"Typical Norwegian Tradition"

Finnaly it`s autumn. My favourite seson of the year. I just love the colours and the light outside. (Forget the fact that the weather is bad, it`s been like this for months allready som we just have to skip that issue..... :-))

All over Norway people are enjoying one of the most traditional Norwegian dishes called Fårikål. It`s basicly just sheeps meet (lamb), cabbage and hole black pepper, boiled in a big pan for a coupple of hours. It`s probably the number one Sunday dinner at this time of year.

For the more experienced once we have Smalahove. The skin and fleece of the head is torched and the head is salted and dried. The head is boiled and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes. Smalahove is concidered by some to be unappealing or even repulsive.

Originally, Smalahove was considered eaten only by poor people, but in modern days it's considered to be a delicacy.

It is mostly enjoyed by enthusiasts, and is often served to tourists and braver visitors.

Bon Apetit

Drops of water

I just HAD TO post what I think is my first really good picture. Its probably not perfect in any way but after attending the photo course that I have been looking forward too for so long, its so fun to finally starting to learn what its all about. I still have a long way to go and I don't even own my own camera beside my small compact digital camera but what the heck...

Its a start and I think it`s a good one :-)

(and isn't there a face on the right side???)

Ripley

In Thailand we visited the Ripley museum. It was really cool and there was an unbeliveble scary "haunted house" guarded by this crazy man....

Bad Hair Day?

This is my mom. Lucky for her, my little sister just started working as a hairdresser.

Well.... it`s not actually her hair but I just love this picture. She is the best mom ever and the look that she got in her eyes in this picture is the type of smile that she gets all the time. She is a great cook, she makes terrible stupid jokes all the time, she is very caring for all the people around her. Once I slept at my parents house after working late. I came "home" at 4 in the morning. Working for 14 hours. On a chair beside the bed was a little bowl with a few fresh strawberry that my mom had picked in the garden.....

That's the kind of things that makes her the best mom ever :-)

Space

When we went to London, this August, we spent a whole day at the Science Museum. It was great and just like the Louvre in Paris, we could have walked around for days before we had seen it all. Tor was especially happy for the big Space Exhibition. It was really cool. There was also a big exhibition called "Making the Modern World" that we spent a lot of time exploring.I really recommend you to go and take a look at it :-)

Python

At a bar in Thailand, a man approached me with a BIG snake around his shoulders. It was Tor who talked to him at first and told him to go away. He knows that I don`t like snakes. I had drank a couple of beers and I told Tor that I waned to hold the snake. I would never ever said that if I was sober... The guy came over to us and put the snake around my shoulders and I felt like freaking out any second. In my mind I was just thinking of not make any moves that could scare it. As Tor said later, the snake was probably just fed or drugged or something because it was really calm. After a little while I heard some talking in Thai and suddenly an other guy put a second snake around me on top of the other one. I didn`t dare to freak out so the seconds felt like they lasted for hours. I suddenly got quite sober again. Wonder why...

I somehow managed to grab my camera and took a picture while I had a head on my hand.
Oh.... I`m freaking out just thinking about it.

The next evening we went to the movie to see "snake on a plain" Happy I hadn`t seen the movie first ;-)

"Have you ever seen the rain?!?"

Bergen is called "the city between seven mountains" This unfortunately results in a lot of rain all trough the year. When I say a lot I really mean A LOT!! But it`s really nothing compared to the rain showers we had in Thailand....
We knew that we was traveling during the rain-season and alltrough we were lucky. It only rained for two nights. The night this pictures was taken we had just entered a bar in "the Walkingstreet" to see some Thai Boxing and get a couple of beers. The rain came and in just 30 minutes the streets were flooded. All the electricity went out and the thunder and lightning was crazy just over our heads. Although it was a bit scary right then it truly was one of the highlights of the trip. As we predicted, after about 20 minutes Thai people were running around selling umbrellas. Every moment is a sales moment :-)

Smiley faces

2 weeks in beautiful Thailand. We just got back and has started looking at all the pictures we took. Must be nearly 300 together. A lot of typical "tourist photos". It`s kind of funny thinking about how we laugh when we see tourist walking around with big maps and cameras allways in use. On our holiday we are just the same. We forget everything around us and concentrate on getting the best shots and the most.

The trip has been wonderful. I have never been in a country with so many smiley faces. Sincerely smiling faces. Mama San at the bar we went to, James at the hotel, Eck who arranged the trip and the nice waitresses at "The Surfhouse". Those people made my holiday the best ever. The sun is the same weather you`re in Spain or in Thailand but the people you meet makes the memories....

House

There was a lot of great buildings in London but this house especially stroke got my attention. Too bad I was stuck on a Double Decker and could`nt get off to take a better shot...

Terror or not, here we come....

Wembley Stadium

August 10th. Me, Tor, Thomas and Kristin met at the airport at 08.30 in the morning. Really looking forward to the Madonna concert at Wembley, England the same evening. 30 minutes after we had left Bergen by plane the captain gives us the bad message: "I`m sorry to inform you that we have to turn the plane around and return to Bergen. Something has happened in London and we are not permitted in to the English Airspace. It has something to do with Terror but I don`t know anything more than that at this moment"

I almost felt like crying when I got the message. At first becorse we where gonna miss the concert and then I realized that something terrible could have happened in London...
On the news that same morning I heard about 20 people getting arrested in London for planning attack at airplanes heading for USA and I suddenly got afraid that they had sucsessed.

When we arrived back in Bergen we were informed that nothing had happened in London but the airports were teperarily closed becorse of the high security.
In Bergen journalists from TV and local newspapers was crowding around us. They had heard us talking about how the h.... We were going to get to the concert in time... We were interview by two newspapers and one TV station.

To make a long story short:
We managed to book tickets to the only Norwegian airplane that landed at Gatwick that day. After a 180 pound, 1 1/2 hour long taxi drive from the airport we barley made it to the concert in time. (she started 15 minutes after we arrived!!!)
The concert was FANTASTIC!! and it was over too soon.

The other days in London we spent walking around being tourist taking a lots of pictures, eating good food (Sunday we went to Jamie Oliver`s restaurant Fifteen. That was a great experience)

Because of the high security at the airports in London we almost didn`t reach our plane back home. It was really weird. Everyone was walking around with see-trough plasticbags and there was police all over.

Now it`s only three days left before we leave rainy Bergen and goes to Thailand :-)

Cairina moschata

I have just come back from a great summer holiday week in Moss. I spent the days at my aunt and uncle`s "new" house. It was a great week and it was hard getting back to work :-)
Me and Alfred took some great night photos. You can see one here :http://thelocomotives.blogspot.com/ Night
In just 2 1/2 week me, my boyfriend Tor, Thomas and Kristin (some of of our best friends) are going to London to see Madonna live at Wembley stadium. Yippi!!!!
When we get back from London it`s going to be a loooong week at work before we jump on an airplane, august 17th for two weeks in beautiful Thailand.

On my way to work this morning this crazy, BIG bird showed up in front of me. I know, it`s not a very good picture but the bird was almost 1/3 of my size and it was really creepy. I slowly backed up while grabbing my camera from my purse. I was shaking a bit and was anguish to get away from it. I had no idea of what kind of bird it was. When I got to work I looked up a website where you could ask an ornithology. He told me the birds name. I`ve never seen anything like it. It would be fun to know if it is a rare bird to see here in Norway...

Up and away......

This weekend I really surprised my family in Moss by showing up at their garden party without them knowing anything. My aunt sent me an invitation to come to their new house for a party. They live in Moss which is 1 hour east from Oslo. Its a bit far to travel just for a weekend but hey!!! It`s not that often I get invited to a party :-)

I had a great weekend visiting all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and my grand parents. I`m going back there in about 1 1/2 week. Then I`m staying for a week.

Solund by the beautiful Sognefjord

Wiew of the Sognefjord

My mom and my aunt outside our cabin

My mom and her sister lives at different sides of the country but at least once a year they meet at the family cabin in Solund by the Sognefjord - three hour drive from Bergen. It`s kind of in the middle of nowhere and the scenery is beautiful in different ways all year.

The stone that their sitting on is my mom`s favorite place in the whole world. She can sit on that stone for hours, all summer, all year and she never gets tired of the wiew. Sometimes at night we have to drag her inside som that she don`t get eaten up by mosquito's :-)

Buekorps

Last Sunday the sun was shining and it was hot outside.

Brought my camera with me and took some pictures in the city center.

"A BUEKORPS (literally Bow Corp or Archery Brigade) may, basically, be described as groups of boys who take to the streets of Bergen each spring and march to the beat of drums, flying their flags and sporting their uniforms. They are a traditional and very popular feature of the Constitution Day celebrations in the City of Bergen on 17th May each year. They all march through the months of March, April,May and June to the uninitiated observer they still have the military character of years gone by. Many in Bergen say that the buekorps marching is a sign of spring and it drums in our heart each years" It really is a sign of summer for me :-)You can read more about it at http://www.buekorps.no/

P3 Sessions in Bergen

From a clear blue sky you could all over Bergen, hear great music from four great bands playing a free outdoor concert at "Festplassen" in the middle of the city. 4 great Norwegian bands, Heros & Zeros, The Owens, Minor Majority and Ralph Myerz & the Jack Herren Band (Pictures) made us all want to stay up all night party.

Me and my best friend Kathy enjoyed it together with 5000 others.

May 17. 2006 The Norwegian National Day

Bergen, May 17. 2006 The Norwegian national day. For once it didn`t rain (as it usually does in Bergen about 364 days a year :-) http://www.visitbergen.com

Bergen is located west in Norway. It`s my home town and I love it here.

If you ever want to come for a visit I`ll give you a free tour :-)