It's raining again...

In the morning rain woke me up. It's not a big pleasure especially while you have to walk for 5 minutes to take a shower that is limited to 4 minutes. Honestly it doesn't really matter if you are wet because of shower or because of rain. Or maybe it's some difference... :) Finally I took the car and just drove to the shower/bathroom building. Next I headed to Ålesund and later to my first true fjord, but it was Troll's Road on my way... Unfortunately rain was intense and lighter, sometimes even disappearing. It's the worst weather for photographer. You can't focus on taking pictures, because in a minute everything is wet. Besides light is usually poor and you have not many options for good picture. So I decided to take some poor pictures that you can see below. On the way to Ålesund it was the day I taken 2 (two) pictures. Weather was really terrible. The next day on the way to Geiranger I managed to take more poor pictures...

I must admit that Troll's Road sometimes was reminding me Yosemite Valley - many waterfalls, very winding road and high mountains around. It's really nice and I will go there in some better weather for sure, because it gives a lot of picture opportunities.

Norway - country of midnight sun

While I was visiting Lofotes I became convinced that there's no such phenomenon as night in northern Norway. Day lasts 24 hours a day if you can say it that way. So it's always light and you don't need flashlight. That's true. I've even seen very nice magnet with inscription "Norway - country of midnight sun". It was really nice. Unfortunately I wasn't able to buy it, so I'm still looking for such a magnet.
But let's try to describe where I've been and what I've seen. So from Andøya I headed to Å to be able to catch ferry to Bodø. The road from northern part of Lofotes to the southern one is beautiful although the most interesting parts are just two ends and the middle is a little boring. I definitely recommend to visit Reine, Å and Henningsvaer. I also recommend camping in Å - it has wonderful view of sunset - if you have time to wait for it... :)
From Bodø I headed to Trondheim and this is very long way and also very slow. It takes the whole day counting stopovers for taking pictures. Near Trondheim there's nice village called Hell and next to it another good camping in Malvik. In the morning rain came and weather made me angry...

1. Andøya and Lofotes


2. Dried fish in Henningsvaer

3. On the road from Henningsvaer to Å


4. View from camping in Å


5. View from camping in Malvik

Internet access at the end of the world

Today I've arrived to place that's far away from home, place where now I still have day and place where you can have Internet even while living in a tent. It's Stave on Andøya island. Beautiful place with wonderful views and a little windy weather.
But let's start with pictures I've taken two days ago. In the evening I decided to visit port in Oulu and sun was so nice that I've taken these pretty cool pictures... it was almost midnight!

From Oulu I went to Narvik. But this city is boring and just ugly, so don't recommend Narvik itself. On the other hand you should visit the area that is really breathtaking.
Later I headed to Andøya island and this is so far the most interesting part of Norway. I dreamed of taking picture of puffin, so went for Puffin Safari. Unfortunately it's not easy to take good picture of small bird from the boat that's rocked with waves very strongly. The only sharp picture I managed to take is this and I'm not happy with it, so will try to take some more soon:

On Andøya island it's nice little village called Bleik. It's also starting point for puffin safari and nice pictures:

Besides it's easy to find other nice views that I like taking pictures of:

You can also find a use for ND9 gray filter. Thanks to Jacek I was able to experiment a little with it and here you can see results:

Tallin->Oulu

Today I had two goals. One to get to Oulu in finite time and second to take picture of nice red building in Finland. And I've done it. Although weather was a little bit freakish, but finally I've taken picture of red barn. And of course I got to Oulu after few hours of very slow driving. Please find some pictures below...

1. Tallin view from the ferry deck

2. Helsinki view from the ferry deck - nice hotel once I was staying in...


3. Red barn - my dream for today - of course it's not good, so I have some goal for tomorrow :)

Warsaw->Tallin

About 1000 km was a distance of first part of my trip. It took me about 13 hours with some breaks for taking pictures. I came across nice poppy field and spent few minutes taking pictures. Besides I must say that Latvia is the most beautiful country of old "republics". Lithuania is a little ancient and Estonia was just forest and empty roads, so driving is easy and comfortable. In Latvia there's some speed cameras and you should stick to speed limit, but in Estonia you can overspeed a little bit, but watch out for blue skoda octavia with police inside and motorbike with policeman on.
Unfortunately weather worsen in Tallin and it started to rain, so I had no chance to visit old town and take pictures. Maybe some other time...
Tomorrow first thing in the morning I have to catch ferry to Helsinki and head farther to Oulu. Weather forecast is good and I should have some sun and clouds... I don't know when I'll have another chance to connect to the network, but keep waiting for next entry!