alriteee... north of norway... where to even start? 5500 km of pure amazingness... wow, i have seen more in 2 weeks than i think than i should deserve to see in a lifetime!! not only that it was stunningly beautiful and a whole lotta fun... but i also saw much much of God... which i might save to tell you about in my next update, but i hope i can share at least a little with you in pictures, with the couple of pictures out of the 1800 we took!!
the road trip crew: me, laurent, debbie and joffe!!
our first stop....
TRONDHEIM!!
our feet after deciding to brave trondheim all day in bare feet! we continued on our way... making some pretty darn amazing road-side stops!
these were all seriously side-of-the-road pit stops.. that buttercup one is from a grocery store parking lot! =D
anyways we continued on til we got to brønnoysund... where debbie and laurent caught some fish while i slept on the dock (we actually caught and ate a lot of fish on this trip... in lofoton we didn’t even buy other groceries.. we’re just like, we better catch some dinner!!)
and we began our amazing gorgeous scenic picnic spots...
and we made sandcastles, played some volleyball & frisbee... read a bit and slept the day on the beach!!!
oooh but just a little hike up from here.. is one of my favourite spots of the trip... a little hike up to a hollowed out hole/cave that looks through to the water and little islands on the other side... it’s like looking out into a dream lost world like peter pan or something!
which, to me kind of sums up well what norway has been! it was kinda random that i ended up coming here, i actually ended up choosing UMB for my exchange mostly because i wanted to take their field course in uganda, where i’ll be going in august. i couldn’t tell you anything about norway or even point it out on a map by the time i was accepted to UMB... (luckily my Bible study girls at UBC helped me out with some helpful hints like “the cheese slicer was invented in norway” hehe..) but once i got here, i just absolutely fell in love with it! it’s sooo beautiful in every way!
anyways... yah.. lost world!!
me flying into the lost world!
okay, from here, all the days kind of blur together... partly because we stopped having nights at this point, and we just drove/stopped/slept whenever we wanted, and partly because i’m not much of a map girl, but so i’m not really sure where all these places are or what order they happened in, but i’m sure you guys don’t really care, and in my mind, it was one big amazing memory anyways! =)
another amazing side-of-the-road stop at a waterfall!!
which of course we had to stop and play in
we stopped again later to climb a million (or maybe just 1100) stairs
that we may or may not have been supposed to climb... but i dont think any of us saw any signs saying otherwise ;)
but anyways the view was well worth it!
just look how excited we are!!
hehe... we drove up to Bodø... to the farm where our friend Kristin from UMB lives... i can’t believe she LIVES there.. amazing! i wondered if the cows knew how lucky they were to have such a gorgeous view.
kristin’s goat...
kristin’s goat getting mad at debbie
it was so beautiful we stayed 2 nights & enjoyed our last showers for the next week... how’s this for a pancake breakfast??
joffe and i also took advantage of their oven to bake some cookies for the road!! (12 dozen...!)
our next stop was saltstrummen, which is famous for fishing, i think... we didn’t catch a whole lotta fish, but joffe went in after a big one that we were trying to reel in for an hour. the line broke afterall... but at least debbie reeled him back in!
we had couple pretty ferry rides along the way
until we got to Lofoten... which again, is absolutely beautiful... beauty that these pictures don’t do justice to!
climbing...
and island hopping on lofoten!
that night in lofoten was defintely my favourite home during the trip!!
it was also where we saw ...
our first midnight sun!! and woke up to mountains, beach, crystal blue water... and bleating sheep!!
really cute little friendly ones!!
hehe... and a little morning yoga
this was our next camping spot, where we lost 8 hooks to catch 3 fish for dinner.. hehe, but the place was still beautiful..
another roadside spot for a mid-drive picnic... which never fails to amaze me!
okay... next stop was nordkapp (the northest point in europe! well, almost the northest – we went to the very northest!)... which was really absolutely amazing, and kinda the pinnacle point of the trip but that’s a story in itself that i hafta explain in my next update...so i’ll save the real pics for then! but yah... hehe for now, reindeer on the road on the way up to nordkapp (which we saw plenty of, as well as moose!)
and here we are... the northest tip of europe before you hit ocean!
and hammerfest- the northest CITY in europe..
where we caught 15 fish!! unfortunately i think our cameras had run out of battery at that point so there’s no pictures to prove it! but anyways... from there, finally heading back south... a long long drive back through finland
where we got out of the car and ran across the borders... and sweden (unfortunately passing thru sweden in the middle of the night so we couldn’t stop at an IKEA!)
and we stopped for a couple days at joffe’s family’s cabin, cooked ourselves a grand 3 course fish dinner with all the fish we caught in hammerfest... and yah, rested up and enjoyed having a home for a few days, and finally drove the rest of the way back home... with a stop in HELL, so we could say we’ve been to Hell and back!
(we’re at the train station in Hell.. and “gods” means “cargo” (like goods) in norwegian =) )
and one more important stop to dance in the street
to celebrate our 5000 km mark!!
GRATULERER MED KILOMETER!! =D ie... congratulations with kilometres!! which is funny only because you "gratulerer med" everything in norway - bday's, national days, mothers days.. and so on!
what a trip!! what a roadtrip too!! i didn’t want to sleep in the car (but i definitely did... tons!) cuz i’d be missing the scenery... i mean... even the view from my side mirror was amazing!!
hehe.. what a trip. no words even for it... just amazing & God is amazing. and just as a bonus, i officially know how to drive standard now!! =D (just don’t ask about all the times i stalled in the middle of the road).
anyways... its just 42 pictures... but i hope you enjoyed the little trip up to the north of norway with me! =D there’s still a little bit more to come about nordkapp... but yah, hope you liked it! you can check out
debbie's blog for some more pictures. and if you ever get the chance, take a vacation to norway... it’s really incredibly beautiful! =)
but yah... im in france now, and i’ll make the most of being here now. me and Debbie are going surfing today!! =D and we’re still looking for babysitting (or even better, live-in nanny) jobs... so do keep that in prayer. thanks / tusen takk / merci beaucoup!
love you all & talk to you soon!
rainbow =)
