24 Aug 2010 – Day after the Wedding

Sun: a pleasant farewell breakfast in the main farm-house ending the magic where trolls turned back to stones 🙂

Bjørn EGGEN HERMANSEN, May’s friend drove us to meet his parents whose cabin is on the way to Nerskogen. Appreciations to Berit&John’s hospitality for a nice afternoon and thank you for taking care of May.

Anne&Roar’s new cabin (brown) at Nerskogen, app 1hr 30mins drive from Trondheim and app 1hr drive from Storlidale. This is my first visit and to me it is surely more a house than a cabin!  Also a very relaxing hideout for the father of the bride… 🙂 🙂

The term cabin usually means the bare necessities but their new place has all the luxuries from running hot & cold water, sauna, warm-cabled floors, dish washer, TV etc, you name it and it is there!

The neighbour’s cabin (red) also had grass on the roof but flowers added more colour on their roof and the grass seems greener across the fence 🙂 🙂 🙂

The grass is always greener over the septic tank – Emma Bombeck

23 Aug 2010 – Trollheimen/Home of the Troll

Sat: Guri & Hans Olav’s wedding started with a rainbow. What a romantic and beautiful day for this wonderful couple and such an honour to be there with family & friends of the bride & groom. The wedding started at 1200n with a church service, touching speeches, delicious food (trout, smoked-roast lamb and berries all specially made from the farm), good wines etc & dancing at the barn until 0400hrs! Best wishes and good luck to their future.

During the Christian era, pagan shrines and grave-mounds were replaced by churches and chapels. Lønset Church where the service was held is one of the five rural churches built at that time. Heather and alpine meadows provide grazing for sheep in the summer in this region. 1,161 km² of the mountains has been held since time immemorial as a almenning/collective by farmers in the area, giving them the right to hunt, fish, and rent cabins.

The climate is harsh here, even by Norwegian standards (we were blessed with sunshine today). Among other things, snakes have never made it this area, a place for me… not 🙂 Main industries today are agriculture, tourism and some light manufacturing. It has the largest sheep population in Norway, with 45,000 heads of sheep put out to graze in the mountains every year. It is one of Norway’s best ski-resorts and is surrounded by national parks.

Cocktails & dinner in the barn

Kodah moments with May, Marianne, Roar, Anne & Amund.

A memorable wedding day ending with dessert/the wedding cake + at least 10 other kinds of cakes, drinks, dance and dreamland for me 🙂

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person – Mignon McLaughlin

22 Aug 2010 – On the Road to a Wedding

Fri: E6 brings back memories when we used to drive from Dublin to Tromsø during our summer holidays along Norway & Europe largest deepest lake Mjøsa/100km north of Oslo, 117km long and 15km wide at its widest.

Road works on part of E6 due to widening of the road from Oslo to highway 3 was reason to a longer drive than expected. Headed towards Folldal with breath-taking views of Snøhette/Snow Hat. Welcoming coffee & cake break at Berit & Thorstein’s cabin/friends of Ingrid & HansK at Lønset en route to Storlidale/Storli Valley.

On the narrow road to Bortistu, the road-sign M is for pulling aside when there is traffic on the opposite direction. Thank goodness there was hardly any traffic in the opposite direction! The actual drive is about 6hrs but with stops and visit we arrived after 8hrs. Bortistu, where the wedding celebrations are held used to be a farm belonging to the Storli family. The barn/red building is renovated in 1938 to be a function room for up to 100 people. The surrounding buildings have 26 rooms with 70 beds for guests. The black/white picture was taken in 1880. The first weather record for the farm is dated 1579. Indeed a charming farm with a personality!

Arrived about 1830hrs and was greeted by the bride Guri, my god-daughter’s parents. Anne & Roar STENSETH go a long way back from our days in Tromsø. 3-days farm-wedding celebration is a good way to catch up and meet new people.

After food & drinks… let the games begin!

Games lubricate the body and the mind – Benjamin Franklin

18 Aug 2010 – Happy Anniversary to Ingrid & Hans Kristian

Mainly people pic for now until I get to a different part of Norway this weekend. The info & pic for Oslo posting was done in 12 Jul 2008. Good to meet up and shop with Marianne and welcome to the new addition, Edvard. Was in Oslo for their wedding 2 years ago/posting 11 Aug 2008 – Happenings

Was informed that the summer here in Oslo this year (now it is towards end of summer) has not been that fantastic ie weather-vice. Been here nearly a week and so far no complains. Had 2 days of rain but still warm enough to go without a jacket. Sat evening was a beautiful evening an outdoor performance by the Oslo Opera at the Opera House where the stage was a floating platform with a large crowd and fireworks to end the evening. A little taste to start the opera season was very delightful, even with just standing space!

Sun: As I am typing this my eyes spied the neighbour hanging up the hammock, wheeled a small table for his refreshment and relaxing in the sun. Norwegians are known to be sun-worshippers, especially this year! Family & friends of the Ingrid & Hans Kristian gathered to celebrate a beautiful day, probably the last day of summer! Thank you for a wonderful sunday.

Mon: met up with Mette and had a nice chat over coffee and a glass of wine. Our paths crossed in the early 1980s when I was going thru’ a difficult time in my life’s journey! We travelled to Ibiza and it was an eye opener for me to be there then! That was my first and last trip to Ibiza, not my scene but glad to have had experienced a week of it. A beautiful gipsy fortune-teller told me then that there will be three men in my life… hmmm my father, my grandson and maybe another grandson 🙂

Thank you to Ole K & Hanna for dinner yesterday. Nice to get to know their children, Jenny & Martin. Fond memories of Linn & Ole K when we were living in Tromsø over 30yrs ago. Where did all those years go???

The longest journey of any person is the journey inward – Dag Hammarskjold

8 Aug 2010 – Fireworks

How fortunate to be here for the fiesta in honour of Calpe’s patron saint La Virgen de las Nieves.

During this time the towns commercial activity virtually shuts down for the celebrations. Festivities begin at dawn with flutes and drums in the streets and include processions, bull-running, dancing in the streets, live music, sporting events and firework (my favourite) displays.

What a life! Walked Playa Arenal-Bol, De Calpe, De La Fosa, visiting the trendy shops and disco!

Thanks to Rita & Jürgen, Kitty & Dennis visited and what a treat to taste Rita’s yummy home-made paella with Sangria to drink and fresh fruit salad.

Breathtaking views from up the hills, 15mins walk from the house!

The view after 60 is breathtaking. What is lacking is someone, anyone of the older generation to whom you can turn when you want to satisfy your curiosity about some detail of the landscape of the past. There is no longer any older generation. You have become it, while your mind was mostly on other matters – Willian Maxwell

6 Aug 2010 – A Very Brief History!

Originally settled by the Iberians/ancient Spanish people, Calpe was later the site of a Roman fish-salting factory, located at Los Banos de Reina. Controlled by the Moors during the Arab occupation of the Iberian Peninsular/8th-13th centuries, the Castle of Calpe was then built to defend the town against the Christian reconquest, but fell, app 1240 to forces under Jaime I of Aragon.

After the destruction of a small town called Ifach, built on the towering Penon de Ifach, a community was founded in a farmhouse overlooking Calpe bay which developed into the town now called Calpe.

1637, the town was sacked by Barbary pirates and many of its inhabitants taken to Algiers, where they remained prisoners for 5 years. The original walled town was extended during the 17th-18th centuries as the pop increased around an economy based mostly on fishing and salt production. The growth of tourism began back in the 1930’s and has continued to grow ever since, ultimately becoming the main source of income for the town

Avenida Gabriel Miró is Calpe’s main drag, running from the sea/Poniente Beach to the old town at the top of the hill. This street is filled with trendy and fashionable shops… all out of my price range!

Jazz performance at Bolero was fun, especially when the performers are all 60+ Thanks to Rita & Jürgen for a wonderful evening with fireworks to end it. This is the festival weekend; will post pictures with fireworks where the fascination only last for a blink of the eye, thus no history 🙂

The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice – Mark Twain 

4 Aug 2010 – Meeting with Kitty

Kitty from Ireland is also here at her holiday house in the area and we decided to spent Tue in Altea (pop: 23,780, area: 13.3sq mi), app 12km from Calpe. At present, the economy of Altea is based on tourism, which started to grow in the 1950s because of its good weather, beaches and the labyrinthine streets with whitewashed house-fronts that characterize the town.

During the Moorish domination the land around Altea belonged to the Taifa of Denia until it was recaptured by Christian Spaniards in 1244 under James I of Aragon. The town was quickly fortified, and walls were erected to enclose what is now known as the ‘old town’ from outsiders.

This maze of cobbled narrow and crooked streets with glimpses of the bay is one of the better features of the town. Other sights include the church of Nuestra Señora del Consuelo or La Mare de Déu del Consol/Our Lady of Solace, easily identifiable by its picturesque blue and white domes, tiled with glazed ceramics.

There is this lovely ceramic shop by Eugenio Mira and I just could not resist buying a small plate with a tree motive for EUR9!

Art begins with resistance – at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great labor – Andre Gide

1 Aug 2010 – Ifach

Aug Special Dates:

5 Aug – Happy Bday LAM ChengEn

9 Aug – Happy 45th Bday SIN

21 Aug – Guri & Hans Olav’s wedding day

What is happening… floods in China & Pakistan, fires in Russia, cool weather in SIN???

Fri: Rita & Jürgen had their Scandinavian friends over for drinks and finger food… great to meet the Norwegians and the Swedes.

The fresh produce market here is quite something.

Sat: boating & swimming all day along Costa Blanca. From whichever direction you approach Calpe, the dominating view seawards is of the Peñon de Ifach, a 332 metre rock that, has been used since Phoenician times as a defensive standpoint against pirates and Barbary raiders. It is now a Nature reserve (since 1987) and provides a shelter for a number of rare plants and home to over 300 species of animals including colonies of sea birds that use it as a nesting ground. Also the largest single rock in the Mediterranean called the Northern Rock by the Phoenicians to distinguish it from the Southern Rock at Gibraltar.

Sun: The sea is wonderful… so wonderful that I got sun-burnt on my back as I forgot to put sun-protection on my back yesterday 🙁 This morning a walk around the shady side of the Ifach and there, two crazy rock climbers (last pix: zoom in and you will find two tiny figures, ie your eye-sight is still good!). Risking their lives is one thing but… inconveniencing others if anything happens is entirly another issue!

If mankind doesn’t kill himself first on a mountain, he may just learn how to inhabit the Earth as god planned – Editorial in News after the ascent of the Nose