Genevieve's Norwegian Birthday 27/07/2010

Today was Genevieve's birthday! She was 'Nine in Norway Today' and we spent the afternoon making her favourite dinner, chicken schnitzels in mango garlic sauce. Also Adri and Sarah, with a lot of help from Sigrid made a gorgeous chocolate cake. All the kids got into decorating it at the very end! It had written on it in chocolate letters Genevieve 9 in Norway.

It was a very calm and lovely birthday with bike riding and games in the backyard. We even got to hear a happy birthday song that the Norwegians sing. Thanks again to the Viks for a great day and thanks to everyone who emailed Genevieve!

Fred

Norwegian Musuem 27/07/2010

Today Sarah took all of us around Trondheim to see the sights while Sigmund had to work with his string orchestra, rehearsing for a show. Our first stop was the world championship sky jump course that was used in the 1997 world championships. The Norwegians are of course very good at winter sports! The jump is huge and they fly through the air for about 120 meters! They were doing some repair work on it but it's scale was impressive.

Next we visited the open air museum and it was really interesting. They had constructed a little town and various era's of Norwegian were represented within the grounds. Of course the first place we needed to visit was the candy shop old traditional sticky candies were made and sold. The kids were immediately into that! Sarah was pretty canny.

Then it was strait across the road to the dentistry display! After scaring the wits out of the kids with that we went over to the older village. The museum had transported many houses and huts down from the country to display the lifestyle and buildings.

A unique character to these was their grass roofs. The roofs were lined with bark from birch trees and turf was placed on top of this and grass and flowers grew from there. It looked very distinctive and in the summer right now everything is flowering so you would have a flowering roof. Apparently it gives great insulation to the houses. This traditional style of roofing is still seen on houses all around Trondheim.

The huts were small. A typical farm set up would consist of a group of small huts designed for different purposes and functions. Some for the farm animals, some for industries of various sorts and there was even a food storage one that was on stilts and the stairs that didn't connect to the building. This was to stop mice infestations of the food.


We went into one hut and there was a lady making flat bread on a fire and we were all able to try it. Many of the huts were restored inside and by the displays of items you got an impression of traditional life from many years ago. It looked cramped and cold but with the fires going I imagine it was rather cosy actually. Favourite colours for decorations seemed to be greens and blues. We came upon an old church built in the 1170. Which reminds of another aspect about the architecture here. Mostly the buildings of any type are constructed out of wood. All the old buildings of course were but still all through the city is wood houses painted either orange, red or cream. I never expected that, thought it would be stone. However there certainly doesn't seemed to be a great shortage of wooded lands around here. Also doesn't seem to be a white ant threat either as many of the wooden structures have lasted for a thousand years!

After , we took a trip across to Monk Island which had been a monastery for many years. In the harbour there was some really old Norwegian fishing boats. In fact, they were exact restorations of some of the old boats we had seen in the museum. On the island the kids had a swim in the icy cold water. Genevieve was very brave staying in for so long. It was much colder then Lake Melu in Corisca apparently!

Fred

Norway with the 'Vik family' 26/07/2010

Today we took a very early flight to go to Norway. We had stayed in a camping village outside of Rome for the night so we could get to the airport in time. Liane had very kindly offered to come down to Rome and stay too so she could drive the hire car back to Celano. Thanks Liane! We got into Trondheim, Norway at about 12.30 midday. Unfortunately our bags didn't arrive with us but we were assured that we would get them the next day. It was much cooler, 14 degrees today and I must say for me it was a very nice change. We were visiting some friends we had made in Australia last year, 'The Vik Family'- Sigmund and Sarah and their three girls: Sigrid, and the twins Emma and Miranda. Sigmund and Sarah had spent 6 months living just round the corner from us in Greenslopes and the kids went to Greenslopes state school. Sigrid was in Genevieve's grade at school and the became good buddies. Both Sarah and Sigmund are fantastic musicians and work professionally in orchestras. Sarah had been in Australia filling in for a friend of hers in the QLd Symphony. She plays bassoon and Sigmund plays violin. They had very kindly made an offer for us to stay if we were coming up this way. Sarah met us at the airport and then we were off to explore Trondheim. Norway in summer is so green!

In the afternoon, after we had all caught up and the kids got to know each other again we all went up to a radio tower nearby to catch the views of the city and have an ice cream or beer (depending on your vice). The kids rode bikes there and back. That was a bit of a novelty for our two. They loved it and we couldn't get them off the damn things. Then we relaxed on the back deck and enjoyed the extraordinary long twilight evening. The sun doesn't go down here till around 11.30pm to 12pm! It is up again at about 4am in the morning as well.

Fred

Kailin's Word: Today we woke up at four to catch the flight to Norway. We were there to see some friends we made while they were visiting Australia; the Vik family. Their mother, Sarah, is from Perth, and plays the bassoon. Her husband, Sigmund, plays the violin very well, so as you can imagine, him and dad got along well. They have three daughters: twins Emma and Miranda, and the eldest, Sigrid. All three girls went to Greenslopes state school when they were in Australia, and Genevieve and Sigrid made friends. Since then we've been in touch. So I guess it's kind of thanks to Genevieve that we went to Norway. When we finally arrived in Trondheim (the city they live in), we were delighted to find that our baggage hadn't been transported to the next plane, so we didn't have our luggage. We were assured that we'd get it the next day, so that was OK. When we arrived at the Viks' house, we get to know the kids again, and then we rode to a tall tower. When we reached the top, you could see all of Trondheim. We were 74m up, but it felt a lot higher.

Celano 24/07/2010

Back in Celano, lots of people to meet and greet still. This evening we had dinner with Enrica (Adriana's cousin) and her family. It was a good evening out in the backyard, under the grapevines looking up at the castle. I loved watching the girls try to communicate between English and Italian. They were so eager to find out things and couldn't find the words. Their faces did all the talking! Genevieve showed them some Irish dancing. Enrica had a passion for Irish music so I played some fiddle for her. She then pulled out a bottle of home made grappa with a pear in it. I didn't really notice the way the pear was inside the bottle but as I kept looking I realised a fully ripe pear was inside this narrow necked bottle! She puts the bottle over the little pear on the tree, ties it on and then lets it grow inside the bottle.

Fred

San Gimignano 23/07/2010

San Gimignano is a medieval village set in the Tuscan landscape. Once centred on a main pilgrimage route in Italy it became very rich from trade. Its 13 distinctively plain towers which are mostly rectangular blocks going straight up, were built by wealthy townsfolk who were really trying to 'out do' each other in building the highest tower. The town has some very old churches and keeps a very distinctive medieval feel to it by not allowing cars within its original outer wall precinct. It was a three minute drive from our "digs" in San Donato. We spent the day wandering around the streets and looking at the many craft shops and wine shops. San Gimignano has a really nice feel to it and yet it does not have all the grand basilica's or monuments. Yet another really hot day and another gelato session!

After a good mornings exploring San Gimignano it was back home to Celano. The end of our road trip. It had been a busy time but we saw plenty of places and had some great times. Driving back up into the mountains of Abruzzo however was nice. Celano may not be on the great tourist map of Italy but it has its own charm that matches that of many of the places we had been. It was good to see the mountains, the town and the castle again!

Fred

Kailin's Word: We went to San Gimignano today. This city is really unique, as it has 13 tall towers, that were built for the sole reason to beat the other taller tower. It was full of narrow roads and little shops, and he went to a large church. Inside, it was a little strange as on the floor there were all these graves, so we couldn't step on them. When we left the church, we got the best gelato I'd had so far, and then continued on our way back to Celano.

San Donato & San Gimignano 22/07/2010

A late afternoon drive through the rolling Tuscan landscape to find our accommodation - another agriturismo. The landscape was so gentle and as it was quite high in altitude the afternoon became a little more cooler. We passed many threshed fields, grape plantations and olive groves and yet there was still many heavily forested areas as well. We have been surprised to find how much of Italy is actually forested and there are quite a lot of national parks. The Tuscan landsacpe is dotted with litttle villas and farming compounds that are sittuated on the hilltops. Added to this are the smallish townships which usaully hark back to the medieval times. Our accommodation, San Donato is part of a small collection of farm houses and a church perched on one of these little hills. It is only a few km from the medieval town of San Gimignano.

Another late night hunt for food. This has become a typical scenario in the country areas for us. Set off into the dark at about 9.30pm and drive around looking for villas that have restaurants. Invariably you need to visit several before finding one that is either open or not booked out. Just as we were going to turn around and head for the busy centre of San Gimignano we happened on a villa that sold cheap homemade food that was just superb. A good night had eating 4 courses and drinking local wine set in the olive groves.

Fred

Pisa 22/07/2010

A later than expected arrival into Livorno due to the cancelled ferry. We got an express ferry at 1pm in the end. Sitting around Bastia in Corsica had been a bit of a drag though. 40 degrees again today, no where to go as we had all our baggage with us and the ferry terminal had three seats in it!

We met Liane, Morgan and Lorenz at the Livorno terminal. In the three days we were away they had been up to the big marine aquarium in Genoa and to a quarry where they cut marble for statues. Even though our plans had been delayed we still had time to drive to Pisa and look at the famous leaning tower there. It was only 40mins drive from Livorno. The leaning tower is actually part of a set of buildings set in some lovely green lawns and the set includes a impressive basilica and baptistery. These buildings hint at the extent of the wealth in Pisa back in the 13th century. The city was a major sea port with a large navy but through successive defeats by Genoa and Florence and then the silting up of its harbour it fell into decline. Much of the towns old buildings were destroyed by allied bombing in WWII and the little green with its buildings are the best example of its old architecture left.

The tower has actually leaned further in the past then it does now. Recently they have corrected its lean by some degrees so that people are now allowed to climb up to the top again. It has a lovely design and symmetry to it even though it is leaning. Unfortuanetly we couldn't climb up the tower as we were running out of daylight and the next tour was in an 1hrs time so we lay on the lawns and looked up at it and of course, consumed yet another gelato!

Fred

Kailin's Word: Today in Pisa we looked at the leaning tower of Pisa. It was beautiful. Much better than all the pictures on postcards I'd seen. The only two bad things were that: 1/ we couldn't go up, because the next tour was in an hour, and we didn't have that long, and 2/ three-quarters of the way up, they were doing some sort of construction, and there was all this mesh and stuff, which kind of detracted from its beauty. But apart from that, it was wonderful. There were heaps of little artistic carvings on each pier and at the top of each pillar, and they were all different. The Tower was made out of white marble, so the whole thing glittered in the afternoon sun. Then we had to leave.

A relaxing swim in Corsica 21/07/2010

Today we had a lovely relaxing time with a picnic lunch beside the mountain stream that falls down from Lake Melu. We all had a swim in the icy cold water again except for Kailin who perched himself amongst the rocks and read his book. It had been great catching up with Mark and Nina and there two great boys. The kids had a good time too, drawing and playing various games.

The following morning was another early start at 5am to try and get down to Bastia for the 8.30 ferry. On arrival however we found that the morning ferry had been cancelled. Another 5hr wait for the afternoon ferry to get back across to Livorno in Italy where we link up again with Liane and the car!

Fred