Will I ever see darkness again?

 

Late in the evening of May 19^th, 12 adventurous Piccadillians, the “Dirty Dozen”, gathered at the gate in the International Terminal at O’Hare waiting for our once in a lifetime trip to begin.  Little did we know that our adventure had already started!  Our flight was on a totally full Airbus A340 – it turns out that a flight 3 days before had a mechanical problem, and SAS had to fly a mechanic in from Stockholm to fix the aircraft.  There were people in the gate area who had been stranded in Chicago for 2 and 3 days trying to get out!

 

The flight boarded on time, but due to problems with the distribution of weight in the cargo compartment, we actually left over 1 ½ hours late.  This made us miss our connection in Copenhagen , so we were rebooked on the next flight to Oslo .  That flight was delayed for 30 minutes, with no reason given, and then delayed another 30 minutes waiting for connecting passengers.

 

Now we were late getting into Oslo .  Since we were making a domestic connection to Evenes (the airport at Narvik), we had to go to baggage claim, get our bags, clear Customs, and then go back upstairs to the main ticket counters and check-in, with our bags, for the last leg of our travels.  Did I forget to mention that we only had 10 minutes to get all of this accomplished?  Our intrepid Trip Leader was the first through Customs, and having advised them that there 11 more people following me, I made it to the check-in counter with 3 minutes to spare.  The ticket agent looked at me and said “Go straight to security.  You will make it, but your bags will not.”  I then advised him that there were 12 of us, and that we were late because of everything that SAS had done so far during our travels.  He then advised me that he could hold the flight for 10 minutes, no more.  Time was almost up, and I could only account for 11 of us – Gary K. was MIA.  I made an executive decision that Gary was a seasoned traveler and that he could take care of getting himself to Narvik.  So we ran to the security checkpoint, and had started going through when several sharp-eyed people on the trip spotted Gary across the terminal.  It turns out that when he came upstairs and asked where to check-in for the flight, he was told that it had departed and he should go to the main ticket office.  Now complete again, we ran through the terminal to our gate – at the far end of the concourse, where else would we expect it to be?  Upon landing at Evenes, only 2 bags were missing – one of which was actually missing when we got our bags at Oslo .  Both bags were delivered to the hotel in Narvik the next day.

 

 

When we got to hotel and asked about where dinner was to be served, we were told that the reservation was for Bed and Breakfast only, no dinners were included.  Our Trip Leader argued the point and they agreed to give us coupons to use for dinner until the Norwegian tour operator was back in the office on Monday.  It turns out that the correct info was indeed sent to the hotel, but that they had misplaced it.  The next day we all walked around Narvik, exploring the town.  We hiked up to the base of the cable car, then further up to a hydro-electric plant.  Later we went to the War Museum – it turns out that the 3^rd largest naval battle of World War II was fought in the harbor at Narvik!  We then went in search of “ancient rock carvings” which were described in tourist info booklets – after wandering through a residential area, and around street construction, we found them – or should I say “it”.  There was one outline carved into a large rock section on the side of hill, it looked like an antelope.  It was only visible because the indentations in rock will filled in with red paint.  Mardi, “The Kid”, was taking pictures of the rest of us taking pictures of this stupid rock.  We can see her now, showing her pictures to friends and saying “and here are the crazy people I went on the trip with, taking pictures of a rock!”.  To make an interesting day even more interesting, while we were relaxing on the deck enjoying some beers after dinner, around 11:00 PM, we see 2, yes 2, 1970 era Dodge Chargers, and a Ford Model A, cruising the main street in Narvik!  They just kept driving one way, then a few minutes later, there they go in the opposite direction, then back again…

 

The next day a few dedicated skiers in the group, the “Scandinavian moss-walking Seven”, arranged for rentals and for the cable car to be started up for a private trip up the mountain.  At the top of the ride, we received directions and started on our hike (over moss, rock, mud, and snow-melt streams) up to the top so that we could ski down the back side.  We were told that the back side, which faces North, was only just then starting to get the sun, for the first time in many months, and that the conditions there were some of the best they have had all season. (It should be noted that the back side received 6 inches of fresh snow just a few days before.)  Well, we must have zigged when we should have zagged, because after climbing 900 vertical feet we found ourselves staring at a large snow field of undetermined depth.  Not having proper winter climbing gear, we decided to take the safer option of going back down to a contiguous snow patch that allowed us to ski 541 vertical feet down before we had to take off our gear and hike the remaining 1,200 vertical feet down to town. Note to self – trying to put on ski boots after climbing for about an hour in sneakers is NOT a fun experience!

 

Our last day in Narvik was spent on the Hildringstimens, a modern day wooden sailing boat that is built to the same design as the original Viking long boats, except this one comes with a 28 hp motor.  We had a wonderful day sailing and fishing – if we didn’t catch anything, we wouldn’t have had any lunch!  It turns out that we had a bountiful meal of boiled fish, potatoes, and crackers – thanks to our crew of Piccadilly fishermen and fisherwomen.  After we returned to the hotel, the “Tee-off Twosome” embarked on an adventure of their own – they played 18 holes on the most northerly golf course in the world, and they did it at midnight , with plenty of natural light!

 

With only a few hours of sleep, they joined the rest of the crew at the Narvik train station for our ride to Riksgransen.  True to our travel experiences thus far there was a twist, due to a possible strike by workers for the Norwegian railroad, the train was cancelled and replaced by a bus to the first station over the border in Sweden .  Well, that first station is Riksgransen, so we never did get the train ride.  That night the Nordic Extreme Competition had just ended at Riksgransen, and the awards party was being held in the hotel bar (the entire town consists of our hotel, a much smaller hotel, some rental townhouses, a convenience store, and a trailer park where the trailers were for rent, oh – can’t forget the ski resort).

 

Finally, with the coming of the next day (can’t really say dawn since the sun won’t set for a couple of months), we suited up and hit the snow.  Most of us skied, while a couple went snowshoeing.  None of us really felt like hiking any more, so we stayed on the groomed slopes instead of going up to where the Extreme Competition was held, and it actually snowed on us a little during the morning. 

 

On Friday, we skied day and “night” – the lifts were open from 9:00 PM until 12:30 AM on Saturday for skiing under the midnight sun, or in our case, the midnight clouds.  During the day, the “Fearless Five” skied down to the bottom through “the Rock Garden” led by Al “You don’t have to follow me!” Feddersen, you’ll have to ask for details.  The best conditions of the trip were actually around 10:00 PM up on the top of the mountain.  Right at midnight 10 of us met at the top, each with a split of champagne, to toast the experience of skiing at midnight while wearing sunglasses! “It’s midnight , it’s light out, we have skis on, and we’re wearing sunglasses”. (My apologies to the Blues Brothers.) We were not the only group with that idea, and many photos were taken.  We then skied down to Aprés Ski in the hotel bar, where we partied until the bar closed at 2 AM .

 

Our last day in Riksgransen was met with rain on the mountain and very poor visibility, so we all made it a short day.  For the record, it should be noted that the women were 5 for 5 with hitting the Spa that day.  The next day we traveled to Oslo , and spent the afternoon and night there.  We split up into smaller groups and explored various areas of the city and the surrounding area.  One group went to the Viking Museum , another just wandered around, and Miguel and I noticed something very tall and very bright up on a hill overlooking the city.  It was the ski jump from the 1952 Winter Olympics, and since this was a ski trip, we decided that we just had to check it out. The views of the city, the harbor, and the fjord were worth the hike up from the Metro station!

 

With only a few days remaining, we started the journey to our final destination, St. Petersburg .  When we got to Stockholm for the connecting flight, SAS was in the mood to play games again.  The plane was late getting to the gate, then after it unloaded SAS announced that our flight was being moved to another gate, yet to be determined, because the “aircraft was not ready”.  Then five minutes later they announced that our flight was in fact staying at the gate we were already at, and flying on the original aircraft.

 

Finally we arrived in Russia , the bus ride into the city was somewhat depressing because the main road from the airport to the city was in the middle of a massive reconstruction/repair project.  The G8 Summit is being held in St. Petersburg in the middle of July, and they are “prettying up” the place.  The detour took us through some pretty run down areas.  All of that was forgotten when we got to the city proper.  I can safely say that we were all wowed by the beauty of the architecture.

 

The next day we split into two groups, one went to the Hermitage (think of the Louve, or the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, but with 3,000,000 pieces in it’s collection!), the other took a guided tour of the city.  Our last day saw more touring – one group taking a guided tour of the Hermitage and Peterhof (Peter the Great’s “Grand Palace”, used mainly in the summers and built around 1721), and the rest just went to Peterhof for the day.  My first impression upon seeing the gardens at Peterhof was that this man must have been the inspiration for the phrase “make no small plans”.  I know that all of us would have loved to spend a few more days exploring “cultural capital of Russia ”.  Alas, our time was up, and after a (thankfully) uneventful trip back to Chicago we were all grateful to experience real darkness (not just a deep twilight) again, darkness that lasted for more than just a few hours.

 

Julian