Today's talks

Today was the highlight of my Tromsø adventure--the talks at the museum. They were scheduled to start at 13:00, so I arrived just after they opened, at 11:00. The lady at reception was nice enough to let me leave my bags with her behind the counter. I could have put them into a locker downstairs, but I would have needed a new 10 Kr coin every time I opened it to get out food.

I gave a quick glance at their natural history display and the one on Sami nd Medieval Church art, but, of course, my main attention was for looking at the Skjoldehamn find. The neck of that under tunic is done much the way Norbotten men's folk costume shirts are done, and I am tempted to make one.

I was quite pleased with my ability to follow the talks. My Swedish is good enough to follow Norwegian, if it is a lecture on a topic with which I am familiar. Indeed the only tunic that Lise Bender Jörgensen showed that I don't think I had seen before was the patch-work Bernuthsfeld tunic, which I will need to remember to look up. I also want to look up the trousers from Thorsbjerg and Dammendorf--they look like they would make very good trousers to wear with a jester's outfit if one is doing acrobatics.

I really enjoyed northernotter"s talk, which covered the many reasons people do reproductions of archeolgical finds, ranging from museum displays, reenactment, to larp. She gave us details about how she did the weaving of her blanket from photos of the one from the find, and then also discussed the hood from this find and how it compares witj hoods from elsewhere.

I hadn't noticed, till she called our attention to it, that the top of this hood has a wide seam, giving ita bit of a crest. That crest is taller at the back (2-3 cm?) and shorter at the face (1-2 cm?). I will have to look at the pdf of the find again when I get home.

I also want to talk with her about what advantages, if any, that crest gives while wearing it, since she has made one. Does it, by any chance, slow down how long it takes to get wet in the rain? Or is it only decorative?

I also hadn't noticed the strings attached to the sides of the hood to tie it tighter around the hood before I saw it in person. I don't recall ever seeing such a feature on othet hoods, but perhaps they are only truly needed in the harsher northern climate?

I wound up leaving soon after the talks, as northernotter wasn't going to have time to hang out, and so I thought it better to catch the bus to Narvik at 16:00 and get the pretty mountain views for the first part of the trip, to say nothing of arriving at a reasonable hour, instead of midnight.

Did I say "pretty"? Perhaps "stunning" would be more apt. This time of the year the sin is well in its way back down at 16:00, but is still high enough that the mountains glowed white against a deep blue sky. I love that best of all the many forms of beauty that nature has to offer. For that alone, the cost of the trip would have been worth it. How I long to live somewhere where such views are commonplace.

But not in a city like Tromsø. While it is in a very pretty setting, the population density is really much too much. The houses there have barely any yard at all so that they could squeeze a few more onto the island. Not for me.

It has finally become too dark to really see anything out the window (or I wouldn't be typing this now). In about 15 minutes the other bus option will be leaving Tromsø, and we have just over an hour to go on our journey. I am so glad it worked out to take this bus, mostly for the views, but also for reaching the hotel room before midnight. (Granted, had she been free to hang out, that would have been fun, too, and I would have likely counted the cost worth it.)

My train isn't till 10:38 tomorrow, so I can relax and take it easy in the morning. Good thing, too, since the next day is Tuesday, which is my long day on campus, and I will be working Friday to make up for travelling Monday.