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Goodbye Norway!
It's been a blastWhile I’ve been in Abisko, the internet crashed… but when I checked-out this morning they had a sign saying it’s working again - timing is everything! Haha. I’ll post the past two days together.
June 30 - Goodbye Norway, hello Sweden! Narvik, Norway to Abisko, Sweden I finally stay at a hostel where the check-out is at noon… and my dorm-mate not only leaves at 8am, but in the process opens the curtains (kfine, I can deal with light), and then proceeds to BLOW DRY HER HAIR about 5 feet away from my bunk. Lovely.
Needless to say, I got up shortly after she left.
I bummed around the hostel this morning and met quite the character while down in the kitchen/lounge area! He walked in with a bunch of groceries and two huge boxes (which I later found out, were full of chocolate). He walked over and asked if I liked chocolate… uh, yes? We proceeded to open the box and place two bars of some sort of caramilk-esque chocolate in front of me haha. “The store, they were going to throw it away! This is such a crazy country, crazy I tell you!” Seriously? But
it’s chocolate. And it’s expensive lol. “I know! Everything’s expensive here! I’m like ok, fine I’ll take it - I have these two boxes, and another two upstairs.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that haha. I checked the date on the wrapper - still another two weeks… crazy people indeed, throwing away chocolate. Pfft.
He turned the TV on and we watched a little BBC. He started to flip out about a report on Italy - many schools have the crucifix in their classrooms, and there’s growing pressure to remove them - the whole separate state + religion thing. I kept relatively quiet, but noted that that’s an increasingly popular belief across the Western world right, I mean look at the fuss that arouse in NB or Newfoundland (I can’t remember which one?) with singing “God keep our land” in O Canada.
He kept ranting about how “we” keep changing for “them” … I’m never a fan of the whole “we vs. them” thing… can lead to some very nasty discussions. I shrugged, personally, I don’t really care. For the crucifix, it’s not like it’s hurting anyone having it up in the class room… they’re
The river
Considering the amount of photos I have... I pretty much eenie-meanie-miny-mo'd it here. just symbols, right? He agreed to that, and then thankfully changed the subject haha. We talked about Canada for a bit - he’s been out west and to Toronto and quite enjoyed it. He’s originally from Portugal, but now lives in the States and is planning on moving to Vancouver (or at least, BC) in a few years. How exciting. This led to a talk about the real estate market in Canada haha, the boom out west. Man, I bs’d my way through that one.
For lunch I made myself a bowl of… fish soup. It uhm, tastes about as appetizing as it sounds. I felt I had to try it just because I’m here in Norway… but uh, it’s never happening ever again. Ok, ok. It wasn’t *THAT* bad, just not that good either haha. The broth(?) is a very odd texture/taste… the chunks of fish were great though!
Before getting on the train, I headed over to the grocery store (ah, Remi 1000 - what would I have done without you?!) and stocked up on some food for Abisko. You see, I’m staying at a National Park and the only choice for food is their mini-mart,
or their restaurant. In the restaurant, supper costs $40, so I didn’t particularly want to risk paying $5 for an apple or something in their store.
Is it sad that I was excited to see Nutella at the Remi 1000? Hahaha. Of course I got some real food too - bread and sandwich meat. They have this really good (and cheap!) lemon bread/cake thing too, so I got that and some apples. I’m set.
The ride from Narvik into Sweden was amazing! We crossed the mountains between Norway and Sweden - that was odd to come out on the other side and be so far up that there were still huge patches of snow every where. (Is it sad that I miss snow?) It was neat passing through all these really small “towns” consisting of summer cottage-esque buildings and cabins. It would be nice to have a place out here - it really is the boonies.
My room at Abisko is quite cozy - I really am in the middle of nowhere… it is a National Park after all. I puttered around the main area of the Camp - as you can imagine, it’s quite the landscape.
July 1 - Happy birthday Canada! Abisko, Sweden Well, I spent my Canada Day walking around the mountains and valleys of Northern Sweden. I did bring my Canada mitts for the occasion though - I remembered my roots haha.
They seem to have an aversion to (free) maps here… which isn’t exactly helpful if you’re looking to walk around on their hiking paths. You’ll all be glad to hear I made it around, there and back, without getting lost. Any of you that have traveled with me before know how I pride myself on that ability to always find myself without having to look like a tourist and ask people haha.
I wandered around the base until I found a path and just started to follow it haha. About 10min later there was a split, and one went along the river, so I decided to take that one. (I figured if I get lost on the way back, I’d know just to follow the river. See, I’m smart.)
I have to point out how much I love the sound of a river rapids, and the water crashing up against the rocks. I honestly
could’ve spent the entire day sitting there, watching and listening - it’s so calming and peaceful. Even better with the occasional bird chirp in the background. I also love how close you can get to everything - you can literally sit with your legs hanging over the ledge or cliff. I didn’t sit that close haha, but I did take a few pics while standing out on some rocks. Simply gorgeous.
It’s funny running into people as you hike… you can pretty much guess where people are from depending how they’d respond to you. Scandinavians: “hi hi!” Other Europeans: “hi” Australians: “hi” (but more excited sounding lol). Asians: *nod* Americans: a quiet “hey” or no response at all haha. I truly love how they say “hi hi” here though… it’s the cutest thing ever.
All in all, my hike lasted 3.5 hours, plus about an hour of reading time while perched out on a rock overlooking the river. A very relaxing and lovely day.
It also consisted of 273 photos haha. I do so enjoy my camera.
Tomorrow night I take the overnight train from here in Abisko down to Malmo (via Stockholm). I want to
head down towards the lake tomorrow and go check out the recreation of a Sami Camp they have near the train station. The Sami are like Scandinavian Aboriginals, so that should be interesting.
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