Jonathan Neufeld Outdoor adventure photography and mountain life

Yup, its true. I’ve put up the best pictures from my Norwegian trip. There is a bit of a write up to go with it but I’ll be the first to admit it’s mostly there to create some space between the pictures (c: If you’re looking for it later you can get to it through the Excursions link at the top of the page.

Colonial Spain is known for conquistadors, armadas and bull fighting in the same way that Canada is known for Rocky Mountains, cowboys and rodeos. Bull fighting and rodeos both provide entertainment, bravado, and daring acts performed by people we figure are probably crazy. The major difference between rodeo and bull fighting though is that it isn’t designed to torture an animal in front of a cheering crowd! We went to a bull fight last night and it was an interesting experience… to say the least. I’ll save you the thousand words and just post some pictures

Entrance to the ring

Stabbing the bull to weaken it

Taunting it with the red cape

Taunting it with the red cape

Wow! This would be more impressive if the bull wasn’t nearly dead

Lining up the sword

The final outcome

Of the three guys theone on in blue was the most entertaining and he could do some amazing things with the bull… but the bull is half dead by the time the matador goes one on and with him! Each of the three guys “fought” two bulls, so six bulls in all were dispatched last night for our entertainment… one each would have been enough and after only the first two I was about ready to go!

Anyway, I’m glad I saw it once but I don’t ever want to go again.

At this very moment I’m sitting in the Olso airport drinking an overpriced, even for Oslo, coffee and waiting for my flight out. Last night I met up with a friend of a friend here and we drank beer, watched some climbing films and generally stayed up so late that I missed my flight this morning! Ah well, there is another one in a few hours….

Yesterday I cruised through the highlights of Oslo, The Munch museum, the waterfront, the royal palace, the Nobel Peach Prize museum, the Viking ship museum, the Kon Tiki, the Akerhus Palace and Hakon’s Hall and it was a good way to finish off the trip.

Today I’m heading to Malaga and back to work, it should be interesting it looks like our hotel is right on the beach (c:

————————- UPDATE ————————-

I’ve arrived at the hotel now, it’s pretty decent I’d say with a great view of the ocean (c: Also, I’ve updated my Google map with some of the cities I hit in Norway; personally I like Reisa since it is so far north!

I’m back below the arctic circle again, I arrived in Oslo this evening. The climbing was fantastic, the weather was great and all-in-all it was an excellent time. Tomorrow (22 nd) is a day to explore the city and then the day after (23 rd) I fly down to Malaga Spain and back to work.

I’m here in Norway now, having an excellent time. At the moment I’m in Bardufoss which is a loooong way north. Right now I’m leeching off of an open library internet signal and won’t do a complete update but here is the short list:

-Long flights, almost every flight was delayed by an hour or more!

- Spent the first night at the home of a Norwegian man who lives on a dairy farm, we ate mutton stew and played bluegrass music late into the night

- The next day was 16hrs of driving north! We passed the Polarcircle centre which was closed due to snow, and we actually had to wait for the snowplows to come and convoy us through that area

- That night was spent at Lavangan on the  end of a fjord, we had a little cabin that was furnished entirely with Ikea products.

- The next  day we met with another local fellow who was about 80 years old and he pointed out the best climbs. By the time that was done we only htime for a short one pitch climb that was really slushy from all the rain. After the climb was the sauna!

- We had planned to do a larger 3-4 pitch climb called Henrikafossen but this morning it was raining really heavily. We packed up and headed more north to Bardufoss, where we met with a pair of local skiers/climbers and where I’m leeching interent (c: Its still raining here so we’re going to carry on to Reisa where there is another accommodation and a hot tub waiting, I think it will go very well with the Norwegian beer. Tomorrow should see some more climbing if the rain stops…. here’s hoping!

Well, I’m heading to Norway today. After many months of planning, hoping, re-planning, and anticipation I’m actually going to get there (c: I hope everyone here has an excellent February, I’ll let you know how the Journey goes.

Cheers !