Where to from here?

We do not like the obstinate need to follow eating and drinking protocols. (No, it is not possible to have breakfast/lunch/dinner just now - you are 2 minutes too early/late monsieur). There are too many smokers, especially women. There are too many dogs and cats on show. There are too many towns needing a cleanup (Grafitti, bums, rubbish). And business hours need to change, especially on Mondays and in the middle of the day.

But these differences, good and not so good, are what we are drawn too. And so we will be back again-soon.

These last two months have been a great adventure. Our month with George and Yvonne in Scandinavia was eye opening and extremely pleasant. Our month revisiting France has been entertaining with each day bringing new experiences. We have had fantastic weather all of the time and we are very grateful for that, even if it looks like climate change is at least part of the reason for our luck. But all things come to an end and we need to move on-again. We may finish our tour with a few days in Lyon, a city that beckons but which we have never seen. We are just as likely to pass the last few days in Switzerland, enjoying autumn and the last of the sunny weather for the year. But which of these we complete is probably of little interest to most readers. We have had a great time on the move but it is time to stop for a rest and to reconnect with our birth culture, as indifferent as we are to aspects of that.

We have a few other trips in mind too and a few more discussions over a wine or two if we are to radically change our lifestyle. Just how, and if, we balance out our quest for a meaningful living and our obligations to community and family still remains a challenge to be solved.

Long may she reign in Briancon

This is a now good point to wind down the blog and all these tales of indulgent travel by a couple of boomers. As we prepare for the last week of our European search, some of you will note that we have still not made any decisions for a real project here in France. We continue to visit and to have our emotions aroused most times positively and other times negatively. We continue to enjoy the sights, smells and culture of this non Anglo country without being game enough to leave family and friends and to create at least half a life here. Maybe it is better to leave the situation as it is.

We like and enjoy the little nuances of day to day living here; the importance of presenting a perfect front to the world with homes of good presentation, even though if you look beyond there is a host of rubbish hidden from view. There is a cultural need for endless small talk; despite traffic behind you; despite the lengthening supermarket queue and despite the time of day. The daily community lives with boules for the village elders or non workers each afternoon; and the endless trail of people of all ages going to and from the boulangerie for their daily baguette and a chat. There is an apparent lesser focus on earning more euros than the next person to get a bigger car, house, boat etc. And then there is constant, almost child like, sense of humour as they converse with one and all.

Recalling the Revolution at Vizille

On Wednesday we visited the Chateau de Vizille which played a notable part in the French Revolution. We checked out the museum of the Revolution (interesting) before driving deep into the Alpes past l’Alpe D’Huez and into Briancon; one remote part of this great geographical wonderland. A revolution to get rid of the ruling classes seems not such a bad idea at times. From our distant European viewpoint I could support rolling out the guillotine for most Australian liberals except hey, they seem to be doing such a good job on themselves at the moment. Save from the factor that they are using my taxes so poorly.

A day testing GPS in the hills

From St Remy we moved on through Gordes and Rouissillon to our next stop near Apt. Rouissillon was by far the most interesting spot; great little galleries on winding medieval streets and an active central square with mainly French day trippers enjoying their Sunday. The next day we wandered through the small village of Saignon before reluctantly heading north towards our next planned stop somewhere around Grenoble. Our GPS began to regularly fail when we were deep in the gorges and we missed a road deviation so we visited Pont en Royans twice in a couple of hours looping through it at various levels before arriving in our selected logis in the almost hidden valley of Lans en Vecors.

Last picture before she fell from hiding

Two things then happened; first one of the bulls decided being fenced in by about 6 horses whilst being harried by young men as they all raced along the street needed some variation and second several spectators, mainly men suddenly decided to join Yvonne in the planter box. Before this happened and the bull was on the other side of the street looking for victims, Yvonne took this picture. And after being dislodged from her perch, damaging her camera and her pride, she had suddenly lost interest in hanging around. But we did, as there was no way out now unless we could outrun a few animals and people.

Bull fighting preliminaries-French style

However as we were strolling back to our car after a light breakfast on Sunday morning, we were intrigued to see that a few of the streets were being fenced off and some horses and riders were gathering in the streets. Signs nailed into trees talked of Toros and something about a giant paella in the main city square later in the day. Then the public loudspeaker system began to issue warnings in four languages and encouraging people to stay behind recently erected barriers. Yvonne said that we must hang around to see what this was all about. First a group of horse riders cantered their horses up and down the rather short run of about 200 metres; quite elegant it seemed.

As Randall continued reading L’Equipe and the details of all of the weekend rugby games, Yvonne decided to be safe by standing on the top of a nearby planter box and using a street light pole for added support. We were very strategically placed on a bend in the street and able to see both the beginning and the end of what was about to happen; a French version of the running of the bulls.

Where are you now Vincent

I am sitting in our small hotel at Lans en Vecors in the mountains outside of Grenoble. The sun has begun it’s march down the hills in the valley opposite the hotel and it will be another good day for a spot of discovery. But, without getting too far ahead of myself, perhaps we need to bring you up to date with our current research.

On Saturday, our voyage of artistic discovery took us to St Remy de Provence, not too far south of Avignon and a town where Van Gough, an inspiration for Yvonne, did a spot of painting some time back. After settling into our Logis de France accommodation, we went looking for evidence of the Master, but despite looking in all the many attractive galleries in the town, we could not find Vincent.

Our fellow travellers are departing now

Tonight (Friday) we have now sent Ben and Sarah on their way home with Ben relieved that he will be home for the ARL thugs get together on Sunday. Well no one is perfect.
We have been very surprised to have the weather hold out so well for us and after having to rug up only a few times in Scandinavia over August, we are wondering why we have brought so much winter gear. Perhaps we should venture back into the Alps soon to find a bit of cool weather before heading back to Oz.

But, as we know, we are perhaps fortunate to be here at all and our day to day challenges remain small and insignificant in the scheme of things.

Life for some in St Paul de Vence

One of the things that drags us back to France (and Europe in general) is the clear sense of community living that emerges and the amount of infrastructure planning and execution that exists so that large numbers of people can live in reasonable comfort with plenty of services at their disposal. We think this is a huge contrast to Australia where city “design” is almost non existent and suburbs have just spread out and out and out. This is possibly exacerbated by our experience with Canberra with its suburbs and transport system designed for cars and boring ¼ acre housing with almost no “community” development. In contrast, even here along the coast, there are quite different communities often joined at the hip, and where there are plenty of opportunities for a more human existence. These feelings especially emerge each time we think about our return to Canberra soon and our search to find where we best belong. And with climate change issues ahead of us, we feel so far behind in the need to make changes.

A town in Provence

On the other hand, Randall has had to be fully alert in the mornings on his jogs from
Chateauneuf to Grasse as the roads are skinny, footpaths are sometimes tough going on ankles and the traffic is heavy as many locals leave home to make their way into Nice, the nearby technological park offices and other areas from about 7 am each morning. Houses, businesses, schools, cars and small businesses are located in almost every nook and cranny in these hilly areas. Over the years, olive groves have given away to housing and the population density in many areas means slow going in traffic each day at times. Our GPS has been fully extended to keep us off the tiny tracks and heading through the hillside towns each day.

Muggins at Mougins for lunch

As we head inland to areas behind Nice, there are still plenty of locals and visitors wandering through the pretty villages. Mougins proved to be so good that we just had to stay for a long lunch (shouted for us by Ben and Sarah) and Thursday we returned to the pleasant bastide town of Valbonne for our final lunch outing with our two visitors.

Lazy daze in St Tropez

Our two weeks in Provence has provided the opportunity to gain another perspective on living in France. The coastal areas are captivating as, on the surface, life for the French boomers looks great. There are plenty of joggers, rollerblades, walkers and bike riders making their way along the beach promenades in the autumn sunshine. The white pointers are plentiful on the stone covered beaches and there are still a surprising number of people enjoying the sun and a dip in the sea as we have done several times this week. Other boomers and some older people are escaping home duties to spend a few hours fishing from rocky outcrops along the coast. And then there are those that have spent their money on a boat drifting along the many sea lanes around here. Everybody is sooo relaxed around here. Does anybody work?

Tourettes sur Loup

We are nearing the end of another phase of this year’s travels. Sarah and Ben are preparing to leave us and they will return from Nice direct to Australia over this weekend; ready for a bright eyed return to work on Monday next. Whilst for us, we will move into mobile phase once more as we head in a northerly direction. We need to be back in Geneva by Friday next to return the car to Renault. There is no real plan or route except to say that we aim to spend a day or so around Aix-en-Provence before perhaps heading back up through the Tarn, then up the Rhone valley across through Grenoble before heading to Geneva.

Rita turns 86 today-what a mum

Today whilst sitting in a quiet little restaurant in St Tropez, we drank a toast to Randall’s mother who turned 86 today. We had a few words with her on the phone to hear that she had enjoyed a nice meal with her other son Darryl and his family in Perth and that she was looking forward to a few days with Darryl and his country hide out at Bridgetown WA. After our meal we spent the rest of the day in St Tropez with the locals walking around the busy port area, enjoying a drink or two and the sunny conditions. Happy birthday Mum.

Over the last month or so and during trains trips or just lazing around, I have enjoyed the opportunity to pop on the ipod and dial up some Jack Johnson. I especially like “Sleeping through the static”.

“Just cash in your blanks for little toy tanks
Learn how to use them and abuse them
And choose them over conversations
Relationships are over-rated “I hate everyone” said the sun

And so I will cook all your books
You’re too good looking and mistooken
You could watch it instead from the comfort of your burning beds
Or you could sleep through the static.”

Modern Art at St Paul de Vence

The weather has continued to excel through the week and the weekend. So we have the relative luxury of lazing around home or taking an outing or both. The visits to hill top villages have continued too, so that now we have visited Biot, Tourettes sur Loup, Grasse and St Paul de Vence. It was a lay down mizere that St Paul de Vence was the most impressive as it had a strong range of high quality art shops and just outside the town is a world class modern art museum. We also spent a day in Monaco without buying a yacht at the boat show. Not enough time to organize for it to be sent home to Australia. And besides Canberra is just too much a bush town to take one of the more interesting yachts.

Tourists Again-this time in Gourdon, Provence

Yesterday we had a nice lunch nearby in the pretty village of Valbonne after spending an hour or so in the hilltop village of Gourdon. We even conned Sarah and Ben into a guided tour of the old chateau of Gourdon, a site that has a military existence going back to Saracen days. There were quite a few French visitors, a good mixture of locals and the occasional English couple in both places. The weather has now recovered from several days last week of high winds and storms and summer is just hanging in there at about 25 degrees or so. This afternoon we dropped down into Cagnes-sur-mer for a laze on the stony beach and a refreshing dip in the sea which was very pleasant. There were plenty of people about and of course the talk was all about the age at which women should or should not cover their breasts and give up the bikini look. We will renew this discussion over the next week or so as we find other beaches to enjoy.

Coaching the new arrivals

On Sunday we met up with Ben and Sarah who arrived from Italy by train. They need to recover from tourist numbers in most places they visited in Italy so up here might be just the trick. Whilst it is inevitable that we will be tourists in Nice, Cannes, St Tropez, Monaco and the glitz of this coast, we will try and soften that with visits to smaller places in the hinterland. Already we have tested the scene at Cannes where there is a late summer sailing regatta underway but perhaps the movie scouts are not about at the moment as we have received no offers for instant stardom. Our GPS is getting a thorough workout and we wind our way along the narrow roads and navigate through multiple roundabouts. So far we have made it home each day in one piece.

In amoongst old olive tree groves

So after settling into our last gite, we are now back into more of a holiday mode. The more docile pace of life in the Tern has given away to more of the rat race. Our gite is located rather high up in the hills behind Cannes and heading towards Grasse. Chateuaneuf de Grasse. The gite is the lower of two stories of a home where once there were teenagers living downstairs and now they have left the nest. As it happens we did a quick handover with the owners who then departed for a belated holiday - 2 weeks in their country dwelling somewhere further inland behind us to be followed by 2 weeks in Croatia. So we will not see them again before we leave.

Stimulated in the move south

It is one thing to take a walk in the countryside and park under a tree with a baguette and a newspaper and another thing to pack your current life up to drive into another world.

Yesterday we left an overcast Tarn department and after just a couple of hours we were sitting in a nice portside restaurant in Meze which is just off the sea, not far from the busy Mediterranean port of Sete. We enjoyed a pecillada of fresh cuttle fish, prawns and sea bass. Nice weather, relaxed environment and a pleasant break from the 130 kph flash down the autoroute out of Toulouse.

Then later in the day we were sitting in one of about 22 wide queues on the autoroute de soliel patiently waiting to pay the money to rejoin the other racers on the autoroute. I think I won at least part of the race although Italian registered cars occasionally got the better of me.

After yet another visit to the supermarket we climbed up into the hills behind Cannes to find our next gite and to settle into the world of the Riviera where we will live for the next 14 days.

Walking around Cordes sur Ciel

From time to time we get questions on why we often end up in France when there are other places in the world still to visit. These questions are not easy to answer but if we think about it, at least a part of the reason we come here is that it is all part of a restless need to establish “place”. To date, we remain somewhat trapped in a mode where we have been captured by that idyllic and somewhat misplaced view of a beautiful country where we can relax and enjoy living in the moment. We continue to talk about establishing at lease a base here.

During this week we returned to see how far advanced an acquaintance is in his quest to renovate a watermill not far from here. And while it looks like progress has been made, we both agreed that his location in the Causse area north of St Antonin Noble Val, is too remote for us. As for Cordes and this area, the likely complications are around the demographics and what the locals do with their lives. So whilst our hearts can contemplate a project, our heads keep saying “just enjoy the moment, keep your pennies in your pocket and move on”. But the restless need to establish place continues, as it must.

Now where did I see David Jones around here

We still enjoy just wandering along these backroads into small towns and hamlets. A coffee or cold drink here, a lunch somewhere along the way and a dawdling drive through quiet villages to the gite where we sometimes relax during the late afternoon. Yvonne has just finished her latest book and her Guardian newspapers so she is now back to her embroidery and painting. Randall has his podcasts and email newsletters to review which keeps him up to date with news on the GFC and what he needs to do to keep our finances on track.

Summer is ending

Last weekend we enjoyed an evening concert in the monster cathedral at Albi. An orchestra from Prague, 4 soloist singers and a combined choir of 130+ gave a rendition of works by Dvorak. Although such concerts are held during summer in France, and over Europe, this one is slightly later than most and so were able to see it. In these parts, the grape harvest is now in full swing and local villages are having their last clean up before winter through local trash and treasure events (Vide Grenier). We don’t go to Belconnen or Woden trash markets so we don’t go here either. The goods look to be much the same here as in Australia.

And as quick as a flash, summer is fading away. From 30 degrees plus last week, we are now into the mid to low 20s. Some clearing light fog in the mornings as RDK jogs his way along the local back roads and the evenings close in a bit more each day. Some heavy rain further south last night drowned the European soccer in Marseille and flooded Cannes, so we hope that is gone by the time we reach Provence on Saturday.

Pelerins for a day

On another level, each time we return here, we seem to go a bit deeper into day to day life. On Monday, which is a notoriously slow day in France, we (ie RDK), decided to go for a walk in the nearby country . We duly completed a round trip following a GR route out from Cordes and back and finishing with a climb to the square of Cordes sur Ciel, around 18 kms in all. It was a rather warm day but we managed to find shelter under trees and enjoyed a picnic lunch by the river. During a drink at a local bar we had a chat with a couple of old guys part of a peloton on one of their 3 weekly bike rides. Very fit lads and into their 70’s probably. A match for Cadel if current tour of Spain results are any indication.

Another Version of Liberty for you to find one day

Living in another culture can be stimulating, frustrating, enjoyable and relaxing-all at the same time. We know France and French culture pretty well by now but it is always surprising to reflect on the cultural differences, especially given the common heritage through history of England and France.

Language differences here in France, and last month in Scandinavia, mean that most of our international news has come via the BBC, CNN, the Guardian and Financial Times (English) papers and French newspapers and TV. This is where you can easily see the differences. There is currently English envy of France when reports cover France. Several articles on how Sarkozy tries to compensate for being somewhat height challenged (by using pre-planned height challenged workers when in factories for a PR visit, wearing special shoes) and by UK talking up the basket case UK economy in the face of improved economic conditions in France and Germany especially.

By the same token, there is evident glee in French news reports on the imminent release from prison of the Iraqian who threw a shoe at G W Bush a few years ago. I must have seen the same report 6 times tonight where the Iraqian is about to return home as a hero with offers for a new car, job, marriage and celebrity status. Whilst in the last month the US and UK seem to be focused on the latest stuff ups in Afghanistan, the release of a Lockerbie bomber and where the UK is heading financially. France seems more internally focused on swine flu precautions, EU farm policies affecting French farmers (currently milk production), troubles (cat fights between women in the main) in the political parties on the French left and troubles with French football as they face a battle to qualify for the coming world championships in Africa. And culturally French free to air TV is almost the same as it was in the 1980’s when we were living here.

St Antonin Noble Var today

Well, time goes fast when you are having fun. We are now in our second gite and just on the outskirts of the small hill bastide of Cordes-sur Ciel (Cordes in the sky). Cordes was established in the 1220’s by the Count of Toulouse and as a refuge from Catholic persecution of so called heretics. As a tax free town, it rapidly grew and gained an artistic tradition which it still has today. Sometime well before the industrial revolution, when France developed its canal system, the world passed by Cordes and it slowly faded away until re-discovered by the numerous artists who fill the place with tourists, at least for the summer.

When we were last here in 2007, we were a bit smitten by Cordes and we liked its proximity to Albi. We still like the place but only to visit and you would rapidly lose interest in walking up into a medieval home with the midday baguette each day. Today we enjoyed the end of an annual feast day in Cordes, the giant apple tart cooked sur place was terrific. But at the end of the day we were pleased to be on flatter ground enjoying another late afternoon, reading newspapers in the shade of the obligatory large tree in our gite’s garden. And, as for eating, we had the proceeds from the great market at St Antonin Noble Val, a small but pretty town on the nearby Aveyron River: chicken, saucisson, tomatoes, figs, cheese, greens and baguette.

ST Affrique for lunch today

We are not far from the major centre of Toulouse and access is easy by rail or autoroute. As a university town and a city with a large aerospace focus, things are always quite lively and the city is growing. There is a good range of shops, plenty of good eating places and the central market is always quite an easy place to obtain any produce we particularly want.

For a now somewhat old fashioned Randall (Yvonne tells me that he is getting worse as time goes by), this area is close to Rugby heaven. Sensibly France has retained a regional based approach to domestic rugby and, like UK football, there is a promotion/relegation system operating which encourages continual competition over the whole season. No nonsensical US based naming conventions here which is also pleasing and watching rugby is so enjoyable that Yvonne encouraged Randall to take her to the Top 14 Montauban-Toulon game last weekend and we are on the lookout for other good games to go to.

First level teams operate out of nearby cities of Albi, Toulouse, Montauban and Castres and so there is a great choice of games to go to. There is a bit of an old fashioned feel to the matches of competing for the sake and pleasure of the game. Plus there is a welcome absence of the commercial entertainment that is so evident in US/Australian football. Last weekend’s game also had one abnormal break due to the hot weather where the players were invited to break for a few minutes and to take on some drinks. Yvonne was shocked but it showed part of an overall approach to life here where relationships are everything. Whilst the players were taking this break the public address system was advising the public to ensure that any children with them should also be keeping up with water and staying out of the sun if possible; something very unfamiliar to Aussie sports attendance, in my experience.

Life without a picture

The touring has stopped to a crawl as we re-visit the Tarn and recall the impact that life in this quiet part of the globe has on one. Installed in our gite rural deep in the countryside and almost a kilometer from the hamlet of Virac we have given ourselves time to reflect on life in general. We are co-located with the property owners who live here courtesy of her (we think departed) parents who formerly operated a farm here now some years ago. Our hosts returned here from Normandy some years ago and they have done a great job on the old farmhouse which is now our gite and home. Virac has no shops or services although we can buy some cheese direct from the maker and we may try a drop or two of the local wine now being harvested. At night we rest in the quietness of the place; throw on a DVD (French TV is still not to our taste, any more than Aussie TV is these days) after a good home cooked meal and a drop of red.

Within a short drive is our favoured city of Albi with its monster cathedral and excellently presented old city centre, the medieval hillside town of Cordes and a ring of interesting old bastides hanging onto life these days. The weather is still very hot for this time of the year. Perhaps linked to global warming and like other parts of Europe, France has experienced several years of tough hot summers. Each of the last four days have been well into the 30 degrees range and it is definitely a lot browner looking in these parts than when we were last here just two years ago. A ‘catastrophe’, as the locals tell us.

Together we have dropped any idea of creating our bit of paradise by dropping out completely and buying a place deep in the countryside. We have been just too “citified” by now. And so we are back to thinking about some perfect place (with a view of course) on the edge of a lively town where we are in good weather, close to essential services and within range of interesting places. The quest continues.

Inside the glacier at Montenvers

We also walked inside the 120 metres deep Montenvers de glace glacier as well as taking other good walks in the area.

By the time of our departure, the streets were thinning out a bit as the French returned to work and some of the more remote cable cars had closed for the summer.

We had a great final Savoie dinner in Chamonix where we recalled the highlights of what we had discovered together over the last month and we are now ready to return to Geneva, pick up the car and head off into the next phase of our travel.

On top of Europe

In any event, the place also contains heaps of well tanned hikers, carrying no fat as they spread out of Chamonix and into the surrounding mountains for the day. The cable cabin rides are spectacular and we enjoy many hours watching climbers in the distance making their assault on the mountain itself.
Over the four full days we spent in the Chamonix valley, we managed to take the giant telecabine to Aiguille du midi at 3842 metres and within striking distance of the summit of Mt Blanc-not that we had time to do that-this time!!

Ultra marathon welcome to France

It is the last weekend in August so the French are starting to head home after their annual exodus from Paris.

In Chamonix, it is a gathering of the fit and the super fit as we stumble across an ultra marathon during which contestants run on trials around Mt Blanc in Italy, Switzerland and France over the weekend. Whilst we thought the band was playing for us as we walked out of the railway station into somewhat crowded streets, they were really encouraging tired runners across the finish line. For the main race we think there were over 2,000 runners covering 166 kms with the 22 year old young Spaniard winner covering the distance in just 21 hours.

In the soup

To me it seems that a good way to end our Nordic journey together is through a few foody thoughts. We enjoyed a bit of fish soup in the small market just near Helsinki fish market. Whilst it will be good to be eating at "home" soon, we have all managed what can sometimes be tricky negotiations on just where and when to eat each day. These basic human needs each day are an opportunity to discover new ideas and to gather ideas for both of our cooking journals as well as simply keeping the systems going.

We think that during the ferry voyage we may have added a kilo or two but things have settled down a bit, probably due to all the walking around towns we have done. For us, it takes about 2 days to establish a good feel for a new city and Helsinki has been in that category. Helsinki is an enjoyable city even though we think it has a harder edge to it compared to Oslo and Stockholm in particular. This probably comes from it's need to accommodate Russia over the years.

Helsinki and the end of another phase of discovery

Now we are at Helsinki and the end of this holiday. A fantastic experience and an eye opener for us onNordic countries. We have started a debate on whether we will come back as the lifestlye in these countries looks good, at least in summer. We have discovered new places including an eye popping day trip to Estonia and medieval Tallin. This travel from Helsinki is a huge business and looks to be quite profitable for all.

At times lately we have felt a bit tired but we think we have set a good pace with good variety. Time sight seeing, time for souvenir shopping and time for sampling the wares. From here we go through Geneva and into France and a chance to review our thoughts on this part of Europe. Whilst at times it would be good to meet up with family and friends, the show has goone onwithout a hitch and we are grateful for making the opportunity to learn new things.

Comparing shapes in Oulu

Rovaniemi seems to be a town almost totally reliant on Santa. Yvonne goes with the others to pay him a visit, which turns out to be not that interesting. Tourist numbers there are light and the elves struggle to get their photograph commissions for the day. Our other highlight here is the local Arctic museum where we enjoy several hours learning more about living up here. The range of outdoor sports in summer and winter is amazing. Further south on our way to Helsinki we have lunch and change trains at Oulu. This looks to be a pleasant seas side town with its rather imposing and intriguing fat man statue. Something to research later after RDK compares outline figures.

Heading South

We leave our small hotel in Inari by local bus which will deviate off the main road to pick us up. A nice country touch! Then it is off to Rovaniemi, back out of the Arctic Circle and heading south and the “finnish” of our venture.

Inari Museum open area

Apart from 500 souls waiting for the fish to bite or enjoying communal saunas, Inari has a terrific museum covering Sami indigenous culture and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit there. Maybe a tough life for these people whose lives are basically about reindeer herding across now three countries, Russia, Finland and Norway, but constraining their lives to fit national boundaries and so called modern western style living demands does raise quite complex issues. The southerners in Helsinki with their fast paced living and their demands for hydro-electricity continue to raise complex political issues, especially given climatic change issues about emissions. Like Australia, apparently, Finland is a large polluter on a per person basis and whilst they would like more hydro systems, it causes problems for the salmon and other fish environments.

38 years ago-celebrations

We enjoy a quiet anniversary dinner with friends George and Yvonne. George tried the reindeer whilst the other 3 had fish. The hotel has a great menu for such a small place with less than 500 souls. And so another day on this endeavor is completed in style.

Man versus nature in Lapland

Inari is fishing heaven, although over the two days we are there, we see no fish actually getting caught. It is a real male thing as the men show their ability to exist in the wild of northern Finland. There are great summer walking trails here and we take the time to at least make a start on several of them. Not too many shops to distract the ladies and we slowly regain our land legs in this quiet part of the world. What did distract the ladies however was the male sauna routine and I did wonder why the two Yvonnes placed themselves between the riverside sauna and the river where they bathed.

Heading into Lapland

We are 6 on this bus, 4 Australians and two younger Chinese from Hong Kong. Our driver has a dry wit and he provides almost constant comment during our 6 hour trip deep into Lapp land. We stop to check a nice river used for salmon fishing and we also have time for a coffee and cake along the way.

Growing old gracefully

We kill an hour in Kirkenes exploring the port area waiting for our mini bus.
Heading towards town we pass by an interesting motorbike with two front wheels. Maybe there is one last chance for Randall to take up riding around on such things without falling over. Not much time to see anything else so we walk back towards the ship and our rendezvous for a bus ride south to Inari in Lapland.

End of the line

Today it is over as we leave Richard to return to Bergen without us. It looks like most people are leaving him too but it is a little difficult to tell as there are excursions happening from Kirkiness at the same time as other buses are loading up victims to be flown out. This has been a great experience but we have also become somewhat used to just going with the flow.

Someone else to plan where we will go today. Someone else to drive the transport. Someone else to decide what to eat. Someone else to clean up the accommodation. And someone else to decide where to stop for a visit and how long we will stay there.

So it is well past the time for us to move on.

We will turn a corner today in several ways. From Kirkiness we will start the long haul back south towards the Arctic circle and beyond. Also it is our 38th wedding anniversary today and the start of yet another year together. Still great friends after all these years!!

The Norway we now know a little of

Back on board the ship life goes on much the same as it has for the last few days. Massive scenery outside steering between island after island, spending time either walking the outside decks observing life in this part of the Arctic or sitting inside the ship fixing the world’s problems or planning our next excursion from the ship.

From Honningsvag we appear to travel over the top of Norway to start making our way south into Kirkeness and the end of a fantastic experience. Kirkiness is a mining and fishing town with a strong Russian presence. Interestingly, we find that the iron ore mine, which has been closed for some years on economic grounds, has been purchased by an Australian company that intends to re-start operations here soon. Some of the mine labour is planned to come from nearby Russia.

Hurtigruten day 6 finds us well into the arctic circle and approaching one of the physical peaks of this Scandinavian journey. Nordkapp is a magnet for a whole host of tourist buses, brave bikers and people hiking their way north. So it is into tourist mode we go as we clamber off the ferry to board a series of buses for the short ride from the port of Honningvag to the North Cape.

It is again a magnificent day with just a touch of a breeze and good, if weak, sunshine. We complete our tourist obligations with the mandatory picture at Europe’s most northerly point.

Nordkapp is simply a mark on the map with the obligatory souvenir shop, post box, café, cinema and reindeer. We spend about 1 ½ hours there together with most of our fellow passengers plus other travellers.

Off to the Saltstraumen

Whilst cruising along on our ferry is giving us a fascinating insight into life in fjord country, from time to time we like to do something that is a bit different. So here is Randall boarding his water taxi for a ride into one of the the world's greatest tidal changes-the Saltstraumen just a few kilometres out of Bodo. The locals seem to think that foreigners might find the water a tad too cool should they fall out of the boat and so we were given a survival kit to wear.

I wonder what sort of survival kit the vikings had during their holiday outings to England in former days?

Over the Arctic circle and into Bodo area

This morning (18Aug09) we pass over the Arctic circle at about 7.30am after about 3 hours already of daylight. This morning we visit Ornes for a short while before heading further North and Bodo. And just as we think that there will be fewer houses outside towns, we pass yet another small holding squeezed in between the rocks. Town sizes are not great; Ornes has about 1600 inhabitants whilst Bodo is the second largest town in Northern Norway at about 36,000.

The view in Trondheim is quite Scandinavian

The new uni year is starting as we check out the historically significant cathedral of Trondheim. The new generation of Norwegians put on a display for the wandering crowds whilst we walk back to the Richard With for our trip into the Arctic circle.

Randall is now a bit more constrained than usual as internet connectivity is somewhat limited and slow on board the Richard With. A couple of sessions to update emails are just enough to keep us up to date. We do notice the triviality of Aussie politics and wish that Kev could just stop grandstanding and talking and start actually doing something. It is easy enough to spend other people’s money to buy votes but another thing to take difficult decisions in trying economic times. From up here in this part of the globe, there seems to be more to life than pursuing the folly of Afghanistan, racist based immigration policies and denying man’s influence on the environment, including Australia’s collusion with the greedy set.

But hey; a short visit to beautiful Rorvik beckons so I must finish off now and put on my polar bear fleece and get some exercise in before dining on some more of that tasty whale.

Getting further away from it all

The sea is like glass and in the morning we briefly stop at Alesund. Three of us are still at breakfast so Randall has just enough time to wander into town on his own to check out the town as it starts the day. Alesund is an attractive town which looks like it is doing well.

We are having difficulty sorting out just who are the Norwegians, who are Swedes, who are Danes and who are Germans out of our travel mates. These seem to be the dominant foreign speaking people on the ship. Of course there are the inevitable pommies most of whom seem to be retirement home escapees seeking a sun tan in Norway by sitting in coolish breezes on the rear sun decks much as they would usually do on Brighton beach. Their mates are snoozing over their books and knitting in the panoramic lounge upstairs.

The days on board are somewhat idyllic as the ferry glides along winding its way through the thousands of islands. We are continually amazed that people actually live here but perhaps these people have much the same challenges as people face when living in central and Western Australia. The remoteness of it all must be tough at times. But if we think of the sea ways as part of the national highways then it all makes sense. We on the Richard With are part of a traffic network where each ship of the line is one day apart when leaving from Bergen. So far, at day 4 of the trip north we have seen some 4 other Hurtigruten ships making their way south. So there are plenty of opportunities for locals to go back and forth from the bigger cities of Bergen, Trondheim, Bodo, Tromoso and Harstad. In many ways it is better going here than in NSW where we are still trying, and failing, to construct at least one highway of international standard, let alone using sea lanes for transport.

Hurtigruten and off Northwards out of Bergen

Our return after many years to the western Norwegian city of Bergen starts and ends with some rain. In between we managed to get half a day of perfect sunshine during which we took the cable car up one of the hills overlooking this jewel of a city and after taking in the tremendous views we thoroughly enjoyed our walk down through the trees back to the old town and the gaggle of tourists.

By Saturday evening we were making our way on foot from Hotel Neptun to our nearby home for the next week, the Hurtigruten ship, Richard With. After checking out Richard and settling in, we left Bergen on time and began our epic journey up the west coast of Norway; a trip we had been targeting for several years.

Now just how many islands are there as we snake our way north? How cold will it be up here? How old are our fellow travellers? How can people live in this climate? What do the locals do all day? Is the scenery as powerful as we had heard?

Norway in a nutshell

If there is one day that can describe regal Norway it was today. From Voss we took a local bus down a steep hill deep into a valley and the small community of Gudvangen. A tiny skinny road which was unbelievably formerly a two way road for buses. At Gudvangen we joined up with tourists (we are travellers as you know) for a couple of fantastic hours sailing along Sognefjord fjord to Flam. This is Norway’s deepest and longest fjord and the weather for us is just fantastic. We fill our cameras memories with unforgettable images as we sail along.

After a short break and a bite to eat at Flam we follow even more tourists to clamber aboard the train to climb from 2 metres to 866 metres at Myrdal on a stunningly constructed rail line which winds its way up and out of the deep valley. We take another local train for the last hour of this spectacular day back to our hotel in Voss.

Onwards and upwards-To Voss

I apologise to readers in that the blog has drifted into more of a day by day monologue with less and less comment. So I will try to lift the standard back to where I used to be. The day to day listings is a handy way of recording happenings however, especially as there have been some early lapses in my separate written diary.

As we drag ourselves away from beautiful Oslo and head west into the mountains and eventually Voss, we do encounter more rain. In some ways it is a bit of a relief from the hot days and we are thinking that in Voss we might enjoy a nice winter’s meal at Fleischer’s hotel which is virtually on the train station platform. Nice and handy for when we leave here in two day’s time.