A little more than a year after our marriage we travelled to Rome for our honeymoon. We had an amazing time, seeing all the sights and attractions – we walked our feet off. The food was great, especially the restaurants that were located far away from the famous attractions. After 3 days in Rome having seen everything we wanted to see we hired a car and drove to Naples. Roman drivers are crazy, they fill each and every space on the road even if there is no actual space, but it was an interesting and fun experience, and we survived :-) We took hundreds of photos, and here is a selection of them.

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We decided to celebrate May 17th, the national holiday of Norway, in a special way. We read that a guided tour on skies was organized at the highest mountain of Norway called Galdhøpiggen (2469m high) in Lom. We called one of the organizers and she said it would be suitable for everyone, young and old, experienced and novices (I am not really that good on skies). The tour started at the nice cottage Juvasshytta, and would end at the top of Galdhøpiggen. Unfortunately, the weather was not so good and there was fog everywhere. Even though advertised as being for everyone, the reality was different. The people that could not keep up the pace (including us) were sent down again after about one-third the trip. Because we were there for the social aspect it was a good choice to return and we have met a lot of nice people on the way back. The day after we decided to drive to Ålesund and spend the next two full days exploring this city. Driving through the valleys is a terrific journey by itself, and I wished I would have taken more photos on the way. May 18th we arrived in Ålesund. Ålesund is a beautiful little city at the coast of Norway, and has a lot of buildings in Art Nouveau architecture. That is because this fishing town burned down to the ground on January 1904 and had to be rebuilt completely. The touristic spots in town can be seen in one full day, but since we stayed for two days we took it easy. We had some great fish at the restaurants there and we enjoyed the nice view on the fjords that our hotel offered.

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Me and my fiancée spent a long weekend in London; it is the very first time that we have been to this city. We took the Eurostar high speed train from Brussels to London, and this was a comfortable and reasonably fast way to travel. We have seen just about all the major (touristic) sights, and enjoyed our time. Apart from our hotel at Harrow, which was a disappointment to us. However, the location of the hotel was quite good. It was close to the Underground Tube system, which brought us everywhere, affordable and fast. If I had to choose the best touristic sight we had, I would say the Tower of London. This amazing fortress was also used as a prison in British history. What I didn’t knew is that also the crown jewels are kept here… A must see.

View video of London.

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Happy new year everyone, or god nytt år as they say in Norway! I spend New Years eve with my fiancée in Norway, together with her friend Camilla and her boyfriend Simen. It was a nice Christmas aftermath, new years celebration and snowy vacation, where I experienced some new activities which Dutchies never do (at least as far as I know), for instance, ice fishing.
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Being in Spain for the first time, attending the EIBIR winter school, I decided to explore Barcelona a little before flying back to The Netherlands. One day is way too short, but I had to be back in Holland to welcome my girlfriend coming from Norway. One day is short, but still I have been able to see some of the typical touristic attractions Barcelona has to offer. Click on the read more link to see some photo’s, and hopefully I’m going back to Spain with my girlfriend in the summer.
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I went to Norway to experience my first Norwegian Christmas with my girlfriend. The hectic Christmas shopping spree is about the same as here. Also decorating a Christmas tree is common here. But on the country side there are some other special tradions, like drinking special Christmas beer “Juleøl”; traditional pork dishes as “ribbe” are made; an enormous amount of small cakes (rosettes, christmas cookies, etc), and “julekake”, a Christmas bread filled with raisins. Keeping the fireplace burning. On Christmas Eve we have put a bowl of porridge in the barn for the “nisse”, a mythical creature that protects the farm. Also mounting the “julenek” on poles for the birds (a stalk of oats, corn) is a tradition that takes place on Christmas Eve. And on the first Christmas day it’s quite common to not sit at home, but go outside skiing which I did too with my new skies I got from my parents in law.
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On the 19th August 2009, me and my girlfriend got engaged in Norway! To celebrate it we had a nice dinner with my girlfriend’s parents at Tautra Island at Frosta. The next day we had a beautiful trip to Røros, an old mining town in the east of Norway not far from the Swedish border. It has lots of beautiful wooden houses, cozy shops, a nice atmosphere, and a museum about Røros coppermine. The place we stayed at was called ErzscheidergÃ¥rden where every room is uniquely decorated. I can recommend it to everyone. Continue reading

Visiting Norway again, to have my first real sheep gathering experience. With a large flock of sheep spread out over the mountains, we went out and search for them. Armed with border collies, we gather the sheep and push them to the large flock and move them back to the cottage. First day was a very rainy day, difficult to see anything moving, but we were able to gather more sheep than expected. The second day was much better weather – and was a lot more nice to walk. We captured a lot of sheep. The next day it would rain again, and all the gathered sheep so far (around 200) were moved down to the parking lot and sorted out to their respective owners. All in all it was a great experience. Continue reading