Friday, October 22, 2004

Thailand


Koh Samed Posted by Hello

I am thinking about going to Thailand at the beginning of November.
I have the whole month off and think I will spend about two weeks there together with my daughter.
The picture above was taken on my last visit.

K & O


This photo was taken earlier this week. We are taking care of my parents dog for a week while they are away at Gran Canaria. His name is Odin.
Odin was the main Norse God in the Nordic countries back when the Vikings made Europe somewhat unsafe.

The colors look a bit strange - but the light of the sun just above the horizon actually made them look like this.

Trip Posted by Hello

Thursday, October 14, 2004

TODAY...

..I have been running errands and doing my laundry. I got a nice pay check from the Norwegian IRS and had to visit the bank. Did you know that we pay well over 50% of our earnings in taxes when we pass a limit?
I do not complain. We get a lot back.

YESTERDAY...

..I spent inside an aircraft. Woke up at 4.15am. Lifted off from Karlstad at 5.50am. Then it went on to Stockholm, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo and Bodo where I finally got to leave that metal tube at 6.30pm.
Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this…

THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY…

…I spent in Karlstad, Sweden. Arrived early (9.30 am) at the hotel and after changing into my civilian clothes I went out to explore Karlstad city.
Karlstad has a population of about 80 000 and got its name in 1584. The city is placed on the northern shore of Lake Vänern and is the capital of Värmland County. And as I learned during the day - the treaty ending the union of Sweden and Norway was signed here in 1905.

I started out exploring the city centre. It had is usual line up of shops and small malls. After a while I expanded my area and was surprised to find a lovely river, the Klara River, running through town. There also were a lot of nice and lovely old buildings spread around. I think the oldest I found dated back to the early 15th century.
I then took a small walk up along the Klara River. It is wide and slow floating. A nice weather and fall colors made it a nice walk.
Returning I went to the library where I spent an hour or so reading through some of their magazines. After that I took to the Värmlands Museum.
The Museum consists of two buildings. Both quite different and interesting - architectonical wise. The oldest one built in 1928, and the newest one in 1998. They had a display taking me through the history of the region from 8000BC until present time. They also had a part of the museum which somewhat reminded me of my parents basement. Things from the 60s and 70s were thrown together on different displays and shelves without any further explanation.
What I remember best from their exhibitions? Hats! It’s incredible what kind of creations people have worn on their heads.
There also was an art exhibition with paintings for sale. Their fall exhibition I think. I really liked two of the paintings there. They were of the same artist and were painted collages of a white horse. Unfortunally parts of them was made up of newspapers and I don’t think they will take the time and wear of the years to come too well.

I also got to visit Karlstads Cathedral. There was no one else in there and it was nice and quiet inside. There came a man and closed the doors just as I was leaving.

Monday, October 11, 2004

The First Snow

The day before yesterday it happened. The first snow. We were in Luleaa in Sweden, and were on our way to take a late dinner when the first flakes came floating down. They melted as soon as they touched the ground.
We hurried on and ended up at a Thai restaurant where we enjoyed a good pizza and a banana split for dessert.

However, last night we had a layover in Kiruna, a small mining-town in the far North of Sweden. The temperature was -6C/25F. And there was snow on the ground. We landed just before the sun settled at 5 pm. I got checked in on my room as the last lights faded over the hills and the city lights switched on. It was a magical polar light.

I am writing this at a short groundstop in Stockholm. The wake up call came at 4.30am this morning. It is 9 am now and I am still in the process of waking. I do not understand why these Swedes need to get up and fly somewhere at that time of day.
This afternoon I shall end up in Malmö, close to Copenhagen. I am due for another early morning tomorrow so I am guessing it will be an easy and quiet evening tonight.

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Fall


Fall Posted by Hello

Time passes quickly. I was hoping to publish more often - but the time just seems to fly. I still have a few days off before I return to work on Friday evening. I have been assigned a Swedish sling this time. Five days of flying Swedish domestic routes. I have not had any nightstops in Sweden lately so it shall be nice to visit some of those towns again.

The picture above is of my daughter. It was taken yesterday. In the far back you can see over to the Lofoten Islands. It was a nice day - but a cold wind made us search for lower terrain after a while.