Over the Roof and through the Woods...

The day after Christmas we packed up our bags, said good bye to Lillehammer and grabbed the train to Trondheim. We tried to buy some beers to bring with us but Norway is very tight with their rules for selling alcohol- only government run liquor stores can sell it and Lillehammer only had one, it was closed for a week over the holidays.

For 4 hours we traveled in our comfy (if not overly warm) train seats, sharing our 4 set with a Norwegian teacher who pointed out many things we would not have know about otherwise.  The forests again were beautiful with their heavy covering of snow. And as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains our teacher explained that the route we were on followed the pilgrim's route between Oslo and Trondheim. High up in these frigid mountains people would trek, even in the winter. There are mountain stations throughout the land where people can rest and stay for a bit. BRRRRRRRR!

The forests soon gave way to bushes and scrub. The light again was fantastic. The train slowed to a stop and we were told we were atop the Dovrefjell. It's considered the midway point of the country, dividing north and south. It's also part of what they call the Roof of Norway. The highest area in the middle of the country. 

The train stopped so that they could change conductors and for about 15 minutes we gazed out at this beautiful if not barren land. It was quiet and still and stunning. 

Just as we started up again I glanced out my window and saw wild reindeer running! Of course the camera was turned off and they were only in view for a moment but yeah! Reindeer! On the roof of Norway! Surely this is where Santa is from :)

The train was filled with skiers (natch) and we stopped at various ski resorts letting them off. In the restaurant/bar car there were floor to ceiling picture windows where you could sit in lounge chairs and take in the scenery. 

It was dark when we arrived in the port city of Trondheim (3:30pm) and we bundled up for the short walk to our hotel the Rica Nidelven. A business hotel of sorts but modern and very nice with a little bar (that closed at 6pm) and right on the water. Trondheim is the 3rd largest city in Norway with a population of about 170k people (compare that with Seattle at around 640k just in the city proper!) and the most north we would get in Norway. From the end of May till the end of July the sun never sets on this cute little town.

After settling in to our hotel we went out to explore. Once the capitol of Norway and founded in 997 (!) it has always been a place of shipping and trading. We passed by the cute old warehouses now refurbished as condos, restaurants and shops along the river. 

We came upon the Nadaros Cathedral, strikingly lit. It's the largest church in Norway and the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world! Surrounded by it's graveyard (as we noticed other churches in Norway have) it was both beautiful and spooky. 

By now we were feeling the cold, around 10F (it's so much warmer near the water, ha!) so we headed back to our hotel.  Through town, past the Christmas tree in the center and the cheery holiday lights. We may have stopped at a 7-11 for a chocolate covered waffle snack... as you do.

Our friend Caitlin was flying in from London and as we waited for her we sampled some of the local aquavit at our hotel bar. Dayne then made us martinis for our traditional happy hour and later we went out and had a great dinner of Norwegian style tapas at Bakgarden Bar. 

Additional photos here!

A Walk Through Lillehammer

We took a beautiful train ride from Oslo to Lillehammer on Christmas day 2010. Sitting in our own compartment, enjoying free wifi & looking out at the amazing scenery was a perfect way to spend the morning. The trip took about 2 1/2 hours traveling northwest of Oslo & followed a really long lake much of the time.





Upon arriving in the tiny town of Lillehammer we walked 4 blocks to our hotel. It was cold, like minus 5F kind of cold! I had to stop and exchange my leather gloves for my ski gloves. That was the last time I'd wear the leather gloves on this trip.





Our hotel was perfectly situated right in the center of town. We checked in and found our rooms, both with small balconies and views of the lake. Then we bundled up & went out for a walk around before the sunset (3pm).






The streets were empty except for a handful of people & 3 cars. Snow was piled high in yards, on fences & on trees. The light and the sky reminded me of a watercolor, our cameras didn't do it justice. We passed cozy houses almost all with pretty Christmas lights in the windows & smoke rising from the chimneys. The town is really small & quaint.

We headed up to the Olympic Park, home of the '94 winter games. Although the center was closed there were still some interesting sculptures outside as well as the 2 big ski jumps to see. Some kids sledded on small hills while others played hockey on an outdoor rink.





By the time we got back to the hotel the sun had set and it was way too cold to be out. We got cozy in our room, opened our Christmas gifts and started happy hour. Soon after we took a bottle champagne (that we had chilled on our balcony) down to the lobby where they had a big fire going. The smell of burning birch was so homey!






Since the only restaurant in town that was open was in our hotel we had a short commute to dinner. A little dinner, some aquavit & a nightcap or 2 back in our room. The next morning we were off on another train ride headed just north of the arctic circle!

By the way, isn't Lillehammer just damn good fun to say?

More pretty pictures here


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Whidbey Island Weekend

Well a bit more than a weekend really. A friend celebrating a milestone birthday generously invited Dayne and I along with 6 others to enjoy 4 nights in a private house rental on Whidbey last month.

The house was awesome! Right on the beach with fantastic views of the sound. There were 3 1/2 bedrooms in the main house along with nice living room, sun room, dining room and big kitchen. Just below the house on the path leading to the beach were 2 more guest houses.  Hot tub, deck, wi-fi, the works!

We had such a great time! With sweat pants the official uniform of the weekend it was a very relaxing occasion. We had a small outing to Langley one afternoon for lunch. And another day Dayne, Jan & I went for a nice little hike on the beach and in the woods.

 Other than that the days were spent movie watching, book reading, star gossiping & playing games.

Each night we had a feast in which everyone got involved. The first was an epic crab dinner served with artichokes and Jan's homemade mayo. The house didn't have crab crackers so a large ladle was used for whacking shells open. There was crab a flying and we had quite a little shell mess at the end of the evening.

The 2nd night we had a huge choucroute garnie dinner complete with Lauren's awesome sauerkraut, pork belly, sausages, hot dogs and pretzel rolls.

The 3rd night we used our mad skills to make tamales. A first time for all of us & a really fun group project. They were DELICIOUS and we'll be making more again very soon.

Before dinner each evening there was an official happy hour in which co host Paul made up a drink of the day.

And every night after dinner there was a dance party/sing along in which yours truly DJ'd when I wasn't too busy getting my groove on.

 

We watched eagles in the trees and tankers in the sound and the amazing scenery and how it changed daily. 

On the last evening we had a big fire on the beach and lots of champagne which was just a perfect way to wrap up our little mini break. 

And of course there was the birthday!

Just a damn fine getaway spent with damn fine friends! Thanks and cheers to Lauren and Paul our amazing hosts!

To see the rest of the photos click here

Settled in the South of France

In June of 2008 we joined 21 friends in Provence for a week’s holiday in a grand chateau east of Avignon. Now a week might not sound like a terribly long time to be someplace, but for us as Americans our vacations are so limited that 2 days here and 3 days there is the norm.

Châteauneuf de Gadagne is tiny! Two bakeries, 1 bar/pizza shop and the post office. That’s it. The chateau sits atop the hill gazing at the town below. Each day we would stop at a neighboring village’s outdoor market and pick up fresh strawberries, a chicken, some sausages or salad makings. And wine; lots and lots of wine.

I guess I haven’t mentioned that these friends of ours (us included) are “foodies”. Serious, serious foodies. Many of us have been known to travel the globe just to eat at a certain restaurant or by a certain chef.

But this time we never went out for dinner. Not even once! In an area with Michelin- starred restaurants peppering the region we stayed at home. We enjoyed watching the sunset each evening from our patio over plates of local cheeses, olives and bread. And then on the last night all 23 of us created an amazing 5-course dinner and toasted our wonderful holiday.

The week felt luxuriously long and we felt like we had a home in Provence.  Slowing down and settling in connected us not only with the town but also with each other.

This post has been entered into the Grandtourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition

Fireworks in Oslo

The new year started with a bang for us, literally! In Oslo for our annual trip the 6 of us began the night with champagne, foie gras & Wasa crackers in our room at the Hotel Bristol. The price of drinks (& everything else!) in Norway was quite high so we packed a lot of our own booze in. Unfortunately both Forest's and Matt's bags were relieved of their bottles of champagne while leaving CDG so we had to make due with just the one we had picked up in Amsterdam duty free.

Earlier in the afternoon while exploring the city we had come across this very popular fireworks stand people were lined up at. Little did we know that what they were selling were not traditional fireworks like we get but boxes of mortars that would rival the city's show. 

 

We had heard that the city puts on a big fireworks display so after dinner we headed out towards the waterfront and for the first time in a week saw actual crowds of people. The holidays seem to be a very private affair in Norway, spent at home with families, so we hadn't really seen a lot of people until this night!

Locals were setting off their pre-show which easily equaled some professional ones!

And then right at midnight Oslo put on a really big show. The fireworks were beautiful! And lasted much longer than expected. What is it about fireworks that bring out the kid in us?

Afterward we headed back to the hotel bar where they were selling bottles of Veuve Cliquot for over $300, you don't even want to know what the Dom Perignon was going for...

I persuaded them to sell us a bottle of Prosecco ;)

2011 - A New Decade

Happy New Year everyone! We've just returned from our annual "ring in the new year" trip, this time in Norway. It was 10 years ago that this little tradition unofficially started. Dayne and I were just dating and Forest was getting ready to move to Annecy, France to study. Along the way her and some friends were heading to Italy and we all decided to meet up in Paris for New Years Eve. This would be Dayne's and my first trip together!

We started the evening with dinner at Au Pied de Cochon with Forest, Jeff and Tim (who's birthday it was also). It was very cold in Paris and we were planning on being outside at midnight so we made our dinner last probably longer than the restaurant would have liked. We then bundled up and headed out, bottles of champagne stuffed in our backpacks. Every bridge on the Seine was lit up with the new Euro symbol and the flags of each participating country were raised and waving. We made our way to Place de la Concorde where a huge crowd of people were gathered to watch the fireworks at midnight. Having drunk all of our champagne we bought beers from vendors with little tables set up for the occasion, toasted and kissed at midnight and then paraded down the Champs- Élysées with the rest of Paris.

We would later stop at a cafe, drink the rest of the night away and pay our tab with some of the first Euro's to be dispensed from an ATM in Europe!

A few years pasted with us having parties at home or heading out for dinner with friends for the occasion. But we missed that experience- how do others celebrate the new year? How do the cities look all decorated for the holidays? How many places can we drink Champagne in? And so in 2005, with 8 others we headed off to St. Petersburg, Russia and rang in the new year with vodka and live music on Nevsky Prospekt.

2006 took 4 of us to the Big Apple, possibly the world's best known New Years celebration. We chose not to stand in Times Square but went to one of those big ticketed party's, made our own fun and then headed to Pegu Club right after midnight.

In 2007 we were just 3 and we toured all over South Africa finally landing in Cape Town to see the new year come in with fireworks at the waterfront.

2008 would also mark my big 40th and we were off to Japan! Myself, Dayne, Forest and new year eve tripper first timer Matthieu would spend the evening at the Yasaka shrine in Kyoto with thousands of others. We drank beer and Saki while watching as people practiced the traditional first blessing of the year with prayers to Buddha before lighting a dried twig from one of the many lanterns in order to make the years first soup using flame from the temple.  

And in 2009 we traveled illegally to Cuba, welcoming the new year with aged Havana Club rum and canon shots in Havana's harbor.  Besides the normal 3, team Cuba included Matthieu for the 2nd time, Violaine and a different Tim.

And of course that brings us up to date with myself, Dayne, Forest, Matthieu, Violaine and new comer Caitlin watching some crazy ass fireworks and drinking Aquavit in Oslo Norway which I'll write about in a separate post.

I'm excited to see where the next 10 years will take us, what we'll see and experience and who will come along to share it with. It's been a hell of a decade, here's to the next!

From Hammersley with Sun

We are getting ready to go to Norway this week and it's going to be cold. Really, really cold. As in 5F kind of cold. I'm excited about it!! I've got a big puffy coat from when we went to Russia for NYE back in 2005, a new touke with ear flaps and new shearing lined boots. But as I get ready to pack tonight for the frigid weather I can't help but to think about the fun in the sun we had all summer.  And that makes me realize I never posted about our summer weekend at Hammersley Inlet (as well as many other places I'm behind on, natch!)

Doesn't that look just about perfect? It was! Our very nice friend Leslie invited us to use her family's summer house out by Shelton for the weekend. The drive was really pretty and once we crossed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and headed southwest of Bremerton it was un-chartered territory for us. Hammersely Inlet is just one of the many arms of water leading out to Puget Sound. They are very well known for the geoduck farms that sit just under the surface of the water. And of course the oysters and clams that come from this area are delicious. We also witnessed the biggest tide changes I have ever seen.

The weather was just hot enough to encourage swimming and eating outside. The first night after dinner we enjoyed the warm night sitting down by the water and watched shooting stars.

Waking the next morning in almost total silence and sunshine was amazing. There were only 6 other people in the area and those we only saw from a very far distance. Our only neighbors in fact seemed to be 2 otters or seals (how sad that we are such city folk we don't know the difference?) who kept an eye on us all weekend.

The few days away from noise, traffic, house chores, computers, etc was just what we needed. There wasn't a lot of planning before and the only sightseeing to do was paddling around the inlet. Nothing to do but soak up the rays and watch shellfish spit water to the sky like mini Bellagio Fountains.

So as I head off to pack silk long-johns, fur earmuffs and wool socks I'm remembering how it feels to wear flip flops while holding a cold beer lounging around the south sound. Thanks Leslie!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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