Monday, April 18, 2011

A Horse House of a Different Color


1867 Stabben Lighthouse, Florø, Norway.

It's my turn again at Vision and Verb where I write about those things that surprise the heck out of us because they're different from what we expected, like this lighthouse.

And that got me thinking about the colors of the Norwegian houses we saw everywhere we went,
north, south, east and west, inland and on the coast.



In the Oslo and Drøbak areas at the beginning and end of our trip,
while with bloggers Renny and Diane, Tor and Anna (last post).
You'll notice that the yellow-to-gold and barn-red colors are the most common.
But once in awhile you'll see a green or blue one thrown in for good measure.


The first day of our sea voyage after leaving Kirkenes.
The statue is in front of the Pormormuseet, the Museum of Norwegian-Russian Relations, in Vardø.
We were a stone's throw away from Russia at this first part of our sea voyage!
See the two different colors of blue in the right image (above)?


And since this is also a post of 'houses' of a different color,
here are two more lighthouses, from our first sea-voyage day.


Day 2 of our sea voyage in the area of Hammerfest.
By the way, almost ALL house construction in Norway is wood. But of course!
Their forests cover approximately 37% of the country and are as available to them as the stones/rocks are to the French homes we saw last year while in France. You use what you have readily available to you!


On Day 3 we were in the Lofoten islands where we took our only organized excursion. That's where we saw the cod fish drying on their outdoor racks. Wait till you see that!
In the meantime, these are their houses. See the one with the grass roof (above right)?




And another lighthouse, more typical of ones we saw along the coast.
The thing about standing on the deck of a ship is that the scenery changes so quickly while photographing the very same thing!


On Day 4 we crossed the Arctic Circle and celebrated with cod-liver oil. HA! Wait till you see that.
One house is green with envy, I see.


Day 5 in Trondheim was when we had so much wind and rain our yellow ponchos were ripped to shreds.
We'll never forget that. But it also gave us some dramatic scenery for colors.


This is our 6th and last sea-voyage day while nearing Bergen.
The top-right image (above) is Astrid's and is one of my favorites of hers.


And finally, Bergen, where we met up with Charles and Odd (last post).

See what I mean about houses of a different color! We were told more than once that if/when you move into a house of one of those 4 basic red-yellow-green-blue colors, you canNOT change the color without permission of the municipality. It's basically the color it was born with and will go to it's grave wearing.

A reminder again that it's my turn at Vision and Verb....

...and also that I will keep posting about our Norway trip as quickly as I get the posts done,
hopefully 2 or 3 times a week....

28 comments:

  1. great serie to give an impression of Norway

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  2. WOW!! Fabulous..gorgeous...amazing color. Just WOW!

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  3. Chantal: Thank you for stopping by and commenting here. Norway is wonderfully impressive!

    Marcie: Thank you! I'm still saying WOW myself. :)

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  4. It's so fun to see bold use of color, Ginnie. In our area it is only the Hispanic houses with rich color on them, and not so much color on their houses these days. My street is filled with drab grey, grey, grey. Ugh.

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  5. The colour of the houses is just amazing, Odd told me that whenever a house has a certain colour it has to stay that colour.
    White is more to the South of Norway and the colourfull, are more to the North.
    Bergen does have many colourde houses.
    Thanks for putting all the hours of processing all the pictures.
    It is great to have these posts as a rememberance.
    We had a wonderful trip, not easy to forget.

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  6. Toni: I know what you mean about the Hispanic houses but they're more pastel than these bold colors, right? It really is awesome to see. Thank you for stopping by here.

    Astrid: The white houses seem so blah, don't they! But I guess they make the others stand out better. You know I am loving this...sorting through the images and making sense out of them. Thank you always for your wonderful support!

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  7. Beautiful photos Ginnie! It was really fun hanging out with you guys! Short, but sweet!

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  8. Beautiful lighthouses and color contrasts. Artful!

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  9. What a beautiful, harmonious posting. It is a delight to the eyes as I scroll it on my computer. Alas, some gems of photos can easily be passed over in the montages. I especially wanted to see feature shots of the lovely buildings perched on stilts above the water. They deserve to be features. Thank you, Ginnie.

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  10. The colors are just amazing!!! I think they need a lot of color up there since the days are often grey - and pretty dark in the winter.
    Again, Ginnie, you worked your magic with your camera (and Astrid as well). Always such a joy.

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  11. Charles: It was a nice appetizer for the next time! :)

    Ted: I'll make sure I feature one of those stilted houses on my other blog. Thanks for the encouragement. There was so much to see, for sure.

    Carola: You may be right about the colors and the 'land of the midnight sun.' Sometimes we forget that as long as it is so light is as long as it's so dark! Color must be so important during those days...if they can be seen! Thank you.

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  12. The buildings and terrain both remind me of Newfoundland on our east coast. Beautiful shots, you two.

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  13. what a wonderful cruise - and the sightseeing it afforded was non pareil. i so love these colorful houses. i think i was meant to live there ;)

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  14. Cuidado: Oh, how very sweet of you to stop by here, Mary. Thank you. What a nice surprise. :)

    PC: You would love this trip and I highly recommend it. Do it if you can, even if just one way (many do it as a round-trip sea voyage), as we did. Totally worth it!

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  15. And I just love those 4 basic colors. They really fascinate me! And I agree, what a wonderful cruise. Great pics too!

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  16. ET: Those colors just seem to fit Scandinavia, Jen, don't they. Thanks for stopping by again.

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  17. You had me at the top photo!

    The warm colors of the Norwegian houses warm my heart on this chilly spring day. (We had snow this week.) I can see why they would paint their houses these colors now! What immense and splendid scenery. I can only imagine what it feels like to be riding on the water amidst all that.

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  18. Ruth: I know what you mean about that lighthouse. It blew us both away. Thank you. And yes, I can see why these 4 basic colors dot the landscape everywhere you go in Norway. I just never would have known/believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

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  19. It took me two days (instead of just one) to get back here! I cannot choose a favorite among the house collages... well maybe by a VERY slim margin the one with the side by side nearly identical houses... one red and and one orange in the upper left corner of that particular collage... and then second by another very slim margin... the first one of the house collages because you have managed to not only include the houses but also the people and one of the cameras to represent your passions in this journey!

    Could you see Russia? (unlike a certain someone during the last election in the US who claimed SHE could see Russia) ;-)

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  20. Victoria: I knew you'd come when you could, Lady. Thank you. I always love when you try to pick your favorites. :) For some reason, that tickles me.

    Astrid says Russia is probably only 10 km from Kirkenes, where we were, so NO, we couldn't see it. But it was a heck of a lot closer than for that othert woman! :D

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  21. I have stopped by here every week or so for years, my dear. I just haven't commented very often.

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  22. Cuidado: Oh my! The things we don’t know!!!!!!!

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  23. It is so nice to look at your pictures – to see the same places I saw but under different weather conditions. I loved all the houses in Norway.
    Interesting that there is a Planning Commission to ask what color to paint your house. It is the same in France – my mother wanted to add one small room to the back of her house and it took her 1 ½ years to get the OK and it had to be a certain size, etc. Here in the US just think what people would say if they had to ask permission for the color of their houses! But that is what it is charming to go to places where the architecture is part of the culture.
    On my road some rich people just built a huge house which looks like a Tuscan house – same color, same architecture and tall trees near it. It looks bizarre next to a house with white columns and others like rococo style MacMansions. Bizarre is one of the words – not charming at all is another description – pretentious could be another, and it is too bad because with Kennesaw Mountains in the background it would be so nice if the Cobb Co Planning Commission would enforce some rules (of course some of the County Commissioners are house contractors…. and some building contractors gave large amounts of money for the election of some of the County Planners….) and as we know money talks more than architecture.

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  24. Vagabonde: The closest thing I know of in the States may be the neighborhood associations that have rules and regulations about what can and cannot be done with your property. We were part of one in our Atlanta suburb before it was disbanded. Money does indeed talk, for sure. Too bad. But I guess some 'rules' are helpful, especially if you want to preserve the surrounding environment! Thanks for sharing.

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  25. Wow, wow, wow! Great photos with wonderful narration, Ginnie! I savored every photo, traveling back in time to our Hurtigruten cruise last summer. I'm thrilled you and Astrid enjoyed the cruise, but then again how could you not? I had no idea you took the round trip cruise, we only went northbound.

    It was comforting to see those four colors, serving as a unifying force throughout Norway. Don't they all look great against the blue sea and sky? A guide told us that, back in the day, white was the most expensive paint so a white house was a way to show off your wealth. Once I was told that, I did notice that the white houses tended to be the largest and/or in the best locations.

    Thank you for sharing these with us. Many of my Norway photos are still trapped on my hard drive, waiting to see the light of day.

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  26. DB: No, we only did one way, north to south. We loved it. What an interesting comment about the white houses. We didn't know that. Nice trivia to know. It was all so fascinating. This is one trip I really want to keep working on till it's done, so it doesn't stay on my external hard drive. Thanks for reminding me of that. :)

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  27. Wow! You really gives us a full description here. Love the photo collages here too. Even though we've very similar ones over here in Sweden, I really loved to see these ones.

    Truly great shoots! I can tell that you're exactly like we are - photographer freaks ;-)

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  28. LTB: My sense is that Scandinavia is similar in these house colors? I do know that Sweden is, as you say. It's really very charming. You can be proud. And yes, 'photographer freaks' just about says it all. :) Thank you again for your kind comments.

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