We all had some pretty good days in Montreal, when the Norwegians, Jenna and I went there in July. In just a few days we crammed in quite a lot, including old Montreal (stopping for ice cream on Place Jacques Cartier and exploring alleyways with cute little boutiques selling an equal mixture of tourists trinkets and one-of-a-kind artistic creations), the Latin Quarter, Rue St Catherine, Little Italy, the Mont Royal plateau, St Viateur bagels (mmmm…) and Montreal smoked meat at Schwartz’s (double mmm!).

Here’s me and my parents/brother on top of Mont Royal,which is a green, undeveloped hill in the middle of the city. The downtown core is in the background. Below is a picture where Jenna is substituted for me.

The Norwegians (my family, less my sister) is having a good time in scorching, humid, 33°C (91°F) in Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of Canada’s most picturesque and historic towns. They were having a good time, but coming from tropical Arctic Norway, the heat was a bit of a shock. Ice cream provided some temporary relief (from the ice cream company Cows. Canada’s best? I don’t think so. It was good, but that’s an ice cream cone too far.)

Here’s me as well:

My brother Øyvind and sister Cecilie, also in the butterfly conservatory in Niagara Falls.

Hehe, I don’t know if he’ll appreciate the title, but here is my little brother, Øyvind, seven years younger than me. We visited the butterfly conservatory in Niagara Falls, where everyone had great fun getting the butterflies to sit on them (more of that later.) Once again a somewhat sub-optimal picture (and again, the photographer’s fault, not the subject’s).

Next up in my family portrait series is Cecilie, my two-year-younger sister.

*Update*
I changed the original picture, which was not very good, with this one.

Here’s my mum, Randi, at the Farmer’s Market in St Catharines, only a few days after they arrived. I’ve decided to make a family portrait series, so I’ll be posting pictures of my siblings as well in the next few days.

This post is meant as vindication for my dad, Helge, who I presented in an earlier post as the barbeque baron. He thought it gave people the wrong impression of him. Well, in addition to being an epicurean he is also a wine aficionado, here depicted in the wine cellar of Chateau des Charmes in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Here we are, in front of the Niagara Falls. From left: me, dad, mum, brother, sister.

When my entire family came to visit me, as they announced they would the moment I said I was going to study in Canada four years ago, where was it more natural to take them than to Niagara Falls? Here they stand right under the American Falls.

Me, my dad and my broher Øyvind went camping in a mountainarea in Norway called Jotunheimen (literally: home of the giants). Here’s Øyvind sitting by the campfire.