Friday July 6, 2007
Remember the rain we had in London … and Paris … and Amsterdam … and Flam and Gudvangen?
Well, that’s all changed. We woke yesterday morning to clear blue skies, sunshine and temperatures that reached 27 degrees – and today’s been even hotter: 30 degrees (at least) and simply glorious!
Our ship docked this morning in another stunning Norwegian town – Aalesund – known far and wide for its beautiful architecture. Especially the turrets, spires and ornamentation which give the town a fairytale feel.
But wait, there’s more: Aalesund offers a profusion of fjords, small fishing communities, island gems and majestic mountains.
Quite frankly, this place is magic!
Hot on the heels of breakfast, we disembarked and took a short coach-drive through some of the world’s longest sub-sea tunnels to the island of Godoy, where we stopped for a leg-stretch in the charming fishing village of Alnes – plus a climb-up the local lighthouse.
Then we pressed on to another island, Giske, birthplace of the famous Viking King ‘Gangerolv’, who conquered Normandy in 911 (and became the ancestor of William the Conqueror, sire to the English Royal Family).
PEOPLE NEWS: Some more hotly sought-after Midlife Madness Awards have been given out – maybe to someone you know?
* The ‘Made In Korea Award’ to Soon Ja T – for regulary forgetting to wear her lovely pink group name-badge. (Okay, you had to be there … but it was funny!)
* The ‘Little Miss Muffet Award’ to Joy J – who walked down the wrong wrong in Kristiansund and sat on her tuffet waiting for the wrong bus.
* The ‘Red Light District Award’ to Heather T – for turning to the writer during last night’s dinner and saying (quietly) “You can squeeze mine too, if you like …” – her exact words! (Okay, we’d actually been discussing how to get the last little bit of white meat out of our shrimp shells – somebody said you just squeeze them – and Heather was offering me her shells. But why let the facts get in the way of a good story? Poor Heather, of course, lit up like a red light!)
TOMORROW: Teetering peaks, waterfalls and a gorgeous fjord. So stay tuned …
Yours bloggedly – JOHN
To Betty Squire,
Hi, Been following your trip with great interest. Looks like you are having a fabulous time!! All is well here. Mitch & Ben came to the farm in the weekend. Nana & Poppa had a lot of exercise with excursions to the valley, fishing off the beach and gold lessons on the paddock. Needless to say, Mitch & Ben beat Nana & Poppa very quickly in the golf shots except they lost 10 out of the 12 balls!. Do you know where we can get another large bucket of balls (cheap)?!
Hope you are all having a great time……love to you, Bard & Dave & Patti
J & B
Greetings to Judy and Edgar H.
Wow. I have been following your journey and am green with envy! hope your eyesight has improved, Edgar, and you are able to take in all the sights!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU for the 10th, Edgar. What a memorable birthday it will be. Have a great day.
Much love to you both
Lynette and Robin
Hi, Grandma and Grandad!
It’s Rebecca here!
Happy birthday to Grandad and I hope you really enjoy your day today!!!!
I hope it will be good weather from now on!
How are you doing???
I’m really enjoying the holidays and it’s lots of fun having two weeks off school!
I’m doing a jazz ballet holiday program and i’m sure it’s gonna be great!
Yesterday me and mum rode the horse and my riding boots slipped off so I rode the horse barefoot!! On Sunday the ground was white with frost!!!
See ya!,
Rebecca:-)
Hi there, Tom here.
Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots and Lots of birthday love to you Grandad. I hope you guys have been having good weather because we sure haven’t. We have recently been having horse riding lessons and I have been riding a BIG clydesdale.
Lots of love,
Tom
Hi!
We hope you have a wonderful birthday – just don’t spill anything ok?
We’re having a great time with Francine and the kids – lots of laughter and entertaining moments!
Loving the school holidays – so good not to have be up at 6:30am 🙂
Love to you both,
Kristine
Hello travellers!
Hope you have a great birthday Dad.
We’re having a fun time with Francine & the kids around. Lots of adventure/exploring walks and wood chopping, etc.
The studio building is getting there – all the painting is done, sliding doors are in and some light fittings are in. Can’t wait to have it done!
Love you both heaps,
Phil
Hi Jocelyn & Noel,
Your trip sounds great except for the rain, so pleased that the sun is now shinning for you all.Hello to John and Robyn good so see that you are keeping your eyes and ears open. Minus 7-7 Sunday morning, 6-4 yesterday and 5-4 this morning. I guess it will be even colder down in the town. Sunny days after the frost so that is a bonus.Coronet Peak is looking beautiful and has been so busy with the school holidays that the mountain has reached capacity twice and skiers have been turned away.
Take Care.
Rae & Winston
Hi Murray and Joy, Hope your both well and having a great time. I hope you got on the right bus in the end mum. Had you lost dad?Anyway we are just surviving the cold here. Boomer frost yesterday with no thaw at all, black ice everywhere even Kew hospital had to open a second A&E department to cope with all the accidents,falls etc. Needless to say I havnt left the farm and wont be till I need to. The sun is out today so Rach will hopefully get to ride Luke. The kids had a full days sking on Sunday. They were waiting for the chairlift at 8.45am and we were down off the mountain at 4pm. I had a call from Robyn this morning, she said they have sent you emails but hadnt had a reply. Are you able to get emails away? Anyway better go and see if Rach has got the banana cake in the oven and I had better stoke the fire again. Catch you later love pam.
Happy Birthday Edgar Hornblow – if the ship doesn’t know it’s your birthday by now, there’s been a communication breakdown!
Anyway – have a great time – we’re thinking of you.
Judy – Carole says hi, and she goes into Royston for her op’ on Thursday 12th. Good old Southern Cross!
Your postcard from Kristiansand arrived today – 4 days to get here – that is service!
(Where are all the ship photos?)
Happy Birthday to you Grandma!! (Margaret Bates!!)
We hope you are having a wonderful day.
All our love
Mark, Tans, Amanda, Nathan and Larissa
PS will be at Averils over the weekend and will share a cake in your honour of course .. what a hardship!!
Have emailed a clip from the kids … if you can get to your email.