Baby Ian

I just visited some friends in Maryland and had a great time feeding, burping, bouncing, feeding, burping, bouncing...they didn't let me change diapers too often. We also took some photos. I'm not great at baby photos, in my opinion, but I'm willing to learn and do some more. In fact I'd like to do more baby photos and family portraits. Here are my favorites.

Still Traveling

Steve and I were in Norway last week and it was absolutely beautiful. We came up with the slogan of "It's ridiculously Beautiful". Every direction we looked we were in awe and at first wanted to spew obscenities, which was a strange reaction yet that subsided after a couple of days when we got used to seeing utterly ridiculous natural beauty. We hiked everyday often for at least 6 hours and many many miles which was so relaxing for us. Often the only thing we could hear was the water falling in the mountain streams, rivers and waterfalls. I counted 14 waterfalls in one valley I was standing in in Flamsdalen. Balestrand was a magical little town with a history of Artists living there, British tourists and even Hitler was there in 1938 before he began to take over other countries. The other towns we were in were Aurland, which is also gorgeous, Geilo, Laerdal, Flam, Myrdal (all really small towns no larger than 1600 people). We did stop in Oslo for a couple of hours before we caught the plane back to Brussels but I think that the countryside in Norway is to be seen. The Fjords are amazing and people are really friendly. We met a very nice artist in Balestrand named Bjorg who we spent hours talking with. She paints beautiful watercolors and everywhere we went in the region we saw her paintings and met people that had some connection to her. I never thought I would be interested in Norway or Scandinavian culture but it was really charming and familiar feeling. However, whenever I travel I find something wonderful about a place because truly everywhere has something to be talked about and appreciated.

Oslo Opera House
Steve and the map

Inside St Olaf, a modern Stav Church in Balestrand
Sunset above Aurland



Mountains above Balestrand
Crazy tourist Ferry
Ferry to take us to Balestrand or other towns

Seaside in Barlestrand

Road between Aurland and Laerdal
Steve and I above the Fjord
Mountain streams in Norway

Evening light on Aurlandsfjord
Aurlandsfjord at night
Undredal, Norway
Borgund Stav Church
Me above Aurlandsfjord
I'm still traveling and just got back to Belgium from Norway. This is a detail from a Stav Church in Borgund.

The Coast of Brittany, France

The Coast of Brittany France is the place to eat wonderful seafood and from the first photo you see the beaches are full of shells. I like to travel and taste the local goods as you might know from reading other blogs. The specialties in the north of France are Coquilles Saint Jacques (scallops), Huitres (oysters), other seafoods, crepes, cider, creamy sauces with mushrooms, leeks, green beans, creamy cheeses, Soupe de Poisson, caramel and lots of tasty pastries. I really enjoyed Brittany France because it reminded me of home in Northern California. It is a blend of sea, celtic history, green pastures and little towns.

Mont St Michel, Normandy, France

"The Castle in The Sea" It originally was a sacred place to the Druids and who knows who else before St Michael/St Michel was seen fighting the devil. The tide rises and falls around it dramatically revealing the sand around it. It's really beautiful and really touristy unfortunately. It currently is a working Abbey though in the past it has also served as a prison. It survived the 100 year war and 32 years of siege. All the decorations and previous altars were taken away so it remains empty in the parts where tourists are allowed to go.
















Get there early or deal with thousands of tourists.