Norvège

'CLEAN UP HARD DRIVE'. It's been on my to-do list for about a year, and having finally started to sort through it now, I've spent most of today trawling through forgotten photos - I guess that's what happens now that we hardly bother to print photos anymore.
I visited Norway in their Summer, and even though we were meant to be at the hottest time of the year, I only remember wearing short sleeves twice throughout my whole stay. You don't visit Norway for the cities, as clean and designerly as Oslo is (I preferred Bergen though), the nature is what you spend your time and expensive kroner on. At best you hire a car and allow at least 4 weeks to do a loop through the whole country, staying in huts (camping too risky due to unpredictable weather) and allowing time to go through the side roads, admiring the fjords and taking time to get tips off the friendly locals, who are nearly always happy to talk and practise their perfect (!) English.
I think I was reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo during this trip and I remember deciding that if I was ever going to write a book, a hut on the edge of a fjord or a quaint seaside village in Norway is where I'd do so. I'd never heard a quietness like I heard in Norway (wanky thing to say, but true). We weren't quite far north enough for the northern lights, but I remember that it wouldn't be dark for more than 4 hours each night, and I was glad for the 3am sunrise that tricked my body into waking so I could appreciate the beautiful light (before making my way to bed again). If you ever get the chance (and money - think Sydney prices times five), visit Norway.