A Little Cross-Cultural Misunderstaning

OK - back to the roots of the blog... funny cultural stuff.  This commercial is on every night on French TV.  It could happen to you.

Société Générale Commercial

By the way, Société Générale is our bank and credit card company here in Paris.  They scored with this one!

Waterfalls of Vestlandet (Westlands), Norway

"Just another thousand-foot waterfall."  That's what you'll find yourself thinking after you've been in Vestlandet (Westland), Norway two or three days.

We visited western Norway for a week in mid-August.  It wasn't unusual to see multiple thousand-foot waterfalls at once.  The photograph below shows a typical waterfall seen in many fjords and valleys of Vestlandet.

Watching water slide hundreds of feet down a slick black mountainside is hypnotic.  The waterfall is so large, the water seems to be moving in slow motion.  It was so quiet in some of the valleys and fjords we visited, we could hear the sound of the falling water from more than a mile away.

Here's one of the first exceptional waterfalls we passed on the drive from Bergen to Jostedalbreen (Jostedal Glacier) National Park.

A different way of seeing the same waterfall.

Most of the waterfalls we saw stayed in a narrow strand from top to bottom of the mountain.  This was probably the widest we saw.   See the buildings at the shoreline for scale.  It was a thrill to watch. 

This massive family of waterfalls, known as Voringsfossen, has its own roadside stop and clifftop paths to view them from.  There are several all together at the head of a steep, deep valley.  This first photo includes the hotel at the top for scale.

The rush of air accompanying the converging crashing water propels the spray upwards all the way to the top of the valley, creating its own roiling cloud, seen rising from bottom center upwards to the left.

Better view of the monster waterfall on our side of the valley.

Closeup view of the one on our side.

Another view of Voringsfossen, but the point of this one is where I'm standing.  See the little plants in the foreground?  I'm leaning over the edge of a 500' cliff.  Many tall cliffs; only a few small rails.  They do have one sign that says "Dangerous Cliffs.  Watch the Children."

Finally, Kjosfossen, from along the Flam railway, a short, steep railway from the bottom to the top of a valley.  I love the mist, the reflection on the wet black rocks on the left, and the strange texture of the water splashing its way down.

We saw lots of other amazing waterfalls along the way, but we couldn't stop every time we saw one, or we'd never get to our destination.  Also, it was too rainy to take photos sometimes, though even that didn't stop us sometimes.  I could be seen standing in the rain with a tripod quite often on the trip, desperately trying to capture some amazing sights without getting droplets all over the lens.  As I would say to Jennifer when conditions prevented me from taking the photographs I desperately wanted, "I'll guess just have to remember this one."  Tragic, isn't it?      

Hope you enjoyed your tour of the waterfalls of Norway.  Stay tuned for Fjords of Norway.  And after that, Glaciers of Norway.

Clear Blue Waters and Tall White Cliffs of Bonifacio, Corsica

After hiking in central Corsica, we drove out of the mountains and down the East coast.  We arrived at our nice place in Bonifacio, on the southern tip, for a few days at the beach.  The water is so clear that the color depends on what is on the bottom: it's light green over sand, and dark blue over rock.  Most Corsican beaches are not backed by hotels, condos, and resorts.  Instead, they have rocky headlands with views of distant mountains.  There is often a cabana where you can get a cold drink and something to eat while sitting at a table under a big umbrella.

It was quite hot in the direct sun, so we bought a beach umbrella for about $20.  When we got to the beach, we discovered the top pole didn't fit into the bottom pole. The manufacturer had sent two poles with the exact same diameter.  So, without an extender pole, we had a three-foot high beach umbrella.  Good enough for lying down under.  The young Italian guy next to us came over and tried to help with the umbrella, but there was nothing to be done.  (Note: The good news is, I took it back the next day.  The manager said to pick another as soon as she saw me walk in. I think the whole shipment had been screwed up.)

The Italian guy and his girlfriend are in a four-year program in physical therapy and natural medicine at a university outside Barcelona, Spain.  Before the summer, he'd spammed the entire EU with his resume, and got a job working in the restaurant at a campground on Corsica. Camping on vacation is really popular in Europe.  There are lots of campgrounds.  He brought his old scooter with him.  His job comes with a cabin for the summer, plus what he considers pretty good pay.  The youth unemployment rate in Europe is around 25%, so he's doing great.  He'll begin study at a physical therapy school in Pennsylvania once he graduates from the four-year program in Spain.

This picture shows how Bonifacio was built on the cliffs.  The cliffs protected the part of the town facing the sea from bad guys, while massive walls protect the inland part.

On the other side, there's a harbor, where mega-yachts dock.  This one was nothing unusual. Notice the size of the cars and trucks behind it.

Photos from the walk along the top of the cliffs.  Windy and hot up there.

Seriously clear water.  

The "Grain of Sand" from above.  

From the boat ride, we could see the stairs we walked down (and up) the day before.  They call them the King's Stairs, but all they used it for was to get fresh water from a spring.  There's a walkway about 25' above the water.  You mightbe able to see a few people on it if you look closely.  It's easier in the full resolution picture.

The fallen hunk in the middle is "The Grain of Sand."  If you look closely, you can see the people on the small rock in the lower left corner.  

With a pizza from a tiny wood-fired pizzeria, and a bottle of wine, we drove up to the cliffs to watch the sunset.  It was incredibly windy.  We had the view to ourselves while we sipped our wine and huddled against the cool, blustery wind.