sunmøre weekend

this weekend was my favorite kind here in norway--we enjoyed local art, cake, and lighthouses. saturday was an unusually busy day in Ålesund with two art exhbition openings, the unveling of the street to molja fyr (the lighthouse), and a streetfair concluding the summerday celebrations going on at the mall. our saturday plans were ambitious--especially considering owen hadn't quite recovered from his london jet-setting. we did manage to make it to the opening at our friend nihl's gallery at artifex where owen made friends with a young finnish guitarist and we enjoyed some collector's prints of tellnes (quite out of our price range but we do have a gorgeous one waiting to be framed back in the oc from our last visit) and a swedish artist lars jonsson among others--the browsing was brief since owen only wanted to visit with rosemari at cafe nomaden next door where he knew she had cake waiting. we had wanted to make it to a sculpture opening at the kube--the modern art museum where janniche tørlen had a collaborative sculpture exhibit with her sister (i'm smitten by her jewelery--michael had bought me a bracelet last year and i'm eyeing some of her new pieces to take home). i think owen and i will peruse the kube later on our own as he was art-ed out. instead we walked down to see if there were still pancakes by the molja (there wasn't) but we ended up chatting with ingrid about some of her gorgeous new glass art pieces (also on that ever-growing list of things to take home!). we ended saturday watching the sweeden-spanish futbol match over fish and chips in the sas lobby. . .

on sunday we celebrated father's day by getting out of town and driving out to the neighboring islands to picnic in godøy and see the alnes fyr. to get there, though, we had to drive through four tunnels which are a little crazy. the last one is a one-lane tunnel, and when you see oncoming cars you pull over in the little turnoff marked "m" (perhaps for move?!). we had gone last spring when my parents were visiting and it was a highlight of our visit. this time the lighthouse was open and there is a gorgeous watercolor exhibit by ørnulf opdahl which i know papa would have enjoyed. owen walked up all five flights of stairs to the top and was rewarded by some local pancakes in the cafe. we then hiked out around the cliffs and grilled some pølse and enjoyed the view. i think we took enough pictures to assmble a short documentary--but here are just a few. note the surfer in the last pic--one of the few surf accessible beaches nearby.

life in 337

but most of the week, we're just doing this:



or this:

the georg stage tall ship

on our way to dinner we noticed this tall ship docked in the aalesund harbor so we decided to check it out and ended up climbing on board the georg stage-- it was a bit crazy climbing up the plank, but the seamanship students were very friendly and even told owen they'd let him stoaway and raise the pirate flag once they were out to sea. you can see the trademark Ålesund clouds have rolled in for a dramatic seafaring backdrop.

recent conversations with owen

while eating sushi with little ryan:
r: what does bok choy taste like?
o: a grasshopper
o: i love sushi. do you like sushi?
r: it's like california snow

to mommy, while painting foamy fish for his best friend w.:
i'm just going to mix the paints all up and put them on this fishy so we can eat it like a cookie with milk.

after discovering a pit in a nectarine.
are there pits in fruit?
yes, pits are big seeds. that's how fruit trees grow.
oh? well, that's magic.

"london town of fish" ("the fishes are in that water"--the thames river)

"this is a map of owen's shadow"--here we are in london town, right there where owen is pointing from daddy's shoulder. we started our tour along the albert embankment where we walked alongside the thames river, and made our way from the waterloo station underground to covent gardens and explored the london transport museum. the morrells took the train in and met us there for a hands-on history tour of horse drawn carriages and steam engines and double decker busses and all things delightful for little boys. owen says his favorite part of the museum was dressing as a bus driver and then getting to ride on a double decker bus.

sunday was michael's birthday and we had a proper toast during owen's post-museum nap after a stroll through picadilly circus, through soho and wandered about until we found a pub. for dinner we found a great curry place in vauxhall aroudn the corner from our hotel and sang happy birthday over a mango ice cream "cake." it wasn't chocolate, but it was tasty!

on monday the boys indulged me by following the footsteps of virgnia woolf's mrs. dalloway through london. it was a full afternoon's hike, but i did mangage to find flowers on bond street and enjoy a scone in regent's park. along the way we saw the changing of the guard at buckingham palace and owen liked the boys in funny hats on the horses. we headed back on the number three double decker bus through oxford circus, past westminster abbey and over the lambeth bridge. there we quickly caught a taxi to victoria station and rode the gatwick express train to catch our flight back to allesund. good night london, good night trains, good night big ben!

our english homestay: the morrell windsor cottage

we enjoyed an english weekend with the morrells who make us look like mere weekender travellers--they were previously living in amsterdam and have since been in england for hte last few years with their three gorgeous boys: thomas, ryan and andrew. it was a welcome break to get out of the hotel scene and drink some british ales and drink in the sun out in their backyard. (here's where i have to confess--when we left california i snuck a little gold sunshine in my carryon, and it's been with us ever since--copenhagen, aalesund, windsor, and london all had unexpected breaks of stormy weather and recond sunshine when we arrived. coincidence?).

after our late night arrival on the recently added SAS flight from aalesund-gatwick we awoke on saturday to proper english scones, clotted cream and jam and a fresh pot of french press stumptown coffee (this was after a great english cheese spread--some stilton, brie and cheddar to go with our nightcap on friday).

saturday afternoon we explored the savill garden which is, according to the royal landscape "a garden for the garden's sake." there was a statue exhibit going on and the boys were quite the art critics--noting fossils in relief, distinguishing crocodiles from alligators and basically running amok among in the green and enjoying the great trees. thanks christy and jameson!

lily june

she's here! our beautiful niece, lily june arrived 06-07-08
5 lbs 11 oz, 17 inches long and practically perfect in every way! we miss her already, but know she's (literally) in good hands. sending our love across the oceans to the proud parents!!!

gone fishing!

so we may not be the beatles fishing out of the hotel window over the sound--but we could, if we wanted to, dangle out of our windows and catch a few. or, hang out by the docks and reel in a cod on our first throw! of course i panicked and held my breath until michael tossed the fish back in the water. next time we'll get a bucket and watch him swim around a bit or bring him into the kitchen.

scandanavian sundays

i'm writing this half hanging out of the hotel lobby window while connected to the thon hotel across the street--the internet's been down in the hotel all week and of course it's a matter of ordering a part from denmark which i'm sure will come in one of those large container ships that docks outside of our window in a barge that must then be passed through five norwegian tech support guys. it's just how things are aroudn here. but they're also like this--full of salty sea spray and shadows of ships painted in the distance--and this is why we are here: to have sundays together. the rocks and fish and boats are just the icing on the chocolate cake ;) besides, doesn't owen look super in an orange wool cap? and of course, doesn't he look so so so big. . .

owen's aquarium pictures

daddy holding a lobster

cod fish

atlanterhavsparken

seaweed

friday five: along the water, past the boats, over the bridge, down the street and to the café!

rain, rain. . .

when the clouds return it's always good to remember the sunshine (was just here yesterday); or perhaps he's just taking a nap ;)

an orange-socks kind of weekend

we enjoyed a quiet weekend here in alesund, watching the cruise ships and fishing boats dock outside our window and revisiting our favorite spots. saturday we joined the crew for xl's signature bacalo dinner and then enjoyed some mojitos at the newly refurbished hotel atlantica.

sunday we had planned to go down to the atlanterhavsparken--the aquarium--and walk along the coast but realized when we got to the deserted bus stop that the buses, of course, don't run on sunday. so we headed up to the park, for a quiet family afternoon. we ended the evening with pizza up at pepe's and then all watched bug's life and went to sleep. . .

cruise ships spotted

In Alesund today. First is a German cruise ship:

On the other side of town, the famous MS Queen Victoria:

community victory!

wellhead and sdg&e are revoking their permit request to build a "sneaker" plant in our neighborhood!

here's info from ladera hope
and the oc register