THREE STORIES

This oil painting Winter Night in the Mountains is a favorite of mine. In Norwegian it is called Vinternatt i Rondane, and a snow-covered mountain massif in full moonlight made such a strong impression on the Norwegian painter Harald Sohlberg who was skiing through the area, that he continued to work with the theme for 14 years. He painted a […]

PRESSED MEMORIES

When we were hiking in the Alps some years ago, I spent days searching for the well-known mountain flower Edelweiss found only at 1800–3000 meters above sea level. I had read that besides being the national flower of Austria and Switzerland, the “noble white” had a kind of wolly petals and a velvet texture to […]

PREGO !

Photo: Kristin Bae Mysen We are back on our favorite island Sicily, enjoying the sun, the great wine, the lemons, capers, sardines and the pasta with a hint of fennel. Yesterday we had our lunch in Palermo. I loved the street-drawn lunch meny.

SALAMANCA – THE GOLDEN CITY!

I am in Salamanca this week with my students who are studying Spanish, all taken by this small and stunningly beautiful student-filled city in northwestern Spain close to Portuguese border. It has an incredible architecture, actually it is considered one of the most spectacular Renaissance cities in Europe, and thanks to its clear and pure […]

IN LOVE WITH THE LIBRARY IN SALAMANCA

Today I visited the old library at the University of Salamanca which is considered to be one of the most beautiful libraries in the western world. This picture is taken by the Turkish architect and fine art photographer Ahmet Ertug based in Istanbul, and the photo is one out of many in his famous book […]