Fairytales at Telemark

Telemark was very mystical, huge forrests of fir trees, sometimes coverred with lightgreen moss or just blackish evil, everything really looks like on those album covers, they didn't have to add much to the art of nature. The atmosphere is again totally different from other regions - with the monocultural huge old firs comes the darkness, cold, everything seems more desperate (to me at least) than the golden birches elsewhere.

I stayed a week at a friend's place, that was a best-ever week - the small house was in the middle of an enormous forrest, all one could hear at night was the foss (waterfall) from several directions, one could not see one human sign when looking down to the valley, no light, nothing, just total nature, incredible. I often strolled around in the nearer parts of the forrest, imagining elks, ulver (wolfs) or trolls popping out of the thicket every minute. My friend adviced me not to go too far for one gets lost immediately..... (when looking at it on a map I did understand - there was an enormous forrestland right after the house, only interrupted by a mountain area....(hmmm....wouldn't want to get lost there...)

One night was scary, we looked at several films, one of them The Omen (there is that uncomfortable sequence with the dogs in the graveyard.....) and as I went to the "green toilet" (of course no toilet in the house) I realized the strange look of the trees - the sky was coverred with yellow-red clouds (?!?where did the colour come from? ...there was no human settlement nearby...) and the forrest itself was coverred by a ground fog - looked really scary! Everything had a certain dull and dead atmosphere, as if something evil was to come quite soon.... Normally I'm not easy to thrill with such things, but that sight was odd - you know what it's like if you experience a totally new and unlogical thing....and then we found out that it was FRIDAY the 13th!!!!! (well, then...)

Unfortunately I got a message that Enslaved were doing their release gig of Mardraum (absolutely great album) in Bergen on Saturday. But that would have meant another 8 hours of driving....
On the other hand I witnessed some great rehearsal of Zamoth's new band, as well as the finishing-process of Mortiis new album, The Smell of Rain (what a nice title).

I had a great time in Telemark, no sleep (just as it must be, we usually went asleep at nine in the morning), some party and I got to know the famous Notodden. It's known all over Norway for it's car-fanatics, even the guy at the petrol station in Seljord told me about it; just like in L.A. people cruise up and down the main road with their tuned vehicles and killing sounds on, girls walking on by - a mating ritual of the best performance.
Logically the clubs are there, too, so on a Saturday everyone meets up there and shows off what ever possible. When I was there on the Saturday night I didn't have the hearse with me unfortunately - they would have lost their eyes! Like most young people nowadays they were into rave sounds and all was screamingly colourful, also the cars were a bit dump after my taste, mostly Volvos in disgusting neon-colours (.....arghhh) - we would have slided by in a long, total black limo, turning out to be a hearse (the windows are also black and so is our long hair...) with strange sounds inside..., a bit of a difference to their appearance...
Of course constant alcohol controls, so nothing for me (I don't understand why I may not drink one or two beers, that's not so much...).

Later on a weekday on that very mainroad (Storgate) I parked by a shop - then they got aware of the hearse! Ha ha, they couldn't drive anylonger from staring at me, just fun. Guys in kinky Volvos repeatedly passing by to have an even closer look, what a car is that - a woman inside? What's that! And where is it from? I haven't put my nationality tag on the car, so I just got a registration number saying "W.... " and some cyphers, confusing for Norwegians as their Oldtimers all had the "W" as the only letter in the number. Then the heraldic figure of Vienna looks like the danish flag - so they were obviously confused about the origin of the 'dangerous' vehicle....

Another night we passed by the Heddal stave church, the biggest and one of the most elaboratedly decorated stave churches in Norway. Unfortunately it was under construction and so we just walked around a bit at the outside. Suddenly he said ...hey, let's leave immediately, there's a camera! ....what? why?.....he got really stressed and so we left, who knows, it might be better, the way we look the local police might have got some strange imaginations....

Then we had wild animals galopping around outside the house one night - that was weird, we didn't find out what it was as the animal hid in a shelter underneath the house (that was right underneath the bed...) but was extremely noisy, obviously ravaging down there; the mice got totally hectical (they live in the wooden walls there...) and so we had no sleep again...

The very last day I had a trip into nature again (was necessary after all those long nights of TV, beer and party...) and so I went to the Gaustatoppen with Mr.Haugen, who obviously appreciates nature more than Mr.Ellefson. The Gausta is a mountain from which one may see a sixth of Norway (!) and even down to the far away seaside on a sunny day. Well, it was raining again and the thickest fog coverred all sights further than 30 meters..... but the walk was nice up there, cold wet hair and red faces again, feeling of nature and originality.

Later on I had my one and only fish-dish in Norway (a shame really, if one thinks of the enormous coastal areas they have...) which was delicious; nevertheless on that very day I had to part from everything - my friends in Telemark - and Norway as a whole....

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The last ride, mystical and meaningful

I took the way down to Larvik in the late night, not too happy about the parting and quite moved about the adventures I had gone through.
This last ride in Norway was mystical and meaningful - the moon was ice-cold and silvery, like in those freezing winternights, sometimes it was hidden beneath stormy clouds (...) and the night was blackest as ever; as always in this country, no traffic at night, only two trucks crossing my way with blinding lights, so I could stop in the middle of the road and even leave the car to watch the moon behind the wild clouds.
The silence there, in the middle of the road was unforgettable.

In Larvik I had a little farewell walk, collecting autumnleaves and throwing certain things into the water, for a return.

The boat was at 10 in the morning - in the middle of the night for me after those days....and I still wasn't happy, especially as I saw the spits of land disappearing behind the endless waters...

På gjensyn, Norge, ha det!!