Lofoten 2

Welcome to most of you who are entering this holiday posting about Lofoten in Norway at part 2. Stop it! Scroll down and start at part 1!

The Viking Museum in Leknes. I think the horses (real) are Icelandic horses, which are smaller, stockier, and apparently have some 5th gait whereas normal horses only have 4.

One way to scare the enemy was to keep the price sticker on the sword - with Norwegian prices being so high, you really, really want to make the most of that purchase.

What would have happened to that sheep in part 1 if it didn't get off the road sooner - ye olde Viking lamb stew. Quite good actually. As it was roasted on a real fire, and there was a pile of firewood at the door which we needed for our schwenk... each of us left the Viking Museum with a bit more knowledge and a bit more bjork in our jackets than when we came.

With a smile, a fleece jacket and glasses, Tobias made the least convincing viking I ever saw, despite the sword.

Add the helm, and it might be time to think about preparing to get scared. On the right is part of a display on the Bayeaux Tapestry, which is 70m long and describes the politics leading up to, and the Battle of, Hastings in 1066 when the Normans (Viking decendants in France) conquered England.

A reconstructed Viking boat

The beach at Ramberg, advertised as a potential bathing spot, but only missing the mark by about 20o. Here actually we saw some Arctic Terns (my namesake? See 2 posts ago) flying around, but sadly no pic.

Getting the schwenk. Some very, very scared campervan owners and strong winds caused us to move our fire to a long, long way away from the campsite to this secluded small grilling area outside the town limits.

Grillsite

The woman at the campsite was actually really nice about us telling us to move our grill, and bribed us with more firewood. I'm glad she did because we ended up on the Atlantic coast, in a much more scenic and dramatic location which was fantastic for schwenking.

Guys grilled. Ladies lettuced and lit lights.

Our car. A Czech Skoda, which performed really well with plenty of acceleration and despite 5 passegers did alot better than my '95 commodore would have. Apparently because they are now owned by VW, they are the budget VW car, based on the Golf and Audi A3, but 10-20% cheaper and with the same quality. I was impressed.

Nusfjord. The entire fishing town is a living museum.

Road to Reine

The end of Lofoten! This town lies at the westernmost tip of the westernmost island, and has the shortest possible name of Å (pronounced 'Oh!'). But it doesnt start off the phone book because the funny vowels come at the end.

Actually, I've been trying to find a Swedish town name with all 3 extra vowels in it. I haven't succeeded. The closest I have come, which is a a bit of a fudge, is Östra Västerås (East Västerås), which I'm not even sure exists. If anyone out there knows something, let me know. Perhaps in Norway? I will accept lines through o's and chummy ae's instead of dots.

View from Å

After Å it was back to Moskenes for a long ferry ride to Bodø, to drive back a different way to the one on which we came.

More footy, almost at midnight. 1 pt between the side sticks, 6 points for a goal, and...12? 20? 60? for kicking it into another country? It would have been much more humorous to play street cricket, because then instead of '6 and out over the fence', it could be '12 and out over the border'. Or maybe it wouldn't have been so humorous. Remember John Saffran kicking the ball from Israel into Palestine? Now that, was funny...

Almost the midnight sun at Arjeplog