Sauda Fjord Hotel

Det siste nye i Odda er ein cafê med namnet "Smelt". Den finn du i den gamle containerverkstaden på den tidlegare Smelteverkstomta, driven av keramikar og dagleg leiar Reidun Thorsen. Men Thorsen er ikkje åleine om å stille ut kunstverka sine her ...

We spent the past weekend in a hytte (cabin) in Vatlandsvag with friends from work. After a stormy drive on Friday afternoon and some trouble finding the cabin, we arrived at a gorgeous cabin on the fjord. The cabin was new and bright and was big enough to ...

What a wonderful trip! We saw so much and all of it was exciting. We began in London, having three days there before boarding the ship. We were again traveling with Princess Lines. It was overnight to Bergen, Norway. Like all Scandanavian countries, it was so clean and fresh looking. Bergen is fairly small with a wonderful "farmer's market" in the center. It is a very easy town to walk in ...

This weekend I went to Roldal for a ski trip with some friends from work. Roldal is in the mountains in Norway and is about a four-to-six hour drive from Stavanger depending on weather and if you make the ferry on time. The roads in Norway are hardly wide enough for two cars when there is no snow. Add some snow into the picture and it makes driving an adventure. It was snowing ...

... their occupation.... ? Museums: You can go to 3 museums for about $10CAD. They are all pretty good. One of which has some Edvard Munch, the Norwegian painter who did "The Scream", and others that I really enjoyed. He's among my favorite painters now, if not the favorite. The fish market: There is a famous fish market on the water's edge, centrally located in the city...sort of the city's nucleus. It's open everyday ...

... again stopping at some spectacular sights. One was a waterfall which separated into two rivers, the next was a stop at an hotel high up with a view down over a beautiful valley, then we drove down a windy road into the valley to the edge of the fjord where there was a recreation of an old viking settlement. We took the coach back to Flam through an amazing (and it must have been expensive to build) tunnel.

... much nothing but basketball, language arts, kids, and the everyday wonderful experiences of life have consumed me. Nothing like a little adventure travelling to re inflate my spirit and thirst for the unknown. I love this life -- oddly enough, basketball and all! Today was Emma Christensen's 6th birthday. (FYI:She is the daughter of a colleague.)Emma was adorable ...

... The train ride over the mountains was absolutely amazing. I honestly can't describe how beautiful this country is. Right outside of Bergen, which is the city the ship is docked in, there is this amazing lake. I want to move here and have a house on that lake. After all of the lakes, we went a little higher up into the mountains and there was snow! it was so cool. Then we kept passing these houses along the way. There would be like two houses that ...

... s most famous composer, Edvard Grieg. His little estate was tucked away about 8 Km from the city centre...a journey in 1885 when it was built, but not so much anymore. We braved the public transport and took the bus and then walked about 1 Km from the spot to the museum and house. I wasn't as familiar with Grieg as some of the other composers, but he is very well renowned, along with Ole Bull here in Norway and especially Bergen. Grieg's most famous piece is his ...

... make it more of a museum day. We started off (as all medical students should) at the Leprosy Museum. We sort of just went as a joke since we had been saying we HAD to go for the past day...but in all honesty it actually was quite interesting and had some exhibits on Infectious Disease as well as a nice presentation of the history of Leprosy. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the beautiful old wooden buildings of Bryggen, to the "castle" of Bergen...the ...