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.