After arriving back on land we shopped for groceries and started a long ride to Norway, to Sognefjellshytta. The road we took was first down to Jonkoping, then we went through Goteborg, then through Oslo and from there up to our location. Here are some pictures from Sweden.
This is a picture of our little travel companion :).
My father drove for a long time into the night again, I remember seeing the dark silhouettes of the Norwegian mountains. Later we went to bed and woke up on a very rainy day. Everything seemed a bit gloomy. It was a contrast from Sweden. We rode to Lom, which was only 2 hours or so from where we were at that time. Lom was rainy that day too. The black houses all around Lom just added to the gloomy atmosphere. Everyone was wearing sports jackets against rain. I was kinda wishing we had stayed in Gränna, but again, even Gränna would have been rainy. We did a bit of grocery shopping and I have to say, it was not as easy to choose there as in Sweden, as the sortiment was a lot slimmer, especially if one tries to eat healthy.
Then we went up to Juvashytta cabin to look around there, because it was the place where the easiest path to the highest peak of Norway, Galdhoppigen, led and we wanted to hike it. But we also wanted to have a look at the cabin there. It was still very gloomy, and a snakey steep road led us to a Mars-like landscape filled with nothing but rocks. There were several large cabins, and to me, they didn´t look very inviting, all painted in black color and no embellishments. I tried to gently manipulate my dad into going to the Sognefjellshytta cabin, where we then went. It is a very nice cabin at the highest mountain valley point. We did not book any nights there, because the prices have increased a lot in mid-season. So we were sleeping in the car while it was raining and our windows were getting foggy. But before that, I went to the lobby area of the cabin a lot. It was cozy and spacious in there and I could stay there for free while my father was getting all the sleep that he had missed out on previous days. When it stopped raining, we even took a short walk around the cabin.
Day 9, Luck in unluck.
On day nine I statred to feel in pain so I came into the lobby area to the part with less sunlight, I took some medication and I layed down on the sofa. I was actually in a lucky situation because I could rest comfortably while there was only one other person there and he was completely quiet, minding his business on his laptop. My father was minding his business on his laptop too. The sun slowly came out and that was a comforting feeling for me, and my pain started subsiding as the medication was taking effect.
My father took a run in between, and came to the Krossbu mountain cabin, a few hundred meters away from Sognefjellshytta. When he came back, he was eager to tell me that we needed to go there in that exact moment to book a night while it was still available. I was so happy we would be in a comfortable place. So we went there, booked and checked ourselves in. The rest of the day I still spent in bed resting and my father did a short hike. At the top, he took some pictures.
Day 10, Beer brewery.
On day 10 it was cloudy, but I felt better and we went to Lom to walk around the town. My father bought some trekking pants and then we went to a beer brewery, which he was really excited about. I was more excited about the dog I saw in front of the brewery. This brewery was called the Lomb brewery and it is located a bit outside of the Lom town. My dad said that the beer was one of the best ones he had ever had. Then we went to the cabin and I did not feel like moving at all, feeling very tired for some reason. My father took another small hike that day.
Day 11, Galdhoppigen, the highest peak of Norway.
This was the day with amazing weather, so after we had breakfast in the cabin, we drove to the Juvashytta cabin to hike to Galdhoppigen. We booked ourselves into a tourist group with a guide just in time, in fact we had 20 minutes to get ourselves ready. But we did, without a problem. We needed to strap on some glacier crossing equipment, because we were going to cross the Styggebreen glacier and we also picked up some metal teeth for our shoes. As you may know, to cross claciers can be deadly because one can fall into the deep cracks or fall through suddenly. That is why people need to be connected by a rope and there needs to be a sufficient amount of people on it, as well as with sufficient spaces in between people on the rope.
At first, we went up through the stony land, for about an hour. Then we came to the glacier and put the metal teeth on our shoes. Then we crossed the glacier.
After that, the steep ascent throgh rocks started and it took us to the peak. While hiking, we had some spectacular views, but nothing could top the views from the top. There was also a small cabin there. My father needed to have a beer again, like on every single peak he comes to. We spent a good while there until we had to go down to the place where we all agreed to meet at at a designated time. So we went jumping through these rocks again.
After that, we strapped in and crossed the glacier again. But this time, the sun had melted a lot of snow into water so we got some nice water baths to our shoes at the end. After that, we returned the equipment and we were free to return to the cabin in our own time. After jumping through more rocks, we were pretty exhausted. The hike wasn´t very long, but the terrain was challenging.
When we were down at Juvashytta, while I was in the car, my father decided to take one night in the Losji section of the cabin complex. It was advertised as a more economical option than the main cabin. But it was actually really expensive. Staying at that facility was the worst I have ever stayed in in Norway. When I entered the dark hallway, the unpleasant smell of chlorine and some really bad scent came into my nose. It felt like I was at the dentist´s office. Everything was very minimalist in that hallway. No windows, no carpets, no pictures on the walls. Just the terrible smell. Our room was not any better. The smell was still there, actually the sheets smelled too. They said that we needed to bring our own sleeping bags because there were no sheets. I actually didn´t have a sleeping bag, but a blanket so I had to feel the smelly sheet under me. What is more, they didn´t even provide a ladder to the bunk bed, so I had to step on my father´s bed to get there. Everything in there, except the wood walls was painted black and there was only one shelf unit that was also totally black, with peeling paint and no doors. A perfect thing to forget your belongings in. Someone actually did leave their underwear laying there. On the wall, there were no pictures, no anything. Just one small window. It looked like some sort of a prison cell. The shower was similiarly minimalist, it didn´t have a window or a bench. All of this for „only“ 160 euros.
Day 12, Strange music
In the rainy morning we really didn´t feel like staying for any longer, so we quickly went to have breakfast, which was reasonably good and then we left to Malmo again, because that was a nice place with nice weather coming.
We spent the day traveling through a rainy country. In the night, we arrived in Malmo. We had a bit of a trouble to find a peaceful place to park and sleep at. First, we parked by a hotel a bit on the outside of the city center. But there, a group of young men came and started breaking into the sports area near the parking lot and we could hear a lot of loud music, which at times sounded scary to me. So we moved to a different parking lot, but we could still hear the loud music. Then we drove towards the center and the music kept getting louder and louder until we saw crowds of young people in front of a huge building. I assume it was some sort of a club or a stage for live music. So we drove to the parking lot near the beach and there, it was finally quiet and not too bright. We spent the night there.
Day 13, The Sun rose up again
In the morning I remember wanting to get up pretty early but my father was still sleeping. I don´t know what it is about summer and sleeping in the car that makes me wanna get up early. Perhaps it´s the excitement for the day to come. But anyways, I waited for my father and then we did a morning jog. He was quite a lot faster than me so I let him run off and I finished later. The little bicycl and jogger/walker road near the beach was perfect for that. There were many joggers and bikers there with us. One also needed to be quite careful with these bikes riding around.
Then we ate and went walking by the beach and in the large grassy area near the beach, where we also found some ponds and a bay for water sports where we could see a pair of swans with their little children quite up-close. Especially the male swan came really close to us because it was probably trying to protect the children from us, so he was hissing at us but then he stopped and just waited around.
After watching the swans we slowly moved in the direction of our car again. We went shopping for some groceries and then we had a re-heated pre-made soup with toast bread. The rest of the day was spent on the beach. Later in the day it got really windy though, and we had to hide behind the sand dunes to remain protected. But even that became not enough later, the sand was blowing around everywhere, so we moved to the grassy area and chilled there.
As the sun was starting to gain it´s golden color, we could see a large group of people doing some exercise activity together on a part of the grassy area with music on. Later in the evening, on a small wooden platform, people were even doing traditional dance in pairs. That was so amazing to see.
We also went to walk to a block of the city we have never been to. We went to the „Turning torso“ tower building, which is a monument that is a significant part of the view from the Malmo beach. The wind was still blowing like crazy. The block where the building actually was, was probably the least pretty I have seen in the town. There were almost no trees, no greenery and the buildings looked all very sterile. I assume there was nothing but offices in them. Except that there was one small green space near the Turning torso. We also had an interest in going up the Turning torso, but the price made us decide not to.
Day 14, A special day.
We spent this day similiarly to the previous day, by the beach. The wind was even stronger on this day. But it was also a special day because I found a little anklet buried in the sand. It was special because I had wished I would find something like that in there. But how it looked, that is, unfortunately, a secret.
While I was clutching my newfound trinket in my pocket, we also went to the city centre to have pizza. We found a really pretty looking restaurant there with an italian name and we got seated there. The whole place was really pretty looking. They had some retro chairs with matching tablecloths and simple red flowers in green glass vases. I really appreciated that.
We ordered the same pizza, the mushroom pizza. To be honest, the pizza was not that good, because it tasted quite dry and had no tomato sauce. From that experience, we knew that next time we needed to read the ingredients closely.
In the night, I got some mysterious looking nocturnal photos around the beach while the wind almost froze me to death. Before that, I captured some beautiful evening photos.
Day 15, The last day.
This day was the day when our ferry would leave, at approximately 3 pm. But before that, we had some time to spend on the beach. The wind was still strong so we hid behind the dunes again.
I decided to bury a little gift in the sand too. It was a bracelet of mine. I set the intention that it would bring love to the person who finds it. Not only that, as I was looking at the sky and the peacefully rustling leaves of a small oak tree I saw a rainbow right above my head and found a coin of 10 swedish crowns under it. As you may know, coins and rainbows are a sign of the presence of angels. That was so beautiful. That coin is forver going to be in my collection, perhaps even under my pillow.
I also saw a funny looking orange caterpillar and collected 2 pieces of volcanic glass on the beach. One for me and one for my mother. Little pieces of the Malmo beach.
About two hours before the ferry departure, we left with our car to go to the nearby town, Trelleborg. That was where the ferry was going to leave from.
On the ferry, this time I acted like a proffessional and took my camping chair with me. That provided me with the ability to sit anywhere on the ship comfortably, as last time we went on it there was a scarcity of seats and benches. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed the ride. My father stayed in the car, because he wanted to sleep there. Our car was also on the outside, so he had a great view on the sea. When the sky was getting a golden shade, we arrived in Rostock. My father, well rested, he drove into the night. Meanwhile, I hopped to the back and went to sleep.
Day 16, Woke up in my old world.
When I woke up, I could see sunlight shining through oak trees. It gave me a bit of an autumn vibe because of the low intensity of the sun. We were in the Záhorie region, particularly in the Pezinská Baba mountain pass. My dad went to sleep for a while. I went outside and saw a sort of a cabin for tourists, but not the wooden kind of a cabin. It was a house with some type of a standard wall type. I hadn´t seen that type of a building for two weeks. I was back in my usual world. A heavy feeling landed on the walls of my chest. A sort of a sadness, a feeling that things are going to be like I used to know them again. A loss of excitement. Then I saw a doe run between the trees. I went back to the car and grabbed onto my blanket. Life can be as deep as we let it be, as wide as we open our eyes. But it can be just as empty. There are hearts that touch our hearts. And make us see both of the extremes with more light, the light of love. When feeling things so deeply, it can push us to shut them out alltogether. But our feelings can be a gift to the world, they are our own worlds we share, even if it´s just a signal quietly exiting our bodies.
On this holiday I realized just how important it is to have nice breaks, nice moments when I can just stop and take something in fully. Moments of pleasure. I felt once again, what nourishment feels like. And that it is needed, even if our society may teach us otherwise. It´s important to take in that warmth and abundance that is available to us in order to stay healthy in our bodies and souls. Abundance (which is a for of love) can be available to us everywhere. If we choose to recieve it. In the warm sunlight, in the nice green couch waiting for us to have a seat on it, in having tea, soda or a snack while relaxing, perhaps taking in a nice view, in the sound our shoes make on the gravel as we are taking a walk outside. And if we don´t have the ability to feel it all the time, that is okay, too.
I didn´t expect to end this blog on a reflective note but here it is. I hope you enjoyed reading. If you want to read more of my future blogs and get notified about them, please make sure that you are subscribed to my mailing list and I hope you have a beautiful day.
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