The multimedia has been lacking lately from the old blog, so I thought it was time to catch up, in a big way! I have added photos, complete with the locations where they were taken, captions, and space for comments. The pictures start from my family's visit in the middle of June until today. To enjoy them, just click on the photos link above.
I also added a new link: video! We made a few videos singing on the bus on the way to town, so if you want to hear some bad singing and smiley faces, check out the videos.
Hopefully I'll keep up to date now, so keep checking back for more multimedia!
I've had a great time this summer showing off Tromsø to the friendly hoard of silver haired tourists. As you can see from these photos, it's fun stuff! Today we had a perfect, sunny day and a great trip to the Wilderness Center on an island near Tromsø where we had a great view and lots of fun with their Alaskan husky sled dogs. Props to Stewart for the great photos.
Holding one of the two week old Alaskan Husky puppies at the Wilderness Center. Hard not to love them, even if you're not a dog person.
Our puppets, I mean, tourists waving at the camera at our behest while sitting in our traditional Sami lavu. Kind of like a teepee outfitted for lots of tourists
And the great view from the Wilderness Center of both the landscape and the meet and greet for the tourists and dogs. Over 200 dogs and just under 100 Brits. A good ratio I think.
If you want a tour, feel free to come to Tromsø! We'll be happy to show you this beautiful city.
The past weekend has been spent enjoying one of Tromsø's summer highlights: the Bukta music festival! I had the chance to enjoy some great acts like Calexico, Johnossi, and Sivert Høyem and some crazy acts like Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Yes, iggy in all his 90-ish years of glory was on the stage prancing around in his leather skin, sans leather jacket (or shirt). I even got into the front row after moshing around with the relatively peaceful Norwegians. It was a great concert that seemed to follow the typical music festival pattern of lots of rain! But with plenty of layers of rainproof clothes, I stayed warm and had a great time!
Now it's back to the real work, and I'll start by giving two tours tomorrow to a bunch of old British people! But they're usually very friendly so I'll be ready to show of Tromsø.
I just returned home having survived the second attack of the day. Yes, it is the beginning of July and I am quickly learning that it is seagull hatching season. This means that suddenly the bushes and lawns are suddenly filled with ugly, furball baby seagulls. They have an ugly white and grey speckled color like an ugly, old man sweater and they cackle incessently, seemingly protesting their inability to fly. To compensate for this important defect, their parents (and their parents' friends) hover over the babies to protect them.
The parents position themselves on lights and chimneys keeping watch, and when someone approaches their helpless babes, they call out for help. Within seconds two birds are flying circles around the baby while the third is on attack mode...literally. It dive bombs the innocent passerby (me), diving directly at my head with its mouth open, cawking and shitting in its attempt to scare me away...and it usually works. Those ugly beasts of flight are not to be trifled with, so I usually make some weird noise (like uhaww!!) and duck, trying to avoid the onslaught.
It's a dangerous season here in Tromsø, but I will do my best to enjoy the amazing weather and midnight sun while surviving the unprovoked attacks.
What is this weird Crazy Horse-like shape on my blog? Well, the path of my recent summer travels! I have enjoyed a few great weeks traveling with my family through Norway from Kirkenes all the way to Trondheim, then from Trondheim to Asturias, Spain to spend time with my friend Elisa, and now on my way back to norway...unfortunately, Norwegian airlines is a bit slow coming to London so I'll be late getting back to Norway. But, with free internet and plenty of e-mails to catch up on, hopefully i'll keep busy! More to come soon.
