OK, maybe not in Spain. More like Germany. The weather was fantastic over the weekend for the wedding and took a somewhat stormy turn after we drove back to Hamburg. The humidity should’ve warned us what was to come, but in a state of denial we tried to check out the Harley Days Festival (as in Harley Davidson Motorcyles), got rained on and escaped to an umbrella-covered cafe along the Reeperbahn instead.

I didn’t get a window seat this morning (because I’m too cheap to pay for seat selection* on Air Transat), but it didn’t matter so much, anyway, since the weather wasn’t optimal. Except I really wanted to get some shots over Iceland… (got some good ones last year)

[On a sidenote, I don't know how I managed to stay awake through two movies, but I did: Fool's Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson was quite possibly the worst film I have seen in recent memory (I'd almost say EVER, except someone made the stinker Just Cause). I thought P.S. I Love You would also follow suit in the Department of Cheese, but it turned out to be sadly quite relevant to me (I had no idea what the movie was about before I saw it) and at times funny and poignant. Still enough cheese to make a fondue, but the story and acting was far more redeeming and Gerard Butler -- a Scot playing an Irishman in the film -- has the sort of rugged appeal that could launch a thousand Ireland tourism campaigns.]

Currently back in Toronto now, where the weather is summer stormy, too.

* For those folks who use Air Canada and Aeroplan: don’t pay for seat selection! I have ‘window seat’ in my Aeroplan profile preferences, and I always get a window seat without paying extra for it. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I hadn’t been by the window. I also do online check-in a day in advance, which probably helps to get assigned early for seat selection.

We’re all recovering from a wedding weekend in Wolterdingen near Soltau, eating and drinking and making merry to celebrate the nuptials of Iris and Torsten. I’m not on my own computer, so this post will be all of seven photos selected and hastily edited from some 300+. I have one last flight to make before I can do the bulk of the processing, uploading, and writing…

So without further ado, I present to you Iris, Torsten, and baby Cedrik:

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There are going to be a number of Germans hungover at work today.

Germany beat Portugal 3-2 in the quarter-final game in Basel, and I didn’t need to know the score to figure out who won — there was enough horn-blowing and singing on the streets of Hamburg this evening to proclaim the victory far and wide.

I’m not following Euro 2008 in the slightest, but Berit’s in a football pool at work and she’s been checking her stats all through Norway wherever I got a signal on the iPod Touch. A person would have to be living under a rock and completely deaf to avoid the European football mania, although to a somewhat lesser degree it’s like this in Toronto, too.

This morning we had a super-early start to the day to return the rental car and catch our bus from Oslo to Torp Airport in the south, flew to Bremen, took the airport bus to Hamburg (luckily nabbing the last three seats), picked up Berit’s car at her office underground, and practically the first thing I did when we got home was have a catch-up snooze. I slept all the way through the big football game, and since everyone went to bed I’ve been doing my laundry and writing email.

Iris & Torsten’s wedding takes place over the whole weekend on a converted farm outside of the city, so I’m taking advantage of some downtime and a signal before the Big Event starting Friday evening. Have I mentioned I’ll be staying in a “Hay Hotel”? Yeah, the pictures should be interesting.

I’m even going to do something girly and paint my toenails!

I was surfing the internet at the bus station on the iPod Touch and thought I’d lose the signal, but to my utter amazement it stayed at full strength all the way out of the city centre. I couldn’t imagine I was daisy-chaining for so long (which never gives a full continuous signal, anyway), so I can only conclude that “Lavprisekspressen” is coming from a router on the bus itself??? How can this be??

In fact, I had no trouble getting internet access around Norway, even in fairly remote places. There are enough unlocked networks in the cities, too, that it isn’t a problem getting online and the network names are often quite amusing. I wish I’d charged my mobile phone yesterday to use the camera to capture some of the naming un-conventions, because my memory is getting woefully unreliable in my old age!! (More forgetful but apparently nerdier as I get older, too. Blogging from an airport bus today, what’s next — in-flight blogging?)

Next, I’ll see if the upload rate is decent enough to add a photo or two to this post…

Thanks to everybody here for the birthday wishes, they made it all the way here to Oslo at the speed of light!

Our Norwegian hosts Silje and Hans surprised me with a chocolate cake when we arrived back from a tour around the city with our first potential Oslo host, Soumitra (I had to change the arrangements so we ended up staying at other places), who took us to the most authentic Indian restaurant in the city. I am stuffed to the gills right now with copious amounts of birthday food!!

The highlight of our day west of Oslo was visiting the Heddal stave church (built in the 1200s) and the grounds.

More later, of course!

I took the railway ride I mentioned previously, up the mountain and back down again, spotting numerous waterfalls and enjoying rugged scenery along the way. I’d meant to take video, but it looks like that one set of rechargeable batteries is on its last legs. So no motion pictures, only stills.

A few for now:

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Some photo highlights from Sunday and Monday.

Sunday: Holmenkollen ski jump, site of the 1994 Winter Olympics

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Before we set off from Oslo today, I’m going to give a quick mention of Vigeland Sculpture Park, which I was lucky enough to visit in the evening with gorgeous end-of-day light. The weather here changes rapidly through the meteorological spectrum from sunny to overcast, windy, and rainy, which creates a challenge for picture-taking as well as the usual sightseeing. Having lived in Vancouver, I am no stranger to such weather whiplash!

The sculptures are the works of Gustav Vigeland, who died in 1943 and whose own statue graces the entrance gates of Frogner Park, where the sculpture park resides. It is a fantastical expression of imagination. A few more photos here.

The light is AMAZING here in Norway. It reminds me of the light in Iceland: incredibly crisp and clear. Colours are vibrant. Besides being converted to my hybrid colour profile for a computer screen (which actually desaturates the photo a little from the camera’s profile), this photo is straight out of my camera, unaltered.

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We arrived safe and sound from Bremen and are staying with our first Norwegian host, who’s simply fabulous. I would describe his fabulousness in greater detail except I’m fading fast after sleeping all of three hours in three days. I just keep getting a second wind, then a third, and next thing I know half a week has passed.

My first photos of the trip aren’t terribly exciting, since keeping track of three people and baggage is, well, three times more work than travelling solo. But now that we’re not dragging our stuff around and have a place to put it all down, my camera hands are free to do their thing.

Taking a picture of Berit cooking curry for everyone isn’t high art, but since she hates most of her photos I’m aiming higher than high art: taking that elusive unhated photo.