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Our
Scandinavian vacation 2003 Norway Sweden Denmark |
Here is a little story about our 2003 Scandinavian vacation. |
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All photo's can be enlarged by clicking on them. I tried to write this page in English for my foreign friends... please don't laugh at the mistakes I made ! |
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No traffic jams in Norway ! Driving up north we had a little delay on the German autobahn.... We joined (and enjoyed) a seven hour traffic jam at a temperature of 36 degrees Celsius. (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) because the concrete road was damaged by the heat. Say goodbye to the travel schedule ! Almost at midnight we were rolling again - and we were glad to found a hotel at the Danish ferry's landing. |
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1200 year?
old wooden church. Probably the most photographed church in Norway. As a lumberyard owner I had to go there: this is a real testimonial for outdoor use of wood ! |
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Harborview in Hudiksval From Germany we drove up to Denmark where I had to make a delivery of some woodveneer for a lady who builds puppethouses! She found our lumberyard on the internet - and I 'traded' the small pieces of veneer for a cup of coffee for Tina and me. |
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Norwegian wood. I believe it was a Beatles song. This is the way to get relaxed: sitting on a 'ice-age' rock between the beautiful trees. |
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Log cabin The Scandinavian people sure know how to work with their woods: This is a perfectly crafted wooden log cabin standing outside of a log-home factory. Visit their website: www.tinnosetsag.no/ |
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Hairpins Via Denmark and the Swedish westcoast we entered Norway. Norway has something we don't have in Holland: mountains! As a real 'lowlander' I was impressed by the way they build roads in the mountains: Like this 'hairpin' curves. |
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Tunnels Tina was in charge of counting tunnels. We passed 77 ! The longest was 8,5 kilometer, but there are tunnels up to 20 kilometer. Most tunnels have a concrete inlets but the interior of the tunnels is just bare rock. Just a few tunnels were built in a straight line. Most have curves inside and go up and down... But when building they start excavation from both ends and I wonder how they manage to meet each other somwere halfway in the mountain..... |
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On top of the world ! We drove again into a tunnel and found out it went up in circles inside the mountain. About 800 meters higher we went out and the radio happened to play the appropriate Aretha Franklin song 'on top of the world'. We were far above the tree border and even saw some snow.... The poles sticking into the pavement indicate the road when there is 'some' snow. |
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The forest But I prefer the forest and was glad we could come down and saw some trees again! |
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Norwegian westcoast. We like to walk in the harbor and watch the boats. There were no French-, no English-, No American- and no German ships but as always: there was a Dutchman with his sailingboat. So I asked the guy: 'ever been anywhere where were no people from Holland?' . 'No' said the guy. |
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The Spar store... This was a stress situation ! In Valburg we have only one grocery store: André's Spar. I'm always arguing with André about his monopolistic to-high-prices, his inefficient storelayout and out-of-date furniture. So we took this nice hotel, opened the balcony doors and found out there was a Spar store down there just like at home. |
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Sinister factory In the second world war the Germans tried to build the atomic bomb. For building it they needed 'heavy water' that was produced in this factory. The building is in a valley surrounded by mountains and it took the allied forces several attacks before it was put out of business. |
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Waterfalls After visiting the west coast we drove North until we met the Artic circle. In the summer the sun never sets over there - that's real strange ! Common in Norway: waterfalls among the roads. we were amazed by every one of them ! |
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Drilling islands The Norwegian coast is rich of oil. In this fjord we found some drilling islands. They seem small, but if you compare them with the full-size seaship at the right, well - they look a little bigger. |
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All wooden buildings We had one rainy day - and spend the morning walking in this small town. Like almost every day we also visited a museum! |
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Old wooden hotel During this trip we visited 11 hotels. This was a very nice one: An over 100 years old wooden hotel situated close to an old train station. |
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A camper? Norway is popular by tourist who like to travel by camper. Mostly they drive in small vans - but this is a German built ex Norwegian army Magirus Deutz truck converted to a camper. It has a heavy-duty air cooled Deutz Diesel engine and 4x4 traction. This camper does not really need roads! |
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North Norway Mountains and fog. Small town with a hotel, a cafe and a tattooshop. By the way: they did also piercings ! The question is... Did I, or did I not....? |
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Sweden! After visiting North Norway we drove east to Sweden and passed the Swedish part of Lapponia. This photo was taken in a small town at the Baltic sea. The Swedes seem to like statues, their towns are full of it ! |
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Swedish Red These old warehouses are painted with an iron based paint. The color is called... Swedish red. I like the color that much that I painted my own house in Swedish Red too. |
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Difficult language? If you see an electric powerline with a sign on it saying 'livsfarlig ledning' - the Swedish language is not that difficult to understand ! But if you don't understand - you can always touch the line and never forget it again. |
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Hoteltunnel After we booked this nice hotel we found out there was a railroad tunnel under it ! Even freight trains drove trough this tunnel at night. That was a real nice experience - for two nights :-) |
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Europe's largest bridge When we left Sweden we passed Europe's largest bridge in Denmark. The pylons are about 300 meters high. |
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Koldingfjord Hotel And to get a little rest in the end of our vacation we booked 3 nights in the beautiful Koldingfjord hotel, the same hotel we spend our honeymoon exactly 10 years ago! It was an excellent vacation and I hope to visit Scandinavia many times again in the future. |
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