Februrary 2020
Thursday, 20 August 2020 19:34![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
Surprise Tromsø! There were reindeer to be raced, Emily's birthday to be celebrated, and annual leave carry-over to be used up, and that meant an unexpected third trip to the arctic before Emily was due to finish her year's contract out there. In addition to those flights, I also had Flight, a multi-sensory experience in a shipping container in Nottingham. On the 29 Feb I spend an evening with Samathy, Lex, and one of Samathy's friends at the board game café, which I think was the last time I met up with any friends or family.Tromsø 3: Weekend 1 (Reindeer racing)
I spent two weekends in Tromsø and it was great to arrive again having previously thought I might not see the place again. On the first weekend I made the most of not having seen Tromsø town itself, as we visited a festival being held on and around the high street. On Saturday we we there to buy tickets for Sunday's reindeer racing, but there was a lassooing competition being held too which was fun to watch.
We did a bit of shopping, including getting me a nice mustard yellow blanket to take home, then returned the next day for the reindeer racing. The snow along the high street was actually artificially generated this year because the normal layer of snow and ice had melted early, and we watched the reindeer being led up to the start line of the 200-metre-or-so run.
The races themselves happened very quickly. We were near the start line and the reindeer were so fast! A couple of races ended with one or both of the ... jockeys? ... falling over, at which point the reindeer just continued trotting along without them.
After the races we walked across the tall long bridge from Trsomø to the mainland to see the Arctic Cathedral in some spare time before going to the cinema to watch a nature documentary-film Emily wanted to see featuring a young reindeer. It was a cute film and I followed it well enough without being able to understand any of the Norwegian narrator!
In the evening we walked up Nattmålstinden; no aurora tonight.
I spent two weekends in Tromsø and it was great to arrive again having previously thought I might not see the place again. On the first weekend I made the most of not having seen Tromsø town itself, as we visited a festival being held on and around the high street. On Saturday we we there to buy tickets for Sunday's reindeer racing, but there was a lassooing competition being held too which was fun to watch.
We did a bit of shopping, including getting me a nice mustard yellow blanket to take home, then returned the next day for the reindeer racing. The snow along the high street was actually artificially generated this year because the normal layer of snow and ice had melted early, and we watched the reindeer being led up to the start line of the 200-metre-or-so run.
The races themselves happened very quickly. We were near the start line and the reindeer were so fast! A couple of races ended with one or both of the ... jockeys? ... falling over, at which point the reindeer just continued trotting along without them.
After the races we walked across the tall long bridge from Trsomø to the mainland to see the Arctic Cathedral in some spare time before going to the cinema to watch a nature documentary-film Emily wanted to see featuring a young reindeer. It was a cute film and I followed it well enough without being able to understand any of the Norwegian narrator!
In the evening we walked up Nattmålstinden; no aurora tonight.
Tromsø 3: the week (Trehørningen, reindeer, Åsfjellet, birthday cake)
On Monday we went into the shopping centre outside town for bubble tea. I tried on a few bits of clothing, and bought a dress! (In fact, I think Emily may have bought it for me.)
On Tuesday we climbed Trehørningen and it was very moody
On the way back down we saw a lone reindeer walking along parallel to us. We sat down and watched it for a while. I just absolutely love coming across wild animals in nature.
On Wednesday it was Åsfjellet. It even snowed a bit, and we got a double rainbow!
The snow in Tromsø was also at near-record highs.
In the evening Emily made me a cake, having heard that my parents hadn't made me a birthday cake when I stayed with them for Christmas and my birthday. It was very tasty! Tim also arrived in the evening, I think, in time for Emily's birthday the next day.
On Monday we went into the shopping centre outside town for bubble tea. I tried on a few bits of clothing, and bought a dress! (In fact, I think Emily may have bought it for me.)
On Tuesday we climbed Trehørningen and it was very moody
On the way back down we saw a lone reindeer walking along parallel to us. We sat down and watched it for a while. I just absolutely love coming across wild animals in nature.
On Wednesday it was Åsfjellet. It even snowed a bit, and we got a double rainbow!
The snow in Tromsø was also at near-record highs.
In the evening Emily made me a cake, having heard that my parents hadn't made me a birthday cake when I stayed with them for Christmas and my birthday. It was very tasty! Tim also arrived in the evening, I think, in time for Emily's birthday the next day.
Tromsø 3: Emily's arctic sea swim birthday
For Emily's birthday we drove to Sommarøy, which I'd last visited in summer, to take a short swim in the sea.
When we got back, we celebrated by making Emily's birthday cake, a chocolate and chocolate mousse afair.
I don't have any record of what we did on Friday 14th, which probably means the weather was too bad to go out. We did play some rounds of Ticket to Ride throughout the holiday though, so I suspect that featured.
For Emily's birthday we drove to Sommarøy, which I'd last visited in summer, to take a short swim in the sea.
When we got back, we celebrated by making Emily's birthday cake, a chocolate and chocolate mousse afair.
I don't have any record of what we did on Friday 14th, which probably means the weather was too bad to go out. We did play some rounds of Ticket to Ride throughout the holiday though, so I suspect that featured.
Tromsø 3: Weekend 2 (Aurorae at Nattmåls, and an escape room)
On Saturday we went to Nattmåls in questionable weather in the hope of a gap in the clouds and some aurora. The clouds did clear, and we saw some faint ones while we were on the hill, but otherwise it appeared to be a bust. I remember being quite cold and shivery having ended up with wet trousers from walking through deep snow, but just as we were taking off our snowshoes at the car to go home, the sky awakened and we spent a good half-hour enjoying the aurorae and forgetting that my tripod was right inside the car we were trying to balance our cameras on, oops!
On my final full day in Tromsø we did the final escape room at the northernmost escape room in the world. My write-up on Without A Padlock is here, and at the time of writing (August 2020 because I am terrible at keeping up) it's the most recent escape room I've done because waves hands all of this.
I flew home the next day, into Luton airport for the first time, which wasn't as bad as I had feared! I did end up waiting a long time at the railway station, because I'd massively overestimated how long it would take to get out the airport when booking my ticket, but ther was a cafe selling hot chocolate, so it worked out.
On Saturday we went to Nattmåls in questionable weather in the hope of a gap in the clouds and some aurora. The clouds did clear, and we saw some faint ones while we were on the hill, but otherwise it appeared to be a bust. I remember being quite cold and shivery having ended up with wet trousers from walking through deep snow, but just as we were taking off our snowshoes at the car to go home, the sky awakened and we spent a good half-hour enjoying the aurorae and forgetting that my tripod was right inside the car we were trying to balance our cameras on, oops!
On my final full day in Tromsø we did the final escape room at the northernmost escape room in the world. My write-up on Without A Padlock is here, and at the time of writing (August 2020 because I am terrible at keeping up) it's the most recent escape room I've done because waves hands all of this.
I flew home the next day, into Luton airport for the first time, which wasn't as bad as I had feared! I did end up waiting a long time at the railway station, because I'd massively overestimated how long it would take to get out the airport when booking my ticket, but ther was a cafe selling hot chocolate, so it worked out.
Darkfield's Flight
In a shipping container at Lakeside Arts in Nottingham, I attended Flight, a replica of the interior of a plane made by ... entertainment company? art group?.. Darkfield. I went into this fairly blind; it sounded interesting and who wouldn't want to spend 30 minutes inside a shipping container that makes noises at you? Not me, Samathy or Lex, who came along, that's for sure.
It was a little abstract inside but the general gist was that (spoilers for the rest of the paragraph) you took your seat, put on noise-cancelling headphones that played the audio, and then the plane "takes off" more-or-less as normal. Things get a bit weird, and various things go wrong that seem like they would lead to a crash. A voice whispers in your ear about the universe splitting in two every time someone makes a choice, and you leave the plane feeling like you were the lucky version of you that survived all the events. Schrodinger's Cat was mentioned.
I have Opinions about the use of the latter in pseudoscientific environments because the artist ususally misinterprets it, and this did indeed happen here. That aside, the experience was interesting, a little bewildering, and somewhat underwhelming.
Afterwards we went to see Sonic the Hedgehog at the cinema, which was interesting, a little bewildering, and somewhat underwhelming.
In a shipping container at Lakeside Arts in Nottingham, I attended Flight, a replica of the interior of a plane made by ... entertainment company? art group?.. Darkfield. I went into this fairly blind; it sounded interesting and who wouldn't want to spend 30 minutes inside a shipping container that makes noises at you? Not me, Samathy or Lex, who came along, that's for sure.
It was a little abstract inside but the general gist was that (spoilers for the rest of the paragraph) you took your seat, put on noise-cancelling headphones that played the audio, and then the plane "takes off" more-or-less as normal. Things get a bit weird, and various things go wrong that seem like they would lead to a crash. A voice whispers in your ear about the universe splitting in two every time someone makes a choice, and you leave the plane feeling like you were the lucky version of you that survived all the events. Schrodinger's Cat was mentioned.
I have Opinions about the use of the latter in pseudoscientific environments because the artist ususally misinterprets it, and this did indeed happen here. That aside, the experience was interesting, a little bewildering, and somewhat underwhelming.
Afterwards we went to see Sonic the Hedgehog at the cinema, which was interesting, a little bewildering, and somewhat underwhelming.
