Hello All, Just found time between packing, i'm finished packing of course just waiting on someone else. Mari and I are about to head up to Tromsø and drive down the coast to visit a polar zoo to see some of my distant cousins, the wild sort. And arctic foxes, wolverines and as the name would suggest more polar animals. little fact for today Tromsø is actually level with the highest point of Alaska just to give you some idea of the latitude there. I feel like i have been packing and unpacking for nearly a week now. In case you didn't know we have been to Galdhøppigen Summer ski center last friday, which was bizarre snowboarding in summer hot-cold-hot-cold all day, beatiful weather though. If you check out my facebook album of pics that i updated you can witness some awesome freestyle skiing (not me of course) and the blue skies and sun. That afternoon Mari and I drove Leirvassbu a large motel style joint in the midst of the mountains at an altitude of 1430m. There we awaited the arrival of the explorers (mari's parents) who had walked/climbed for 13 odd hours that day.

The next day (lørdag - saturday) we head off to do a bit of Glacier climbing something Svein Helge is an expert on and sometimes guides groups of people across the icy expanses. this was something really worth doing we only did a short walk due to the toll of the day preceding. I have a feeling the word ¨short¨is somewhat open to translation. All said and done we spent most of the day hiking, once again my lack of fitness rose to the forefront of my consciousness. Never the less it was a great day and i can't believe how much i sweat on the ice, seemed a tad ironic to me.

One of the highlights of the day was being immersed in the ice towers of blue and the ice crunching underfoot, one hand holding my lifeline (the rope connecting us in case of sudden complete immersion in ice) and the other hand wielding my ice axe. Yes there was a lot of ice and as mari said it was like walking on a big ice cube or in my mind an oversized slushpuppy.

We drove on to do some more sightseeing which is better seen than read about so head to the aforementioned facebook album. We stayed a night in a cabin and drove over this amazing pass to Aurland and then on to see where the crazy few do basejumping and then back through the longest tunnel in northern Europe 24.5 km long with a fake opening to instill the feeling of coming to the end of the tunnel, cruel but effective. half an hour in a tunnel is a long time. We saw a few stave churches most importantly the Borgund Stavkirke ca. 1100 a.d. amzing bit of work. the only taint to the day was the french tourists rude and egotistical is some of their nicer attributes, by the way they behaved you would think they built the church and owned the country too. One frenchy got his just desserts. he had illegally parked right in the walkway to the church and left the handbrake undone only to watch his citroen van sail into the safety barrier across the road i was lucky enough to get a pic of this. which i will upload later. Clearly embarressed but unlearnt he once again parked just off the main road to inspect the damage of his stupidity. we then continued to drive to Fagernes via Vang passing a 5series post-drift lodged in the grass on the side of the road one wheel broken off, poor guy. We travelled the remainder of the journey just in time to eat spag bol and cruise down to watch the Fifa final Spain v Holland, great game and worthy winners.

The day of respite included sleeping in planning the next day, little trip down to Fagernes and then after dinner some work shifting the underlay gravel for the pavers of which the ground had sunk some 200mm over 15years due to the permafrost under the ground. some 5m^3 later it looked nearly full and we looked well an truly ready for some of mari's boller (buns with chocolate chunks inside).

Well thats all thats happened to me recently and remember HD may be good but Real D is better get out and see the world for yourself. I only take photos for my memory and to inspire other to witness it first hand too.

Ciao for now

Nick W