Bavarian Bunny
Wise Old Thumper
We returned from our trip to Norway last night. We had a wonderful time and glorious weather during the whole week. The landscape is amazing at this time of year. The waterfalls are huge, because the snow is still melting. And down along the fjords the fruit trees have flowers.
This was the house we stayed in. It used to belong to the owner's parents, and still had a lot of the original furniture and family photos, but also all the modern comfort you expect. The wood burning oven was great and very efficient. There were three bedrooms with together at least 10 beds, ideal for families. We might take my boys next time, I am sure they'd love this house.
There was a raised patio on the front of the house, and this is the view we had from there:
The house had a big garden with many lovely fruit trees and behind the house was a smaller house which was used for storing the firewood. The fjord was just a 2-minute walk down a small driveway. The owners have made a shallow saltwater pool that is connected to the fjord, but warms up very fast in nice weather. It is full of little fish, shrimp, hermit crabs and water snails.
It never got really dark. The next photo shows the rocks opposite our house at 10.30 pm. We could go down and sit by the water at that time, and watch the porpoises swim very close to us. Their puffing and the birds' singing were the only sounds. No traffic noise, no loud music, nothing.
A hiking path started right behind our house, and after 1 hour of steep climbing, you had this view:
On one day we went to a big glacier:
And here are some more photos of fjords and valleys:
We went to visit my friend, whom I hadn't seen in 16 years. It was great to meet his wife and little kids, and their house is wonderful. We did some really nice walks and saw a lot of interesting plants and animals, including a really big adder.
If New Zealand is too far away for you, try Norway instead. Only a short flight from the UK.
This was the house we stayed in. It used to belong to the owner's parents, and still had a lot of the original furniture and family photos, but also all the modern comfort you expect. The wood burning oven was great and very efficient. There were three bedrooms with together at least 10 beds, ideal for families. We might take my boys next time, I am sure they'd love this house.
There was a raised patio on the front of the house, and this is the view we had from there:
The house had a big garden with many lovely fruit trees and behind the house was a smaller house which was used for storing the firewood. The fjord was just a 2-minute walk down a small driveway. The owners have made a shallow saltwater pool that is connected to the fjord, but warms up very fast in nice weather. It is full of little fish, shrimp, hermit crabs and water snails.
It never got really dark. The next photo shows the rocks opposite our house at 10.30 pm. We could go down and sit by the water at that time, and watch the porpoises swim very close to us. Their puffing and the birds' singing were the only sounds. No traffic noise, no loud music, nothing.
A hiking path started right behind our house, and after 1 hour of steep climbing, you had this view:
On one day we went to a big glacier:
And here are some more photos of fjords and valleys:
We went to visit my friend, whom I hadn't seen in 16 years. It was great to meet his wife and little kids, and their house is wonderful. We did some really nice walks and saw a lot of interesting plants and animals, including a really big adder.
If New Zealand is too far away for you, try Norway instead. Only a short flight from the UK.