An Iphone shot from my walk this morning.

Still fog and rain, but a fresh start to the day!

Some weeks back I met Tor Inge and Susanne.... Love was in the air!

I just had to ask them for permission to take and publish the photo.

Morning has broken....

Rain and fog.

The road to Paradis, - well actually the railway tracks from Paradis.

This is the first stop after the main railway station in Stavanger.

This is a fairly new station, and I think it looks pretty with the blue lighting.

RUSS is what we call young people who are celebrating finishing their 13 years of schooling, culminating in their big day on May 17 th. our Constitution Day. But even now they have started to celebrate. At the petrol station tonight I saw several of the famous red cars.

"Russ" mostly belong to either "Red Russ" or "Blue Russ", depending on the type of education and school that they are from. There is a lot of competition between the red and blue Russ.

This is happening across the whole of Norway.

Have FUN and drive carefully!:-)

A Norwegian farmhouse.

Eye contact?

Another sign of spring...

Farmers living just outside the city do this every year. There is probably a very good reason for it, but I can`t tell you why, not in English nor in Norwegian.

Is the same thing happening where you are living?

Spring has sprung. Tables and chairs are put out outside the fish-market. One of the Anthony Gormley statues from "Broken Column" is taking a look out over the harbor. And there are some nice colorful plants around. Let's hope that the nice sunny days will continue.

(Click under at "labels"on "Broken Column" to see more statues.)

Details from the "Moods of Norway" PINK boat at the harbor this morning.

The company is opening a new shop in Stavanger.

I have only seen the boat once before in Oslo some years back.

It is cute, fun and a brilliant usage for marketing purposes!

Welcome to Stavanger!

When I saw this pink dress at Mimi's shop (http://www.mimigetmoved.com) I was thinking of the dancers in Eagan, Minnesota in the USA.... Thanks Leif for sharing your photos.

A pink dress like this must be a dream for most girls!:-)

Any ideas what this is?

And before anyone might suggest it, I will give you a clue, it has nothing to do with volcanoes or volcanic ash.

Street life,- this afternoon.

We have had some rain, a bit of sleet in the air, wind and bright sunshine.

To the right we have the beach and the North Sea, to the left, on the other side of the fence, is one of the runways at our airport.

The sand was blowing and the cars were passing by, but this sporty man did not seem to care.

The airport here opened for business again at 20:35 this evening. I guess that it will be very busy for a while with all the people wanting to get back home.

RALLY STAVANGER took place today. It was new to me, and different from what I have seen on TV from Monte Carlo etc. :-)

Anyway, it has been a grey day with lots of rain, but +6C.

The drivers had to cope with narrow, wet and slippery roads.

I got plenty of action shots, and here are a few of them.

I only had my iphone with me this morning...

The colors and light on the landscape were nice.

Happy Weekend to everyone! :-)

CANCELLED, CANCELLED, CANCELLED.......

Stavanger airport, Sola, - this afternoon.

No planes anywhere in Norwegian air-space, due to the volcanic eruption on Iceland.

This is pretty much the same in the rest of Scandinavia and the UK.

Our PM is stuck in NYC. And our Crown Prince is in the same situation in London.

And everybody else has to go by car, bus, taxi, boat or train.

That means people struggling to get from A to B, holidays and businesses are affected.

People traveling to and from the oil platforms are delayed, and helicopters normally used to transport people with serious illnesses are grounded for the time being.

Remember this is a fairly big long country, with 5 million people living here, many in small places up in the mountains or along the fjords.

My first photo today.

Someone started work early.

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to go to "Stavangeren," a well known stage for theater and concerts. I watched "Håndverkerne" a comedy based on builders work..... redecorating or building a house can be stressful and often much more expensive than planned.

It is a long long time since I have had so many good laughs. Real medicine!

And when I looked around, people reacted well to all these hilarious comments done using a real Stavanger dialect!!

Todays best view, - from the relaxing area at the SPA at Sola Strand Hotel.

They have the most fantastic spa I have seen in this area, brand new and full of all the best that is on the market. Plus, the view from the window is over Sola beach and continuing out over the North Sea.

Sunday, and time for a walk before going to work.
It has been a nice and sunny day!

Strawberries are finally growing here after the long and cold winter.

It is a sign of spring.

I look forward to eating the fresh and tasty strawberries.

STREET ART in the centre of the city. (Artist: Swoon.)

"All for Norway" is a Reality Show that started on TV tonight.

Ten Americans with ancestors from Norway were filmed last year. They have to do all sorts of activities and to cope with "Norwegian Life", including food, language, traditions, sporting activities etc. The winner will meet their relatives.....

If you click on the link, you will see who the participants are.

http://www.tvnorge.no/programmer-tvn/alt-for-norge/m-t-deltakerne-i-alt-for-norge

or take a look at, "the little film"

http://www.tvnorge.no/programmer-tvn/alt-for-norge/sniktitt-alt-for-norge-1.3095

They started of at Pulpit Rock, and here you can see them near Hafrsfjord, after they had spent some time in the centre of Stavanger.

Does this look Norwegian?

Well, I guess architects got inspiration from buildings and places further down in Europe.

This is a building in the centre of Stavanger.

Happy colors and beautiful Italian design.

I was out walking, and thought there were too many boring buildings around.

Then I suddenly saw this splash of color, and it was like a dash of "vitamins".

A quiet Easter also at the building site.

This is a new hotel being built at Sola airport, and will be opening in August 2010.

Written on the card is "Happy Easter" in Norwegian.

It is Easter Holiday tomorrow too, but already many people have started on their way back home from cottages and hotels up in the mountains.... There are queues on the roads and at several places people have been waiting hours for ferries to bring them and their cars over the fjords.

If you ask a Norwegian person what type of books most people read around Easter time, I guess the answer will be crime novels, with lots of twists in the plot....

There are many people in front of fireplaces, at home, or perhaps traveling by plane or train sitting reading. I think this is typical Norwegian.

Anyway, this is a "TOP 10" range of popular books at the moment.

A small group of priests and churchgoers were walking through the centre of the city today.
(The same place where the Nokas filming was done and finished last week.)
The procession continued in to the park area.
For me this was new. I have seen something similar in the Canary Islands.
Do you have anything like this where you live?

"BUDDY", the tug - boat was home in the harbor today.

April Theme Day is "RED".

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