A few hours late to Narvik

Sunday, August 12


We arrive in Narvik at about 5:00 pm, about 4 hours late due to that huge mishap. The hostel, which is also a hotel is really nice, but we were pretty bummed out... until we started walking around.


Turns out Narvik isn't half bad. It's half the size of Kiruna and there's a lot more to do/see




Like walk down to the harbour and hang out.





There's a lot of just scenery coming up, sorry.




The water was sooo still. Great news for me as this is where we were talking the ferry to Svolvær.


Tracks.


The old post office.


Oh yeah, in the winter, you can ski.


HAHAH in case you weren't sure what kind of store it was.


Norweigans don't hold their babies, which are all named Bjorn, by the way.


ART


We climbed this hill on the other edge of town and interrupted some people clearly trying to have a romantic moment.


It was pretty romantic.


Then we started walking back down to the water. See the ski pistes?




Her shirt says "Elbkind" which means Child of the Elbe, a river in Germany. Confused the Germans when she spoke to me in her perfect English.


Local house... did you notice yet how there isn't anyone on the streets anywhere?

Monday, August 13
After breakfast and junk, we headed to harbourfront again.


We went there to get our Hurtigruten bookings rebooked, since apparently their headquarters are in Narvik!


So we walked into the office, but their booking is mostly internet and phone, so everyone was surprised to see us wander in off the street...but they rebooked everything, including the ferry we'd missed the night before, for free! That square building in the back is headquarters.


Oh good, the water is still!


There was a mall with a grocery store, so we went to check it out, as we had some time to kill.


SLED PARKING!!! hahaha Norway! (there was a bike parking sign a few metres down, this was for real!)


Man, this is amazing! By the way, we had to climb those stairs when we got there, as the bus station is at the bottom of the mall.

3:00 pm rolled around and we hopped on the "fast boat" to Svolvær, which is already on the Lofoten Islands.


here's a map



Look how fast we're going!


Oh yeah Norway. The boat was full of random people. There was a group of Italian guys, clearly ill prepared for some rugged camping. One guy saw that Ina was reading the new Harry Potter, I actually heard him sing "Haaarrrryyy Poooottttteeerrr" in this thick Italian accent. Hilarious. A while into the ride, I fell asleep and woke up to him talking to her about it. He was really into it.


This is the most beautiful 3 hours of my life.


It was also pretty windy. (Remember I only have my pics from this part, until Ina mails them from Portugal, I guess)


AHH!!!






The water is so incredibly still!


Umm... we're still in the arctic circle?




Svolvær!! Transfer point.


We killed about an hour here.



Then our Hurtigruten arrived. (just say Hurtigruten, hahaha Norweigan!) They're supposed to be these really fancy cruise ships that go along the Norweigan coast. Ours was kind of old.

MS Lyngen. You check in and they give you a swipe card that you need in order to leave the ferry.


Top deck. The lawn chairs had blankets on them and stuff. It was cool.






One more hour til Stamsund! On the map, it's really close to Leknes.


That's a freakin' postcard.


Wow.


Sunsets!


Hahahaha....ewwww.

This is as we arrived to the port in Stamsund...what turned out to be the best part of the trip, as we'd hoped.

May is Tour Month!

Here's the recap: I came home Thursday, April 26 and on April 27-May 27 we had guests staying with us with a 3 day break. First up, a couple, the husband was a good army buddy of my dad's. I missed their first weekend in town as I was sleeping/recovering from four years at UWO.

If you're wondering why it takes me so long to post and yet I send you about 39 emails per day, it's because my computer at work will likely explode if I try to blog. It doesn't run flash.

Monday, April 30: Downtown Toronto

It was my job to entertain the guests during the day, while my folks worked. I didn't really take my camera out as not to alienate my parents' friends that I hadn't seen since I was about 8.

First stop: CN Tower

Pretty much an obligatory shot.


I (heart) Toronto


They got a kick out of the giant moose. That's me and Batia.

Then we wandered around downtown, where I tired them the fuck out.

Here's us passing OCAD after dining at some vegetarian Vietnamese place in Kensington Market.

Tuesday, May 1
Actually, no photographs or recollection of what happened.

Wednesday, May 2: Pioneer Village
Let me begin by saying I hate the Pioneer Village. I've been there at least 10 times and it never was fun. OK well maybe after I realised that it was in Billy Madison.


This is the only photograph of Pioneer Village: The Mill.


The lobby.

Thursday, May 4: Bata!
This was actually really cool. I'd been meaning to go there for a while.







Binding shoes.


umm... hahaha?


Elton John's kicks.


Famous shoe prints.


Napoleon's socks.


Me with some backdrop.

The day after this, the guests and my parents took off for a week in Vegas. Then I slept for a week and began Spanish.

Upon their return, on May 11, my brother came in for a bachelor party. We went to Niagara Falls.




being a creeper.


birds!


Behind the falls! In all my years/visits to the falls, this was the first time I went behind. There was too much water and it really wasn't that exciting.


We could see Toronto's city scape from that park...


This one, at Niagara on the Lake. I know Niagara like the back of my hand.


More of the park.

Back to Niagara on the Lake




The friends left on the 14th, as did my brother. Double trips to the airport. hurrah.

Thursday, May 19
My mom's best friend from her hometown (aka they were born and raised in the same tiny, tiny town) came to visit for 10 days. She's pretty much like an aunt to me.

Friday, May 20 - I think we just bummed around

Saturday, May 21
My mom, her and I went up to Kleinburg to go to the McMichael Gallery


Totem Pole! That's the only photo I managed to sneak.


Her and my mom love flowers.


We had tea and cake here. We wandered around the rest of the town for a while before heading home.


I saw this on the way to the car. Delicious!

That night I went to go see Holy Fuck! and !!! (pronounced chk, chk, chk) which was kind of a disappointment. It was more headphones music than anything. I also realised I took the subway downtown alone, good work Hana!


Sunday, May 20: Niagara Falls Encore!

We stopped off at the Welland Canal.


There are about 500 of these photos. This is as the ship came in.


As it was leaving. That's a huge height difference! I was not impressed, I've been to lots of canals and they're getting old.

Niagara on the Lake!



We met for lunch with some of my parents' friends there. I'm pretty sure their friends are bananas.

Then we went to the flower clock, not pictured.

My mom's friend really dug this tree, but this man wouldn't move.


Close up.


The falls-ish.


The good stuff.


You aren't dreaming, that is the horseshoe falls, the maid of the mist and a rainbow. Oh yeah. (I'm sorry, it was a really dull month).

Then we went to the casino, where my parents and their friend gambled and I stood by. My dad scored $500 and then we went to dinner.

It was Victoria Day, so there were fireworks, which were mediocre, but the falls were nice:




Monday, May 21: Oakville
For some reason we went there... I couldn't tell you. Anyway, it's nice.






HAHAHAH

Then we stumbled upon this:

We had no idea what was going on. Here are some guesses:
1. Laundry commercial/testers
2. Each elderly person is accompanied by their nurse

In fact, it was this:

A bunch of old people lawn bowling on the Village Green


Pretty tree.


Later on in the week, my mom's friend and I hit up the ROM for the Peru exhibit, which was really interesting, actually. Then we went to the Distillery, which is pretty much a ghost town ALL the time. It's a super nice area though.


It also allows me to pretend that I can photograph, which I can't.


Why isn't this place crowded?

May 25-26

At the end of her visit, I went to visit Keren and go hiking in the escarpment. I don't have any more of these photos since Keren hasn't given them to me yet.