Running up that hill

Hi!

It’s fun to actually write a blog again after all this video blogging we’ve been doing. To be honest I’m not very good at editing the videos, I’m more involved with creating the stupid comic reliefs (and that does not even happen on purpose). 

From the video blogs you have witnessed that we had an amazing tour. I have to say that Norway is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve been to. The elevation of the terrain gives a third dimension to the small towns, with colourful (or white, as in Stavanger) wooden houses built on the hillsides, creating a web of picturesque small streets. 

We first arrived to Bergen, a city at the atlantic coast in western Norway, late in the evening. We did not really have time to discover the city that night, so I decided to take a jog around the town next morning. I had already located a mountain (Bergen is surrounded by seven mountains, creating an interesting weather phenomena resulting in all the humid Atlantic sea air raining down on Bergen as the clouds climb up the mountain, reaching the colder air of the hilltops. Thus it rains 270 days each year in Bergen on average. It was perfectly clear weather during our visit though.) that I wanted to run on top of the first night. We had to leave the hotel at 8:30 the next morning, so I had to get up at 6:30 to make it on time. But hell yes it was worth it! When I left the hotel it was still dark, and I could see the lights of the sightseeing spot on top of the mountain, far away, so I headed towards the light with no real clue of the streets there. I ran through wonderful small wooden houses built neatly side by side, each reaching over the other as the hill elevated. All of the apartments there must have had a great view over the city, as each of the bright coloured houses stretched over the previous one. It was a far more exhausting run than I had expected, with the hill soaring many hounded meters above sea level, but when I finally reached the top of the mountain, the sight was even more breathtaking than the workout itself.

I’m surprised of how effectively I could utilise the free time that we had on exercise, reading and occasional songwriting. I can almost say that this tour was one of the coolest things in my life so far, and I’m expecting a lot from our future tours! I really hope we can come back to Norway as soon as possible, and in fact it is very likely to happen in the near future (inside information). BEWARE! WE’LL BE BACK!

See you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM

//Paul

Lovely Norway, do you wanna hear a [storey]?

Hi there!
I'm sitting in our hotelroom as we speak (I write). The other's are at the gym but I couldn't make it because I had to go and buy new rubber thingies for my in-ear headphones. Get this, I only need one tiny pathetic piece of rubber but I'm forced to buy a whole new pack of headphones -.-'. I misplaced my  (expensive) Shure In-Ear Monitors that I usually gig with on the Baltic Princess :( Now I have to use my normal ones and I was a bit nervous before the soundcheck in Bergen because I didn't know how well they would work. Well, they turned out fine but after that gig the tip of the right earphone somehow dissapeared. So now after my shopping trip in Stavanger I'm stuck with an extra pair of the cheapest headphones only for the sake of a piece of rubber! But at least I'm all set for tomorrow :)

Being on the road has been awesome! A lot of flying and super long days but it's all worth it. I taught my favourite card game Heathbridge to Paul and Axel I'm looking forward to play some more with them! Today we also went bowling which was fun! We usually hold Satin Circus Championships and so far I've won both of them! So now I'm not only a kartingmaster but also a bowlingmaster! And all this despite the fact that Pauls distant relative is a world champion in bowling!

The boats dry air and the multiple gigs had taken it's toll on my throat but slowly but surely I'm making some progress towards recovery! A huge thanks goes out to Fredi and Isac who let me borrow some of their high-end vocal nurturing accessories. There's a humidifying bong-looking can which through I inhale eucalyptus vapor! It feels really good to get some warm steam going through the breathing system. I also sprayed the honey of a queen bee as deep in my throath as I could get it. Kind of tickled but it soothed my throath effectively! And you can never go wrong with a warm cup of water with lemon and honey.

Tomorrow we're playing our second show in Stavanger and the concert hall is brand new! It looked amazing! Speaking of amazing, I really wanna go have an other look at the city before we leave so I'll better get going before it get's dark! If you're wondering about us, we are all doing really fine and enjoying this journey to the fullest. Thank you for making this possible for us! <3

take care guys
~kri-kri-kri-kripster