Icebar - Oslo

Icebar Oslo was pretty cool.  Made by same people who do the ice hotel in northern Norway every winter.  Interesting place, and an expensive drink lol!

Sigdal - land of the Stoverns!

We tracked down the town grandpa Stovern was born in - Holmestrand.  Then headed to the Sigdal region where the Stovern farms were from.  Tried and tried, but never could find actual farm.  Got onto the road the farm was on, but could never could find farm.  This waterfall powered a cobalt mine years ago that was the source of industry in the region.  Was great grandpa a miner?

Oslo fjord

The view down the Oslo fjord is amazing.  We too the picture from a fort that overlooked to main waterway leading to the city

Leaning tower of Pisa

Not nearly as big as I was expecting. Especially after all the other massive buildings we have seen. It sure is leaning though. Like many towers we've seen in Venice and bologna. They have stopped it from getting worse for now.

Siena and the Palio horse race

The town of Siena was built during the middle ages, and devised into 17 districts by the government to keep them in line ages ago. Now they have a horse rave around this square twice each year with the winning district gaining bragging rights. Sounds almost like the hunger games books in a way. The photos of 50,000 people in the square going crazy were hard to believe. The horse race and town were actually featured in the opening of James Bond Quantum of Solace.

Leaning tower of....Bologna?

Pisa may have the famous leaning tower, but every city seams to have a couple. The two towers in the picture are in bologna. They are the two towers mentioned in Dante's Inferno. The shorter on leans 8 feet over. The picture was taken from the top of the scaffolding surrounding the Basilica do San Petronio. It is being renovated, and you can climb 15 stories to a lookout platform at the top of the scaffolding. It is the worlds 5th largest church by some measures. Towering 51 meters high it is imposing inside and out. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Petronio_Basilica#_

Venitian Repairs

Most of the buildings are crumbling to some extent. We didn't see as many being fixed as you might expect, but this guy was prying some of the facing off a building before it fell on someone. I think he could do the same to nearly every building.