Day 29 - End of first full day on the Lofoten islands
I spent about 45 minutes in the museum. It is not a very large place and not like a traditional museum at all, and more like a small storefront type space converted to what you saw in the pictures. It has so many interesting artifacts I wish I had done some reading on the place beforehand. Instead it was more of a drop-in, I was walking by this building and since I had nothing else to do I decided to step in without really knowing what I'd see inside.
Turns out there were interesting things inside such as several of Hitler's paintings.. One was of Snow white and the seven dwarves, but unfortunately I did not take any pictures of these as at the time I did not know what they were.
After exiting the museum I was greeted with a lack of rain and slightly friendlier looking skies.
I checked in with my contact for the cruise I was on a waiting list for.. However, the very last cruise for the day, the one I had been hoping to get on, got cancelled. This was unfortunate but not unexpected, as looking at the skies you'd imagine that it could very well start raining again anytime.
Before doing anything else I returned to my hotel room. Upon arrival I was greeted with a free bottle of champagne in my room, provided by hotel staff, who felt bad about me sleeping in the dark. I'm not a huge fan of champagne, but appreciated the gesture nevertheless, although I would have found that bottle of champagne a lot more useful the previous night.
Throughout the day I had been searching for accommodations and trying to figure out the rest of my stay on the Lofoten islands. My hotel room in Svolvaer was booked for 1 more night, and after that the hotel was actually fully booked! So I could not stay there any longer. The initial plan was to leave this part of the trip wide open so I could have some flexibility..
But I could not find any accommodation anywhere on any of the Lofoten islands where I wanted to stay.. Everything seemed to be booked solid! I spent some time searching and searching and eventually started calling around, as sometimes online records are not up to date and a room that's marked as booked online could very well be available. Most of the hotels and guest houses I called were indeed booked solid, and for a good chunk of the numbers nobody even picked up. I ended up calling this one place in Reine (that initially looked too fancy for the likes of me) several times, and the last time I called I managed to somehow strike gold. I said something like: "Are you sure?" Or "Can you double-check?", and after waiting on hold for a minute or two, I was greeted with a cheerful voice informing me that one converted fisherman's cabin is available for the dates I specified! With the caveat that I would have to switch cabins for my last night.
I did not mind this at all and loved the location as it was very close to a trailhead for a hike I really wanted to do. However, the cost of the cabin was more than what I had budgeted for this part of the trip. In fact, it was a lot more than what I was initially prepared to pay.. However, since I spent so much time looking and was unable to find any other accommodation that would put me where I wanted to be... .. I sat on the phone for a couple seconds thinking about this.. and whether I should splurge on this deluxe accommodation for my last couple nights in the country.. "I'll take it!", I said.. "Why not!"..
After all this I decided to go on a hike. There was one recommended hiking trail in the area that I had my eyes on. Looking at a map I thought it looked doable in terms of me being able to squeeze it in before it started getting dark. I managed to make it about 45 minutes into my walk when I realized that the trail I had picked was taking me high up into the clouds..
I had a map with me but initially it seemed like those mountains were further in the distance.. Turns out I misjudged the distances and the trail would take me well beyond the first hill you see, and almost all the way to the top of the second one.
The clouds did not move out of the way over time at all, and so eventually I decided to turn around.. It looked like it could start raining again anytime, and the visibility up above looked very poor. I decided it was a better idea to go find a pub or bar where I could watch the Chelsea soccer game, which just happened to be starting in a half an hour or so.
I talked to a couple locals on my walk into town and tried to ask if they know if there's any pubs or bars that might be showing an English Premier League game.. I got some vague directions to a place that might be showing such a thing.. and.. indeed, they were! I sat down and watched the game, in which my team lost. I was sitting beside a guy who "really hates soccer". Although he was there to watch the game too. It was quite odd overall, but we had an interesting chat throughout the game.
Afterwards I ate some pizza for dinner and made my way back to my hotel room, where I went to work on the champagne bottle. Outside there was a wedding celebration underway, which went on late into the night. "This is the worst hotel I have ever stayed at", I thought to myself, as I finished off the last remaining drops of the champagne and continued to swear under my breath at the party unfolding outside. Eventually I managed to fall asleep, ready for an early morning bus ride across the Lofoten islands
See you again in late March or early April!
