by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 15, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
We all had a slow morning after the wedding party, and moved hotels to Cascais in the afternoon. Straight to the pool where I was ecstatic to see a mother duck with her five ducklings also hanging by the pool and even taking a dip with us. The evening dinner was at an... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 14, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
The day arrived! My sister got married! All the girls spent a relaxing morning getting our hair and makeup prepped in matching robes and hair clips prepared by my sister. The ceremony was beautiful in an enchanting forest at a Portuguese castle. It was informal, yet... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 14, 2023 | Blog, Terry
I started the day breakfast and a bit of shirt ironing then went over my duties as toastmaster for the day. Katrine departed to get her makeup and drinking done with the bride and co. and I took myself out to the balcony with my laptop when the maid arrived. When she... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 14, 2023 | Blog, Terry
We ate a simple breakfast in our charming little hotel and said goodbye to Porto. A couple of train rides later and we’d made it to Sintra, just in time to check in to our fancy (at least compared to our budget lodgings thus far) hotel, jump in the shower and... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 13, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
The day started with a train trip down to Lisbon and Sintra where my sister’s wedding will take place tomorrow, which is the event we have been traveling towards the whole week. The partying kicked off with a rooftop cocktail dinatoire in Lisbon. Guests from 12... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 13, 2023 | Blog, Terry
We left our lovely wee hotel and went exploring Vaiana Do Castelo, taking the vernacular railway to the Sanctuary of Santa Luzia church. Very impressive with nice views over the town. We stumbled upon a musician playing a steel drum. The music was so beautiful that we... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 12, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
The day started with the Santa Lucia funicular in Viana do Castelo. Beautiful views of the town. We tried Francesinha for brunch, a typical sandwich for Portugal with layers of toast, meat, cheese, topped with an egg and an abundance of sauce. The kind of thing that... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 12, 2023 | Blog, Terry
What a fantastic day. It all started in Santiago de Compostela, the finish line of the Santiago pilgrim trail where we awoke at a leisurely pace in our lovely little hotel in the old town. We breakfasted in a magical garden cafe where Katrine did her best to emulate... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 11, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
We decided on a late morning in Santiago de Compostela today, strolling through the old town and having breakfast at Costa Vella Garden Cafe. It was so picturesque, and I made many new feathered friends who cleaned up my plate after we left. We took the train to Vigo,... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 10, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
We left Oviedo today in a shared car service because there were no bus tickets left (!) and the Feve train at its slow speed would take over 7 hours. And on such a sunny and hot day, we’d rather not be on a train no matter the good views. In A Coruña, Terry got to... by Terry Thorpe | Jul 10, 2023 | Blog, Terry
We car-pooled our way to A Coruna from Oviedo with a group of friendly travellers. I had planned to provide in- car entertainment to break the ice and enhance the journey, however my first rendition of “On the road again” was cut short by a proverbial... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 9, 2023 | Blog, Terry
Our hostel was great but the lack of Aircon wasn’t conducive to the best night’s sleep. Still, undeterred we hopped on the Feve train one more time to Ribadesella, a lovely little town where we found a beach to relax on and dip our toes in the cool waters.... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 9, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
I picked up my phone during the night and it told me it can’t charge because of overheating. No wonder I felt the same way, trying to sleep in a top bunk with no air condition. After a few fitful hours of sleep we took the Feve train to Ribadesella. A beautiful little... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 8, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
Kusama. Straight to the Guggenheim museum this morning. A staple of Bilbao city. Lots of interesting works that went over my head. Like this Kusama infinite mirror installation. The flower puppy outside is lovely and is right up my alley. The journey went on to... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 8, 2023 | Blog, Terry
We checked out of our space-age accommodation and made our way to the Guggenheim museum. The building itself was beautiful and the massive flower puppy captured Katrine’s heart. Inside we meandered through halls of Japanese weirdness and all manner of abstract... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 7, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
We left Bremen this morning and backtracked our way to Hamburg all the way to the airport. I was slightly nervous about my hand luggage being too big. So in an attempt to make it look smaller, I layered clothes from my luggage onto myself until I felt like a Russian... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 7, 2023 | Blog, Terry
A long, arduous day of travel to finally get to Bilboa. Our flight was delayed which meant everything seemed to take forever and when we eventually made it to our hostel, everything felt a bit rushed. We dumped our bags and headed out to a candlelit string quartet... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 7, 2023 | Blog, Terry
From train tracks to some great music by Beth Hart. Our first train ride from Denmark to Germany wasn’t smooth sailing but we got to Bremen in time to see and more importantly hear the incredible Beth Hart in a beautiful setting. I also discovered that Bremen is... by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 6, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
Straight from the ship to the train station in Copenhagen. Onwards to Hamburg for a quick train change where German punctuality failed to impress when both our trains were delayed. We still made it in good time to Bremen to see the musicians. Which I could not believe... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 5, 2023 | Blog, Terry
After a bus ride to Oslo and a good night’s sleep at Erik and Masha’s, we sauntered aboard the boat to Denmark. Watching Oslo fade into the distance. The first sea voyage of our adventure was underway. Not quite Rose-Marie, but definitely just as likely to... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 5, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
This little potted plant was our overnight host, and what a wonderful host he was 😻. It’s such a great feeling to wake up and the calendar says “no meetings today”. After leaving the furry ninja, we walked through sunny Oslo, weirded out a few folks by practicing the... 
by Terry Thorpe | Jul 4, 2023 | Blog, Terry
Late to bed and up too early. Tired but excited, I packed and re-packed, making all the difficult decisions and finally wandering the house, just looking around. At first I thought that I was trying to find something I’d forgotten to pack, before realising that... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 4, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
Finally on our way! Leaving our beautiful house and garden behind but in good hands. Looking back at our house it made me think that it wouldn’t be so bad just to stay there. We love our house. Then again, it’s good to get out of the comfort zone – nothing grows... 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 3, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
After an adrenaline-filled day of prepping and packing, we treated ourselves to an epsom/lavender/beer bath in the evening. 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 2, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
Crossing off our last few items on the to-do list before our trip starts. Finished BODi 21 day fix workout program 💪, and ending the night with a haggis extravaganza at the senior Sivertsen residence. 
by Katrine Sivertsen | Jul 1, 2023 | Blog, Katrine
The first of 398 days, but somehow it still feels like a regular weekend. I met my “estranged” best friend who arrived from Oslo for a few days. We sifted through the gladmat in the rain before heading home for the best part of the evening – Netflix and drinks...