It is Cold above the Arctic Circle

Our 2014 Christmas trip was to Lofoten, Norway.  We wanted to see the northern lights and this was our last chance .  We took the train from Stavanger to Lofted.  It took around 24 hours of travel time to get there.  We also had to rent two cars and take a ferry.

There was lots of snow, but it was so beautiful.  We rented a house on the North sea! What a great view we had from the house.  We relaxed during the day and waited for the northern lights at night.  We played rummikub, cards and other games.

We had a great trip and saw the northern lights almost every night.

What can you say about the northern lights except they are amazing.  It is so wonderful to see God's handiwork.  It was truly amazing.  Pictures do not really show how wonderful it is to see.  I can see how people could think the gods were trying to tell them something.  I see that my God loves beauty and is amazing.  He created this world and gave us a beautiful place to live and be stunned by his handiwork.

C took a dip in the north sea and said it is very cold.  The girls just stuck their toes in.

You can see the northern lights from places in the states, but it was lots of fun to see them in Norway.

If you get the chance to see them no matter where do it because it is amazing to see the artistry of God.


Melanie

Where have we been?

So the last post was about Paris.  A lot has happened!  So I will countdown what we have been doing.

1- N went to Nepal.
2- We took a trip above the Arctic circle to see the northern lights.
3- I visited Poland with friends.
4- I rupture a tendon in my shoulder.
5- We go to the BJJ British National Championships.
6- A1 breaks her wrist.
7- They pack up our house.
8- C and N go to the states for a month.
9- I have shoulder surgery.
10- We travel to Ireland before back to the states.
11- We arrive in states and start remodeling on house.


So check back as I try to catch up.

Melanie

Paris, France

Paris, France
It was a very unique experience.  This is the Louve and it is amazing in size and collection.  There was a lot of people there, but only at the Mona Lisa did you feel it.  It is a great museum, but none of the information about the items are in English.  It did not make it to the top of my list for museums.  I still find the museum in Amsterdam as one of my favorite.

The Mona Lisa is a small painting and it was very crowded.  It was packed around it worse than a can of sardines.  The Venus Di Milo was easy to get to and incredible to see.  We went to see these the first day we were in Paris so we could then go back and enjoy the museum after seeing the two most famous things to see.

We rented an apartment in a very great place.  It was close to everything or you could easily get to it by train/subway.  The only draw back to the apartment was it was on the 5th floor and no elevator.  

It is great to get an apartment instead of hotel because you can do your own thing and get your own breakfast and for us it was a lot cheaper.  We had a kitchen and could make sandwiches and have our drinks there instead of buying while we were out.  We ate lunch out and the rule was once we talked to the top for the evening we were not going back out, so dinner was sandwiches and fruit.

This is the wall of the original castle.  It was amazing to see the difference between how it started and now.  We also got to see Napoleon's apartment.  It was very over the top.

They had a great Egyptian area and the girls decided to "walk like an Egyptian.

We visited the Louve at least three times.  We bought a museum pass for me and the girls were free.  A museum pass is the way to go in Paris.  It lets you walk right in and not wait in lines in many places.

I hope to post more now.  It has been a long fall and I need to get back to this.  Keep watching for more on Paris.  You don't want to miss what happened the last day we were there.

Melanie

The Palace Versailles

Sunday we went to the Palace Versailles.  It is beautiful.  We had to wait in line for about 1 1/2 hours to get into the palace.  There were so many people and they were from all over the world.  We even had someone cut in front of us right as we were going into security.  So I thought i would share some of my pictures and later on share some of T's.

  The lines waiting to get into Versailles.  It went around like a snake.

  The outside is so beautiful.  It is really amazing to see what started out as a hunting cabin was eventually turned into this.

 This is the inside of the church that is part of the palace.

These are two of the halls.  We all decided that it really was a lot like the castle in Munich.  It was said to be like Versailles, but at the time I had not been there.  They really like the Greek gods.  There were statues and paintings everywhere.  It was fun to look and find the different Greek gods.
This hall had lots of chandeliers.  It was beautiful, but when you think about how much money was spent on these palaces and castles while the common person went hungry it is no wonder why they revolted.

The gardens were beautiful.  You could spend days just walking around the gardens.  We did not go in the gardens.  The kids were tired and it would cost another 70 dollars to go in.  We had thought that the gardens were free from what we had read online.

It was a nice day and it is really great to see so much history.  There was a hall with paintings form many battles in French history.  So much to see and learn.  I would love to go again when it is not high season and really get to look and enjoy.

Melanie

Our Place in France

The outside of the house.

Well if you are following my blog about our vacation, you will see that two post made it on yesterday.  The one about the Fresian market was suppose to happen a few days ago and it somehow did not get posted.  Anyway here is the garden of the house that we are staying in while in France.  It is really beautiful and very deceiving from the outside of the house.

The garden/courtyard of the lovely place in France.

 There is even a pool that we can use.  The owner of the place lives on the courtyard as well and was gone while we were saying here.  It was like our own private pool for the weekend.  the girls really enjoyed it.  On Saturday i think they stayed in the pool for about 5 hours.

                                                  

 While visiting France it seemed fitting to play the popular game of Guillotine.  The game where the French nobles get beheaded.  It is one of hubby's favorite games.  Then of course since we are gong to visit Versailles we talked a lot about the French revolution and why they beheaded the nobles.

It has been a great trip so far.  We have enjoyed it.  It has cost more at times than I was expecting, but when will we get to do this again.  It is educational and it allows our children to see the world from a different perspective.

I  hope to keep this up while in Paris.  If I can't take my laptop, it will have to wait till we are back in Norway.  Try packing for four day for four girls in two carry-ons.  We flying from paris to Frankfurt on Friday to meet up with the guys to head back to Norway.  This trip will really be trains, planes, and automobiles with a couple of ferries in there as well.

Melanie

The Fresian Market in Skogen

On Thursday we went to the market in Skogen.  It was a lot of fun.  There was a parade with everyone in traditional dress for the different areas.  I took pictures, but they may not be very good.

The Bread Wagon

Kids in traditional clothing to include wooden shoes.

Men and women in traditional clothing.  It is really cool.  People have asked me what is the US traditional clothing.  We laugh and say jeans and a t-shirt.  I have thought about it, but we really don't have any we have period styles, but that is all I can ever think of.

 

 

 

 These are some fresian mules.  They were beautiful.

The church in the town square.

The other church form the top of the big on in the square.

View from the top of the church.

Hubby and N went to the top of the church "steeple".  I could not do it because the stairs made me clausterphobic.  You can see that view is great.  The market was fun and we bought lots of cheese and some holland waffles.  The day this makes it to the blog we will be visiting a cheese market and then seeing the girls at camp.

This is one of the many windmills that we have seen while visiting Holland.  This one is very pretty and has been restored.  It is amazing to see them across the fields while your are riding in the car.  We have started counting to see how many we have seen.  Just in a few miles (around 40) we saw 21.  That doesn't even include the modern ones that they are using for energy.

Well I hope to write again this evening about the cheese market and the girls camp.

Melanie