. Everything. If I want to survive, I have to get ready to act. I look around, my senses fully awared, my muscles ready to react to any situation.

Oleg version

I woke up at night. That black cat I saw in the evening was playing with my tent. I just pushed it a little bit and went again to sleeping bag.

Andrea version, part II

Ok, it's only a cat, a bloody, stupid, kind-of-cute cat. No big deal, I can handle it. Just ignore it.  It will be tired soon and will go away. Maybe. Or maybe not. It starts mewing and blowing. "meeeaow". What the hell, is it not sleepy? "meeeeeaow". No, it's not. I feel it moving next to my tent. Suddenly, out of the blue, it literally jumps on my tent. Literally, on the tent. I can hear the tent creaking, I can feel the fibers of the tissue stretching dangerously under the mighty claws of the beast. No hesitation, one choice: or the cat or my tent. One punch straight to the cat through the tent, matched with a loud "get the fuck out of here, damn you!". A surprise meow, then few seconds of pause. Maybe it just got away. Or maybe not. "meeeaw". Shit, it's still here! I definetely need to change strategy. And here it comes the brilliant idea. It's a norvegian cat, it's surely afraid of bears, wild dogs and maybe wolves. Of course. I just have to sound like a wolf. (at this point I would like to stress again that it was 3am in the morning, and I have had a very tiring day). I started barking. Loudly. Seriously. Aggressively. I believed what I was doing. The cat didn't. I could really perceive its laugh in the next few meows. He was making fun of me. Fortunately for my dignity, after few minutes he decided to go somewhere else, maybe looking for some more fun somewhere else, even if we were the only tents around there. Finally, I managed to fall a sleep again, even though accompanied by the laugh of my tent-mate, just few meters nearby.    

Exhausted, after a whole night of fighting against fierce animals.

Norway October 2014: The waitress, the lift, the destiny

We were just coming back from the 4 hours walk in Preikestolen, still full of wonder for the amazing view, when we found ourselves hungry, pointing at the entrance of a sort of bar/restaurant. We changed few money -those flow like hell in Norway- and we order two sandwiches. 85 crowns, each. Almost 10 euros. What was worth the cost, was the wonderful smile of the blonde probably-21-years- old waitress, that made me falling in love immediately,  dazzled by such a blue-eyes angel. We ate  silently, just staring at her preparing other tables, seldom exchanging with her few smiles here  and there.

The next day we just left the area where we camped, ready to move to catch the Ferry from Tau

to Stavanger. As usual, we just hitch-hiked, sure that in few minutes some car would have picked us up. And indeed, a gray Peugeot stopped just nearby, after not even few steps. "Going to Tau? Would you mind to give us a lift?". "Ehy! You are the guys at the restaurant yesterday! Sure, get in". There she was: even more beautiful in her soft purple wooly jumper.

We chat a little during the trip, while in the car I could already perceive the feeling that our nice meeting would end up soon. The destiny combines, the ferry schedule divides. We asked her how was to live in the middle of the beauty, and she explained us how beauty fades, day by day, 

substitutes by habitude. Her deep eyes, her cascade of lighty brown hair, her shy smile, were 

suggesting to me a completely different story, but I didn't find myself to tell her..

Norway October 2014: Preikestolen

2 full hours of tilted march up for almost 4 kilometers. Preikestolen is an easy path because you can't lose yourself, but it's also a difficult one because your legs will pump the hell out of you (if you are not vaguely trained). Even if we met mostly young people, also families and 60s were on the way, at least in the first part. Often the slopes are kind of challenging, in particular in the middle of the path, and the stones you have to walk on often asked for some attention not to trick you. I was splitting myself between walking without twist an ankle (and staying behind that agile mountain goat of Oleg) and enjoying the spectacular view out there. It was fun overall! And, btw, I couldn't get who put there all those stones. Really, sounds trivial, but someone should have done that, no? How much time did it take? 

 After the climbing effort the view is just amazing. One of the best Fjord in Norway, they say. I believe them: the view is truly amazing. If I were a painter, I would paint it exactly that way. The platform up there, when is not used by stupid tourists shooting fancy photos (cough.. cough..), is also used as a starting point for base-jumper: starting from heaven, to glide back to the ground. Not sure I could do it (pretty sure Oleg will..!). 

  The way back was easier, and it took only 50 minutes, also because it was getting late and we needed to head back to the tents. Since it was October, at 19 it was already dark, and you don't wanna be out there when is dark. Besides bears and wolves, I have been told of wild and fierce cats...

Top: Amazing views from the Rock.

Down: the Rock (from even higher!).

Freezing literally and break-dancingly at the edge of the world? Challenge accepted!

Norway October 2014: Thoughts

We were welcomed by a little snow, already announced by the pilot in the plane (Oleg's face was something worth a picture, but I was too slow to capture it!), but we actually got lucky with the weather: it never went below 0 degree during the night spent in the tent, and also the nights in the train and in the Stavanger' street were reasonably bearable. 

Photos: the super cosy norvegian railways: people working, people sleeping...

Stavanger: a nice sea city, young people around and a cool city center just embraced by the sea. The atmosphere is really that one of a sea town: I would have not been surprise finding a bunch of sailors drinking rhum at the pub, winking at some girls in their dirty pirates-like clothes. On the other hand, the old city - just out of the peninsula area but still on the sea, is fancier, with the typical colored houses and an atmosphere more like north European middle-age village.  

Two things are amazing in Norway. 
The first one regards the landscapes: they are simply breathtaking. It's a masterly mix of nature, poetry and Romanticism: you cannot feel but a bit lost in such a vastness. If God was an artist, he surely would be a painter. 
The second thing is about girls. Norvegian girls. They are simply the beings closest to perfection I ever saw. I think I felt in love at least every 5 meters in Stavanger. Dressed with a smile allusive and shy at the same time, they wear skirts even when I was regretting I couldn't fit in my third pair of pants. Blondes, mostly, but not only, however always beautiful. If God was an artist he surely must be a sculptor.