exactly one year ago i was in norway. lost in a storied scandinavian world. everything was new. glistening. the small lanes like pages in a worn book. a favorite story you want read to you every night before bed.
summertime in bergen. i stayed up past midnight watching the sun trying to sink into the sea. i stood outside on windy boat decks watching the north sea churn and froth below my feet. it was cold, but i couldn't go inside. too afraid i would miss something.
a week later my sister joined me in aalesund. we got on a roomy boat with only 4 other passengers and glided down a fjord. listening to the captain tell us stories about the brave norwegians who farmed the mountain sides a century before. growing apples and apricots. bringing livestock up on ropes. tethering their children so they wouldn't tumble into the fjords.
then we took a little coach to another larger boat that was fuller, but not crowded. we climbed aboard and sat at our own wooden table on the upper deck. wrote in our journals. ate hotdogs with crispy onions on top. while our coastal steamer glided through the deep waters.
fast forward to today. monday. overcast on a cool june morning in los angeles. and i am here. remembering last summer in norway.
A whole year since you went to Norway! It’s not surprising you’d like to go back to such a cool place.
Maybe you will, quite soon.
So wonderful pictures, verry nice!
Susan
Aaaah! But there’s no place like home!
One more comment: it would be amazing if you did small travel groups with journaling incorporated. Perhaps Norway could be the first one. All of life’s experiences lead us somewhere. Maybe your somewhere is to the airport with grown up students in tow. Sign me up!
At least you can still go back there in your mind and in your travel journals, Mary Ann. When I look at the roof top photo, I think I am IN one of those wonderful miniature train villages that people painstakingly construct to look so real. Wouldn’t that be a blast?!
Beautiful! And I liked the previous comment about small travel groups! You always go on amazing adventures!
Laura @ luckypennylove.com
Love love love travel memories (and plans for the next trip!)
Aaahhh, lovely Norway! The photos are wonderful, Mary Ann! My hubby and I were on a cruise the first part of May. His birthday was May 3 and we were at the Oslo, Norway port. For a birthday celebration I took him to an ICE BAR! The bar tender said the only things not ice in there, were the liquor and herself! And ironically, she was from California. We had great fun toasting my husband, laughing and trying to take photos with fur-lined parkas and leather gloves on! The weather outside was very cold, but when we left the Ice Bar, it seemed not so cold. Haha! Great memories of Norway! Such a beautiful, clean country! Thanks for bringing back my memories, too!
Such wonderful memories you are making! xoDonna
Lovely!
I like when the hot dogs are served on wax or parchment paper with a scoop of mashed potatoes instead of a bun. And you eat it with a wooden spork.
That is the great thing about travel….you can go back anytime you choose via your memories.
As for myself, I really want to go to Scandinavia to see stave churches, Viking ship museums, icy blue fiords and the midsummer nights when the skies never darken. But, most of all I want to see the Northern Lights so I guess I’ll just have to go in the winter and the summer.
Enjoy your memories!
The first photo reminded me immediately of Lake Como. I want to go back THERE! xo
Adore each and every photo and I know if it were me, I’d be remembering it all too. Breathing it in vicariously from my little spot on the map.
That’s so weird! I was going to say something about Iceland too, but someone beat me to it… Beautiful photos!
Ohhh, the rainy picture, really what it´s all about in june. Our old neighbour in NorthNorway had a saying “there can never be too much rain before midsummer” He was right. A dry spring ruins all crops, grass won´t grow, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, the few things that can survive upp north, needs rain and midnightsun to grow. Try Tromsö next time, the “Venice of the north” you will not regret. And why not wisit Bergen too =)
Norway gets under your skin, doesn’t it? Your pictures do something to my heart, I miss it so much. Next to the golden hills of California, Western Norway is my idea of paradise. I dream of a little white house on the edge of the fjord, some fruit trees and strawberry plants to take care of. Some day…
On my 52 Lists page of Places You Want To Go – I’ve added Norway based on your blog. I want to add Hungary too, because your stories were spectacular. Maybe its time to say goodbye to children and do small tours? To everything there is a season. I say this for selfish reasons.
Ah, such wonderful memories. The pictures are mesmerizing. That is what I love about traveling, all of the memories.
The hot dogs in Iceland are like those too, with crispy onions… you would like Iceland (hint hint).
Nice to relive the Norway trip! Tak!