Having fun in Sweden

Where does one in Norway go to have fun? Yes, Sweden! Were else? A good friend planned to celebrate her birthday in Sweden so we joined for a weekend of activities in Sweden. On the program there were many things: a visit to the Kiruna Iron mine, snowscooter driving, dogs sledging, a visit to the Ice hotel and enjoying Norwegian food and drinks. Douglas crashed a snow mobile and Claartje lost a dog from the sledge which was luckily brought back later. The weekend was crowned with a big solar storm, casting bright Northern lights all the way from Kiruna back to Harstad.

A magnificant weekend! Thanks Issy for inviting us!

Love,

Claartje &  Douglas

Back in Harstad,

The sun is back in Harstad. Arriving back in Harstad from the Netherlands we noticed the sun is back. When its slowely rises it gives the most spectacular views. Above some pictures taken from out of our garden in Harstad.

01-01-2012 We got married!

On New Years Day 2012, when we were together for 11.5 years, we promissed to stay together for the rest of our lives and had a great wedding! Friends and familiy flew in from all over the world to celebrate this with us. It is a day we will always remember! 


Love, 


Douglas and Claartje

Hugging wolves in the Polar Zoo

In the Polar Zoo, about three hours ride from Harstad, it is possible to go into the domain of the wolves, and get close to them. Douglas' team did this as a teambuilding activity, but since Douglas was not able to go then, we grabbed the opportunity to go together when Klaus (a colleague of Douglas) wanted to go again with a friend.

The wolves are sociallised, but are still wild too, and you enter their domain, so have to watch them carefully. Their way of greeting you is licking your face. The wolves are huge animals!

After this cool experience we had a tour of the zoo, where we also saw other animals like the lynx, the wolverine and brown bear, all animals that live in the wild in Norway, just before it became dark at 2 in the afternoon. Then we had lunch at Gard's place, another collegue that lives very close to the zoo.

It was a great day!

Claartje & Douglas

The beautiful colours of Autumn (Høst) 2

 

 

As they do in many places in the autumn, the trees were turning more and more yellow red and brown. In both the first two weekends of September weekends we spent one day climbing tops in the area. First we went up the Steinåsen. A cloud had creept up on us while we were walking to the top so it was a challenging trip with a little rain over a large swampy plain. When we finaly reached the top, the view was completely gone due to the fog. Only when the cloud broke for a second did we get to see the lakes below. The second trip a week later was up the Toskevassfjellet, again a fantastic trip, this time over smal steap forest paths.

By now (November) the daylight is almost gone and the first snow has presented itself (and melted again unfortunately). But winter is here!!!

The beautiful colours of Autumn (Høst) 1

A couple of warm days in autumn gave us the chance to go on a large tour up the Jonsheimtinden. Spectacular views and breath taking scenery. Leaving from Kongsvikdalen we walked up over stretching plateaus and never melting snow. Past wonderful water falls and steep cliffs of rock to be stunned by the all inspiring views at the top of the mountain on the sea below. On the way down we met an elg(moose) with two kalfs.