28/10/2009 Tipp Topp (cant remember the name of the mountain)

Ok.. so today we had a tipp topp seminar... I can not remember the name of the mountian but it was 1069 meters above sea level. There was quite a bit of snow at the top. From the top you could see Molde one way and the Atlantic Ocean the other way. I think that these are some of my best pictures that I have taken... I have so many more that I did not load on here but I chose some that I thought looked good. I also have a bonus video on this post... Its me sliding down the hill on my butt with the camera in my hand.







Me, at the top of :unknown: mountain 1069 meters above sea level





I loved this tipp topp trip







We must continue going up... soon we will be in the snow






Halvard taking a short break in a very beautiful place






Puts things in persective






very nice view






Just truggin along up the mountain






Very unique






Very unique







A cool rock with ice and snow on it







My footprints in the fresh snow






My footprints in the fresh snow at the top






Untouched snow






This is video of me sliding down the snow on my butt... Guri is right in front of me, and I could not stop fast enough and hit Halvard... noone was injured. That was one of the funnest things I have done... and the video doesnt show it very well, but you get some pretty good speed sliding down that mountian.

27/10/2009 Molde Fotball Tournament

So we had the Nordvest Cup 2009 at Molde this Monday and Tuesday. Um.. the Borg jente(girls) did pretty well winning a few games... but the guys team on the other hand... well, we lost all 5 games to a combined score of about 30-1. Here are some of the photos proving that I have played Norwegian Fotball.





The man talking in the microphone played for Molde FolkHighschool last year, this year he plays professionally for the Molde Fotball Klub. This is the type of competition some of these teams were, I was in way over my head.


The rest of the photos are of me running around pretending to know what I am doing... there were a few times I wanted to use my hands... like playing basketball.. But I did not.

25/10/2009 The Calm before the Storm

So last night I was told I was needed to play on the Borg fotball (soccer) team Monday and Tuesday in Molde.

Every year, the folkschools in this area of Norway get together to play a fotball tournament. Well... some of the other folkschool have actual fotball classes, and they focus on sports such as fotball and they travel to England to watch the Premier League and to Brazil to watch professional fotball. I can not say the same for Borg... hence that is why they were short 1 player and they need an American who has never played a single second of organized soccer in his life. I am looking forward to it, I mean, I am very competitive and I like to run around and hustle so I think I can be of some (very little) value to the team. Never in my life did I think I would play organized soccer, let alone against a bunch of Norwegians. Should be quite the experience. So I will get one practice under my belt here this afternoon and then Monday morning we take the mini-bus to Molde, play in the afternoon, then stay the night in Molde, then play more games on Tuesday then head back to Borg. Wish me luck, Im going to need it.

ETL

10/19/2009 Glacier Walk Iceland

Today we went on a glacier walk... and to completely honost, it was not as great as I thought it would be. First it was the same glacier that my dad and I went to in May. Then we did not see any tunnels or any cool features on the walk.. it just was not what I expected. Today was also our last day in Iceland... tomorrow morning, at 7.30 we fly back to Oslo then a 9 hour bus ride to Alesund after that. So fun stuff, thats all and next time I am on here, I will be back in Norway!






The toungue of the glacier... incidentally it`s the same one that my dad and I walked on in May.






The start of the glacier walk... my eyes looked crossed for some reason.





Up on the Glacier. Awesome colors.





Up on the Glacier.






Glacier.





A short hike to a mountain top with glacier in the background... for some reason my eyes look crossed?





Waterfall that my dad and I visited and now visiting it again with Borg.






View from behind a waterfall that I cannot pronounce nor can I spell.

10/18/2009 Alittle some of Iceland

To Reykjavik… We left Reykholt and went to Reykjavik. When we arrived, we had a free afternoon wandering around down town so Matthias, Ottar, Ato, and Inspektor Framholt walked around. We stopped at this pipe shop and bought some of this sniffing tobacco and it really has a kick to it. Gotta try new things. Then as Ottar calls it, “tradition” we must go eat at KFC and then to McDonalds for dessert. But just to get to the KFC we needed to take a public bus to a different area of Reykjavik. It took awhile to find the right bus, but we managed to find it. We got our KFC and then Ottar and Inspektor had a Mcflurry for dessert. At night in Reykjavik you can see a large light that shines up in the air and its in memory of John Lennon… and Ato thought it was in memory of Jay Leno.. kinda had to be there. On Saturday we went to the blue lagoon and it was as great as I remembered it. There was also a dj that was playing so it was like an outdoor dance club there. Today we took the golden circle route... interesting side note, I puked on the bus... I didnt feel well at all after breakfast, but after I puked, I felt much better. Now we are in a town near Selfoss. They have 2 hottubs, a steam bathe, a warm swimming pool and 2 slides, the large one which sucks because it is extremely slow. So tonight after middage we all went out for a swim and had a great time. Tomorrow I will be walking on a glacier, so PERHAPS I shall go get ready for bed.

Oh, and also, I have been thinking about how I feel about Iceland... I like it here, I would never live here but I enjoy it, I cannot explain why, but I would definitely recommend visiting Iceland at least once in your lifetime and experience this very unique place for yourself.






Barnefoss... look close and you can see that the water comes out from underneath old lava





Halgrims Church in Reykjavik





Traditional Icelandic dinner... KFC, Ottar and Matthias`s idea... I forgot how good KFCs chicken was





Traditional Icelandic dessert... Ottar and Matthias`s idea, I did not have any.





There happened to be a live DJ at the Blue Lagoon.. this is the Norwegian Folk living it up to the really bad techno music





Ahhhh... the Blue Lagoon... one of my favorite places in the world





The North American Plate... this is the edge of it... quite fascinating to see





Standing between two continents






This is looking at the North American continental plate... from where I am taking this picture, I am between the European and American plates.





Gullfoss... nice waterfall





Geysir... nothing like watching really hot water blow up in the air... it is about the same size as Ol` Faithful in Yellowstone.

10/14/2009 Reykholt Iceland

We arrived in Iceland yesterday, and drove from Keflavik to Reykholt. Reykholt is a place that I did not visit when I was in Iceland in May. It is well north of Reykjavik. The day we arrived it was beautiful in here, but then today, it was extremely windy and as I expected Iceland to be like this time of year. While in Reykhold, we visited this church/museum thing to learn about the history of Snorri Sturluson, an one of Icelands most powerful leaders back in the 13th century, and he had alot to do with the Norwegians coming to Iceland and stuff like that, so I found that interesting. After that, we went to this waterfall called Barnefoss (childrens falls) It is unique because the water comes out from underneathe a lava flow, so it looks like the water just comes out of rocks and falls...



It was kinda cool, but I was not overly impressed. Iceland is weird, very weird. It is beautiful in person, but if you take a picture, it just looks like a boring lava field. And really, thats what it is, a boring lava field with some small mountains, some glaciers and volcanoes. I am still undecided about how I feel about Iceland... its just so different from any place on this earth that I have seen that I can not describe it yet. Tomorrow we head to Reykjavik, and we stay in the same hotel my dad and I stayed at when we were here.. Hotel Cabin, cant wait!

ETL

10/11/2009 Back from Switzerland

So today we came back from Switzerland, I can not express how much I enjoyed Switzerland, from the mountain hiking, the villages, the alps or mountain farms, it was all awesome! So an interesting thing... we drove through Germany and ate at an Italian restaurant and that night after the hockey game we went to a Mexican bar in Switzerland, so I really feel like we got around and experienced alot of different culture :) jk.. not really but its kinda funny. Now tomorrow we are off, then bright and early Tuesday morning we head to Oslo to depart for Iceland... I love all the traveling that I am doing right now.





Last night Matthias, his brother Simon, Simon`s girlfriend Sabrina and I went to the EV Zug vs Kloten eishockey game in Kloten (suburb of Zurich)


The following video is of the last part of a fight between two players. There were lots of little fights throughout the game but this was the only one that the gloves were dropped... this was in the 3rd period and right after this... Kloten scored 2 goals to put it in overtime where Kloten eventually lost but still made it extremely entertaining.

10/10/2009 360 Video of Wannehorn 9000ft above sea level

This video shows a 360 view of the Swiss Alps just above Grachen on Wannehorn... the tallest mountain I have ever hiked on foot.

9/10/2009 Wannehorn Hike 9000ft

Today Matthias and I took the gondola up to Hannigalp, and from there we hiked to Wannehorn. It didnt take too long because we cheated by taking the gondola. It was still pretty cool though, we had perfect weather again and now that we are back to our apartment, its raining so we pick our times for hikes pretty good. Wannehorn is a peak just above Grachen near Seetalhorn (where we were the first day) and is about 9000ft above sea level. Here are some pics from the hike...




Part way up on our way to Wannehorn.





Break time.. on our way up to Wannehorn.





Reached Wannehorn`s peak, 9000 feet up. A nice spot for lunch I would say.






Looking down almost a vertical mile towards Grachen... which is already a vertical mile from sea level... 9000 feet up where this pic is taken.





On top of Wannehorn... 9000ft in elevation.. looking down on the town of Visp. Tallest mountain peak I have ever reached on foot.

8/10/2009 Last 3 days in the Swiss Alps

The following are pics of the last 3 days... I try to explain where we are at least... all the villages for the most part are car free so you park outside the village then you walk into them or take a train. The Swiss Alps definitely live up to the hype, and these pictures do them no justice what so ever. Enjoy.





That little village you see on the other side of the valley... that is Grachen.. where we are staying for the week.





What Zermatt looks like while you are in it.





Zermatt... this is the last village before Matterhorn... our hike started down there... this was supposed to be a nice relaxing day... which it was.





Matthias and I above Zermatt... up by Riffelberg somewhere





Swiss cow and Matterhorn... this is taken up at Riffelberg.






Lunch break under Matterhorn





El Matterhorn






You can never take enough pictures of something so cool like Matterhorn.





Panoramic of Matterhorn and surrounding mountains.





DAS MATTERHORN





MATTERHORN






Matterhorn with clouds and sun behind it.





Traditional buildings in Torbel, neighbor village of Grachen.





Typical Swiss building... this is taken in Torbel, neighbor village of Grachen.





This is a church in Torbel... a little village 2000 meters above the sea... and across the valley from Grachen.





The colors on these trees are unbelievable... that is me standing next to a little stream, this hike started up at Moosalp... on the other side of the valley from Grachen.





Matthias and I up by Seetalhorn... grabbed a quick lunch up there then headed back down the mountain... probably the most physically demanding hike I have ever done.






Destination Seetalhorn... it is the tallest peak there, we could not climb any higher because climbing gear would have been required.





A Santa stature in a round about in St. Niklaus... a town in the valley underneath Grachen where we are staying.





Brett Favre after throwing his first td on MNF... streamed online in Switzerland!