Ash st(r)uck

Last week I was in Northern Norway when the volcano Eyjafjallajökul started messing about.
To make a long story short, the trip home that normally would have taken a couple of hours took two days.
And I was lucky compared to many others.
I am sharing some of the pictures from the train ride home, day two.
We are in between Trondheim and Hamar, mid part of Norway.

Not the best quality I am afraid, taken with a cell phone out of a train window!

I love the majestic, serene beauty of the mountains.
They don't care about harsh weather, about man's struggle, life and death.
Timelessness.

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Coming home, I was met with another bout of snow (melting away during the day).
But the day after -  my favourite spring sign: The return of the wild geese.
I just love that sight and sound! 
Welcome back! How wonderful that you made it!
They are happily cheering each other on: Not far now! Keep the formation!

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The weekend before last, I had another lovely ride with my daughter.
We packed food for the horses, and started out in lovely spring weather.

Happy Norwegian Cowboy #1 (undercover dressage lady on secret mission)

Happy Norwegian Cowboy #2.
Not chasing cows, but a place to eat!

Fame is fascinated by the sight and sound of the small waterfall.
We rode to our favourite place place to stop, and the horses were very happy for that.
They know the way, and they know what's up when we arrive...

Lunch time!
My daughter is Purchase Manager, I am the Bank and Horse Manager.
She happily purchases away whatever they have got.
Today's catch is waffles, carrot cake and chocolate cake. 
Health food for hungry cowboys. 
(Bank got busted.)

Down to the leftovers.

This lovely place is under siege from hungry people wandering around in the area.
We are in between skiiers and bikers though, so today it was a peaceful place.
When everything is eaten up, it is time to leave.

Bye for now!
Fame and Charlie are happily walking along towards home.

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During the upcoming three months I will work in Germany three days a week due to a large project.
It will be hard work, but interesting too.
Might be less time for blogging though. 
We'll see.

Tour de Norvège

I have been out and about in Norway, visiting branch offices in my new job.

This week it was Tromsø and Bergen, next week it will be Stavanger.

Tromsø is situated north of the polar circle, and at this time of the year the sun never rises.
This is taken outside the airport when I arrived, 11ish am.

It is however a lighter period around the middle of the day, like twilight.

Tromsø is famous for its Northern lights (aurora borealis) at winter time, unfortunately I did not see any during my stay.

The lifeline of the coast in earlier days, Hurtigruten, lays to quay in Tromsø.

It is a coastal cruise line that still is important for transportation of goods and people (and quite many tourists), and is called the "Worlds most beautiful sea voyage" as it also enters the fjords on the scenic west coast.

The Norwegian coastline has the Atlantic winds and water coming straight at it, so weather can really be harsh.
Even so, it has been easier to transport goods and people by the sea than through the mountains.

Hurtigruten sails along the coast, starting from Bergen and ending at Kirkenes at the Russian border. It takes a week.

In the picture above and below we are looking back towards the city.

Tromsø has about 65.000 inhabitants, and is the 7th largest town in Norway.

At the right hand side of the picture, where the bridge ends, you can see one of the famous landmarks, the Arctic Cathedral (upside down V-shape).

Even if Tromsø is situated far north it is not so cold due to the Gulf stream.

It was just below freezing point during my stay.

Travelling in Norway is not easy.
The country is long and it is mainly mountains, so you have to fly.

Going from Tromsø to Bergen I got the "slow train" by air, going down in Bodø and Trondheim before arriving in Bergen.

It took close to four hours.

Bergen is the second largest town in Norway, and was the largest in Scandinavia until the 17th century.

In the middle ages it was an important Hanseatic city, and Bryggen in Bergen is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. You can see it above and below.

The second night I had some more time on my hands, so I decided to take a stroll over to Bryggen, and try to find a restaurant as there were some in the old buildings.

Here you can see what they look like.

Bryggen was founded around 1070, and was from 1360 to 1754 the site for the Hanseatic trading in Norway.

After trying two restuarants that were full, I was finally lucky with the third!

There is a lot of people dining out before Christmas.

Below is the entrance to the restaurant, Bryggen Tracteursted.

I got the last table!

Even if I was the first to arrive, the room was full after 20 mins.

To visit the toilets you had to go outside the restaurant (below).

It rained when I was there (as it often does in Bergen) so it was nice to walk along the old passages with some roof over my head.

As I was in meetings during the daytime, unfortunately all pictures had to be taken in the dark - sorry for that!

Now we're back at the hotel.
Thanks for accompaning me!