I met a friend in Cornwall and we set out to explore the area. The village of St Ives, where we stayed, was really great.

To get there you have to change trains at St Erth and take a little historic bay line, a ten minute ride.

Here’s a look at the little harbor there. Isn’t the water a wonderful color? I was expecting green water, not turquoise.

This little hill was what was called “The Island” even though it isn’t one. Note the dark gray in the sky. About ten minutes after I took this photo it started raining. We mostly had sun but had some serious wind too, something Cornwall is known for.

This little B&B was called The Norway House. I’m guessing it must have been started by some immigrants from Norway.

Is there anything better than the sun rising over the sea?

There’s always something new in Paris. I just found out about this crepe place which is Japanese and dropped in to try one in the Marais neighborhood.

The exterior with a heart shaped window.

Just like at some Japanese restaurants, they have plastic models of some of the crepes made there.

The interior is like a little girl’s bedroom. Very sweet and pink.

I guess guys would venture in here if they could quickly leave.

One being made.

The finished product.

Sometimes after I make a video and try to transfer it to my website, it just doesn’t work via YouTube. That’s the case here. I don’t have one of those little instant things to see it here. You’ll have to cut and paste, but if you do, you will see a video of Picpus Cemetery which is near our apartment.

There were many passages, or galleries, in Paris at one time. Only a few remain. I’m am often in the Galleries Vivienne but if you carry on heading north you find others.

Lost in time, Passage Panoramas.

A colorful corner in a restaurant there.

The roof made of glass.

A section of the floor. I saw a special on TV about the galleries and they showed tunnels underneath the passages with storage units. You don’t even notice the glass here and there above the tunnels and in the floor unless a light is on like this.

Lots of stores selling stamps and old postcards.

It’s hard to believe at the violence that happened in Norway a week after we got home. Somehow it seems worse to me that it was one of their own who did all of the bombing and killing and that, at the bottom of it all, seemed to be anti-immigrant feelings, especially anti Muslim. What is shocking to me is that I have been told that some people in France agree with what this fanatic did. Can you believe that?
So with a heavy heart I’ll go ahead and post the last blog on our trip to Norway.

We finally made it to Trondheim where Britt-Arhild lives. What a lovely city it is, next to the ocean with a river winding through it, full of modern interesting shops. This is a bridge near the cathedral that I think must have once been a drawbridge.

The cathedral-I posted this photo because of the light shining on it. It was beautiful inside, though very dark. It’s the largest cathedral in Norway. As is the case with many cathedrals started centuries ago, it has many different areas built at different times.

Also near the cathedral is this old section of the city built up on the river. I liked walking around this area.

After our visit to Trondheim, we headed back down towards Oslo. On our way, we stopped in the old mining town of Røros (I had to copy and paste to get that line through the o). It’s a Unesco Heritage Site and was really nice to visit.

There was a pretty church there freshly painted inside in light blue.

This was where the pastor’s family sat. I don’t know if they closed the curtains or not. There were curtains where the poor and outcasts sat and I bet the curtains were closed so the wealthy church members didn’t have to look at them.

They mined copper here and some of the old homes of the miners remained with sod roofs. The sod was used to keep the birch bark in place to make it waterproof. It was probably good for preventing fires. I saw quite a few sod roofs around Norway. I think it has now become a “green” thing to do.

A big slag heap which is what is left of stone when the copper has been extracted.

A closeup of the sod roof.

We headed back to Oslo and spent the night and then took an overnight ferry to Germany, thus avoiding driving though Denmark.The boat was like a cruise boat, sort of a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland, with live entertainment, shopping and many place to eat. By then we were getting tired of driving so it was great to save on some driving time. We spent the night in the outskirts of Cologne, Germany and by the next day were back in Paris. We really enjoyed our trip and just loved Norway. Someday we may return, maybe in the winter, so we can see those famous northern lights.

After reaching the end of the very large fjord, the Sognefjorden, we were in a small place that seemed to have been built recently for the ferries and the train leaving called Flam.

I had been expecting a charming town but there were just a few places to eat and some souvenir shops and a couple of hotels. We came very close to staying here overnight and I’m so glad we changed our plans.

The train stopped at this thunderous waterfall. A video of it is below.

The train stopped for five minutes at these waterfalls and music was played and some magical “fairies” in red came out behind a ruin. It was really cold and wet by the falls and I thought they must have been freezing.

The next day we went through what is called Fjaerland, the home of many glaciers. We even passed Europe’s largest ice cap at one point. After we got over the mountain we started descending and stopped at our hotel which turned out to have the best view ever:

This was from our room on the third floor. There was no elevator and the rooms were rather basic but, oh my, who cared with that view? We were in Geiranger right above the fjord.

The next morning I peeked through the curtains and saw this cruise ship coming into port. Look at that smooth water with the wake behind the boat. It was fabulous.

The next day we made a two hour detour to Alesund full of art deco buildings but I don’t think they compared to what I have seen in Paris.

The buildings were art deco in that they had plants on them, most of them painted.

The ferries were so efficient in Norway. We would come to a port wondering how long the wait would be and rarely had to wait more than five minutes, and usually arriving just as the ferry did.

Not horribly exciting but a look at boarding and leaving a ferry in Norway with the car. It was a wonderful experience, a break from driving and a chance to eat something. I became addicted to their hot dogs which you could top with a crunchy onion mixture. I saw these all over Norway.