Geology, Gardens & Sore Feet

I walked for 40 mins to the University Museum. It was about 8 degrees today, so it seemed like an appropriate amount of exercise, except that my shoes turned out to be a size too small and were killing my feet. I realised this was a problem on the plane, but kept telling myself my feet would settle and the shoes would stretch. Wrong!

Thankfully, Tromso has a great shoe shop in the middle of town and when I told them I needed something comfortable, waterproof and with a tread good enough to walk the mountain but still look OK to go out, they knew exactly which pair would do the job (a pair of Merrells). You always know they are going to be good (and expensive) when the brand is written down the side. The new shoes are a lifesaver and I'm back out and on foot exploring Tromso as best I can.

I also went to the Botanical Gardens, which were interesting given this is the Arctic, so I wasn't expecting much.... (photos uploaded).

The jet lag is subsiding and the need for an afternoon nap isn't as critical. It usually takes 3-5 days to get into a new time-zone, so I'm on track!

While I was at the Museum I found a nice upright Yamaha piano in the conference room, I asked if I could play for a while and then got asked if I could please keep playing for a convention that was about to start at the university. Nice, but I'm on holiday, and have places to go and things to see and it really was only a practice session. To be honest, I didn't feel confident enough as my hand was hurting and I'm out of practice with my performance pieces. I'm in the writing phase, not the playing phase.

I'm hoping I can stay up late enough to attend a midnight concert in the local cathedral.Read more