Warriorbern on the Move

Last night at 21H30, Charles and I walked up the hill to see if we could see the Northern Lights. It was cold, -4.8 degrees but we wrapped up warmly and it was a brisk uphill walk so I was warm. There was not even a hint of the Northern Lights though despite us looking really hard at the horizon. It was good to be outside and I enjoyed everything except my glasses misting up LOL! Today we decided to go to a nearby island called Ytteroy. It is a 30 minute ferry ride from Levanger so was nice and close. There are only about 500 people living on Ytteroy and it seems to be just a farming community although copper was mined there from the 1500s and phosphor was mined from the middle of the 19th century. It supposedly has a very large population of roe deer. We boarded the ferry and before long were on the way across the fjord. At first we sat inside the lounge area but it was a bit stuffy so we braved the temperatures outside. Eventually though the cold was too much and we we...

Sight-seeing got underway a little late today due to my laundry needs. Once that was out of the way, we decided to go to the small island of Tautra to see where a group of nuns have been living since 1207. The drive to Tautra went through some more beautiful places and snow scenes.  We travelled through some small towns to get to the island and one of these was Frosta which has hot house culture for vegetables. Most of the farm animals are kept inside for winter but there were a few cows out. This photo is especially for Jo! Finally we got to the island and the sun came out. This is the first bit of sunshine I have seen since leaving home! The bridge to the island has an automated gate on the land side to prevent unwanted animals from crossing over to the island. First we went to see the new nunnery and the church. There was a sign saying that visitors are welcome in the church but as we were about to open the door the nuns started singing and both of us felt that we would...

It was still cloudy this morning when I woke up and started to snow just after breakfast. Charles and I decided to go to town to buy a few things at the shopping centre and then walk around town a little. It was quite an experience for me walking in town on the icy pavements and slip, slip, slipping along. There are some lovely old buildings in the town and here are a few of them.   We went home for coffee and biscuits and then decided to drive out to small place in the mountains called Skallstuggu where people have holiday homes and they go there to ski. Our mission: to see really big snow flakes! The scenery on the way was really beautiful with snow on the trees and icicles hanging off the rocks on the side of the road. And there was another lovely old church: At Skallstuggu it was -1 degrees (the coldest I have been so far) and just a little bit of snow falling which was a little disappointing. It is so beautiful there so the disappointment did not last long. We g...

After counting down for many, many days I am finally on holiday and in Norway. The journey to get here was long and tiring but completely worth it all. I flew via Johannesburg and was thrilled that my dear friends Jo and Diets came to spend some time with me while I waited for the connecting flight to Amsterdam. It certainly made the time pass quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go through immigration to go board the plane. The flight to Amsterdam was a little bumpy but not too bad and I managed to get a good 4 hours sleep before waking up to the passenger next to me, a large smelly man, encroaching on my small space. The remaining 7 hours were spent watching movies while pressed up against the side of the cabin avoiding him and his smelliness! About 3 hours before landing in Amsterdam, a passenger sitting 4 rows in front of me went into some kind of health distress. A doctor was called for and fortunately there were 3 on board. the poor women was given oxygen a...

The last full day in Tanzania is underway. I really should have followed by boss' example and left today to go home but unlike him, I didn't book my own air tickets so I am here at the will of the project. It is a beautiful sunny day today, probably the nicest we have had so far and still we are stuck in a meeting room instead of being on the beach. The beach, however, might not be such a good idea. One of the participants went for a walk on the beach this morning and was mugged. I'm not sure why he was carrying his wallet with him but now he is no longer has it in his possession at all. I suppose before I talk about today though I should go back to last night. Our session was moved later to start at 20:30 because we only paused for dinner at 19:15! In the end the session only got underway at around 21:00. Just after ten pm I gave up and went to bed but apparently it only lasted until eleven pm. This morning was the start of a new meeting with some different participants ...