Day 3
The weather had turned foul and it would be freezing all day. This meant that going up on the glacier today would be impossible because we didn’t have the gear. Jeans and a mere sweater wouldn’t keep us warm enough. We would freeze to death before we reached the first marker…
Merete spent the better part of the morning negotiating on our behalf to make sure the luggage arrived today. The mood amongst the Hoppers was getting a trifle anxious because we had planned to visit the glacier tomorrow to discover the shooting locations from The Empire Strikes Back. So we desperately needed our luggage to arrive.
So we could do no more than lounge around the hotel and go out for short walks only. We kept a close look on the weather forecast. It would be a beautiful day tomorrow.
The film crew from the States, creating the documentary The Force Among Us, used this time to get some interviews done in the authentic library of the hotel. They were very professional. By that I mean that my interview, which will probably not be more than three minutes on screen, took about two and a half hours to shoot. Amazing.
In the late afternoon: deliverance! Our bags had arrived. We jumped around like a bunch of schoolgirls and dragged our bags to our rooms like a Neanderthal would his future wife and all changed into a fresh set of clothes and set out for a stroll on the frozen lake.
We had swine for dinner (for lack of a better word), but it was very tasty. I must admit, while the rooms are rather basic, the food is truly excellent! I have no idea about the wine, even though they have some great sounding labels at the hotel. But it was too expensive to our taste. We kept to the less expensive beer (61 Kroner), soft drinks (33 Kroner or 4 EUR/5 US dollar) and still water (free!).
After dinner we were treated to a screening of The Empire Strikes Back. Because of the foul conditions outside, the idea of projecting the film outdoors in the snow was dropped. We used one of the hotel conference rooms instead. It was amazing to see that the room where the film would be showed was already completely full. We could only squeeze ourselves against the back wall. Seeing the movie with Norsk subtitles was something of a treat. It was amazing to see the reaction of most of the audience. They obviously hadn’t seen the movie before. Even Merete had to admit it was the first time she saw Episode V. The ooh’s and the aah’s of the locals during the Battle of Hoth were testimony to the recognition of the glacier on the other side of the frozen lake.
We agreed to meet early for breakfast so we could embark on our icy expedition.
