Northern Dreams and other things…

1)  When I think of vacation spots, my mind usually points north.  I know that most people long for sunny Italy and the Caribbean, but I still have Iceland, Alaska and more of Scandinavia on my bucket list.  But I am going to cross off one entry on the old bucket list pretty soon when we journey up to the Canadian Maritimes.

2)  In preparation for this trip, I have started reading Anne of Green Gables.  When I think about it, I’m not sure how that book escaped me in my youth.  But I will get ‘er done before we leave.  I like reading a book set in the place where we are headed.  I read Ivanhoe before we went to Scotland and many Jo Nesbø novels before going to Norway.  I was glad to find out on arriving in both places that the reality is not a lot like the novels.  We saw no knights in Scotland and not a lot of bloody violence and murder in Norway…in fact, we saw no violence at all in Norway.  It may be there lurking under the surface, but the Norway you are seeing today in the pictures I’m posting is the Norway we saw.  Simply Mother Nature at its finest.

3)  I just took one of those Facebook quizzes that tells you what age you are.  Apparently, I’m 22.   That’s a definite LOL!  I may have been 22 once, but I can’t really remember that far back.

4)  Speaking of Facebook, I am going to recommend two photography blogs I’ve found since hanging out there.  The first is from my Flickr/Facebook friend Lydia Martin.  Her blog is BluefoxPhotography Blog.  She is a first rate photographer and a fun person to be virtual friends with.  The other is a blog is called Wolf Shadow Photography and, well, if you go there I think that you will be most pleasantly entertained for a while especially if you are a dog and/or cat lover.

5)  We are having a family get together today.  Heading to Worcester to take advantage of the August is Free promotion at the Worcester Art Museum.  Carrie is motoring out from Northampton and Evan doesn’t work on Fridays in the summer so I figured it would be a good time for Greg and me to reel them in for a day.  I’m looking forward to spending time at the museum with my favorite people.

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Looking back…

‘Tis the time of year to look back at the year that was.  I have gotten into this habit less from nostalgia and more from needing a concise synopsis of the year to answer questions like:  What year did we go to Timbuktu?  and Didn’t Uncle Sid die in 2013?  So, here goes my first six months of 2013…

In January, while I was still recovering from my knee replacement and nursing the worst cold I've had in years, Greg, Olive, the pug, and I took a road trip from Massachusetts to Apalachicola, Florida.  It was a good antidote for what ailed me.

In February, we got hit with Winter Storm Nemo.  When the heck did they start naming the winter storms anyway?  Nemo was a powerful nor’easter that dropped over 20 inches of snow on us.  We’ve lived in New England long enough to not let that kind of thing hold us back for too long, so my daughter Carrie and I planned an overnight trip out to North Adams, Massachusetts, to visit the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA) to see Xu Bing’s Phoenix.  In this photo, you can see the scope of the project, which consists of two huge birds made entirely from materials taken from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, and tools.  But it is difficult to convey the beauty of the work.  If you are interested in seeing Phoenix in more detail, click here.

March came in like a lion for us and stayed lion-like for a while, but I’ll be damned if I can remember if it went out like a lamb.  In any case, we had more snow to contend with...lots more snow.

Spring finally came to us in April and nothing screams SPRING to me more than the forsythia blooming.  But the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15 shocked and saddened us.

While I stayed home and enjoyed the spring in May, Greg took off on his motorcycle and circumnavigated Lake Superior.  I would enjoy circumnavigating Lake Superior, but in an automobile.

June was a major event for me.  I turned 60 and for my birthday, Greg and I went to Norway.  That’s what Greg gets when he asks me what I want for my birthday.  I guess he figured that it was too much to deny an old woman.  We had a fantastic time in that spectacularly beautiful country!  It could well have been the best birthday gift I’ve ever received.  Sorry, I couldn't stop at one photo.

On the Nærøyfjorden

Scenery above the Arctic Circle.

To be continued…

Randomness…

1)  Since this is random day, I am heading back to Norway.  These are some pics I took at the Norwegian Folkmuseum in Oslo.  I enjoyed the museum a lot.  We live in a town with a similar museum.  Ours is called Old Sturbridge Village (OSV).  It’s a living museum depicting life in a New England town in the 1830s.  It’s a great place to take a little ramble and I don’t go there often enough.  I should get myself over there as soon as the schools go back into session.

2)  OSV was so crowded today that they had to use auxiliary parking and bus people to the museum.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen OSV that crowded since we’ve lived here (over 28 years), but I’m not so good about remembering stuff like that.  Regardless, I love the fact that they are so crowded.

3)  Another place that was crowded today was the new FroYo place in town, “Sweet Kiwi.”  That place has been rocking since it opened two or three weeks ago.  My son Evan and I checked it out today.  Two thumbs up.

4)  Whenever we go down on Main Street on a busy day, I complain that it’s impossible to make a left turn in this town.  I usually say, “We’re going to be here for the rest of our lives” just before things clear up enough for me to get the heck out of the parking lot.  It seems to work.

5)  Last night on the news, our weather guy said that the weed pollen count in Boston was extreme.  That was a light bulb moment.  I thought I was coming down with a cold.  Now I think it must be allergies.  In any case, whatever will cause the weed pollen to lessen will be my new BFF because I’m getting very cranky.

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The Arctic Circle and beyond plus five thoughts about Norway…

I'm so short, they left me back at Sandnessjoen.  Notice how I'm clutching my Hurtigruten coffee mug.  It was early.

The globe marks the place where one crosses the Arctic Circle.  Those people in the boat seem to be fishing.

1)  Bet you’re pretty sick of my Norway pics by now.  I won’t be posting too many more.  Believe it or not, this has been barely a dent in the number of gigs that are still on my computer.  In any case, these particular pictures are ones I took around the time we were crossing the Arctic Circle.  Before we left, I read a review of this part of the Hurtigruten trip.  The person said that it was a big disappointment because they were expecting more than this goofy monument.  I’m not sure what that person wanted…fireworks or a laser line showing the demarcation, I guess.  But I found that it was enough for me and I considered us to be very lucky to have such beautiful weather.  Greg made sure we were going to cross on the Summer Solstice and we actually crossed just about a half hour past the actual Solstice time.  I liked that!

2)  Here are a few things we learned about trolls on this trip.  Trolls turn into rocks if they don’t make their curfew or, in other words, if they are found out in daylight.  That is why Norway is so rocky.  Trolls have four fingers and four toes and a bushy tale.  They can have one or two heads and sometimes one eye.  They come in all sizes.  They like to live underneath bridges and in waterfalls.  They can be good or bad, but mostly they are good.  Those big white rolls you see in fields that you thought were hay bales are actually troll toilet paper.

3)  We took the boat all the way to the end of the voyage in Kirkenes, Norway, which is way up north.  The day we were in Kirkenes, we were surprised to find that it was ten degrees warmer there at the top of the world than it was in Oslo almost 2,000 miles to the south.  Whether or not this is a common occurrence, I have no idea.

4)  The weather in Kirkenes that day wasn’t the only thing that surprised me about being above the Arctic Circle.  One is that there are a lot more people living up there than I thought there would be.  Another thing was that there are actually mallards up there.  I have to wonder if there is any place on earth with water where mallards aren’t.  I need to look that up.

5)  When I was sitting in the hotel lobby in Bergen one day, I overheard a conversation being held by two distinguished looking, older British women.  I wasn’t eavesdropping really, but I couldn’t help hearing them.  They talked about their gardens and a book both liked.  Then one of them said, “There is the summoning.”  A man was standing across the lobby gesturing impatiently to them to come along.  The other said, “Oh, yes.  He’s always summoning me to places I don’t want to go.”  I had to smile.

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The Land of the Midnight Sun…

The evening before we crossed into the Arctic Circle, Greg and I decided to stay up until midnight to see if Norway truly is “The Land of the Midnight Sun.”  Well, I’m here to tell you that, yes, the sun is still up at midnight in Northern Norway.  Here are some of the photos I took while we waited for the sun to not set.

At some point while we were waiting around and being awed by the scenery, the captain came on and told us that because the weather was so good, he was going to take us to see Torghatten.  Here it is:

I couldn’t get a very good picture of it because, in spite of the fact the sun was still up, it was low in the sky and opposite this interesting formation.  But here’s the story of Torghatten according to Wikipedia:  "According to legend, the hole was made by the troll Hestmannen while he was chasing the beautiful girl Lekamøya. As the troll realized he would not get the girl, he released an arrow to kill her, but the troll-king of Sømna threw his hat into the arrow's path to save her. The hat turned into the mountain with a hole in the middle.  The tunnel is 160 metres (520 ft) long, 35 metres (115 ft) wide, and 20 metres (66 ft) high. It was formed during the Scandinavian ice age. Ice and water eroded the looser rocks, while the harder ones in the mountain top have resisted erosion."

Now isn't that cool?

Enough...

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Thanks, Nancy!  I used your Navajo texture when I processed this photo.

Back to Norway…

...I wish.  It has been so hot here and will be for the next week that Norway would be a welcome relief.  But I will just have to content myself with a virtual return.

There were a few excursions offered while we were on the Hurtigruten ferry and one that we definitely agreed on was the excursion to the Geirangerfjord.

Here’s what we saw:

This is our ferry, the MS Trollfjord

And here is the Geirangerfjord.

After our overview of the fjord, we continued on.

We saw waterfalls.

And one of the oldest houses in Norway.

And we survived a trip down this road called the Trollstigen Pass.  I love the looks of this road.  It looks like it was actually stitched down by trolls.

Our tour guide told us a little story about the Trollstigen Pass.  Here it is:  A bus driver and a priest were trying to get into heaven.  Peter let the bus driver in but didn’t want to let the priest in.  The priest was appalled and had to ask Peter,”Why does he get in and not me?”  “Because,” Peter said, “when you did a service, everybody in the church was sleeping.  But when the bus driver drove his bus down the Trollstigen Pass, everybody was praying.”

It was a spectacular day of sight-seeing that ended in a nice dinner at Quality Hotel Alexandra in Molde where we joined back up with our boat the MS Trollfjord.

The Most Beautiful Voyage in the World…

In Bergen, Greg and I boarded the Hurtigruten ferry the MS Trollfjord for what was billed as the “most beautiful voyage in the world.”  One of the first things they tell you on the Hurtigruten is that their boats are not cruise ships.  They are working ferries.  But while the Trollfjord might not have glitzy entertainment and endless food like most cruises, it was plenty comfortable and after we settled in and went up on deck, here’s what we were treated to.

A glimpse of Ålesund.

And that was within the first 24 hours.  Here's a map of Norway that traces our route.  The boat does stop at those places either on the way up or on the way down.

Bergen…

So yesterday after I got home from the grocery, I decided to take some time and look through and edit my photos from Bergen, Norway.  About fifteen minutes after I got started, the rain started coming down in buckets and the thunder and lightning started.  I decided to shut down my computer.  Good thing.  A few minutes later, the electricity was out and stayed out for three or four hours.  Oh, well…

But I have managed to get a few of my Bergen pics edited and will share them today.  Bergen is the second largest city in Norway and is located on the west coast.  Its name in Old Norse means “the meadow among the mountains” and after having been there, I have to admit that it is aptly named. 

Bergen has a funicular, called the Fløibanen, that takes you up to a high point over the city.

  From there, this is what you see.

Back down at sea level, there is a famous site in Bergen called the Bryggen. It is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings that line the street facing the fjord.  It is the oldest part of the city and is quite charming.  Of course, it was also a source of photographic frustration for me as the building smack dab in the middle was covered with blue mesh as it was being restored.  Trying to work around that building left me with a virtual pile of not-so-good to Yuk! What were you thinking pics.  Such is life. 

 Greg and I did take the time to stroll through some of the appealing, old residential streets of Bergen.

We got to view some Bergen wildlife.

And we ate lunch at the famous fish market and had some native raspberries for dessert.

We enjoyed our visit to Bergen and would recommend it as a destination.

Five Flåm fences and five random thoughts…

1)  It has been really hot here since we returned from Norway.  Hot enough to make me want to hop right back on that plane and head back.  I can’t take the heat.  Even as a kid I hated it.

  It makes me feel like a slug.

2)  I had to take my Prius in for her 50,000 mile maintenance this afternoon.  Even though the waiting room was air conditioned, it was still stuffy in there and I had a hard time keeping my eyes open.  The good news is that she (Ms. Prius) got an excellent health report.  The bad news is that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on the drive home and had to stop for coffee.  Now, I am hoping that doesn’t interfere with my sleep tonight.

 

3)  I need to get some sleep tonight, because tomorrow at 10 am sharp, I am going to be one of the judges at our neighborhood 4^th of July parade.  For the last three years or so, I have had the dubious honor, together with two other neighbors, of deciding which float is the best.  We’ve always been unanimous in our selection.  Hoping tomorrow won’t be any different.

4)  Yes, I know that tomorrow is the 6^th of July.  Our neighborhood party is usually on a Saturday closest to the actual 4^th.  That way, if the weather is horrid, we have a rain date.  If the weather is just ungodly hot, as it is likely to be tomorrow, we have the party and I just stay as still as possible.  We’ve lived in the neighborhood for 26 years and I can remember only once that we’ve had to use the rain date.

5)  The photos I’m posting today are from around Flåm, Norway.  What a beautiful little town!  While I would normally link to Life According to Jan and Jer's Friday's Fences, Jan and Jer are on a much deserved mini-vacay this week and it will resume next week.  I'm sure I can find more fences and link up then.

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