Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

Day trip to Murano

One day during our week in Venice we took a day trip to the island Murano. We had bought a three days ticket on the vaporettos (the river boats) and could use this ticket not only in Venice but also out to the islands. I had heard so much about Murano and all the wonderful blown glass there, and spent the boat trip dreaming - what would the day bring!

As soon as we put our feet on Murano we were met by men guiding us to the glass blower factories, and we watched a show where a man made a wonderful bottle and a glass blown hourse in almost no time. Quite amazing. We enjoyed the show and also browsing through the shopping area of the factory afterwards. But we didn't buy anything. Not then anyway. It was still morning and we wanted to see it all :-) So we walked a little further and came to  Rio dei Vetrai. It was time for coffee and we sat down on one of the restaurants along the canal - Da Tandoro. A long time since breakfast, so we also had tiramisu with the coffee; when you are on holidays tiramisus can be eaten all day!

The cake gave us alot of fresh energy, and afterwards we walked for hours. Murano is such a wonderful place. Kind of Venice in miniature, but with so much less people. We passed several bridges, walked through quiet living areas, sat for a long time on the northern edge of the island enjoying the sea and the breeze, visited dozens of glass shops and spent quiet time in the churches of the island, the favorite was Chiesa dei Santi Maria e Donato where the old floor tiles, pavimento from around 1140, medieval mosaic with geometrical figures, excotic birds, mythical creatures and symbols I didn't understand,  made me wish for my painting colours and my brushes, or my huge collection of quilt fabric - it would be a perfect quilt!

It was now almost too late for lunch. We passed a charming vegetable market on a boat! Thought about just buying some fruit and wait for dinner back in Venice for a proper meal. But our short visit at Da Tanduro in the morning was such a delight we wanted to go back there again for some lunch.

http://www.datanduo.it/homein.htm

Found a free table on the "fundamenta" and ordered Risotto ai frutti di mare. We were a little surprised when the risotto was served directly from the casserole - that's what we do at home when we are in a hurry and want to save time. But forgot everything as soon as we started to eat. This was really the very best food we had tasted in a long, long time, if not the best ever! We almost licked our plates and the casserole to be sure to get it all.

We ate sea food every day during our week in Venice, but never did we taste anything else as good as the risotto ai frutti di mare at Da Tanduro. I know I just have to go back to Venice again, take the vaporetto out to Murano and find my way up to Rio dei Vetrai and this restaurant. There I will sit on an outdoor table and eat a huge serving of risotto, while looking over to the other side of the canal where among many other shops I can see my favorite glass shop with all the lovely  blue colours.

An early day of winter

Last week I drove up to Majavatn for two days for meetings. Majavatn is just a very small village about 4 hours to drive north of Trondheim. Though I followed the road E6 all the way I mostly drove through beautiful country landscape. The fall colours had started to dress the mountain, the migrant birds were flying south.....it was a beautiful drive.

And even more beautiful to come to Majavatn hotel and have this amazing viev right out of the window. And almost the same view from our meeting room.

I spent about 24 hours at Majavatn, and during that time took about 50 photos of the lake and the mountain. The colours and even the landscape were different every time. Friday morning we even woke up to winter, and everything was covered in white.

What a beautiful place Mother Earth is! Come take a visit to Majavatn together with me: (press on the photos to get a better view)

Autumn in my garden

Autumn has arrived here in Trondheim. With all my travels and all the rain lately I have not had much time for my garden. But today finally, the weather was quite good, and in between housework and watching Ingrid play handball I had some time for the neglected garden.

The temperature was not the best, so we did not eat any meals outside, not even our daily cup of coffee - which was  enjoyed downtown in between matches. And there, downtown, at the outdoor market, I bought a few Erikas to fill my favorite blue pot. Our house will be filled with guests tomorrow night, and I am glad I can welcome them with these beautiful colours right outside the front door.

The Japanese Maple have this beautiful, deep, rich, red colour all summer, but I couldn't resist shooting several photos of it today. This tree was here when we bought the house four years ago, and it  is my favorite in the garden.

It is predicted rain again tomorrow. I have promised Marta and a friend of her who is sleeping over, that we shall go to the movies to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But I am crossing my fingers that the morning can be a sunny one - I would love some more time out in the garden.

A flat in Venice

For several years my husband and I have been dreaming about going to Venice. And this summer, as we celebrated our 25 years of a lucky marriage, the timing was perfect. There is nothing like Venice to celebrate love.

Through my brother we knew about a flat for rent in Venice, in the region of Cannaregio, and after a search on internet, and a few mails back and forth to Paolo, the owner of the flat, everything was set.

While waiting for the day of our departure I went back to the net again and again to see photos of the flat and it's neighbourhood. Could this place really be ours for a whole week, or was it only a dream that would never come true?

http://www.archirent.it/Nati's_House/Nati's_House_n/Sito_ENG/Index_n.html

A dream it was, but - it really came true? One morning we were on the plane from Trondheim, and a few hours later we were on Piazzale Roma where Paolo met us and took us to this small and absolutely charming place in the heart of Venice.  On this first photo of the flat I stand on the bridge over our canal, the flat is in the house right behind me.

A week in Venice can be so many things, and we did them all - almost :-) But every day the flat was our castle, the place where we could rest and sleep, where we read and worked on more and more difficult Sudokus, where I could sit on the balcony for hours reading, dreaming or just watching the street and canal life, where we enjoyed cooking local food after visits on the local markets.

Paolo showed us the way to the nearest supermarket, but we prefered the small bakeries and pasta shops, and especially the local markets. Fresh pasta with different fillings, aspargues and tomatoes, salt and a sprinkle of olive oil, some melted butter. So simple to make, it tasted like heaven. And always the view through the open balcony doors. We never exactly found out what the workers in the house accross the canal did, but in our imagination they were glass blowers. And they woke us up early every morning with their singing and whistling.

So much for today. Enjoy it, and I will soon be back with more photos and text from Venice.

Day trip to Tautra

In the Trondheim fjord there is an island with the name Tautra. I have been there several times by car, there is a molo out to the island built some years ago. Today was the first time I went there by boat. Went there with my colleagues at work, 16 all in all. We went with the ship MS Willie Wilhelmsen from 1939.

As summer is fading here in Trondheim, and autumn is coming fast, we were all quite anxious about the weather. A boat trip can be two different things in rain and wind or in a sunny summer's day. We woke up to the latter though. Very good temperatues for the season, and a beautiful, sunny day.

The trip to Tautra took about two hours, two hours spent together with good friends, drinking coffee, eating a light breakfast, singing and talking. Everything out on deck. And soon enough Tautra was in sight.

On the island we first walked to a  Cictersiencer monastery situated there. The monastery have 8 nuns for the moment, and they have been at Tautra since 1999. They now live in a few old farm houses, but this spring they started the process of building a new monastery which will be finished next summer - with the help of God.

The photo, which I took from the boat shows the farm where the monastery is today, the new church and other buildings will be built to the right of this - with a wonderful view of the sea. The nun who showed us around told us that all nuns living there love the sea so much, the new refectorium will be built in such a way that they all can be seated on the same side of a long table with a view of their beloved sea :-)

The nuns at Tautra make herb soap for their living, and this soap is so popular here in Trondheim they have problems producing enough. I have used it for some time, and now  can think of no other soap I want to use instead.

We took part in one of the prayers at the monastery, and also had time to walk around enjoying the beautiful autumn nature.

After our time with the nuns it was time for lunch and we walked over to the other part of the island and Klostergården. The lunch was indoors, herb marinated salmon and local vegetables, and after the meal I had coffee and dessert out in the courtyard with one of my colleagus.

On our way home we had an adventurous experience, the ship was borded, both by some nuns we had never seen before don't tell anybody but I think they were a bit crazy! And by pirates - ha, even the Trondheim fjord is never safe :-)