Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
646Sogndal was our decision point: should we continue north to Geiranger or start the journey eastwards back toward home. Geirangerfjord is supposed to be perhaps one of the most impressive fjords in Norway but we decided that we were all fjorded out and opted to take the tourist road over the mountains to Lom instead. This route is definitely worth making part of your itinerary – particularly when the sun is out as it was for us. The views across the Jotunheimen mountain range were stunning.
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Posted in Family, Friends, Travel | Comments Off on Back over the mountains
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
637Next stop from Bergen was Gudvangen where we were staying at Gudvangen Camping in another hut. Sat on the balcony of our accommodation we had a great view of the waterfalls tumbling down the cliff face opposite – all the more so when the sunshine was replaced by an impressive thunderstorm in the evening. It was hard to believe that the road we looked out over was the main route from Oslo to Bergen, particularly as the traffic seemed mainly to consist of empty tour buses!
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Posted in Family, Photography, Travel | Comments Off on Trains and (more) fjords
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
622Our first choice for accommodation on the outskirts of Bergen had fallen through and we picked Riplegården Sommerpensjon in a bit of a rush. We were a bit dismayed when the guy showing us around proceeded to tell us not to leave our car up the road otherwise the windows would get smashed and about the drug addicts they had to throw out in the winter. It also transpired that most of the accommodation was taken by long term residents so, poised ready to leave, we waited to see who came home from work. As it turned out, everyone was very nice and, although in need of a good clean, the pensjon actually made a good base for our four night stay in Bergen and did, as promised, have a good view over the fjord from the balcony.
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Posted in Family, Travel | Comments Off on In and around Bergen
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
616Having waved goodbye to Christine’s Mum at Geilo station the next leg of our journey took us away from the railway and up on to the Hardangervidda plateau. Perhaps due to the bright blue skies overhead it didn’t look quite as bleak and barren as I had imagined it to be. It was a pleasant enough drive though with some nice white peaks in the distance and the odd glacier to add to the scenery.
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Posted in Family, Food, Travel, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Mountains and fjords
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
610We had always planned to take some time off to explore Norway towards the end of our stay here and, with practically no-one left in Oslo to work with, the end of July seemed like a good time to go. We had thought about getting the train across to Bergen but practicality prevailed and we decided to drive the hire car across. We still intended to make the most of scenery though by taking the R7 throught the Hardangervidda.
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Posted in Family, Travel | 2 Comments »
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
595We’ve had a fairly quiet weekend at home in Oslo. Christine was sick on Thursday night (food poisoning we reckon although we’re not quite sure from what) and was still recovering. We just went in to town yesterday. We started out at the playground in Aker Brygge although Emma largely ignored this and just walked her buggy up and down instead. Next stop was the tourist information office in the hope that they would help us decide on the route for our summer trip to the west coast. Strangely enough, although very nice, they couldn’t really help in our general indecision between having a relaxing few weeks and cramming in the sights. We walked back home via Frognerparken as the sun was shining by this point.
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Posted in Family, Orienteering, Travel | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
583The rain continued today so where better place to go than an aquarium? This one is down on the east side of Oslofjord at Drøbak and contains examples of many of its residents (the fjord that is, not Drøbak). It’s not all that large but it kept Emma amused for a while even if only climbing up and down the ramps and stairs! The building also lays claim to being the world’s only lutefisk (dried cod tenderized in lye) museum which mercifully seemed to be largely tongue-in-cheek. It wasn’t really the weather for heading out to Oscarsborg festning which guards the narrows of the fjord. Instead, we settling for a short walk around the town (undoubtedly more picturesque on a sunny day) including an obligatory stop at the Christmas tack shop (otherwise known as Julehuset) and a very nice lunch at the bakery.
Posted in Travel | 5 Comments »
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
580We headed east to Rømskog this morning for Christine to run in the Unionsmarathon. After watching her start, Emma and I played in the sunshine on the grassy start/finish area, watched the kids run their races in some smart looking numbered vests, and then drove off after the marathon runners. We managed to see Christine a couple of times before reaching the Swedish border across which the hire car wasn’t allowed to go. Emma and I therefore stopped for lunch and then had a wander around the lake shore (only disturbing the one "optionally clothed" local!) before heading back to the finish. Christine finished in a good (given the terrain/climb) time of 4.5 hours and as second lady. It sounds like it was a bit of a struggle to get round but she seems to be recovering well afterwards. Just a shame she didn’t finish 10 minutes earlier so that we didn’t have to watch from the car whilst sheltering from the thunder and lightening!
Posted in Running, Travel | 2 Comments »
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