Norway - Lillehammer

On the way back south-east towards Oslo, we stopped overnight at Lillehammer. It's a beautiful town, very proud of its Olympic history. We drove up to the ski jump park, and while we were there, we witnessed the summer ski-jump rehearsal technique. A couple of plastic tracks run down each ramp, with a soaker hose to keep everything wet. The artificial and real grass on the landing area is also sprinkled. The track is frightfully steep, and those guys really do fly!

The parks were lush and very well looked after. One restaurant/hotel had a moose's head inside on the wall. The rest of the moose was outside. And the (Olympic) ice rink had some snow/ice outside which led to an inevitable snowball fight. I think the adults won, but that might not be a unanimous opinion.

Norway - Trollsteigen

The Troll Steps are a tourist highlight. We drove up a lonely (although not comletely deserted) zig-zag road to the top, only to be confronted by about 30 tourist buses and a hundred cars, with all the souvenir shops you'd expect. But the view down the long fjord-like valley was certainly impressive.

Norway - Ålesund

We had a wonderful drive/cruise along the Sognefjorden on our way from Geiranger to Ålesund.

The view from the lookout at the top of the city hill was rather spectacular.

Norway - Songdal and Geiranger

We enjoyed the mountains and fjords around Songdal and Geiranger, and managed to get fairly close to two glaciers. We didn't have time to do the full-day glacier walk, but that would be fun one day.
It seems that if you get to a tourist lookout destination in Norway, and there's no other culturally-acceptable way to tell people you've been there, then your only recourse is to build a small pile of stones. We were amused by this in many places.

Norway - Bergen

Bergen was my favourite part of Norway. I'm not famous for my seafood appetite, but I really enjoyed the fish market in the centre of town - especially the smoked fish that we just ate in our fingers.

Christopher missed out on some spectacular scenery. And it was interesting to see the contrasting countryside. We drove through the Hardangervidda highlands, which were rather austere. And then there were lush forests and waterfalls.

Norway - Oslo to Geilo

It was nearly two months ago (mid-August) that we went for a summer holiday to Norway. In Oslo, we went to the Folk Museum.

The speed limits were low most of the time, but not everyone kept to it. And sometimes we didn't grasp the vernacular so well.

There were odd places by the side of the road, very often covered with grass - even when insulation didn't seem very important. And even a month after midsummer, there were still places with snow.

Christopher couldn't come, but we managed to find an occasional substitute.

Sophie's visit

Sophie's over here on a holiday at the moment. Well "here" in the wider sense I suppose, since she's just left for Zurich this afternoon. But we looked after her here for nearly a week, and the plan is that she'll come back after her Swiss/French jaunt to join us for the half-term holiday at the end of October.
We went for some walks on the hills, and nice drives through Wales, Cotswolds, and Herefordshire.

And Christopher managed to spend his 2nd birthday with his godmother.