2020 (Los tiempos del Corona) is coming to an end.

When the very unexpected  year 2020 is approaching  the end, we want to give you all a summery of what we have been experiencing  through the time of Corona (Los tiempos del Corona)

When celebrating the 2019/2020 New year in Milan, Italy we had no idea of what was ahead of us in the coming months, and no information that just the northern part of Italy would be the epicenter of the great pandemic of the Sars-Cov-2 virus.

Therefore, and as usual, we left for Spain and Costa del Sol in February to feel the Spring coming in Andalusia, Malaga and Fuengirola. After only three weeks we experienced the change through the News and the worries from our family in UK and Norway.

One of the requirements or recommendations was the repeatedly use of antibac gel. Sitting in restaurants we were "washing" hands often and allways before touching every new glass of wine

The real understanding of the new situation at Costa del Sol came when the restaurants closed and the police closed the beaches. 

The news from Norway and other countries all over the world was more and more scaring. Norway got total lockdown on March 12, and we decided to return home as soon as a flight could help us although the situation in southern Spain at that time was even better than in Norway.

The focus in Norway was on the capacity in the health organization with 216 in hospitals (April 11.) and from the Spanish status only counted 4 cases in Fuengirola (April 18.) 

A few weeks later the infection exploded, and Spain became one of the worst countries in Europe. 

At the end of this year Spain has almost 2 mill cases, over 50K deaths.

Back in Oslo March 16. we started our 14 days quarantine/isolation with help from family to get food and necessities. In the beginning of April we for the first time took a trip in our car to the streets of Oslo and could see the total lockdown by ourselves 

In May and during that fase of the pandemic we tried to live as normal as possible taking all the government regulations into consideration. The beauty of springtime in Oslo is normally discovered by us and thousands of tourists . Now we were almost alone together with the flowers.

On May 17. (our Constitution Day) the children parade up Karl Johan was cancelled, and when the children could not go the the royal castle as normal, the King and Queen came to us in their open limousine 

Although the seriousness we could experience the beauty of Oslo through out the summer with declining figures of infected hospitalized and deaths

The authorities recommended to spend the holidays in Norway this year and we decided to visit cities and places in short distance from our home. The first visit "outside Oslo" went to to Kistefoss Museet and all the spectacular art we could experience 

As seen on the following images the temperature during the summer months was nice in 2020 when we were recommended to stay outside with distance to others.

Halden above and Fredrikstad below gave us new and updated information of these two cities south east of Oslo. Waiting for next summer we recommend all of you to copy our trips.

Moving north Eidsvoll and Hamar got our visits. Eidsvollbygningen where our Constitution was signed in 1814 and the ruins of an old cathedral at Hamar was our first visits to these venues 

Åsgårdstrand southwest from Oslo together with Tønsberg and the old Viking area along the coastline at Vestfold is a place we have visited before including a visit at the painter Munch´s house.

Oscarsborg in the Oslo fjord with memories from April 9th 1940 was also on the agenda.

Queen Sonja´s personal art stall at the royal garden and the new project by Vebjørn Sand above Frognerseteren on the top of Oslo; The rose Garden, also accepted our visit.

In the following images we remember the city:

Moss

Kongsvinger

Hvitsten

When the summer was over and the infection figures started two increase, we limited our visits to other areas. And when the restaurants also had to close, our life more and more became limited to staying at our own apartment 

A new car also found its place in the basement this autumn. The plug in Toyota RAV4 PHEV has resulted in only 3km petrol drive over 2 months. Environment friendly you may say.

As a scorpion my birthday mid November was fully celebrated although this year we were only Tullen and I. The Spanish Cava from Juve y Champs, our favorite.

Then Christmas entered into our home. This year celebrated only the pair of us, but with digital communication through Face Time during unpacking of the gifts.

You understand while going through all these 2020 events, that we all in our family have taken the pandemic seriously.  However, for our family members living in UK the pandemic has hit a bit harder. Happily the strike has been relatively mild and the recovery is going well for all five.

Nyttårsbilde 2020/2021

With all these memories in the time of Corona we wish all our blogging friends a different, healthy and

  HAPPY NEW YEAR

Ålesund Paintings: 2

As I have said many times; I cannot draw. Hopefully my followers like my expressions through colours 

My paintings are therefor not a precise "copy" of how the Jugend city Ålesund looks like, but how I remember or like to remember some of the areas in my birth town 

One of my favourite motives in Ålesund is the area along "Moloveien" with the houses not involved in the great city fire in 1904 and the landmark "Moljå" lighthouse . This painting above is a winter image.

The same view in these two paintings at late evening without snow and the "Aspøy school"  together with old sea houses  along the shore. 

Between Molja and the southern seaside the well known "Brosundet" separate Aspøy and Nørvøy; the two original city islands where Ålesund was established. The Sea Houses and the city mountain Aksla are painted on this image,

The same area prolonged to south west and "Naftadjupet" is expressed through this Summer image.

The old sea houses at Aspøya are today free from fish production and changed into hotels, restaurants and modern homes.

On the other shore (south) and further west in the "cannel" towards the great "Hellebroa" (bridge between the islands) I try to express my  experience of the landscape along the quays.

The same area expressed in a different style show the great shopping house "Rønnebergbua" before the street development  along the seashore.

Rønnebergbua seen from east to west and the central square "St Olavs Plass" (Sankten) is also one of my favourite motives.

 

Another image from the old Ålesund is the bird cliff which today is replaced by City Hall and shopping areas.

 From Sankten the Løvenvold street goes uphill towards  the old Løvenvold cinema 

Ålesund is one of Norways most beautiful cities and especially when the sun is shining and the sky is blue. However the annual rain volume is 977 mm so the painting above could be seen as the typical Ålesund image.

This end my blog presentation of Norwegian city images. 

Ålesund paintings: 1

In addition to my Oslo images presented in last blogpost I have made 2 blogpost of my paintings from Ålesund and the surroundings. The first post (this) has images of the nature in which the city is placed.

The first painting is how I see the city from the viewpoint at "Aksla / Fjellstua" at the top of the famous staircase of 418 steps up the hillside.

This painting is made from the fjord at the northern side of the city with the "Sula" mountain behind.

This is also from north to south but from Aksla showing  "Slinningbua" on the eastern part of the island "Hessa" (one of the three islands where Ålesund is located)

From Slinningsbua facing north and behind the stormy Aspevågen, you have second island "Aspøya" with the landmark "Aspøy school" and the City Hall.

Stormy weather is almost natural at this part of Norway and the rain pouring down at "Breisundet" and "Eltrane", is the view from the western part of Hessa

.

South east of the city the spectacular "Sunnmørsalpene" gives a great framework of the nature surrounding the Jugend City Ålesund

 This two last paintings end the presentation in my blogpost no 1 from Ålesund. In a few days I will give you my expressions of the inner city .