A very deep valley, surrounding by high mountains, waterfalls on my right, emerald green stream running close, a few cows here and there...stopping for a BBQ....this is Norway!

Hecti and I agree that this country is the most beautiful- in raw nature- that we have ever seen. We have spent the last 10 days driving along the fiords, winding roads, the sea always on the side, the majestic mountains, the red- yellow or white house's against the greenery, through tunnels after tunnels (even the longest one in Europe- 25 km!), passing high bridges, crossing ferries, hiking....and we are in awe of what we are seeing. It has been a question of "oohh" and "ahhh" most of the time

Kristiansand

First it was the Drobak, the "Christmas village" with the all while wooden houses, we slept then in Horten in an end road with only the fishermans as companions, then it was glorious bike ride /hike in Kristiansand. Small restaurants- almost hidden, around the sea ; a panoramic view; a great  beach. Then it was a cute fisherman village by the sea, where we found a Swedish guy working in the marina's office drinking mate!!! And after the Preikestolen hike, a 2.5 hours nonstop walking through rocks and bushes going up 600 meters above sea level, an spontaneous swim in our way in a crystal pond against the rocks, so taking by the incredible view; immense rocks hanging in the air, the fiords below...breathtaking and so scary, we laid on the rock and on the edge, the pull to the void is so big, it felt like we were going to fall at any moment.

(Still today, every time I close my eyes and "go back" to that place, my stomach churn with fear!). And then..... we met our new friends, our super companions for the next 4 days. Together we decided places and routes; sleeping areas, parkings, adventures...it was so good .

Suddenly,  it was Hecti birthday! We spent the day in Bergen where 362 days of the year rains. And rain it did! But the beautiful harbour, the glorious fish market (oh! their wild salmon) and the wooden coloured houses took away the disappointing weather. We bought a little cake and candles for the night ahead....

BUT the challenge was just around the corner, in the form of a tiny and narrow road on the side of the mountain in the country , a "big heart" (as said by my friend) of mine being courteous with another corner...pushing just a bit more SalSolcito to the side so others can drive pass and a bit more and a ditch! ...and we basically blocked the road....SalSolcito got stack; and it needed an international group of good willers to help....a Norwegian young couple on their bikes doing their usual training who just threw themselves to the trench and with pieces of wood behind and beneath the wheels  pushing and then acted as interpreters on the phone;  another Norwegian man from Oslo who gave us his phone to call international road assistance and stayed with us for a while; our German friends with their motorhome and a big rope trying without any luck to tow us all while emotionally supporting us with hugs and  "it is ok", "it will be fine", "this is just part of the adventure"....Hecti up to his knees in mud, worrying face ...and then out of nowhere a French couple (living in New Caledonia and on holidays) with a 4x4 jump out of their car telling us "we can help, our car can do it"....and so after 3 hours we broke free..and as they came as soon as we turned around the French couple left....

It was cold and wet, and that night we made a bonfire, eat steak , potatoes and vegies. Plenty of wine, cake and candles and Hecti at 55 drank for the first time a full glass of wine...and even some port! We went to sleep exhausted, still talking about our luck....Cheers to the birthday boy!

Beautiful Bergen

The train from Flam goes through valleys, waterfalls, mountains, an  spectacular scenery on both sides...1,000 m above sea level in just 1 hour.....(can you believe that we met our "French rescuers" again! ) and then after a fantastic and emotional farewell from our friends - they were standing on the road, waving arms- doing a Mexican wave.... we continue to the north, this country still surprising us at every corner.

ps: our insurance said that they couldn't help us, we were not insurance for tows...and us thinking "this cannot happens in the most expensive country...OMG"

Geiranger

It was the worst wind; at night, sleeping on the edge of a stream; our motorhome moving side to side by the wind...I really thought we were going to be blow away...In the morning, still shaking, we started our drive to Alesund- the national route way. It is interesting that in this country we do 6-7 hours drive and we don't move that much! We can never go more than 55 k/h, the roads being so narrow and winding...it is exhausted but so worthy.

He is so gentle, tender, generous...she is so feisty, fun and loving. "She is my angel" he said while kissing her, she look at his eyes with so much love. Second chances to love that life gives to great people. Together they were delicious-kuschelig! We shared stories, laughs, food, wine, adventures, challenges and routes. One motorhome in front of the other. I did say to them that worries are cut in halves when you are with friends and she said that love double up when you are with friends. So true. It was such a joy to be with them, they certainly enriched our trip so much....as always, it is so difficult to say good bye....we left with promises of emails and true desire of future encounters, here, there, somewhere...we already missed them!

22 July to 29 July.

It is 9:30 pm and it is still daytime. I am writing this blog, looking through my window into the ocean, Once again, after driving to inhospitable roads we arrived to a tiny place with few houses on the water. Sweden has been so good...we have truly enjoyed the hot weather, the best we had since entering Europe!, all the nature, the forests, the beaches and the (surprisingly!) warm waters.

We arrived to this country singing to the tune of ABBA and laughed so loud when as soon as we entered the country we saw IKEA. The first city, Malmo was almost perfect. I said to Hecti that it looks like a model city: let’s put a straight line of trees over here, a big bicycle line over there, identical but colourful and pretty houses a bit further, some big dogs that don’t bark, very blonde people, super clean and plentiful toiletts and all the cleanliness street you could find. It was really nice, it did not look artificial or anything like that.

The next few days we just spent our time driving around, bushwalking, stopping at the beaches, going for swims on lakes and sea, being “locals” and meeting interesting people all over the place. We spent a night and a breakfast with an adorable family- mixed Belgium, Swedish and African and we had such enlightening conversations about civil rights, politics, history, racism....it was fantastic! We slept in our home on their land  in their farm.

We never go through motorways, rather small routes that take us to small villages; we loved that; the opportunity to visit places that otherwise we have never had a chance and people are very curious and receptive given that there is not much tourism around!. So the last  4 days we visited and  slept in amazing places that we couldn’t even find in the map, looking at red sunsets and listening to the water gently crushing into the rocks. Walking up looking and smelling the ocean and open the door and going for a swim even before breakfast. Some of the prettiest places we have ever seen: Marstrand, Rafton, Stromstad. 

We loved all the wooden houses, so neat and with so many colors....but we found ourselves taking ages just to dispose of the normal rubbish.....they have every so often "recycle stations"...almost 12 different garbage containers....separate glass bottles from other glass like jars, or cardboard from newspaper, and even a place for the little trays where the meat in the supermarkets are packed!.....and the funniest thing is that the "other rubbish" or the normal stuff goes into the smallest bins of all!

It is actually difficult to leave Sweden as it is so easy and safe to move around. Everybody speaks english, they know about or have a connection with Australia and they are very friendly....and finally a country with mobile internet access for visitors at a very very reasonable price!!!

I am glad that we are coming back after Norway....

16 to 18 of July

....and a beautiful story just happened.....

we crossed from Germany to Denmark by ferry. It was quiet late, new country, new learnings. We were looking (again!) for a good place to sleep. As usual, we are being drawn to the water side so going around a lake was the way to go, stopping at small pieces of land here and there and contemplating if we could sleep...and then we found a "recreation area" on the lake and as we were walking saw the sign "kayak club". We immediately jumped out of our motorhome. It was around 6 pm. We asked if we could rent a kayak.
Well, this kayak community- that we found out later is one of the biggest club in Denmark-.opened their doors to us, almost adopting us! They gave us kayaks to use, and the whole club!
Showers, toilets , internet and even their private car park to sleep. We were even invited to their celebratory dinner on that night- to cheer for the medals they won in the European championships.

Next morning- before we went for another kayaking around the lake-we had a few of them joining us for breakfast in our home; and they came in with eggs and bread and  and their club t-shirts!!! We found out that the jazz festival is even on......so 3 days later, we are still here!-

An spontaneous cheese and alcohol followed, an orange sunset and saying  good bye to such a glorious place and people was really  difficult. We promised to them and to us to come back one day soon.

19 to 21 July Copenhagen

Hot, young, cool and sexy! That was the first impression of Copenhagen.

We arrived on a Saturday night and as usual left our motorhome about 10 k from the city, jumped to our bikes and to explore the city! Everybody was on the street, dancing and bbqing on the water side, jumping on the water.

There was so much to see and experience! The promenades and the colourful houses, the opera house, the sailing boats and all the ice cream shops, the museum where we learnt a lot about their culture, the lunch on the edge of the water at the national theatre, the canals.

 We are so much loving this way of travelling. We do feel like locals, buying in supermarkets, going around the unknown neighbourhoods. Many parts of this city remained us of home. The recycled buildings, the wharf, the big ships and the scorching heat!

We swam in the Baltic Sea (new one!) and the water was surprisingly very warm.

22 July

 An incredible 20 k bridge linking both countries, we crossed  to Sweden on the tune and laugh of ABBA. And instantly as we crossed, we saw IKEA!!!

Decided to stay put for 1 day on the beach to recover before we go again to a big city.

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"I belong to a long family of butchers. I studied and had several jobs in huge places  in the city but decided to come back here and have a balanced life". His passion for his job was obvious. He showed us inside his shop  and the machineries. He proudly brought us two cases of rib eye steak: Australian and Argentinean. We had to buy both!

"Every year I take my grandchildren for a trip, one at a time, for 2-3 days. It allows me to have an special connection with each of them. Also, the things you see when you travel with a child are so different, looking at the world throught their eyes is magical". We promised to her and to each other to do the same with our grandchildren!!

It was actually funny...we spent the last few days going back and forward Netherland-Germany accordingly to whom Argentina was playing in the world cup. And after a few more bicycle trips we prepare to pick up Braian in the airport back in Germany- Bremen.

The great weekend we spent together was even better but the fact that Argentina and Germany were playing the finals. It was on a Sunday night. We courageously stood under a big umbrella with another 20 people while hundreds of others were on the rain in the piazza watching the match in the big screen.







Braian had his argentine flag around his neck but tucked it in his coat.  I had my big light blue scarf (thanks Jan!) around my head.

 The raining was something out of this world all together. By the time the match finished and the germans were dancing crazy under the dark sky, the fire brigades were cleaning what it was clearly flooded all around us!!! We were gutted and hugely disappointed and kept talking about the match until the early hours of the next day....

We said good bye to Braian and head off to Denmark, and so today about a few hours before crossing with the ferry just stopped in this little town- Heiligenhafen  with a very cute promenade on edge of the Baltic and a party is just taking place. It is late in the afternoon on summer the big fairy whell is in place. The kermese is on, ice cream and popocorn , a 70' band playing along, lots of chating and eating and I feel like a child again

waiting for the ferry to cross to Denmark

"I was in a comma long time ago for a while and my life have changed forever since... there is nothing to fear". A very interesting morning chatting about past lives, different dimensions, positive and negative energy and the fight against corporations! 

We really love The Netherlands. The flowers, the canals and the bicycles are such a great combination. But what make this country so great are its people. Yes, they are easygoing, helpful and super friendly but most of all they are gregarious; they want to know us and chat with us.

What we found really interesting was the amount of wild animals, such a stroll away from Amsterdam. Wherever we cycle we were greeted by ducks, swans, bambies, rabbits and lots and lots of cows!

“it was a magical weekend” I said while sipping the last drop of champagne in a dingy with Jan and Edu. And it was! They came to meet us in Amsterdam and it was such a joy!!

We were so lucky to have arrived the day before at Volendam on “their” day, were the locals dress in traditional customs and there is food, music and dancing. They were also smoking the fish in the port. It was just a great coincidence that also Netherlands were playing the round of 16 and they won their match in the football world cup. Orange fever!

Jan and I talked about how “nice and tidy and elegant” all the houses are. They are adorned with flowers and interesting ornaments place in their windows... Sometimes it felt eerie; like borderline perfection - par in par with some sort of competition of who has the best/more organised/tidiest garden of all... I said that there is such an uncanny similarity between all the houses and the only point of differentiation are actually the ornaments in their windows. The most intriguing bit is that all the windows are always open, is like people live "an open life"..... hector made a comment that this is no different from the red district were the working woman are also in display...a very insightful comment.

Hector and I are also loving eating herrings with onion and pickle cucumber. The stands are everywhere, like the “choripans” in Argentina or the “meat pies” in Australia

world heritage

The sun did come up for my birthday! It lasted just a bit, but so enough to indulge on my drug of choice, “the triples S”: sun, sand and sea! I swam in a new sea: the north sea and it was just a bit warmer than home...

I felt exhilarated, rejuvenated, excited, happy and full of life....who needs magic mushrooms??? It was so much fun...we were walking through all the bars in the red district in Amsterdam the night before; I wanted to smoke a joint as I have never done it and thought it was time to try as I was saying goodbye to my 52...after 3 minutes inside a bar while we were trying to figure out how and what , Hecti has left the place coughing and with tear eyes by the huge smoke inside! So we said that we did “passive smoking” but above all we remain clean this time around and maybe next life....jajaja

If I thought I had seen the prettiest town around is because I hadn't arrived at Alkmaar yet. The canals and the flowers were there but this town felt more alive, with the old houses and small shops. And then we found Bergen which is a forest but with houses and an open zoo in the middle of the town!

Crossing a canal with a bicycle ferry for €1, chatting about the world cup semi-final Netherlands vs Argentina

16 to 23 of June

Dusseldorf is such an exciting city. On the "right side" (as they say it!) of the Rhine, the old village have so much to offer. In an area as big as 20 blocks you find 260 bars/pubs! Adding to that are the numerous restaurants, coffee shops, take away and 5 breweries that produce their famous beer "Alt"; very dark.

I can't remember seeing a city with so many trees! Sadly , the week before we arrived, they experienced such a big thunder that all the parks were closed and there were a big cleaning going on as we could see the trees being uprooted and laying on the streets

There is so much going on, the university is there too and relaxing on the river we see plenty of ships of different sizes coming and going. There is also the new area, near the other side of the port with the unusual buildings, all warehouses that now houses companies, hotels and art galleries.

Interesting architecture in Dusseldorf

We had a great time over there; particularly mixing with locals and cheering for Argentina during the football match. Again, the easiness of grabbing the bike to just go and visit the city is fantastic.

I found the people so helpful and engaging that it made us to consider staying in Germany for a little longer on our way back from Scandinavia.

We saw it in every place in Europe. Most of them are land rentals from government. People and their families get their parcels that in most cases is provided with water, electricity and a storage place. It is used for own consumption of veggies and we saw people not only taking a great care of their land but also using it as a place for quiet time and relaxation.

25 June

I thought I had seen plenty of; but until I got to "mediteranea" wellness centre and spa I don't think I have seen it all. The place was so big that we needed to carry a map in our robes!. It is located on near Cologne

We started the day at 10:30 am and left at 11:30 pm! By this stage we have been to more than 15 saunas all with different themes/temperatures. There were 6 indoor swimming pools, more than 8 spas and as many outdoor pools that we didn't have time to visit!!. We had a great sleep afterwards!

26 June

The first things we noticed when we crossed to The Netherlands was the beautiful gardens in the front of the houses, the lack of fences on them and of course the  amount of bikes and cycle paths. It is not an exaggeration to say that every street we crossed have 2 extra lines (both ways) for bikes and that there were so many different paths one can take with the bike that there is never a possibility of doing the same track twice. What we found very inspiring is the amount of older people going on in their bikes. We ask ourselves: can we do that? can we keep coming back to Europe and spent 3-4 months over here riding our bikes and discovering new places?

Amsterdam: bicycles, flowers and canals