Today is our lazy day to check out Henningsvaer and not do a lot of logistically challenging things. I slept in again and we made a late breakfast. Around 11:00 we walked around the village to check out the local shops. Henningsvaer is traditionally a fishing village. The entire village is built around a harbor and there is still an active fishing industry. There is also a tourist industry and Henningsvaer has it’s share of small craft stores and galleries. This time of year we’re kind of in between tourist season and fishing season… so it’s kind of sleepy. Not all of the business are open all the time or promptly, but we are able to visit most of them. I can’t stress enough how perfect the weather has been on the trip so far. There is just a hint of chill in the air, but we’ve be walking around town with just a long sleeve shirts and enjoying the amazing weather. The first day we got to the village we were slapped in the face with a super strong smell of salt (we are surrounded by the seawater)... but now after a couple of days I have to concentrate to pick out that salty tang. It’s amazing how fast you acclimate to your surroundings.
We visited another art gallery today and once again I had trouble connecting with the works on display. The theme of this one was “what is a painting” and it was meant to challenge our preconceptions about what is and is not a painting. I did like one of the pieces that was a fairly abstract painting that used a projector to subtly shift the colors on a few key spots. That was interesting. Some of the other pieces I understood what the artist was going for, but I just didn’t resonate with the execution. I think part of the problem was that the gallery had big windows and in my mind the artwork was competing with the view for my attention, and not all of the pieces were up to the challenge (I’m looking at you paper-cups glued onto a canvas and painted white….)
Yesterday we tried and failed to find a piece of street art (the irony of looking for a street art on a remote fishing island is not lost on me). Today we happen to wander into a gallery for a local photographer who does mostly aurora landscapes that also had a really good photo of the In Cod We Trust peice of art we were looking for. Norway has a street artist similar to Banksy named Pøbel. But since Norway doesn’t have a lot of large metropolises for actual street art, Pøbel decided to decorate rural and remote locations. He’s evidently visited Lofoten a handful of times, and the local photographers seem to caught on and usually have a print or two in their shops.
We priced out a large version of the In Code We Trust print and then walked around the island to think about the purchase. Ultimately decided that we really liked it, and since they would ship it home for us, to buy it. When we left the shop the lady told us it might not be open later, but to just call her on her cell and she’d come back and open the shop. She gave us a business card. Later I tried to call the number and it said that number was not active. :( Fortunately, I recognized the the business card was a local hotel, so I went there and told them I was trying to find this person and someone was nice enough to fetch her from the back. She walked back to the shop with us and we worked out the price… then her credit card reader wouldn’t work and she asked us to come back again tomorrow to close the deal with her husband, who is also the photographer. I’m excited to see how that works out.
We priced out a large version of the In Code We Trust print and then walked around the island to think about the purchase. Ultimately decided that we really liked it, and since they would ship it home for us, to buy it. When we left the shop the lady told us it might not be open later, but to just call her on her cell and she’d come back and open the shop. She gave us a business card. Later I tried to call the number and it said that number was not active. :( Fortunately, I recognized the the business card was a local hotel, so I went there and told them I was trying to find this person and someone was nice enough to fetch her from the back. She walked back to the shop with us and we worked out the price… then her credit card reader wouldn’t work and she asked us to come back again tomorrow to close the deal with her husband, who is also the photographer. I’m excited to see how that works out.
After mid-day of touring Henningsvaer, we retired to our apartment and just sat on the pier and watched the water ripple while enjoying a drink. It was a pretty relaxing way to spend an afternoon.
For dinner we decided to try another one of the restaurants in our little fishing village called Lofotmat. I not sure why, but I wasn’t expecting much from this place. It’s pretty non-descript from the outside… maybe because the name is too close to the word Laundromat. I’m not sure. Whatever the reason, my tune changed once we sat down and the food started to come. The kitchen sent out an amuse bouche that was a little bites of pastry and thyme cheese. Very nice. The salmon tartare was beautifully plated. Dawn got the bouillabaisse and I got rack of lamb featuring local Lofoten lamb. Both were excellent. For dessert we had cloud berries soaked in aquavit on ice cream.
The plan for this evening is to try and see the aura again. The aura forecast thinks it ought to be a good evening. For some reason we didn’t think to walk away from all of the village lights last night. Earlier today we scoped out some darker parts of the village that we could go to if the viewing was good again this evening.
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