The light is AMAZING here in Norway. It reminds me of the light in Iceland: incredibly crisp and clear. Colours are vibrant. Besides being converted to my hybrid colour profile for a computer screen (which actually desaturates the photo a little from the camera’s profile), this photo is straight out of my camera, unaltered.

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We arrived safe and sound from Bremen and are staying with our first Norwegian host, who’s simply fabulous. I would describe his fabulousness in greater detail except I’m fading fast after sleeping all of three hours in three days. I just keep getting a second wind, then a third, and next thing I know half a week has passed.

My first photos of the trip aren’t terribly exciting, since keeping track of three people and baggage is, well, three times more work than travelling solo. But now that we’re not dragging our stuff around and have a place to put it all down, my camera hands are free to do their thing.

Taking a picture of Berit cooking curry for everyone isn’t high art, but since she hates most of her photos I’m aiming higher than high art: taking that elusive unhated photo.

Time to go to the airport!

Marin was recently in Paris and took this photo of a group of symbols meant to represent various disabilities, ostensibly for the purpose of giving some sort of discount to those people. The black/white face symbol at the far right is puzzling, though, and a bunch of us were trying to come up with theories on Saturday night to explain what it identified. There was some grasping at straws, however, e.g. “disabled mimes?”

I posted it in the Paris group on Flickr to see if anyone would have an answer, and I’ll post the response here if I get one. [Update: see comments]

If you know, do tell!

[Update: click on the pic for clarification]

Reykjavík, June 2007

View Larger On Black

So many great photos from Iceland trapped in my hard drive. Time to set them free!

One of my photos of the most photographed landmark in Reykjavik is being used by the Icelandic Web of Science, with my permission*. I nearly didn’t see the email as it landed in my junk folder yesterday, but I’m glad I found it as I think it’s amusing that an Icelandic educational website based in Reykjavik chose to use a photo taken by a visitor when they have access to the church all the time. What can I say, I caught the Hallgrímskirkja on a good day!

* The trend in image usage currently is too often many companies/individuals DON’T ask for permission, so I make sure I respond to email requests quickly (whether it’s to negotiate a price or grant permission) as I feel it discourages image theft… or encourages proper usage. Whichever way you look at it, copyright is a contentious issue these days.

This photo has no significance to anyone but me, only because I slept here on Saturday night, November 17, after getting promptly pickpocketed at the bus station arriving from Gerona Airport (about an hour away). Suddenly I had no euros, so the translator who helped me file my police report took up a little collection for me from the police officers to get me on a bus to the airport.

My flight was at 11:00am, so this was my view for many hours, lying half on a bench (with arms, so I couldn’t lay down) and half on my baggage, which was on a cart. I didn’t want to get robbed again, and the only remaining highly-visible bench was by the front doors… it was FREEZING. Most of the airport was inaccessible because I needed to check in and get a boarding pass first.

In the middle of the night I was startled awake by a rustling sound. I thought someone was trying to take something, but it was another passenger leaving a bag of drinks for me! I must’ve looked like a right bum, sleeping under two jackets and the djellaba (traditional Moroccan robe) that I’d just bought in Fez. I went without food for about 24 hours (until Kristin rescued me in London!), so the milk and water from Luxembourg was much appreciated.

I also took this photo because of the Aeroflot sign. My older brother, Allan, who was at that moment on a work trip in northern Siberia, no doubt flew Aeroflot. I didn’t tell him any of the stories I’d heard about Aeroflot from other travellers, in case it freaked him out — and he couldn’t do anything about it, anyhow.

One day I’ll write about my Barcelona — and London — fiascos! To put things in perspective, this wasn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me while travelling. Not by a long shot.

I’ve been incommunicado for what is supposed to be the end of my trip because of a chain of bizarre events:

1) one professional pickpocket thief in Barcelona (I managed to thwart a team of bag-snatchers less than an hour later)

2) visits to two police stations in Barcelona, the second one required a translator so I finished around midnight

3) one-eye-open sleeping in chilly Barcelona Airport after cancelling all my cards.

I did make it to London Gatwick shortly after noon, phoned Kristin to meet me before my 7pm flight to Toronto because I hadn’t had a meal in over 24 hours and I was STARVING. Kristin rescued me!!

Right now I’m supposed to be on a flight back to Toronto, but I’m still in London thanks to a series of rail engineering problems which delayed my journey, and completely unsympathetic Air Canada staff. I arrived exactly at the 60 minute cut-off time, but they wouldn’t let me board. I had to show the police report to the Air Canada agent before he would book me on another flight because I had no way to pay for it. He suggested I sleep in Arrivals, but I couldn’t handle two nights of airport sleeping without a shower, so I took the Tube back to Kristin’s place. She rescued me AGAIN!

So that’s it in a tiny, tiny nutshell. Will I ever get home?? Stay tuned.

(The Clash strike again!)

I have to use bullet points for this post as I have less than three hours before I have to get ready for the flight to Marrakech.

Also, it’s my first post using the iPod Touch and I am a little slow!

- flight excellent
- I have a story about how I pre-ordered a kosher meal
- met up with my chum Lucy at Heathrow
- checked into fab hotel (a definite recommend for London)
- met with Swiss friend Kristin for Japanese food in Earls Court
- up late, must set alarm for nasty early hour

Photos later!

Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík

Been a little too busy lately to indulge much in extracurricula, so this entry’s going to be brief. I wanted to post this picture of Hallgrímskirkja — Iceland’s most photographed church — a while ago as an example of patience.

Hallgrímskirkja took 38 years to build. 38 years! I haven’t even been on the planet that long, so it’s hard to fathom tackling a project for that length of time. As you can see, Hallgrímskirkja is an unusual structure. I imagine when it was commissioned in 1937 that this particularly stark design raised a bit of a ruckus, but at least the architect’s vision eventually came to fruition.

As I get older, I have a greater appreciation for architecture because there is an underlying conflict that we expect things to stand the test of time… but scramble to build them in the least amount of time. If you live in a city, the most visible example of this is the glut of condominiums. Both Toronto and Vancouver are cities of cranes erecting a soul-less condo building every 15 minutes.

I reckon the best way to restore your faith in engineering is to get yourself to a place where old and new co-exist, but the aesthetics of the old don’t eclipse the new and vice versa. An example? Say, Valencia, Spain.