Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

There has been alot of snow fall in the last day or two here in Alesund. We have been truly blessed by the weather here as there has been no wind or rain, just snow!!! Its amazing stuff as it just covers everything and makes things look pretty. Its not annoying like sand, it basically just brushes off your clothes and either turns to ice (if its freezing cold) or melts.

The neighbors across the road made a friend facing our snowman! Nice!

Us trying to catch snow! We didnt have a huge success..

Matt and Lisa took us for a norweigan night out!

Clint found this cool sign

and rode a horse in the snow!

Our Christmas Beverages from Santa.. served slightly chilled :)

WARNING.. following images are NOT for the faint hearted...

Clint decapitating Frosty :(

We unwillingly say goodbye to Alesund, Norway.. we are sad to go.. we have had an absolute ball!!! The snow and scenery has been amazing and the company of dear Matt Lisa and their adorable Mali has been the best we could ask for!

We fly 6.45am to Riga, Latvia then on to London where we will meet up with Lora and stay with her for a few days before new years.

Tusen Takk Matt Lisa and Mali

God Jul everyone

"Skål"

Santa found us in Norway!

Look what santa got us!!! Yummmm!

The most energy efficient way to cool beer in norway. doing our bit for the environment. (even the bottles are recycled)

Clint showing off his good looks.. again..

We went for a walk through the neighbourhood, everything was covered in snow!! Cool!

Basketball anyone??

We visited the family cabin up in the mountains! Such an awesome view! And it had snowed the night before so everything was covered in fresh snow!!

Toboganning again!!

Frozen icicles are our friends :)

Will continue updating later.. norwegian food is a waiting :)

A Norwegian Christmas in 25 words or less..

God Jul (merry xmas) everyone! The rumors are true we are experiencing a white xmas. Instead of us blubbering and blah blah heres a few pics to show u guys what we have been up to the last 24 hours!!!

this is what i made for breakfast...its traditionally norwegian and to be honest im not 100% sure whats in it but it tastes good!

After breakfast we did what any aussie would do when surrounded by snow and thats right...we built a snowman!!!

Step 1 find snow

Step 2 shape snow into snowman.

Step 3 dress snow man

Toboganing down a hill with 3 jumps at the bottom. we both stacked it and survived.

God Jul!! Christmas Dinner.. Norwegian Style..

Tussen Takk!! (a thousand thanks!)

so there you have it, xmas in norway and we got to celebrate it on the 24th. we stayed up abit late (on a school night) so that we could ring our folks and loved ones during their xmas lunch and tell them how much we loved them and miss them and most importantly how much we love Norway!!! true story, we will be home shortly for those hugs you promised!

xkylieandclintx

Alls Well in Alesund

Monday 21st december and we find ourselves in 'sunny' Alesund, Norway. We awoke earlier than planned in Dublin as we were abit worried about the insane weather that has swept through Europe & the UK might cancel our flight. We saw alot of flights out of Dublin had been cancelled and it was reassuring to see ours was ok!

So onwards to Oslo we go. We were very excited about visiting Norway as we knew it would be snowing and very beautiful. Our flight was comfortable and Clint ate the rest of our stash of pringles that we bought on our Ireland tour ( 2 for the price of one - bargain!)

We landed in Oslo to the tune of minus 12 and wondering what we were getting ourselves into. The airport was amazing, very modern and it was kinda wierd to look outside and see the snow covered trees and mountains (actually EVERYTHING was covered in snow) and inside we were sweating!

On our way to the gate to fly to Alesund we bought some lunch and with the conversion rate of Norwegian kroners to Aussie dollars....heres a picture of our A$18 sandwiches!!!

We landed about 6pm and Clints cousin Matt picked us up from the airport. We drove through tunnels in mountains and saw truckloads of snow!

We had a great first night sharing travelling stories and catching up over some of Matts homebrew. It was also so good to finally have a peaceful nights sleep!!! Our first proper snow fight was abit of a laugh and we both ended up covered in snow, Kylie may have won the battle but Clint won the war. Nice! Excuse me, kylie interrupting here.. Clint may have stuck my face in the freezing cold snow but I threw MANY snow balls in his face AND he fell over while running up to me trying to throw them at me haha I WON!

The view from the SHOPPING CENTRE niiice!!

Clint ready for the day with his killer boots!!

After abit of a sleep in we awoke to a magnficent view of snow capped mountains, snow all over the driveway and beautiful colours. Alesund reminds us of a sprinkle of Amsterdam, a slice of Venice and a pinch of Salzburg all put together to make the perfect mix. We are surrounded by picturesque mountains, canals, islands, the ocean and of course snow!!

The Norwegian winter takes abit to get used to and we are trying to make the most of it as sunrise is at 10am and sunset 4pm! In summer its the other way around and Matt says sometimes when hes finished work, he goes fishing at 2am as its still light.

Just before sunset we trekked up 418 steps to the top of Fjellstua which overlooked the entire town of Alesund and the surrounding islands. The view we had was one of the best sights we have ever seen and while we were up there it was calm and no wind! It reminded us of windy point lookout on a very calm day.

We have settled into Norwegian life quite quickly and we have tried some traditional meals including a traditional breakfast. Matt, with the help of the lovely Lisa, is an amazing chef who works at a local seafood restraunt called Sjøbua.

Norway celebrate xmas on the 24th december with a very formal and traditional meal at 5pm. We are off to Lisa's mums house for a family meal which we are looking forward to!

Just for the record its been about zero to minus one in Alesund and its looking like a white xmas for us, the first time ever!! We are thinking of everyone at around 3am xmas eve here as that will be xmas lunch there in Australia. Wishing everyone a safe and happy xmas!

xclint and kyliex

The Craic was 91

Ahhh Ireland. We have just visited the magical and mystical emerald isle. Home of funny accents, strange language, more castle ruins, huge cliffs, Guinness, farms, leprachauns, off the chain story tellers, talented musicians, homely pubs, random hail storms, bad jokes, shamrocks and of course U2!

First up Clint celebrated his 32nd birthday, in 'sunny' Dublin. We had an 'Irish' breakfast in our hostel consisting of soggy cornflakes and toast. Yum our favourite!

We then headed to City hall and met for a 'free' (tips basis) walking tour. After battling the freezing cold, rain and random hail storms, we found out Clint has two holes in his left shoe :-O that makes it hard to walk in the rain! 'No problem' said Kylie... 'Here's a plastic bag' haha nice! Now Clint has a plastic bag on his left foot, providing much needed protection.

We had a lovely birthday dinner at a random chinese restaraunt over a few pints of Clints favourite new beverage, Guinness. Guinness is Irelands trademark drink, and has been best described as 'a blonde wearing a black skirt'. We saved our first pints of Guinness for Ireland, and we are glad we did as the rumors are true... Guinness tastes the best in the Mother country. It takes about 10-15mins to take your first sip of this wonderful drop from when you first order, as theres a bit of waiting involved. The barman will pour half the glass, then you've got to wait for that to settle (he then goes off to serve others) then comes back, tops it up and its ALMOST done. But not quite.. you've got to wait for the rest of the magic to happen. (by this point Ky is half way through her pint of Smithwicks Irish Ale) once it becomes jet black-all good! Ready to enjoy!

Friday 18th to Sun 20th Dec we did a Shamrocker tour of Southern Ireland. We couldn't wait to get out of the city and see the Irish country side. Our first stop was at the Mitchel Town Caves. Wow! We went 200ft underground and it was a comfortable 12 degrees. It was very peaceful and quiet and chockers full of amazing rock formations.

No trip to Ireland is complete without visiting Blarney Castle and kissing the Blarney Stone to get the gift of the gab (like Kylie needs a top up!) Clints fear of heights was put to the test as the stone was right at the very top. To kiss it we had to lay on our backs, grab hold of some iron bars and lean backwards over the side of the castle while a man guided us, making sure we didn't fall on our heads! Eek! Scary but awesome!!

Friday night we stayed in the hip and happening countryside town of Killarney. We had a lovely dinner, but it was very expensive.. as with all of Ireland. The tour took us through lots of towns that all came with their own claim to fame. Some were very serious, others just plain out there. e.g. the town of Killorgin have a festival where they find a wild goat and crown it king for three days, there are no rules in the town.. what the??

They have BEACHES in Ireland :)

Saturday night we stayed in Doolin. There are no trains or busses that go to Doolin so you need to drive or go on a tour, its a very special little town. It's near the Dingle penninsula which is the Western most part of Europe (just for the record we have been to the highest point in europe-Junfrau and now the furthest west from Australia) They have no internet in Doolin, and they have only recently got phones! Crazy!

'Hello, Lollipop island?'

We had mighty craic here (it sounds worse than it is!! ask us when we get home!) and an amazing vegetarian dinner. The highlight of the night was Kylie getting up and singing two songs in front of the locals during the break of some local musos. She brought the house down and made us all proud. Nice work Kylie, you're a star :)

We are stoked the Irish didn't let us down in the frozen puddle department. We saw some 'fecking fantastic' frozen lakes! On a side note we stopped at a National Park which had some stonehenge like rocks. The best part was that it lightly snowed while we were walking around, covering everything with a soft layer of snow. It was pretty. We visited this place during Lyndal and Gators wedding.. this is for you Mr and Mrs Gators!

We are sad to be leaving Ireland, and the UK for a bit, as its home to some precious memories. However, tomorrow we leave to Alesund in 'sunny' Norway!! We are visiting Clints cousin Matt and the lovely Lisa. It's here we will be spending Christmas and if we are lucky it will be a white one! Looking forward to maybe a bit of skiing and we're hoping Clint is a better skier than ice skater!!

If we don't get a chance to write before Christmas.. have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We are thinking of family and friends, we love yaz and miss ya lots!!!