It has been a grey day full of rain, but earlier when I was driving to the gym, with some nice music playing in the car, I got an even  bigger smile on my face.... The reason was this sign that I was passing.

I have not used Botox, but at the age of 29++, I guess I am at the right age, according to one of my friends...

The SALES are still on in Stavanger, - now even on BOTOX!! ;-)

So on the way back home I HAD TO  take this photo!

I hope to live the rest of my life, happy enough, without Botox!

Do you have Botox on sale where you are living?? Do you have an opinion about the chemical?

Sundays.... are very often a day for walks, and there seemed to be quite a lot of other people doing the same today.

I love walking along the beaches, - but there are also many nice places closer to the centre of Stavanger. This is near Mosvangen Camping, Rogaland Art Museum and "Mosvannet", which is a little lake.

Just before midnight and just after midnight the TWINS were born!

All well with the girls and the parents!

All the best wishes from me, aunty, and uncle, who visited them at the hospital today.

There are so many shops in and around Stavanger where you can buy handmade unique things to yourself or to anyone you want to surprise with something special.

One of my favorite places to go is to the MingarWalker glassblowing studio, south of Stavanger.

Take a look at the link.

http://www.mingarwalkerglass.no/english.html

AND WHEREVER YOU ARE, HAVE A NICE WEEKEND! :-)

"Gandsfjorden" is the name of the fjord that goes from Stavanger and 15 km. south to the town of Sandnes. On the west side there are lots of houses and the railway line for both the nearby local stations and the whole way to Oslo.

Strange summer weather, and suddenly the rainbow! :-)

There are places, mostly on the outskirts of Stavanger, where we still can buy potatoes and flowers etc. directly from the farm. I think it is nice, and also most of the time the quality is very good and the prices reasonable.

If I had had some cash on me today I would have treated myself to some nice sunflowers.

I didn't want to drop my credit card in the box :) , so no flowers for me.

The farmers trust their customers to pay for what they take when they are not there to look after whatever it is that they are selling. Customers are expected to place the money in a box that is located near to the items being sold. As I understand it, this still works quite well. 

I don't know what happened here. If someone had an accident and just left their caravan, or if someone just dumped it there late one evening.... ?? It has been there for some time.

I promised my friend (ad. August 20th. ) that I would also show "the other side" of Stavanger. 

Well here is one example.  I have to say that old car wrecks and dumped washing machines etc. are not smart, environmentally friendly or a nice thing to show tourists or everyone else driving around in Norway. But these things happen all too often.

On the other hand, old wrecks sometimes provide interesting textures and colors to photograph.

Today Stavanger had the highest temperature in Norway.

At 2pm, it was +22C, windy and a bit of sunshine too.

This is Sola beach, -one of the best things about the area.

Stavanger is an international city. It is also the “oil capital”, with many oil companies based in the region. Several other companies also have employees from quite a range of countries. Well, then it became necessary to have an International School etc. etc.

From what I understand out of the stats from the council, most “foreigners” are from Britain, followed by Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, U.S.A. France, Russia, India and the Netherlands.

Today I want you to meet RAJA, from Aix en Provence in France.

Her husband works as a geologist, and they have been living in Stavanger for three years.

She has been attending a Norwegian course, and I have to say that I was really impressed by how well she speaks the language! She works at the shop “L´Occitane” in central Stavanger.

Stavanger has had it`s first Flower Festival over the last two days.
This morning I decided to take a look.
These are plants given from local greenhouses, and put out on show by students who hope to become florists. I was really impressed by the displays, colors and creativity.
Thanks to some local enthusiasts, this is a new idea that managed to become a reality. I hope it will be an annual event.

Is the autumn on it`s way? (Look at the trees.)

This is a corner of the Oil Museum in Stavanger.

More photos to follow.

If you are interested take a look at the link. http://www.norskolje.museum.no/

Suddenly we got some real summer temperatures today, it has been as warm as +26 C ...

But now when I am sitting here, loading up the photo, it is raining and I guess that is normal considering how humid it has been the last few hours.

Today, I want to show you a nice blue door....

It is from one of the many white wooden houses in old Stavanger.

(Sorry, to my friend, who challenged me last Sunday to also show more of the negative side from Stavanger. I am working on it.)

A view from Clarion Hotel down to the Cathedral, the market etc.

Further back you can see the mountains and the fjord, and the bridge over to some small islands that are also part of the city.

Living here means that I can not really tell you what it is like staying in hotels in Stavanger. But I know what I like with design and colors, and I remember where I have had a good time as a guest at festivals, parties or more work related events. This is a corner inside the Clarion hotel, which is very central and with a fantastic view from the top floors. Interested ? Take a look at the link: http://www.choicehotels.no/hotels/hotel?hotel=NO079&language=en.

Mr.Lauritz Wanvik, celebrated his 90th. birthday probably at a number of places on August 8th. including the Arena Sports center where he is a member. At 10 o`clock there was a celebration, with a huge cake, lots of members and even the TV station was there.

Today Mr. Wanvik turned up at the sports center, always walking like a professional athlete. I used the opportunity to ask for permission to take a few pictures.

Seriously, he seems to be more fit than many people who are half his age!

He does rowing etc, and finishes off with spinning for an hour (!!) twice a week.

In his youth he was active with sports, but it wasn`t until he had passed 80 that he started to exercise again on a regular base.

He has been a professional business man, speaks good English, Spanish and French, and was even honored by the Spanish King after he had been the Spanish consul.

I was not at Arena/ nor in Stavanger on his birthday.

But a big “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to this sporty and fine gentleman!!

"Hinna Park" today, still raining.

Today, I don`t think it has stopped raining, it has just been pouring down!

I had a few errands in town, and rushed from one place to the other. 

Suddenly I discovered that some people were doing body painting....  

Well, I have seen pictures of it, but never the real work out in the public space. 

Click on the link, http://www.bodypaint.no  then click on "Velkommen" and then select languages, English,  if you do not read Norwegian.

This is a detail from inside the Cathedral in Stavanger.

I promise to come back with more photos from "Stavanger Domkirke", as we call the Cathedral.

Anyway, I have added more info. using this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger_Cathedral.

In the summer the church is open, from 11-17, and I think it is nice that people get the chance to just go in and look around.

I have even meet a young British woman, who asked me for the shortest way to the Cathedral, because she desperately wanted to light a candle and say a prayer before she was back on the cruise ship.

I hope she managed it.

At the end of the 1980's these tall buildings in an area named St.Olav were very popular, and some people sold their houses with beautiful gardens to move in to flats that some people called "Manhattan". Well, it is central, and the view can be magnificent over the city, fjords and mountains. There are also lots of facilities close to the flats.

One of the many Trolls in Norway.

This one is living at Stavanger airport.

More general info. about Trolls you can find here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll

View over the airport, Sola beach and Hafrsfjord and further back is Stavanger city.

This is the churchyard where my parents are buried.

Memories of people who were close, honest and caring.

"Klippfisk" is the Norwegian word for dried and salted cod. More info. here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dried_and_salted_cod

This photo is taken at the fish marked near the harbor in Stavanger.

The marked is also open on Sundays, when big cruise ships arrive.

What really surprised me was to see the Spanish and Portuguese tourists who were so interested and really enjoyed  this product. It reminded me that we in someways have so much in common as fishing Nations.

This is not a great photo, but I just want to show you an example of what is happening in Norway.... More and more English words are used in advertising. 

I guess I have not really been aware of it that much, and it is not such a big thing for me personally, but there have been a number of articles criticizing this in the newspapers, so for weeks now I have automatically been looking twice when passing shop windows.

SALE is the same as SALG in my language, but there seem to be many shop owners who prefer using English.

If you are from a “non English speaking country” do you have the same situation in your city?

Cold drinks at the backgarden of Amy`s Coffeebar.

It is a fearly international place, not far from the Culturehouse in the centre of Stavanger.

Stavanger has a taxi-company with 25 green cars that use gas instead of petrol or diesel.

I do not use a taxi very often, but I think more and more people these days choose “the green option” whatever they buy.

"Hinna Park," is an area with new architecture, many flats, offices and shops. On the right hand side is a corner of the big building which is a huge football stadium. "Viking", is the name of the football team and also the stadium. Several international (pop) stars have held concerts here in the stadium.

Why did the plane cross the road?

No, it did not land on the road! It was being moved from the main airport area to the seaport.

Quite dull weather this morning, but nice to take a stroll through the colorful little road “Øvre Holmegate”.

This place, "Bøker & Børst",  has a nice back garden, that I also recommend.

It is still the school holidays, but today I had a look at these three famous “Billy Goats Gruff” in the schoolyard outside my old school.

Nice to see that times have changed, and that ART can be something well known and also something for children to have fun with.

Early morning in the centre of Stavanger.

On the left is the pub “The Irishman”, In the middle is the Greek restaurant “Akropolis,”

and on the right you can see the corner of the Spanish Tapas bar “Emilios”.

We have many small narrow roads, and most of them are closed for cars.

March 2011.

Sorry, the SERVICE and food is no longer what it used to be! So I think I will spend time and money in other restaurants!