Off to London to visit the Queen

We stayed a week in Nottinghill to savour the sights, sounds and Malaysian food in London over Christmas. The only thing we didn't do was shop on Oxford street; we did go to Bonda by Suffold Gardens for several meals, once to Malaysia Hall and several Chinese restaurants serving halal Malaysian food.

The sights high on the list was the Sherlock Holmes museum on Baker Street with Aisya being an ardent fan. Ali was sufficiently amused with the halal Kentucky Fried Chicken a couple of blocks away.

We went to several major museums to savor the collections on show. And spent quite some time in Hyde Park just running around since it's only a few minutes walk from the apartment we were staying at.

Ali queuing to see Sherlock's home.

Aisya feeding parakeet at Hyde Park.

Ali and Aisya feeding squirrels at Hyde Park.

Aisya posing next to Charlie Chaplin near a theater by Chinatown.

Ali and Aisya posing with a busterd from the Natural History collection.

Childrn at the Big Ben.

Family by Big Ben.

Waiting for the bus at Oxford Street.

Stopped by Buckingham Palace to see the Queen, she's busy obviously.

On Buckingham Palace grounds.

At the gate.

After a full day roaming around the British Museum.

Lost in the crowd.

Roldal in October

Autumn break in Roldal ... we did plenty of driving between Odda to Hardanger to sample some of the nicest landscapes in these parts.

Horseriding Camp in Sandness

This summer the kids were sent on a week long camp on a farm to learn about horses and riding. They learnt quite a lot about keeping horses and maintaining stables including the shovelling sh*t part of it. I've always thought the farm life is ideal for growing kids. At the end of the week, they get to show off their riding skills to attending parents. This week, Ali and Aisya successfully completed their introduction to horseriding. But none of them seemed very excited to continue with it for the coming summer.

Sirdal in the summer (May, Jun, July, Aug, Sep)

For almost everybody else Sirdal is the go to place for winter ---  plenty of snow for downhill and cross country skiing. For us it's the summer --- for hiking, climbing, fishing and just hanging around looking at sheep. Obviously in winter the cabins are fully booked by these ski crazed folks (every weekend!), during the summer the place is a bit more sane .... less people and more sheep; and plenty of calming, beautiful mountain scenery.

Bergen in May

Our first trip to Bergen ... fabulous! Famous for it's allegedly horizontal rain, we were lucky not have experienced it all over our long weekend stay. A beautiful compact city with plenty to offer from chic people watching plaza's to mountain tops, all within an hour's commute from your base in the city.