"A man is a very small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders." -Lord Dunzany

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New Years Celebrations in Narvik as seen from the Fagernes Mt.

Bente Hjellsand graciously lent me these photos of the center of Narvik City taken from the Fagernes Mountain! The photos has also been published on the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK’s homepage. Please, DO CLICK on the images! They’re quite amazing!

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Center of the City Narvik - Fireworks New Years Eve 2011/2012 (photo: Bente Hjellsand)

Last day of the year 2011 – By the Ofoten Fjord

Please click the photo underneath to go to the interactive site, where you can rotate and zoom the panorama!

Interactive Panorama - Last day of the year 2011 - By the Ofoten Fjord

Interactive Panorama - Last day of the year 2011 - By the Ofoten Fjord (Narvik in the bacground)

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,500 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Our Christmas Tree in 3D!

Dear reader,

It has been a great Christmas! Unlike the English-speaking part of the World – in Europe we celebrate Christmas Eve. So yesterday we had a brilliant dinner. I don’t quite get how my mother manages to make the fantastic traditional pork rib year after year – but she does!

While waiting for the opening of all the lovely presents in the evening, I took 238 pictures of the Christmas Tree. I made a 3D model with these photos. You can watch various representations of the model.
When in Photosynth, pay especially attention to these controls: (Click here to go directly to Photosynth! It may take some time to load. It’s a big model!)

Our Christmas Tree as a 3D-model. Click the picture to see the 3D-model Live!

A point model of our Christmas Tree! Click the picture to see the 3D-model Live!

A lovely visit

My nefew has been visiting uncle and grandma. My brother came with my nefew Sondre and stayed for a week. They went back to Oslo yesterday. It has been a lovely week. Just a pitty that I don’t get to see them more. It has to change next year ;o)

Sondre crawling around the floor playing

Sondre crawling around the floor playing

What a FANTASTIC week!!!

Tarjei Bø - The top Norwegian biathlete is number 1 so far in this seasons World Cup total!

Tarjei Bø - The top Norwegian biathlete is number 1 so far in this season's World Cup total!

Like I’ve mentioned earlier – BITAHLON is the GREATEST sport on the planet – at least to my estimation! And what a fantastic week it has been! The Norwegian biathletes has taken one top place after the other. And fantastic achievements all around. Tomorrow is the last race before Christmas. A mixed team race.

As you can se from the World Cup results this season – being Norwegian has given a lot of joy in this extremely exciting sport!

In the World Cup top ten total for men, Tarjei Bø is ranked number 1 with 308 points, Emil Hegle Svendsen is ranked number 3 with 242 points and – the King of Biathlon – Ole Einar Bjørndalen is ranked number 8 with 188 points!

In the World Cup top ten total for women, Tora Berger is ranked number 6 with 243 points.

Biathlon World Cup - results as of December 17. 2011

Biathlon World Cup - results as of December 17. 2011

Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes – A Bitterly Cold Work for a Sweet Warm Help

In accordance with tradition I purchased the annual Christmas Tree yesterday from the local Lions Club outside the local supermarket REMA 1000 on Ankenes. Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes is a fantastic club! Every year the comb the area for land owners with Christmas Tree sized spuces (Norway Spruce) to sell for Christmas. Once they have found areas suitable for Christmas Trees, they go up (it is usually up a hill side or mountain) into the woods and cut spruces, drag them down to the nearest road and transport them into town.

The spruce I bought yesterday, was a fantastic tree. It smelled just like a spruce is supposed to smell like! And the branches was so thightly packed, it was just amazing! And all the trees for sale looked amazing!

So – what’s the money used for?

Like any other respectable Lions Club, Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes work for free to earn money for humanitarian projects in the local area, nation-wide and internationally.

Today I stopped by with my camera. I would say -9 degrees is pretty cold for a lion, but not these Lions! Their hearts are plenty warm by the important job they are doing to help their fellow human beings (and environment!) to endure the cold winter weather! I took a few shots of the Lions on Ankenes in action.

Do you want to buy the very best looking and smelling Christmas Trees in Narvik? And do you want to help people in need? Here’s the Lions Club sales stand by Rema 1000:

Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes selling Christmas Trees to aid people in need! It's a cold job!

Lions Club Narvik/Ankenes selling Christmas Trees to aid people in need! It's a cold job!

Find your way to the Lions Christmas Tree stand!

Find your way to the Lions Christmas Tree stand!