Photos: Summer in Holland

I love music, as you should have understood by now, if you have been reading my blog. But I also love to take photos. I tend to take photos of houses much more than of people. I always think that people might not like to get their photo taken. Bikes and houses, they are ok. A few weeks ago we went to Amsterdam and around Holland, by boyfriends home country. There are a few of the photos that I really am happy with from the trip. Do you like them? Do you hate them? All comments welcome.

Soft, sweet, big, slow, lovely Oslo

It's always a strange feeling coming back to this city that I like to call my home. The moment the train comes out of the tunnel right outside the city, it's like my shoulders fall down from under my ears and I start to relax. It's a little bit like meeting an old familiar friend that floats against me and takes me into it's arms and says "Welcome home, are you ready for new adventures and sights?". For me Oslo is more than anything a feeling, and now it's the lazy, slow, big, soft, sweet feeling of the summer city that meets you.

The feeling also brings with it all them memories I have of this city. The way the light falls on the buildings in March (low and almost like a flash light), the way the cars, trams, buses and people struggles through the first snow, the silence in the city on my way home on a late evening, the empty streets of Easter, the rumble of tourists from all over the world that is a sure spring sign, and the view of the city and all the green of Hovedøya and the leaves in it's parks in the autumn, when the whole city breaths out after a hectic summer. Oslo for me is one of the most beautiful places in the world and equals for me the beauty of the Norwegian mountains I have seen this week.

Some days I hate the random people of this city, but mostly I truly love them.

The mother and the little kid with the dog at Oslo s: the kid looses the dogs lead and walks giggling after it, while the dog goes slowly after the mother, before she turns around sees what's going on and gathers together child and dog and we all laugh together.

The affectionate father with his little kid on a bus that makes a sound like a seagull, which makes us all turn around and the father says laughing:" No, I am not torturing him!" which makes us all laugh.

The bus driver who decides to give us all a guided tour and wishes us all a happy day. The man that at 22 o'clock on Wednesday in February decides to bring a canoe into the bus, and makes us all giggle and smile a bit.

I love it when little things like this happen. It makes me love the people and the city.

I love the nature, the silence and the mountains of Norway. But Oslo, Oslo is my home, where I feel like myself.

Life: Back from Rome!

One of my 440 photos of Rome. This is a view over the city from the Aqua Paola Fountain and is the first view I saw of Rome when I first visited a few years ago, so it means a lot to me. All I could think was... "WOW.. I am so lucky to be spending 2,5 weeks here..."

Hello good people, I am back from Rome :) There will be more about this later in the blog as soon as my stomic flue ends, the cat stops killing birds all over my living room and I get my job interview done tomorrow :)

History: Wanna go for a holiday in a castle?

I have written before in this blog about both my love of the British and also of history. Those two are quite closely linked I think, so basically this is a dream internett site for me: A page filled with castles where you can go and sleep over. Some of them are in such great scenery that it almost takes my breath away and brings tears to my eyes. The Scottish ones seam to especially be in beautiful and wild locations. I guess that's Scotland for you. I gotta go back. The train-ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had traveling. I was surrounded by good friends, going by train (I love trains!), being in Britain, just been served a really good British cup of tea (it does not taste the same anywhere else..) and going to a place filed with history. Sigh!.. I wanna go back, and maybe see some more castles this time. Anyone know a lord that is available for marriage? I have good breeding, experiences with historic estates and polite and perfect behavior and conversation skills !

http://www.celticcastles.com/
This castle even has it's own video: Castle Stuart