Belfast.

We were off travelling again last week...this time to Belfast. As with our other trips, Oskar and I were accompanying Nils on a business trip. He works and Oskar and I have a little holiday;) Like most of our other trips, we have to be a bit creative in getting to our final destination. This time we left from Kristiansand (KRS) to Dublin (DUB) via Oslo (OSL) then train to Belfast!

Whilst waiting at Connolly Street Station in Dublin, Nils very kindly bought me a little drink.....yum!

A view from the Dome on Victoria Square Belfast. It was a beautiful, warm, Autumn day!

We spent our first morning with Nils before he headed off to his first meeting. It was a chance to suss out where places were that we wanted to visit. On this particular day, we sought out the Odeon cinema. For Oskar, it is a novelty to see films at the cinema in English and luckily there were a couple showing whilst we were in Belfast. On this day we spent a couple of boring hours seeing Justin and the Knights of Valour! Unfortunately, neither of us were impressed by the film....poor Oskar wasn't keen on the popcorn either!

The Big Fish is a ceramic mosaic.

Despite forecasting nasty weather, we took our chance by walking to the Titanic Centre. It was blowing a gale, but it was quite refreshing. We were lucky in that we didn't get wet through until making our way back to our hotel. This was after visiting the Centre and also taking in another film at the Odyssey. This time it was Planes! I found this slightly less boring that the previous film, but Oskar thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Titanic Centre.

Our last full day was devoted to shopping! And we were able to fill the extra bag we brought "just in case"!

It's been a long time....!

So a couple of years have passed since the last post.  But never mind, I'm here again!  Too much to mention about the previous 3 years, so I'll stick with the immediate past. (although I may mention previous trips at a later date)

We've just come back from an eventful trip to Cote d'Azur.  Juan les Pins to be precise.  The weather prior to departure was terrible...much snow and wind (much like the rest of Northern Europe)  As a consequence, KLM re-booked us with SAS/Brussels Airlines due to a capacity problem at Schipol Airport. The plus side to the change of flights was the later departure time. 09:45 is more favourable than 06:10.  However, due to three flights to Nice, instead of two, we were all really tired when we landed at Nice and we still had to make our way to Juan Les Pins minus one suitcase!! (The purple suitcase finally joined us two days later)

Our first full day was a trip down memory lane for me as Oskar and I took the train to Nice.  I'd not been there for nearly 30 years.  It was suprising how much had changed over the years.  But some things remained the same and Flunch is still next to Nice Ville railway station!  Another blast from the past was going into Nice Etoile  It was necessary to combine clothes shopping on this trip to buy what was missing due to the suitcase that went AWOL.  Oskar wasn't happy, but I got a smile from him when we made our way down to the beach!  Anyone that has been to Nice will know the beach is all shingle.  Oskar loved this and began filling his jacket pockets with stones. He was adamant that they would come home with us to Norway (and they did).  The temperature was a balmy 13C....much welcome from the freezing temperatures at home.  Whilst we were basking in the sunshine, Nils was in Sophia Antipolis, attending a conference at ETSI

The next day started a little chaotic....it was snowing!  As you can imagine, snow is rare along the Cote d'Azur, so there was no infrastruture to deal with a few snow flakes!  It took Nils three and a half hours to get to Sophia Antipolis.....buses had stopped and the taxi drivers had gone on strike!  By the time Oskar and I stuck our noses out of the hotel around 11am, there was barely any snow around.  We had a wander around Juan les Pins and headed for the beach!  It was a bit breezy, but temperatures reached 9C and it was sunny with clear blue skies. Later, Oskar played in the playpark just in front of the hotel.  Nils eventually made it back from ETSI....things were still not back to normal after the freak weather!

Juan Les Pins ( a few hours after the snow )

Our last full day was taken with a trip to Monaco.  We visited the Palace and wandered around the Principality.  Oskar was very impressed with the performance cars.  He saw a couple of Ferraris, a Lambourghini and a Bentley, which was parked outside the palace.  So much has changed here over the years, but the views are just as impressive!

The Palace

Changing of the guard.

I had my photo taken in a similar spot nearly 30 years ago!

A photogenic Monegasque seagull!

Monte Carlo Casino.

La Condamine.

The journey home was uneventful.  We left a rainy Juan les Pins and arrived back at a very cold home.  It was -16C!  Back to reality!

Views of Pisa

Cosenza

On the whole the weather in Rende (Cosenza) was rubbish - dull every day, with rain at least once a day. (Luckily that was most afternoons whilst Oskar had his nap)
Our first trip to look at the sights of Cosenza was after Nils' conference had finished on the Wednesday lunchtime. We fully intended having a look around and finding a nice restaurant, but we struggled to find somewhere. You see, we'd eaten pizza every night since we had arrived and wanted to try something else. Unfortunately, we could find anything BUT pizza. Also it was raining heavily, so we decided to head back to our hotel, which by this time was open for dinner. Nils and I had some lovely seafood pasta and the chef made a nice bowl of tomato spaghetti for Oskar.

The following day, we went back to Cosenza to have a look around in the daylight. Despite the rain, we tried as best we could to take some photos and keep an eye on Oskar, who wanted to jump in every single puddle. Oskar quickly found out that unless you are wearing wellies, your feet and socks get wet;)
All the statues were along Corso G. Mazzini.

Cosenza Old Town

After walking down the main street in Cosenza, with the statues, we wandered into the old town of Cosenza:

Rende ( Cosenza ) - Metropolis aka Brokelandsheia!!!

This place was a saving grace....For me = shopping heaven!, For Oskar = toy shop, For Nils = nothing;), For us all on the day we arrived....FOOD! First thing we wanted after we'd dropped off our luggage at the hotel was food. However, the hotel restaurant had finished lunch and wasn't open again until 8pm. So, we went out looking for somewhere to eat....nothing! Then we walked a bit further along the road and voila! Shopping Centre (Metropolis) AND it was open on a Sunday...Hurray! Nils doesn't like shopping, but even he was happy that there was at least a supermarket there. Even better that they had a food court:) So, we sampled our first Italian pizza. We also quickly realised that speaking English wasn't very useful! Nils found the guy at the pizza place spoke some German, whiched helped. But no-one spoke anything other than Italian. But who cared!, we had some food and we were satisfied:-)
Oskar called the shopping centre "Brokelandsheia", because there was a Spar at Metropolis, just like there is at our local shoping area.

Rende (Cosenza) - Robinson Park

Oskar and I visited Robinson park a couple of times during our 5 night stay in Rende. It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel. Oskar and I spent our days together, whilst Nils was attending a conference at the University of Calabria

Travelling to Italy (via Bologna)

The day we started the first leg to Southern Italy (Saturday 19th September)was busy and stressful. Nils and I were happy that Oskar had been given the all clear to fly ( visited the Dr's on the Wednesday & Friday ), but just to add a bit of drama, I had developed an eye infection! I also, had seen the Dr the day before and had been given a prescription for penicillin (just in case)! Typically the new symptoms appeared after the consultation, so off we went on the Saturday morning to Arendal. It was a pleasant suprise that Nils' half cousin was the Dr on duty that morning. The diagnosis for me : eye AND outer ear infection! So, we then trotted off to the pharmacy to pick up eye and ear ointment...! After waiting " forever" for the prescription, we went to the supermarket next door to grab some bread rolls and bottled water for lunch. Nothing wrong in that, except I leaned across and picked up a divider for the conveyor belt at the check-out and placed it next to the loaf of bread the lady behind me had put down. BIG MISTAKE!!! This lady started ranting on and on about not wanting me to touch her bread (which I didn't, nor wanted to!) Nils and I were both perplexed by this big show of emotion by her! We were even more suprised when she followed us out of the store, still ranting?!! What was it all about, you ask? Well, all we can think is that she thought I had Swine Flu! Which, if I had, then I would have been far to ill to be out and about shopping. Yes, I looked rough! :Puffy, sore eyes, but really.....! We then got in the car and drove home..after all we needed to finish packing and still had a 90 minute drive to Torp Airport! We managed all of organisation and got to Torp in good time. Phew, I could now relax for a little while.

Oskar and I at Torp Airport. I decided to wear the sunglasses to that my "look" didn't offend anyone;)

Sunset.

Oskar and Nils looking out of the window at the sunset.

Oskar and I at the railway station at Lamazia Terme.

We actually arrived at Lamazia Terme on the Sunday lunchtime, after spending an overnight at the Sheraton Hotel at Bologna Airport. We were only there for the night, arriving at 22:30 and left at 07:45 the following morning for our flight to Lamazia Terme. Once we landed at the airport, we caught a bus to the train station. We got on a train to Cosenza, which was near to our final destination at Rende. The train ride was okay, even though we had to change trains at Paola. Nils also couldn't convert his internet confirmation into train tickets as the machines operated in Italian only..just like the local people;) Finally we arrived at our hotel (After an expensive taxi ride from the station) at 15:30. We had all arrived in one piece (just-LOL!) Oskar's ears had been fine on both flights..mine had not, but I wasn't bothered, just glad to have made the journey!

Nice 6th-11th September

After the terrible weather during the Summer, we were all looking forward to the fact that September meant we would find some Mediterranean sunshine. But as life has its twists and turns, things don't always go to plan:(
We checked in and printed off our boarding cards for our flight to Nice (via Amsterdam). Nils took Oskar out for a while, whilst I packed for the trip. On returning at teatime, Oskar said he had "ow ow ears"! So, we took him to Legevakten in Arendal and were told he had an inner ear infection in both ears..."Oskar can't fly" So, we collected the antibiotics and drove home.
Once home, Nils had to contact KLM to advise that Oskar and I were not travelling. So on Sunday 6th September, Nils made his own way to Nice. For us back in Norway, it was a challenging week at home. Oskar was in no pain/discomfort due to the medication, so was a little bu**er - really naughty and playing up his Mummy! Our washing machine also broke down and I had the humiliation of having problems with my new bank card that wouldn't work, as I didn't have the correct PIN for it ((sigh)) Lastly, Oskar had an allergic reation to his antibiotics, so we had another trip to the doctors for more medication! So we were really happy when Nils came home on the Friday evening.
I've been to Nice on a couple of times, so was really wanting to go again, but maybe there will be a next time soon? Nils is very much a "country boy", but he liked Nice, so here are a few of his photos:

Nils at the harbour side in Nice

Nice Harbour

Old Town, Nice.

Croissant eating pigeon!