Scandinavia Travels

Hi everyone. So it has been a pretty crazy few weeks since my last blog entry, so I will try to fill you all in on what’s been happening. Work is going pretty well, although I have been very busy and traveling a lot. It is starting to wear me down a little and I wish I could stay in one place for longer than 4 or 5 days at a time. It seems that the only time I finally have time to relax is spent moving from one place to another. Hopefully that will change when winter comes.

Well, speaking of traveling, I have been doing a bit of that lately. First, I went up to Krakow and spent a few days there. It was a little weird and a little difficult, with it being the first time I have been up there since my goodbye with Ania. There was quite a bit of emotion going through me, but I am glad to say that it wasn’t all negative, and there were times when I felt good about things. I knew that I would have to face those demons sooner or later, and everyone knows that I am not one to put things off until later if I can do them today. So, hopefully any future visits to Krakow will be easier now.

I am writing this post from Switzerland, where I am visiting some of my family. It is always incredible to see familiar, friendly faces, and this time is no different. I am loving every minute of it and know it will be tough to go back to Poland after all this. Before Switzerland, I visited Stockholm, Olso, and Bergen (west coast of Norway). Scandinavia is pretty incredible, I must admit, although it is very, very expensive (especially Norway). In Oslo, a hamburger costs the equivalent of $15 and the cheapest beer will set you back about $12. A 6-inch sub from Subway is a steep $11. Oh yeah, and a chicken quesadilla at TGIFriday’s will cost you 40 bones! I wonder what the heck those crazy Scandinavians eat and drink when they go to a soccer match?

Stockholm is absolutely amazing and one of (if not the) the coolest cities I have been to. It is just a very classy city with some amazing sights. It is incredible because it is basically several islands within a giant archipelago, each island having its own little character. It is a clean city and has a really nice old town area, with narrow, cobbled streets and small shops lining the sides. The buildings are all very colorful, with bright yellows and oranges. It really is beautiful when the sun is out. Among the sights I saw were a 17^th-century warship that sunk in the archipelago and was raised a few decades ago, as well as an amazing art exhibit with the works of Alexander Roslin. I was also able to go to an incredible concert in this 12^th-century church, hearing a symphony and choir perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. I have always wanted to hear that symphony performed live, and this did not disappoint. I think that the hair on my arms is still standing straight up from the power of the performance! I will miss Stockholm and hope that I can get back there someday.

Oslo was also very cool, although nothing like Stockholm. I did rent a bike for a day and just cruised around the city taking pictures, which was a lot of fun, especially after running around to all those museums and sights in Stockholm. I did manage to get to a Viking ship museum, which was awesome and definitely something that I will never see anywhere else. They actually had 3 original Viking ships on display. Man, those Vikings knew what they were doing when they were building ships. I also went to a museum displaying the ship used by Fridtjof Nansen to help him become the first person to reach the North Pole. It was cool because I even got to go on board and check out the living quarters. I like adventures and all, but being on a ship like that with thirty or so other guys (not to mention, very smelly guys), for a period of two or three straight years, might just cause me to go insane and jump into those icy waters. Those guys were real explorers.

Bergen is a really nice place because it is the gateway to the fjord region of Norway. However, it is a lot like Seattle in that it rains there like crazy, damn near every day of the year. Unfortunately it rained the whole time I was there, and not just a drizzle, but an absolute downpour with wind too. It sucked because I really didn’t even get to walk around that much, it was so miserable being outside. I did find an old cathedral school, from the 1100s, where I listened to a trio of performers play some medieval music from the 1300s, with a wooden violin and two wooden flutes. It was pretty awesome. As for the scenery, from what I saw, when the sun does show up, Bergen must be an incredibly beautiful city, right on the coast with a big mountain right behind it.

The train ride from Bergen back to Oslo is dubbed the “most scenic train ride in the world” by several different travel magazines. It really was incredible, passing through glacier terrain and fjords almost the entire time. It was similar to the train ride from Luzerne to Interlaken in Switzerland. The mountains were amazing and it was awesome passing through a bunch of little towns along the fjords. I really wish I had the time to get off and explore some of those little settlements and meet the people that live in those little cabins in the middle of the mountains. Life there must be very simple, but hard too. It would be incredible to listen to some of the stories they have to tell.

I met and stayed with some cool people along the way, including a Finnish kid living in Stockholm, a native Norwegian in Oslo, and an American in Bergen. I also met an Italian kid living in Bergen right now and a law student from Texas on the train ride back to Oslo. They were all great and we had some good times. It is great to meet new people and make some new friends while you are traveling, because in my opinion, that is really what traveling is all about. The places you go are awesome, but the people you meet are even better. I have been incredibly lucky in both the places I have been able to go and the people I have been privileged to meet.

Well, that just about sums it up for the last few weeks. Of course I could write a lot more, but I don’t want to take up everybody’s day. Besides, I will see all of you soon, so I can tell you more then. I will post some pictures in a few days when I get a faster internet connection, so look for another email soon. Take care back home and let me know how you guys are doing. This is Nate the Skate signing off.

Working Hard

So this last week and a half or so has just been getting back into work mode for me. It was tough hiking around the mountains around here after visiting the Tatras and doing some serious mountaineering, but I guess this is the way it has to be so that I don’t get too spoiled? Whatever.

Things have been going well here though. I did get to visit a new hiking area to look for some signs of wolf presence. It was exciting to go exploring and see how lost I could get myself. Instead of this area bordering Slovakia, like so many of the other areas I have hiked in, this one borders the Czech Republic. I got to spend two days hiking through some parts of the Czech Republic and found some pretty cool places. Unfortunately I didn’t find any wolf scats, but this area hadn’t been surveyed in over five years, so that is not a complete surprise. I stayed in a room in a house up in the mountains near Wisła, which is famous in Poland because of a big ski jump there where Adam Małisz (2002 Olympic Gold Medalist in Ski Jumping) lived and trained. The house I stayed in was an old, traditional mountain home, with all the goods—creaking floorboards, wood stoves in almost every room, and of course, all the creepy crawlers. I had to make a quick inspection of the shower every time before getting in. It was a cool place though and the couple who owned the home was very nice. The woman even made me a homemade dinner every night! It was great.

I have decided to get serious about getting in shape again. This hiking 15 miles a day is okay, but it doesn’t really get the adrenaline going or the heart pumping like I want. I added some more running to the mix this week. One run definitely stands out: I went running down this old road in the mountains during a thunderstorm and I couldn’t get myself to turn around. I wanted to find out where this mysterious road led. Well, after slogging uphill for about 25 minutes and having my shoes fill with water, I found out. Guess what it led to? Absolutely nothing-- it dead-ended. I was a little disappointed at first, but then I realized that that wasn’t the point. It wasn’t what was at the end of the road that was important, but the journey itself. That run was the coolest run I have done in a long time. I didn’t mind being cold and absolutely drenched, but just enjoyed being able to run, especially up in the mountains where I can enjoy nature. Some day I will be willing to give anything to be able to run up in the mountains. I am just thankful that that day is not today. Today I could run up in the mountains, so I did.

That about wraps it up for this last week or so. Oh, I did have a close encounter with a huge bull elk. I startled him while hiking through an area I have dubbed “Wolf Alley.” He ran down the hill a little ways and then turned and stared me down. I must admit, he was definitely the more impressive of the two of us. I’m sure he knew that too. He just stood there and watched me while I hiked off. I hope he escapes the hunters in the coming weeks, because he is quite an animal.

I miss the Salt Lake autumn, with the beautiful Cottonwood Canyons showing off their colors. I am not sure what next week holds for me yet, but there’s also beauty in that too. I’ll catch all of you down the road, wherever it leads.