Siri in Lofoten

Monday, September 18 We wake up to the most gorgeous day  - our view has changed dramatically. We hurry through breakfast and go for a brisk walk along the boardwalk, where upscale hotels and apartments vie with sea-faring equipment stores and tour companies. We admire the beautiful red and ochre colors chosen for the "Rorbuer" - the fisherman's cottages offered as tourist dwellings throughout the islands - excited that we're headed for one to spend the next two nights, in Tind, at the very tip of the Lofoten islands. Meanwhile we observe a single red man-of war slowly moving through the clear harbor water. They sting like hell, but are admirable nonetheless. Oswaldo, sensitive to these things, seem to sense my affinity to this location, and takes another nice shot of a very happy "Panther/camper."  My cousin Tor has insisted that we stop at certain very special locations and one is Eggum, off the E10 - the main highway through the i...

Sunday, September 17 It is raining hard when we wake up, and puffy clouds are hanging low on the mountains.   The square below is wet and empty. The hotel restaurant, however, is warm and bustling with Sunday brunch guests moving through an impressive array of options, catering to meat-eaters and vegans alike. A waif-like child-woman is playing the piano and I ask the server how old she is. "Oh, she's old," she says. "More than 20." Dodging the rain we skip around the corner to the Svolvær Krigsminnemuseet – the World War II Memorial Museum – several rooms filled with uniforms, photos, and war memorabilia, which tell the stories of acts of courage and terrible loss of life during the intense battles, which took place in this region. By 1944 the Germans had 370.000 soldiers here. There is even an enigma machine, captured in Lofoten by the British during a raid in 1941 and also the headgear from a concentration camp. The museum has an incrediby st...

Saturday, September 16 We wake up to a view of the distant mountains glistening green in the sun across the sea. We hurry down to the cozy dining room, where the chairs are lined with long-haired sheepskins, and sample the many delicacies Before we leave, we want to explore the area on the other side of the bridge, we went over yesterday. The paved road ends there, but there's a track, which is supposed to have been created by the sporty and very popular Norwegian queen - a 7-8 hour hike, which leads to the small fishing village of Stø. We hadn't noticed the road-sign, which indicates 11238 km to Rio, standing there between the track and the bridge. We're skirting a bay on our left, when I think I see a smooth round head in the water. Oswaldo doesn't see it and we continue to the next glorious bay - like a more magnificent version of Paquetá in Angra On our way back we  both hear the bark of what sounds like a seal or sea lion, and now we want to fin...