Whatever floats your boat!

Leaving Stockholm turned into a fun little jaunt, it just so happened to be gay pride festival whilst we were there and it also happened to be the day and time of a gigantic parade! We tried 2 different ways of getting around it but we were always thwarted. We ended up literally having to push the bus right through the parade (with a little help from the Swedish police) . . .as we had a ferry to catch!


Yes, we were about to board, the love boat. The love boat (as we called it) is a ferry that travels from Stockholm to the Finnish capital Helsinki. 


The boat was a revelation - it was a proper cruise ship - shops, bars restaurant, casino and all! We boarded mid afternoon and most of us headed straight for a nap - the late night in Stockholm was catching up with us! The cabins were in the bowels of the ship (only the best for Contiki - not!) and the top bunks had pull down beds which when you moved made the bed in the next room rock, nice!


That evening we headed for the buffet restaurant where we had an 'all you can eat' smorgasbord. Very Scandinavian (obviously), lots of cold meats and sea food and on tap beer and wine, yeah! Later we hit the 'nightclub' on board where we mingled with the locals and danced the night away. Of course staying up til late was clever of us . . . especially when my roommate freaked out in the morning and woke us up 2 HOURS early as she thought we were late, oops . . .

So . . .we arrived in Helsinki and I felt sooooo tired (had about 4 hours sleep due to aforementioned incident!). We first headed to a monument to the famous (apparently) Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, it looks like a load of organ pipes stuck together, okay that's a bad description, see photo. No idea who he is but it's kind of a cool thing to see.

We were then dropped of and given the rest of the day free, yay . . . Okay no offense but after the joys of Stockholm and Oslo Helsinki was not the most exciting place, also it was a Sunday, traditional day of nothingness across the world. Can I reiterate I was REALLY TIRED, but being a trooper I resisted the offer of an early ride back to the hotel and tried to explore Helsinki. First we headed to Suomenlinna, which is an island fortress. You have to take a boat across and once there there is a museum and other buildings you can look around, it's really big. Next we headed back into the city and checked out the two cathedrals, but they were closed :( To compound my annoyance my bank card also decided to stop working, for some reason Finland does not like Lloyds TSB. Of course I was off to Russia and needed Roubles and needed dollars to buy a visa for Belarus (more on that later) so I was in desperate need of access to cash so I had the pleasure of using my credit card to withdraw money and pay a £30 fee. Ouch.

Next we tried to head back to the hotel but unbeknownst to us they had changed the pick up time so we had to wait an hour! Did I say I was tired already? So when we got back I barely had time to change clothes before I had to go to a meeting for out journey into Russia - filling out entry forms and getting our hotel list etc. Finally at about 9pm (long day!) we were able to go and grab some dinner, and yes they got my order wrong!

So Finland and I didn't have the best of first impressions, if someone can ever convince me to go back they can try and change my mind. But, onwards and upwards. Next morning it was time to say goodbye to lots of friends who had been with us since day one and head towards the slightly scary experience of the Russian border.

Stockholm Syndrome!

Famous baby statue!

After a nice little airport delay (!) we landed back in the capital Oslo. In the Contiki spirit of trying to fit as much as possible in, with varying degrees of success, we headed straight to the famous Frogner Park. Okay, apparently it's famous but I had never heard of it. Anyway. It's primarily well known because Vigeland Sculpture Park is located within it - the sculpture park consists of bridges, fountains and statues all to do with 'the human condition'. Some of the sculptures are a little, saucy shall I say? Or at least open to interpretation. 

With the rest of the day to explore Oslo we headed to the town hall to see where the Nobel peace prize is given out. The town hall is a really unique building, from the outside it looks rather utilitarian and stark but inside it is full of the most creative and unusual artwork. The walls are covered in paintings (on the actual walls, not in frames) of Norwegian folklore and history -worth a visit. Next headed to the National Gallery. Not a massive art gallery fan if I'm honest but couldn't turn down a chance to see Munch's 'The Scream'. So I went! Was a nice gallery, some interesting paintings, a few by Van Gogh, some old icons and such like. 


We rounded the day off with a walk along the beautiful riverfront and some dinner. The riverside had some amazing bars - I only wish we had of had the energy to come and enjoy the nightlife! I'd say that's a fair reason to pencil in another visit to the city again sometime soon though :).


The next day - Stockholm baby!! We headed early into Sweden - got excited when we saw Ikea and tried out some Swedish fast food at 'Max' - where they have surprisingly healthy options including a no carb burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf! 


We were actually staying in a hotel - good in theory but we were a fair old distance from the city centre! The stay did not start well when another room mix up resulted in another room change (including a 10 minute stop in a broken lift as we went to sort things out). That evening we headed into the city for a walkabout dinner - we ended up going to this food court kind of place where we had a massive plate of chinese food for about £12 - which is cheap for Sweden! But it was awesome, wish I'd took a photo! Oh and we also saw the place where the bank used to be where people were held hostage and the term 'Stockholm Syndrome' came from. I think it's a McDonalds now!

We then headed for a drink in a pub and I learned to ask the price of a drink. I paid the princely sum of £14 for a cherry flavoured beer - ouch. The alcohol taxes in Scandinavia are a killer! Then it was home for a few 'room drinks' and ready to explore the city the next day.


The following morning we took the coach again into the city and most people went for a tour of the town hall - this one is where the rest of the Nobel prizes are given out. I'd been told it was a bit dull so me and Rachel headed for a walk around the old part of the city - this was actually a great idea as there was hardly anyone about and you could get a real feel for the history of the place (note the city is not actually that old like most Scandinavian cities -well not compared with places in the UK and the rest of Europe I mean!).

Later that morning we watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace - it was baking hot and there was a huge crowd and it lasted 30 MINUTES! Really. It was fairly cool though - lots of shiny hats and swords and horses and such like. They really do like the pomp and spectacle of their royal families in Scandinavia.








Next we headed over to a Museum called Skansen on an Island just a bit east of the main part of the city. Skansen is an open air museum -  a bit similar to Beamish for those of you who have been there! There are old buildings from all over the country that have been recreated - including a little town area. It is also part zoo and has things like bears, although it was really hot so most of the animals were sensibly hiding away. I will say they looked well looked after and had plenty of space and appropriate environments. From there we headed to the Vasa museum. Vasa was actually a warship built for one of the kings of Sweden for a war against Poland. The ship was also meant to show how powerful Sweden was. It failed miserably. On it's maiden voyage the ship sailed less then one nautical mile before it ceremoniously fell onto it's side and sank. The ship had in fact been built far to tall and with not enough ballast to keep it afloat. This combined with an unfortunately windy day and and the fact the lower gunports were open in order to give a ceremonial salute caused water to flood into the ship and it to sink to the bottom of the harbour. Many people died - not least because families of the crew were allowed on board for the journey out of the harbour and also most people could not swim. The mast was so tall it actually remained sticking out of the water and had to be cut down. The ship was salvaged in the 1960's and restored and the museum now houses the ship including reconstructions of some areas - well worth a visit, it's amazingly huge and covered in the beautiful detailed carvings of the time.

That night we had dinner in the hotel and met some of the 'newbies'. The tour was a modular one where some people leave halfway and then more join, we had to points this happened - Stockholm and Helsinki. The new people were mostly a little jetlagged and decided not to join us for our jaunt to enjoy the Stockholm nightlife and the beautiful people of Stockholm.


What they say about Scandinavia is very true - the people are gorgeous. Stunning. Beautiful. Now that said I think you get gorgeous girls everywhere but so many gorgeous guys is hard to get used to! In Stockholm the men were very 'metrosexual' - all pastel colours and tailored shorts. Everywhere also has 'face police' - you need to look the part to get in. Our TM arranged in advance that we would all get into one bar (which had a cheap happy hour - yay) to avoid any embarrassing situations . . .

It was great to get out and enjoy some nightlife in a city - first time we had really done it this tour. There were enough of us to enjoy that 'group outing' feeling and there was a nice outdoor area and dancy bit inside (I really wish I could remember the name!). As with all good things they start to go a bit awry . . . some people there were very drunk (and quite early), my feet gave in on me - I didn't want to leave but I HAD too, one of my friends got thrown out for no reason. Ah, fun times. Most people decided on public transport home but my crippled feet rebelled and I convinced a couple of people to take a (dodgy) taxi home -and we actually beat home the group who took the train 45 minutes before us! But guys - never take a dodgy taxi alone, we had strength in numbers :)


The next day, feeling slightly worse for wear, we headed back into the city for some more free time before our cruise to Helsinki. The weather had taken a turn for the worst so we took the time to get our final few souvenirs and we visited the royal apartments in the palace. All I can say is THEY NEVER END!!! Once you have seen one highly decorated slightly pointless room you have seen them all, it took about 45 minutes to walk through with very little stopping. Oh, we also looked at the crown jewels but the collection is about 1/10 of that in London. Oh I shouldn't compare I know :)


So that was Stockholm - awesome city, well recommended! Next we were going to take the 'Love Boat' to Helsinki and start the second part of our tour, but more on that next time.

71 degrees north

We departed Voss ready for a long drive the the capital, Oslo. Our drive was another scenic one (there really wasn't any that weren't on this part of the trip). One interesting, if sad point of the day was when we drove past Utoeya island. This was the place where the the terrorist Anders Behring Breivik shot dead 69 young people and injured about the same number again. We could see the island clearly as we passed, it's not that far from the mainland. At the edge of the water there was a large gathering of Norwegians paying their respects and laying flowers and candles. Very sad.


On our way into the city we stopped at the Oslo ski jump Holmenkollbakken, it's a very historic place and they have been throwing themselves down this hill for over a century. You can pay to go up a lift to look down the jump but I decided to walk to the other end of the run -consensus was this was actually a better shot. Judge for yourself:

Much respect to ski jumpers. I think they are crazy.

That night we stayed in a hostel just outside of Oslo. The rooms were tiny and it was really hot. It was however an early night (well for most of us!) as the next day was an early morning flight up to the far northern town of Alta.

Our flight was at 7.00 am the next morning so bright eyed and bushy tailed we headed to the airport. It took about 2 hours to get to Alta and once there we headed to see the famous rock carvings there. The oldest rock art is around 6000 years old and there are around 5000 different images showing hunter gatherers and fishermen. Pretty cool, one of those moments when you'd like to get a time machine and go back and find out who made these and why.

It took us another 3 hours to drive to Honningsvag which was to be our base for the next two days. Valuable time to catch up on a little sleep! When we arrived we checked into our hostel and had some free time before dinner. 

Honningsvag is a weird, weird place. For most of the year it is too cold to be of interest to anyone but those who need to be there. The big industries are fishing and tourism. There is a rather unattractive fish processing plant (right next to our hostel!) and large racks on the waterside for drying fish - dried fish is a local specialty. Some people tried it but yeah you guessed it I decided a little mystery is not a bad thing. In the summer cruise ships dock at the port so people can visit Nordkapp and see the midnight sun. Other than that there is not much else! To get into the town centre from our hostel you have to walk around a bay-on that walk you basically don't see anyone. The odd car maybe. There were shops along the road as we walked but most were shut down and even in the town centre there was little sign of life. It was very creepy - the sort of place where in a horror movie you would be screaming at the people to run!

That night we drove to Nordkapp -North Cape. It models itself as mainland Europe's most northern point, this is of course disputed and by any definition it is not technically correct! But it is an amazing point - based on a cliff overlooking the Barents sea. There is a visitors centre there where you can watch a panoramic movie showing Nordkapp through the seasons, post a postcard from the northernmost post office and there is a bar where you can toast the midnight sun. We spent ages watching for the sun to go down but as it happened the sun clouded over as the sun dipped and is didn't in fact go under the horizon at all. Standing in daylight at midnight is a truely strange and unusual experience.

The following day most people went king crab fishing but I took the chance to enjoy a long overdue lie in. Travelling at Contiki pace is tiring and in order to stay sane it is required to remove yourself from the situation at least once or twice! That afternoon I met the others to go quadbiking in the hills overlooking the city. I made the error or agreeing to drive the bike back down. Note - this is very hard -going up is easier! Also the feeling of driving at 60 miles an hour on a main road with only a helmet to protect you is slightly scary, but I've done it now. Another tick on the list!

Next we headed to the Ice Bar in Honningsvag. So you hear ice bar and you think 'alcohol'! well no. This ice bar is teetotal but you do get to try some non alcoholic liqueur type things -including one in a glass made of ice! The neat thing about this bar is it is all made of 'real' ice. The ice is harvested every winter and a new ice bar is created and carved each year -including an actual bar and an igloo. We all had to wear what I can only describe as capes made out of duvets - very flattering- but it was still very cold, and a damp cold. I could only stand it in their for about 20 minutes then I had to escape into the 'warm' - how strange to say that! Afterwards we all threw our 'ice' glasses into the water outside the bar and made a wish, apparently it is a tradition. I'm still waiting for mine to come through. We had a quiet evening (an early flight again beckoned) and most people tried reindeer stew, but I did not want to eat Rudolph . . . 

Next things start to get more exciting - back to Oslo and then to the beautiful people of Stockholm, and then onwards to the great expanse that is Russia. Til next time :)

Fjords, ferries and Olympic fun!

Next stop was a brief visit to the Swedish city of Gothenburg. Not a huge amount to say about it, just a normal city, lots of bridges and canals. Aparently it is the food capital  of Sweden and there were a lot of restaurants. Myself and a couple of the girls ended up having a pretty good dinner there washed down with Swedish cider :) That night was a hostel stay way out of the city (a familiar thread on this trip). So fuelled by cheap German vodka we had ourselves a little kitchen party- not so clever when early mornings beckon!

Finally we crossed the border into Norway where we would be spending more than a week. Our first stop over was to be the small town of Gjovik and on the way we stopped at the Olympic town of Lillehammer. It's a really, cute little place - fairly touristy but a recommended visit if you have the time! Lillehammer is also famous due to it's connections with the Mossad killing of an innocent man who they believed was part of Black September - the group who kidnapped the German Olympic team in 72 which eventually led to them being killed in a botched rescue operation. Mossad actually killed a Moroccan waiter there. They were arrested but all were pardoned within a few years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillehammer_affair

We then drove to Gjovic and had a few hiccups - first we went to the wrong hotel (!) and then the hotel we went to tried to make 4 of us sleep in a room designed for 2 . . . yeah not going to happen. So once again I had to move, but got a room alone this time :) That night we headed out for some drinks and to enjoy the lovely light evenings.

Getting ready to go!

The following morning we headed back to Lillehammer to take the chance to go down the Olympic bobsled track. We split into teams - I was on team UK of course and strapped ourselves into a rickety wheeled bobsled (what they use to train when it's not snowing). We had a professional driver and we all had to get very 'up close and personal' - those things are small! We then got a push start and off we went. It was not as scary as I thought it would be - not as bad as some roller coasters. There are a few turns where you are literally on the wall which is a bit unnerving. Unfortunately team UK didn't win but we placed respectably! Something else to tick of my list!

The crazy road

Onwards we went, including a little stop in a town called Lom which has one of the oldest wooden churches in Norway and an excellent bakery - try their cinnamon rolls if you go - yum! The drive to our next stop was insane. As you may know norway is the land of Fjords and mountains and in order to get to our destination we had to drive over a mountain - on a scary windy road designed for cars not 50 seater coaches and then take a ferry across one of 

Geiranger Fjord

the most beautiful fjords Geiranger (pronounced gay-ranger, the 
aussies found this hilarious as they call readheads 'rangers' you can work the rest out). The mountain road we took as a unique experience and out driver Baja did an excellent job of getting us down in one piece. Next we got on the ferry across the fjord, very beautiful, lots of waterfalls etc.


We spent the night in the little town of Hellesvylt - had a really awful dinner which Rachel and I supplemented with pizza and had a pub quiz (my team won :) ). All in all not a bad day.

Our drive the next day was a pretty one. We had lunch at a glacier - Boyabreen. Glaciers are basically ancient blocks of ice - they are responsible for carving the mountains and fjords of Norway during the ice age. You can tell if it is a glacier as glaciers have a blue tinge to them. We also drove through Europes longest road tunnel - yay? It was 26km long and took us nearly half an hour to drive through. I'm not sure how our driver did it - I was alseep by the end. Tunnel driving is tough -in the on every 6 km there is a opened up section bathes in blue light. Apparently it makes the driver more alert! Our journey today also included a ferry across Songnefjord which is one of the biggest at over 200km long - and of course stunningly beautiful.


Next day we headed to Voss which is the 'activity' centre of Norway. Both summer and winter sports are huge business here and the town produces a disproportionately large number of winter Olympic athletes. The town is based near a lake and our hostel was based on the banks of the lake. We had dinner in the hostel (note - in Norway fish is not seafood. seriously). and then headed into town to a bar owned by our driver's friends. We spend a fun if slightly messy evening getting to know random norwegians and singing karaoke. Good times!


The next day most people headed to whitewater rafting, being an awful swimmer I decided I would be a liability and headed into the city of Bergen with a few others. The train journey afforded us an opportunity to sleep and when we arrived the weather was gorgeous. We spend some time exploring the town and the famous fish market where the others tried smoked whale. Apparently is has a strong aftertaste but I decided some things are best unknown. 

Translations - got any shrimp mate?

Back in Voss our group had a barbeque on the lakeside. Very funny watching aussies and kiwis trying to barbeque on a disposable grill. The don't use charcoal to barbeque at home and they certainly don't have disposables. They resembled a bunch of native americans trying to send smoke signals to their village across the lake (they put cooking oil on it!!!).




So our Norwegian fjord adventure came to an end, next we hit the capital, Oslo and the (allegedly) northernmost point in Europe, until next time :)

Danish - not just a delicious breakfast pastry!

Better late than never right? In the interests of posterity it's time to blog about this years travels. Been back a month, so let's see how much I can remember!

So my travels began on a coldish, July morning. In my infinite wisdom I had decided going travelling the day after finishing school would be a good idea. So I hopped on my fun little flight to my favourite airport (love Schipol - how sad is it I have a favourite airport?) and then another little hop over to Berlin!!

Gotta love the window seat

First thought - okay I don't speak ANY German. When we were learning basic German in school I had 4 weeks off with chicken pox, so when I came back I had to take an exam which I failed of course and got stuck in the bottom class - which equals spending a year learning colours (which I forgot) and how to say a cup of tea - eine tasse tea! So anyway, turns out Berlin airport is horrible, stood around for an HOUR waiting for bags til some dude says we are at the wrong belt . . . in German, but I worked it out. So finally got bags, jump in taxi and make to to Plus Hostel Berlin.

Plus is a pretty nice hostel, apart from the fact it is literally across the road from a nightclub. The thud of base until 6am takes some getting used to. I met my first Contiki there, Rachel from Sydney, we had some Italian food at a restaurant with a cooky little owner and later that night got our final roomate Avneet from Canada.

Next morning was day one of Contiki Scandinavia and Russia. An earlyish start on the bus, everyone was really quiet on the bus which I found hard! I like to make a friendly welcome, the vibe of this trip was becoming clear early on. We drove to the Baltic Sea and took the first of many ferries on this trip. Ferry thoughts - Danish people LOVE shrimp sandwiches, sausages and pretty much nothing else. More foreshadowing.

We made it to a rainy Copenhagen in the early afternoon which gave us time to settle. In (yet more) foreshadowing they had messed up the rooms and tried to fit 3 girls plus big luggage into a tiny room. So I got to repack and move rooms. Yay. I hate packing.

First night was a buffet dinner and sightseeing tour - the Royal palace, little mermaid etc. It was still raining so we played dodge the raindrops. We ended the nights with some drinks at a cosy bar on Nyhavn- once haunt of sailors and prostitutes and now a cosmopolitan and lively spot for locals and visitors alike. And yes, alcohol in Scandinavia is very expensive. But more on that later.

Day 2 in Copenhagen started with a city tour - got to see the City Hall which is apparently heavily featured in the TV show 'The Killing', which is apparently really good so I'll be looking out for that. Next a few of us headed to the Amalienborg Palace (or 'Slot' as they call palace) where you can go underneath and see ruins of the old palace. The Danish royal family were pretty careless with their palaces in the past - this one alone burned down twice previously. 


After this we headed to the Church of Our Saviour which is one of the tallest buildings in the city. Yeah, was a bad idea . . . you have to climb a million stairs and then these wooden ladder type things, the staircase is very narrow and all the while people are pushing in each direction. Once you reach the top the balcony around it is only about 70cm wide. The foolish can choose to walk up the spiral bit (see below) to the very top. But I decided to decline on this occasion.

Next we went to a place called 'Christiania' a so called 'free town', it essentially governs itself and considers itself not part of Denmark (or even Europe). It's full of artists and odd types selling canabis everywhere. I wasn't a fan but some people loved it, it felt a bit dodgy even at 3 in the afternoon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania


That night we visited Tivoli which is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. It's full of rides (old style and new style), bandstands playing music and drama, restaurants and little side show games and shops. It's very pretty and fun to wander. But wait, I forgot about the scouts . . . Ever since the ferry over to Denmark we had been seeing Scouts everywhere, like whole troops of them. Turns out the International Scount Jamboree was being held in Sweden in a few days time. So we get to Copenhagen and they are like swarms of locusts, worst was Tivoli, there must have been at least a 1000 of them - if I'd have paid for a ride ticket I'd have been annoyed as the queues were massive - and full of scouts. Anyway, minor moan over! We rounded off the night with amazing icecream in freshly made cones, ready for a morning at the brewery.


Okay, last stop Copenhagen as to be CARLSBERG!! Okay few facts, Carlsberg was named after the owners son (Carl funnily enough!), famous symbols are the elephant and crazily enough the swastika (pre nazi of course) and they don't actually sell Carlsberg in Denmark -it's Tuborg. The brewery museum is fairly dull, but you get to see the worlds largest collection of beer bottles :) At the end of the tour you also get 2 free drinks, which can never be a bad thing!


So on a slightly tipsy note, we leave Denmark and head over a really big bridge for a Swedish pit stop and then onto amazing Norway!

Hello 2011, I've been expecting you!

So 2010 is finally over. For all it's trials and tribulations it has been an amazing year. I think the term roller coaster probably is the best description. But I've learned you cannot appreciate the highs if you don't know the lows ;)

I've travelled thousands of miles, seen and done some amazing things, met some incredible people and learned more than I could have dreamed possible this time last year.

I've finally found a job I genuinely enjoy, I've learned just how strong, brave and capable I am. I've realised I'm a risk taker, who doesn't want to wallow in an ordinary life.

I've learned that you can't rely on others to make your life great, you need to go out there and seize the day.

Mostly I've learned you can't plan your life and frankly if you do you are missing the point. It's not about the destination it's the journey.

I don't really believe in resolutions as I think they can set you up for failure. But there are some things I want to do/continue to do.

I want to get healthier again. I've gone a little crazy at times this year and now I'm ready to put my life on a more even keel. Eat/think/live better.

I want to cram in as many amazing experiences as I can. There are so many things I want to do!

I want to be less critical, of myself and others. Sometimes I see myself being a cynic and that's not who I want to be.

So who knows where I will be this time next year. How exciting!

xxx

Christmas thoughts . . .

Christmas:
Time of crowded shops and panic buying.
Time of overpriced gift sets that you know will be half price on the 26th.
Time of novelty songs and bad reality show singles.
Time of the same old movies. Again and again and again.
Time of party nights out when you find out a bit tmi about your work colleagues.
Time of karaoke and board games you play once a year.
Time of pointless DVD’s: Comedy, sport and ‘get fit’.
Time of crap gifts ‘oh thank you so much for that rose scented body lotion set – how ever did you know what I needed!?!’
Time of eating way too many sweets, feeling sick and promising to eat better (invariably failing by Jan 1st).
Time to tell the kids, ‘Of course he is real!’.
Time of families! (arguments, tears, tantrum, booorrreedddoomm)
Time to send cards to the friends and relatives you don’t see any more.
Time to hear the same songs. Over and over and over.
Time to be covered in itchy glittery clothes and tinsel.
Time to practice present wrapping skills!
Time to start making promises and plans for the new year ahead ;)