tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13284573202258675722024-03-18T21:25:53.729-07:00Travel with Nathan And CaraTravel Blog of Nathan and Cara. Entries will posted throughout their 93 day trip to Europe. The trip will cover 16 Countries and 30+ cities.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-90649158687464675122009-06-25T21:32:00.000-07:002009-06-25T21:37:10.468-07:00Interactive MapWow, did not know this until today, but you can create your own custom maps in google maps. I feel foolish, because this was available in September of 2007, and I'm just finding out now. It's really, really, really easy. Anyways, this is a work in progress and I'll be updating it more and adding photos to it. I might even go back and do it for our other trip because it's pretty neat. <br /><br /><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101434416240685291151.00046d329d9d10bb53967&ll=55.858358,-4.259949&spn=0,0&output=embed" scrolling="no" width="425" frameborder="0" height="350"></iframe><br /><small>View <a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101434416240685291151.00046d329d9d10bb53967&ll=55.858358,-4.259949&spn=0,0&source=embed" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: left;">UK Trip</a> in a larger map</small>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-59554877516755631922009-06-25T21:09:00.001-07:002009-06-25T21:32:34.863-07:00Knowle to Salmon Arm<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13MhdC7zcW04ESQt4w6mBccgDjC-iv4saFmZO9qEd3hGGkDkscgf5xUFoFJ1owmd9Wf2Y5w_dkiPA7wupoCd04_eGJgox8gYfUmXeJ4FLxL1GpBcX96_Ors2JPGpLQHlPprA-44el3PM/s1600-h/IMGP0236.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg13MhdC7zcW04ESQt4w6mBccgDjC-iv4saFmZO9qEd3hGGkDkscgf5xUFoFJ1owmd9Wf2Y5w_dkiPA7wupoCd04_eGJgox8gYfUmXeJ4FLxL1GpBcX96_Ors2JPGpLQHlPprA-44el3PM/s320/IMGP0236.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351489244810479346" border="0" /></a>After having a great dinner at Caleigh and Tom's place we went to bed, very tired. Monday me and Cara drove out to Stonehenge. We were surprised to find it free (because of our heritage passes). So that was a bonus and it was also the summer solstice so there were some crazy druids there dressed in white. So that was a bonus too, because they only come once a year. They may hold ceremonies at the other solstices, but the summer on is the major event. We then headed back to Knowle and tried to find a grocery store in vain, so we headed back to the house and googled it. We found them and we went to the european walmart known as ASDA. We bought a bunch of stuff for diner. We also bought some stuff to take home, like coffee, tea and Marmite. Then we went back to the house and made dinner for Caleigh and Tom. Tuesday was our last day in the UK and we did absolutely nothing, haha. We did some laundry and went to the park to read in the sunny weather. It was pretty good and to tell the truth we were a bit tired of sight seeing, so doing nothing was good. Plus I'm sure we'll be back to see Caleigh and Tom sometime again, so we need to leave so stuff to discover over there. After Caleigh and Tom got home, we went to a pub for some food in their old neighborhood in Gosport. Good food although the service was pretty crappy and they made me remove my cap for "security reasons".<br /><br />Wednesday was going to be busy, we got up at 5:45am and had a quick bite and hit the road. 2 hours later we were returning our rental and checking in for our flight. We asked again to get reclining seat but they guy told us it's automatic and he couldn't do anything (liar). We then did some duty free shopping and waited for our flight. To our relief, we did have reclining seats. The flight sucked, Gatwick-Dublin-Calgary-Vancouver. 13hrs is a plane seat. The food sucked again and they had a problem with the movie system so nobody got to watch mall cop or charlie and the chocolate factory on the old school tv's. Good thing my book was good. I managed to sleep for about an hour though. In Vancouver we took the bus to my Uncle's place and got our car. We decided to try and make it home so we could work the next day since we had made decent time and were leaving the city before 6. Then we drove to Abbotsford where we got some food at Tim Horton's and ran into my cousin Jamie making a call on the pay phone (random). The rest of the drive was uneventful. Although the coffee soon wore off and I had to make Cara drive from outside Kamloops on. But she only lasted about a half hour and then I had to drive again, but I had caught about 10min of sleep, so I made it the rest of the way. Then we slept the night away in our very own bed...Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-35656826388240430442009-06-21T15:18:00.000-07:002009-06-23T05:00:24.634-07:00St. David to Knowles Village<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=St+David's,+United+Kingdom&daddr=po22+5fb&hl=en&geocode=FVKlFwMdw6Wv_yk9sHoYSB5pSDGAfApeJosNCg%3B&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=53.587024,-2.699055&sspn=8.980036,15.732422&ie=UTF8&ll=51.33433,-2.950265&spn=1.09392,4.63143&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=St+David's,+United+Kingdom&daddr=po22+5fb&hl=en&geocode=FVKlFwMdw6Wv_yk9sHoYSB5pSDGAfApeJosNCg%3B&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=53.587024,-2.699055&sspn=8.980036,15.732422&ie=UTF8&ll=51.33433,-2.950265&spn=1.09392,4.63143" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULiZyCGUa5n0KNCfJcPsNYJCwbRcDVcNnXfXP2SBsTSj9MK5QVKhrkj0PC8DDQ6AffHVjUxRI845Z5Bi-lxeDGWumyNTP4iuqi96HzbvbS57zpUBuHAlmtcrrPjd4M7B0vLXSz4gV5Ow/s1600-h/IMGP0142.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350490429339978802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjULiZyCGUa5n0KNCfJcPsNYJCwbRcDVcNnXfXP2SBsTSj9MK5QVKhrkj0PC8DDQ6AffHVjUxRI845Z5Bi-lxeDGWumyNTP4iuqi96HzbvbS57zpUBuHAlmtcrrPjd4M7B0vLXSz4gV5Ow/s320/IMGP0142.JPG" /></a>We left the campground early after making breakfast. We went for a hike in St. David and then went to the cathedral in town. It was old and the floors and walls were at odd angles (build on a bog), but still impressive. Then we hit the road again. This time it was mostly motor ways, so it went faster, but we still needed a pit stop, so we went to a National Trust site along the way. It was an old tin plant and had a cool waterall and waterwheel. More driving and we finally are here at Caleigh and Tom's. Tomorrow we plan to visit Stonehenge.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rhEpgjIFQXX-sXmDpPxNtr0LbQfZFwwzQXaU2aDmpsRHL8Y1VCnSBs0FHL9TLUSvyJ72nissNGrjDrpcyDKmrePgsa9xuGZBcKDXELjw200WO12p7cXdPxLhzwXF7BoOg9SGcrp6erY/s1600-h/IMGP0175.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350490439487028498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rhEpgjIFQXX-sXmDpPxNtr0LbQfZFwwzQXaU2aDmpsRHL8Y1VCnSBs0FHL9TLUSvyJ72nissNGrjDrpcyDKmrePgsa9xuGZBcKDXELjw200WO12p7cXdPxLhzwXF7BoOg9SGcrp6erY/s320/IMGP0175.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWQyDkL2XMZXiex7f0oozKPNAedQR18QuEmm7-jiJic-HKS5M1BN2xrkgUiI6n4B2I8-HD8_dWfHg7ohCG1oJbpM_pDTEYx-QDRrkwOQrKpHxsdn7ZI2NSMTkTXsuY6lZ6KtBLE3QHWo/s1600-h/IMGP0179.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350490446916454338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWQyDkL2XMZXiex7f0oozKPNAedQR18QuEmm7-jiJic-HKS5M1BN2xrkgUiI6n4B2I8-HD8_dWfHg7ohCG1oJbpM_pDTEYx-QDRrkwOQrKpHxsdn7ZI2NSMTkTXsuY6lZ6KtBLE3QHWo/s320/IMGP0179.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEl14XJQrzav3j3i387i6raShPYbTCszugknlDC9bIpPx2QiUp4vJKPdisl8-RSxFV1O_wdcQreybOTbc_zjEqh_RWIgD1hjGyikm4kDJDKV9L6RCD8ktdmEDpN_31phTZ94FZkQGFIAc/s1600-h/IMGP0157.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350490444147531586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEl14XJQrzav3j3i387i6raShPYbTCszugknlDC9bIpPx2QiUp4vJKPdisl8-RSxFV1O_wdcQreybOTbc_zjEqh_RWIgD1hjGyikm4kDJDKV9L6RCD8ktdmEDpN_31phTZ94FZkQGFIAc/s320/IMGP0157.JPG" /></a>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-37412347026332529632009-06-21T15:07:00.000-07:002009-06-23T05:11:28.876-07:00Caernaforn to St David<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Caernarfon&daddr=st+david's&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=51.892385,-5.215416&sspn=0.155095,0.307617&ie=UTF8&ll=52.51326,-4.54716&spn=1.26476,1.43812&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Caernarfon&daddr=st+david's&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=51.892385,-5.215416&sspn=0.155095,0.307617&ie=UTF8&ll=52.51326,-4.54716&spn=1.26476,1.43812" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9mi8VKb4urYiwOuCnVcYaalwbghROYi4H9uYL_i37zZsbwQqvJBLlc1vstd-St5U2Q2aGrR-KXgw1YhQNKVQALlth9CatERNI-5kyDwzgP6HlmURBU82C46PhWJn3UQ5W_esVlQH9Nk/s1600-h/IMGP0046.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350492838502535506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9mi8VKb4urYiwOuCnVcYaalwbghROYi4H9uYL_i37zZsbwQqvJBLlc1vstd-St5U2Q2aGrR-KXgw1YhQNKVQALlth9CatERNI-5kyDwzgP6HlmURBU82C46PhWJn3UQ5W_esVlQH9Nk/s320/IMGP0046.JPG" /></a>We got up early with another big day and some driving ahead. We hit the Caernaforn castle which was really good and impressive. After the Castle we decided to get on the road since it was already past 1pm. We left and Cara found a good stop along the way at CAT (center for alternative technology). It was founded in the 1970's by some (lets face it) hippies. The compount is built on an old slate mine. There whole compound uses water (water powered funicular), wind, solar and wood burning energy. It was pretty interesting and the exibits really ask good questions about the futur. Some of the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlypuPpcL4aKVnwryf_m-zBIAZnIGcFo-ZftRicg4D9PLio-IMCPeeL9HpOu7pcjvXQZ77puYiTgxf9Nxtg0wHGEEf3J-NeuOw8xK67jGdfZiDP871qCe21l-UkFKyocXocgJINrCC7g/s1600-h/IMGP0085.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350492841835245186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNlypuPpcL4aKVnwryf_m-zBIAZnIGcFo-ZftRicg4D9PLio-IMCPeeL9HpOu7pcjvXQZ77puYiTgxf9Nxtg0wHGEEf3J-NeuOw8xK67jGdfZiDP871qCe21l-UkFKyocXocgJINrCC7g/s320/IMGP0085.JPG" /></a>things were a litte bizarre though. They use wood pellets for heating (easy yes, but most environmentally friendly, no). Also they use wool insulation in most of the buildings. I can't imagine that wool is more environmentally friendly to produce than other insulating materials. But it was cool, and I have some things to research when I get home. We left the center at around 6 and made our way to St. Davids. We got into town around 8 and hit the local pub, the Farmer's Arms (awesome), for a pint and dinner. Both were excellent and they even had a beer garden out back (garden where you can drink beer). The town only has 1800 people living <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPTnAKyaa6AHkR-L3ioOuDF2yAItkisiSDKTjbtQ-ZX8msW9ZuCpIK57y9eh2JrlgZnn6WFs8Ur3zjBXCeGidUdGIuUu1BE5ynxp7GMNCm0IAJZ4Gr3r4TRvn56mWMvt6FJ-oiC0bthA/s1600-h/IMGP0116.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350492846120187554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPTnAKyaa6AHkR-L3ioOuDF2yAItkisiSDKTjbtQ-ZX8msW9ZuCpIK57y9eh2JrlgZnn6WFs8Ur3zjBXCeGidUdGIuUu1BE5ynxp7GMNCm0IAJZ4Gr3r4TRvn56mWMvt6FJ-oiC0bthA/s320/IMGP0116.JPG" /></a>there, but everyone enjoys this pub. Too bad Canadian liquor laws wouldn't let a place like this exist. After dinner we drove out to the campground. Paying for camping is still against my nature, but sometimes you want to have running water.</div></div></div>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-17498421537824252412009-06-21T14:58:00.000-07:002009-06-23T06:05:12.864-07:00York to Caernaforn<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=york&daddr=A494%2FPark+Rd+to:53.094849,-4.064941+to:Caernarfon,+United+Kingdom&geocode=%3BFRp8KgMdKnLN_w%3B%3BFRjuKgMdP92-_w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=2&sz=10&via=1,2&sll=53.145947,-3.841095&sspn=0.602929,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=53.145947,-3.841095&spn=0.602929,1.230469&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=york&daddr=A494%2FPark+Rd+to:53.094849,-4.064941+to:Caernarfon,+United+Kingdom&geocode=%3BFRp8KgMdKnLN_w%3B%3BFRjuKgMdP92-_w&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=2&sz=10&via=1,2&sll=53.145947,-3.841095&sspn=0.602929,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=53.145947,-3.841095&spn=0.602929,1.230469" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small> <div><div><div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYR800t2Vw_fWitxWxFYYQSbDljDTdFKerNUtLKJmVtcGC-wuxvK5zjsYIWsjfoMSq_8yUkSzixkHq9COe7b2h83ehyBFqXRBM1jyf-aVfVaZhwoCIPnPDJieetK4DFAXAsg2Ill2p79M/s1600-h/IMGP0478.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350507816586733858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYR800t2Vw_fWitxWxFYYQSbDljDTdFKerNUtLKJmVtcGC-wuxvK5zjsYIWsjfoMSq_8yUkSzixkHq9COe7b2h83ehyBFqXRBM1jyf-aVfVaZhwoCIPnPDJieetK4DFAXAsg2Ill2p79M/s320/IMGP0478.JPG" /></a>Thursday was a busy day. I got up at 6:30 and hit the minster. It was quite impressive and I was able to have a field day with photography of York. I went back to the B&B and got Cara for breakfast. Next we left and hit Fountains Abbey that we missed. It was a bit out of the way, but I'm glad we did it, it was really interesting and very photogenic. We picked our way into Whales and took a nice scenic route into Caernaforn through the mountains of Snowdonia. We didn't get into town till a bit late and just had enough time to find a spot to camp. We drove out along the ocean, and found a good spot to pitch a tent, but I only looked up the rules for Scotland and wasn't familiar with Whales. So I asked at a boat yark near by. The guy was really friendly, but said that he wouldn't pitch his tent there due to the boy racers occasionally on the road. But he directed us to a great spot nearby. We pitched our tents out in Dinas Dinlle.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxneEbbcFY_R4I85ABxHfv7NQoQ9o60f0PgS_GsHD4CLFP5dplAsx_qUZsBDablJvzqCMD5lzwpRhcfjrOlW6kjB-3H-AZJiLO2jR5pFYPL6CHW6-ijfn_Uk5ZoZSpDjLs4oXKv-4HKRw/s1600-h/IMGP0012.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350507812217850130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxneEbbcFY_R4I85ABxHfv7NQoQ9o60f0PgS_GsHD4CLFP5dplAsx_qUZsBDablJvzqCMD5lzwpRhcfjrOlW6kjB-3H-AZJiLO2jR5pFYPL6CHW6-ijfn_Uk5ZoZSpDjLs4oXKv-4HKRw/s320/IMGP0012.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxkEZqlNTPjKoyYO9ivXrU-Ti_KbQ2dGoph8nbR19fXkpzaYZQVxfgyMFEV2Kx3zisgGoWdajxBDa2DZfYjvUVvGgKrufZRHCpP5nLFmUfs7J_D7TRxEh7Mh9_3TFL_fSOyRAEBRVelo/s1600-h/IMGP0024.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350507808466601634" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxkEZqlNTPjKoyYO9ivXrU-Ti_KbQ2dGoph8nbR19fXkpzaYZQVxfgyMFEV2Kx3zisgGoWdajxBDa2DZfYjvUVvGgKrufZRHCpP5nLFmUfs7J_D7TRxEh7Mh9_3TFL_fSOyRAEBRVelo/s320/IMGP0024.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptXoN3lUeUpkwSg5d2uZyUNx5McXIXKaMeEeXfgTXCOzxgw5e9LDbV6v2c7pFBKnry6WyWfeuKkPeVhqhJZIklRG4QX2GhucAscnw5mnUY3ixXtcHXcBW7rdOl-QOXK7OvDkemJSMBIQ/s1600-h/IMGP0421.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350507822363711090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptXoN3lUeUpkwSg5d2uZyUNx5McXIXKaMeEeXfgTXCOzxgw5e9LDbV6v2c7pFBKnry6WyWfeuKkPeVhqhJZIklRG4QX2GhucAscnw5mnUY3ixXtcHXcBW7rdOl-QOXK7OvDkemJSMBIQ/s320/IMGP0421.JPG" /></a></div></div></div></div>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-64835009552798976572009-06-21T14:49:00.000-07:002009-06-22T02:29:51.844-07:00Jedburgh to York<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=jedburgh&daddr=A7+to:A65+to:A61%2FRipon+Rd+to:Fountains+Ln+to:54.106918,-1.52504+to:york&geocode=%3BFXTWSAMdlojS_w%3BFdjqOQMdQsXa_w%3BFcy7OAMd5G_o_w%3BFUijOQMdLsfn_w%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=5&sz=11&via=1,2,3,4,5&sll=54.093631,-1.455688&sspn=0.294771,0.615234&ie=UTF8&ll=54.093631,-1.455688&spn=0.294771,0.615234&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=jedburgh&daddr=A7+to:A65+to:A61%2FRipon+Rd+to:Fountains+Ln+to:54.106918,-1.52504+to:york&geocode=%3BFXTWSAMdlojS_w%3BFdjqOQMdQsXa_w%3BFcy7OAMd5G_o_w%3BFUijOQMdLsfn_w%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=5&sz=11&via=1,2,3,4,5&sll=54.093631,-1.455688&sspn=0.294771,0.615234&ie=UTF8&ll=54.093631,-1.455688&spn=0.294771,0.615234" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0VlHisVGm1I33qWJdimpTMDQWqQoVYZsg2Cz30OnJuNnykMGwl8bH4Z6lATWX8nVwWXdLFZrLTuZ1QNJsWbFtepUeMUwxNVtq_fhyphenhyphenJF1-rkpkhKyU3zlL-8vycd9jjZ8CPb80hoEHJ0/s1600-h/IMGP0421.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349918224560458002" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM0VlHisVGm1I33qWJdimpTMDQWqQoVYZsg2Cz30OnJuNnykMGwl8bH4Z6lATWX8nVwWXdLFZrLTuZ1QNJsWbFtepUeMUwxNVtq_fhyphenhyphenJF1-rkpkhKyU3zlL-8vycd9jjZ8CPb80hoEHJ0/s320/IMGP0421.JPG" /></a><div><div><div> <br />Wenesday we got up early, packed our stuff and hit the road. We visited a few places and drove along Hadrians wall. Hadrian, one of the most famous Roman Emperors, decided that is was too dificult to conquer Scotland, so he built a massive wall to keep them out. 84 miles long and build in 3 years with a fort or tower at every mile. 3 legions built it (roughly 15000 men). Unfortunately we took too long and were quite disapointed because we ddin't get to Fountain's Abbey in time. Also the camping place we phoned in York was rude to us, so we booked a cheap B&B near downtown. It ended up being just what we needed and with breakfast included, it's a good deal.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVpwYybCayi3-bm46O-bgh4Qv0T63CuOusluoi621x1w8AzghBWVHlWXj5NmSAB8dvxARjWRK42LweAOMJ2G5hRHV4DHpEL1Rhv1jGH6lSB11jp0KgszkBFcicJ2fgjuIEAEMTxOiRKU/s1600-h/IMGP0448.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349917799921306754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIVpwYybCayi3-bm46O-bgh4Qv0T63CuOusluoi621x1w8AzghBWVHlWXj5NmSAB8dvxARjWRK42LweAOMJ2G5hRHV4DHpEL1Rhv1jGH6lSB11jp0KgszkBFcicJ2fgjuIEAEMTxOiRKU/s320/IMGP0448.JPG" /></a>York is acutally a really cool place, the history is amazing. York was founded in Roman times and remains mostly intact today. The city still has about 75% of the walls intact as well. York Minster is very impressive as well and York is very walkable and the shops are cool. First night we went out and had some hearty food at a pud down the road. We also took a peak at York Minster.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuHNWGJYNzlTdZ9eKKJnq42VCkzVRUR8oje5ZWJrGb10nk_w1sR5g8D1p-3o-lbUGfW6SwjGTcFjybwLnlibNXYNJYRG2b3eq7UD2Jj9WKCR2vrEDLtr73jT-mjZyuPjZj-JfezVgysI/s1600-h/IMGP0396.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349917415132397234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuHNWGJYNzlTdZ9eKKJnq42VCkzVRUR8oje5ZWJrGb10nk_w1sR5g8D1p-3o-lbUGfW6SwjGTcFjybwLnlibNXYNJYRG2b3eq7UD2Jj9WKCR2vrEDLtr73jT-mjZyuPjZj-JfezVgysI/s320/IMGP0396.JPG" /></a>Tuesday we hit the museums in town and according to our guide book the minster was free after 5:30. At 5:45 there was no sign of free time, so I asked and was told it was not like that anymore. So the lady told us that if we just wanted to walk around we would have to come for a service or show up before 9am. Cara wasn't interested, but I panned to come back the next morning before we left town. Next we tried to catch the volunteer walking tours. But it was raining again so there was no walking tour this day. So instead we went grocery shopping and got some gas and had a night in.</div></div></div>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-85596556874560687032009-06-21T14:33:00.000-07:002009-06-23T04:35:11.110-07:00Edingburgh to Jedburgh<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=edinburgh&daddr=M9+to:A703%2FEdinburgh+Rd+to:A6091+to:A699+to:jedburgh&geocode=%3BFd51WAMdomjD_w%3BFXg9UQMd-lTP_w%3BFRVWUAMdJ2LW_w%3BFbxPUAMd5Nfa_w%3B&hl=en&mra=mr&mrcr=0&via=1,2,3,4&sll=55.452384,-2.662811&sspn=0.57007,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=55.452384,-2.662811&spn=0.57007,1.230469&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=edinburgh&daddr=M9+to:A703%2FEdinburgh+Rd+to:A6091+to:A699+to:jedburgh&geocode=%3BFd51WAMdomjD_w%3BFXg9UQMd-lTP_w%3BFRVWUAMdJ2LW_w%3BFbxPUAMd5Nfa_w%3B&hl=en&mra=mr&mrcr=0&via=1,2,3,4&sll=55.452384,-2.662811&sspn=0.57007,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=55.452384,-2.662811&spn=0.57007,1.230469" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcLJdQaBEsMrr3MjG5MDFtfI5sSQwQ7KzIUi0C5D1g0t3_TCyk-t0_SkVjVAVQd1gkeUmdD8jZii5fqBZXbefk9CnFAYKxwzJJSDReDdAM9YdsE29TtM4oJ8B8LWF84-n-ZDzcJbTX1bQ/s1600-h/IMGP0193.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349918870197091026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcLJdQaBEsMrr3MjG5MDFtfI5sSQwQ7KzIUi0C5D1g0t3_TCyk-t0_SkVjVAVQd1gkeUmdD8jZii5fqBZXbefk9CnFAYKxwzJJSDReDdAM9YdsE29TtM4oJ8B8LWF84-n-ZDzcJbTX1bQ/s320/IMGP0193.JPG" /></a> After arriving and Christina's we chatted for a bit and then walked downtown for a beer at a pub and met up with some of Christina's friends at a club. We headed home after a while. Sunday me and Cara went downtown again to check out the sights and take the free walking tour with New Europe. It wasn't nearly as good as some of the other cities we went too, but it was still alright. It poured rain for a bit, so after a while we headed back to Christina's, but we picked up some food to make dinner. They weren't able to make it back in time due to some flooding outside the city, but they enjoyed the left overs. We were going to head out Monday, but we didn't get enough of Edinburgh, so we decided to stay another day. So Monday we hiked up Kind Arthur's seat and went to that tartan factory. We did some other things and hid from the rain again. Then we met up for a ghost tour with Christina and her sister. The tour was well done athough, for me totally hokie, but I still enjoyed it. Then we headed out for a drink and went back to the appartment and made dinner.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_T-emELIayxCuw1DqYxv_0eAj7EtOztkEJJA3_HuoC0sWfcX8wCts1AzxJ83Bv-lrcPqdamusOneUSOrzKaoxcEzqM2tJlnJorsfEmd7972Upf22rFvIYnGTPfMktRwQ2YuJ5tvDu2Z0/s1600-h/IMGP0183.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 214px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349919427879421106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_T-emELIayxCuw1DqYxv_0eAj7EtOztkEJJA3_HuoC0sWfcX8wCts1AzxJ83Bv-lrcPqdamusOneUSOrzKaoxcEzqM2tJlnJorsfEmd7972Upf22rFvIYnGTPfMktRwQ2YuJ5tvDu2Z0/s320/IMGP0183.JPG" /></a>Tuesday we left Edinburgh, and visited Stirling before heading South. 'To hold Stirling was to control Scotland' is what they used to say. A very strategic point and a formitable fortress too. It was quite a bit out of our way though, but nevertheless we tried to hit the border abbeys as well. The border abbeys are a cluster of abbeys near the Scottish border, they were disolved with the other abbeys in England by King Henry VIII. But still very impressive and spectacularly ruined. Camping in Jedburgh was expensive, so we ended up camping out of town just off the road.</div>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-40634726719937250992009-06-15T15:24:00.000-07:002009-06-22T01:43:49.627-07:00Aberdeen to Edinburgh<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Aberdeen,+UK&daddr=57.010833,-3.389282+to:Edinburgh,+United+Kingdom&geocode=%3B%3BFWC7VQMdsFzP_w&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=9&via=1&sll=56.734649,-2.941589&sspn=1.102815,2.460937&ie=UTF8&ll=56.734649,-2.941589&spn=1.102815,2.460937&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Aberdeen,+UK&daddr=57.010833,-3.389282+to:Edinburgh,+United+Kingdom&geocode=%3B%3BFWC7VQMdsFzP_w&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=9&via=1&sll=56.734649,-2.941589&sspn=1.102815,2.460937&ie=UTF8&ll=56.734649,-2.941589&spn=1.102815,2.460937" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br />We stayed with Chris 2 nights. The day after Chris took us sight seeing. We went out to see the golf course that the Trump is building just north. It's still in the early stages of development, but the coast is really cool with sand dunes. Then we went to Dunnottar castle in Stonehaven. It was ruined, but really cool, because the castle was left alone so it isn't just the keep, but the stables, smithy and residence. We all enjoyed it and then had a really good seafood dinner at the pub in Stonehaven. Then we went back to Aberdeen and hung out while we waited for the Stanley Cup final to begin (at 1am !!). We didn't make it to the end of the game unfortunately.<br /><br />The next day we tried to get away early, but 1pm doesn't really count as early in by books. We got to one interesting castle, but found out that our 7 day familly pass bought at Culloden wasn't any 7 days, but consecutive and didn't work for national trust of England and Wales, contrary to what we were told when we bought it. So we had a little tiff with the staff, but in the end we upgraded to a year membership for some more money, but will work for England and Wales and appearantly Canada, although I'm not so sure. After that we tried to see another closed castle and missed the last tour for a distillery. I'm sad that the only tour we're doing is Glenfidich, but Glenfidich actually has a good tour.<br /><br />We got into Edinburgh later than expected, but found Christina's place easily and we went out for a drink down town promptly. We even dipped into a club to see Christina's friend.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-75936356245139028652009-06-15T15:18:00.000-07:002009-06-22T01:39:44.731-07:00Inverness to Aberdeen<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=inverness&daddr=A96%2FHigh+St+to:A941%2FBalvenie+St+to:57.330969,-2.831726+to:aberdeen&geocode=%3BFRyebwMdDkPN_w%3BFdiUbAMdkEDQ_w%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=10&via=1,2,3&sll=57.304273,-2.554321&sspn=0.543016,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.304273,-2.554321&spn=0.543016,1.230469&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=inverness&daddr=A96%2FHigh+St+to:A941%2FBalvenie+St+to:57.330969,-2.831726+to:aberdeen&geocode=%3BFRyebwMdDkPN_w%3BFdiUbAMdkEDQ_w%3B%3B&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=10&via=1,2,3&sll=57.304273,-2.554321&sspn=0.543016,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.304273,-2.554321&spn=0.543016,1.230469" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br />Another busy day on the way to Aberdeen to see Chris. We did the battlefield of Culloden, which is where the battle with the English and the bonnie prince (last Scottish uprising) took place. It was pretty interesting and the visitor center was well done. On the rest of the drive we had 3 castles and a whisky (Scotch) distillery to see. We drove past 1 castle due to some miss navigation and 1 castle was closed (but still viewable) and the other was completely covered in scafolding. We made it to the last (free! yay) whiskey tour at Glenfidich. It was excellent and made up for the disappointment of the castles. We made it to Aberdeen in time to see Chris and have a night out on the town.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-47652625824260546112009-06-15T15:11:00.000-07:002009-06-22T01:34:03.308-07:00Kinlochewe to Inverness<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=kinlochewe&daddr=57.851328,-5.277557+to:inverness&geocode=&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=10&via=1&sll=57.743747,-4.967194&sspn=0.536511,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.743747,-4.967194&spn=0.536511,1.230469&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=kinlochewe&daddr=57.851328,-5.277557+to:inverness&geocode=&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=10&via=1&sll=57.743747,-4.967194&sspn=0.536511,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.743747,-4.967194&spn=0.536511,1.230469" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br />We fought some midges on our way out of the tent in the morning, but got all packed up and left the campground. We drove to the west coast and then North, taking the long way to Inverness. The drive was great though and very scenic. We stopped for a hike at a waterfall and lots of other stops for pictures. Cara said she didn't mind though because she was reading a good book. We got to Inverness early though, because we had decided to splurge on an expensive guest house. It was very highly recommended, and rightly so, because it was very posh. We did take a peek at Loch Ness before checking in. Really it's just a lake though, so we found a good spot and pretended to spot nessy. We settled in (felt a little bummy in our camping gear showing up) and hit downtown for dinner. After a good (slightly expensive) indian dinner, we went for a walk along the river. After that we hit our room for free DVDs and a king size bed.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-81909064930494151172009-06-12T03:47:00.000-07:002009-06-22T01:32:29.824-07:00Portree to Kinlochewe<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Portree,+UK&daddr=57.153003,-6.096725+to:kinlochewe&geocode=&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1&sll=57.227415,-5.95047&sspn=0.272074,0.615234&ie=UTF8&ll=57.227415,-5.95047&spn=0.272074,0.615234&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Portree,+UK&daddr=57.153003,-6.096725+to:kinlochewe&geocode=&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1&sll=57.227415,-5.95047&sspn=0.272074,0.615234&ie=UTF8&ll=57.227415,-5.95047&spn=0.272074,0.615234" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br />A busy day lay ahead. We looped through Skye doing a good hike, although steep and Cara wasn't happy about getting so high up. Skye is a beautiful island with lots to see including sea stacks, castles and a great outdoor museum on island life. We finished the loop around 4pm, but we kept driving to Elgol to get a good look at some moutains. Then we back tracked and took the Skye bridge to the mainland and made it to the castle we wanted to see, but it was closed. But that was fine because the grounds were open and free (usually you have to pay, but we didn't want to go inside anyway). The sun was going down and the lighting was good too. Then we high tailed it to Kinlochewe, where there was a free camp ground set up for hikers. We were the only ones there, and cara though the bathrooms were spooky.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-33324351157649464972009-06-12T03:39:00.000-07:002009-06-22T02:28:45.880-07:00Mallaig to Eigg to Portree<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Mallaig,+UK&daddr=eigg+to:portree&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=57.003355,-5.927124&sspn=0.547451,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.007094,-5.928497&spn=0.53984,0.41067&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Mallaig,+UK&daddr=eigg+to:portree&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=57.003355,-5.927124&sspn=0.547451,1.230469&ie=UTF8&ll=57.007094,-5.928497&spn=0.53984,0.41067" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve2RxpW0sUsOP3vuBT5oQmzPQpieyv9ibj59j2mxicZ9SOWvBz6RnQNtY22Yhn7lfWfJkvNpkMscbRqhO3YPIYTH5eIRchUn1BrWgyS8RIsjrbWQU7UDyE-tWuca7BK0NGBxRfcLnQhE/s1600-h/IMGP0156.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350080470872776546" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhve2RxpW0sUsOP3vuBT5oQmzPQpieyv9ibj59j2mxicZ9SOWvBz6RnQNtY22Yhn7lfWfJkvNpkMscbRqhO3YPIYTH5eIRchUn1BrWgyS8RIsjrbWQU7UDyE-tWuca7BK0NGBxRfcLnQhE/s320/IMGP0156.JPG" /></a>We woke up after camping and the midges were horrid. Midges are horrible bugs. So tiny you can't even really swat at them. Even though they're tiny they bite and it isn't pleasant. So next time we won't be camping in a boggy area. We got up to catch the first ferry to the island of Eigg, which had some good hiking. We also booked tickets to Skye on the ferry after we got back.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoD0Kdqyb3gOxA-2viOVKT9n564Um3pIni9-VvSrWElu_HDMWvhyouslqRV4YCKdOuRo6nwKdQQxv16kN2uIZbZPvZKoXE6ICbNRuooOcKoqZBkjz90zU7d5ngw-g_DtqbIJvX3WjXZsM/s1600-h/IMGP0182.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350080479106158082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoD0Kdqyb3gOxA-2viOVKT9n564Um3pIni9-VvSrWElu_HDMWvhyouslqRV4YCKdOuRo6nwKdQQxv16kN2uIZbZPvZKoXE6ICbNRuooOcKoqZBkjz90zU7d5ngw-g_DtqbIJvX3WjXZsM/s320/IMGP0182.JPG" /></a>On Eigg we hiked an awesome cliff and went in a creepy sea cave. The sea cave had a tiny entrance (hands and knees) but opened up way back and was large inside. 400 people hid in this cave to escape raiders from the Isle of Skye in the 1700's, but the raiders found them and killed them all by building a fire in the entrance and suffocating them.<br /><br />We got back to Mallaig and then took the car to Skye and drove to Portree. We camped just outside Portree, but we paid for camping because we wanted a shower.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-51397366091191388312009-06-12T03:21:00.000-07:002009-06-22T02:20:52.347-07:00Glasgow to Mallaig<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Glasgow,+UK&daddr=mallaig&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=56.632965,-5.23261&sspn=2.211781,4.921875&ie=UTF8&ll=56.613931,-5.218506&spn=1.15572,1.59471&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Glasgow,+UK&daddr=mallaig&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&sll=56.632965,-5.23261&sspn=2.211781,4.921875&ie=UTF8&ll=56.613931,-5.218506&spn=1.15572,1.59471" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTtZ0mFD0Bgvy3nA0jAtmO1laJXUjeu05ssC0y1SerIQzFQlPplBmznZjSB1X96d7ABKwP3n_9pEzY9vt9FaDc67tGK-wPMk7FRb-R4yJC9GPOK84NJPNnRor51arMN7yAm5_pQgYjOWo/s1600-h/IMGP0156.JPG"></a> <div><div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxLfISsMKNi37IO19TeEPd728-lLKQy335L7GhU9BI8Kdpmeo0R5uzdj6hiwamDxPc9dRLuGtKBBM4-xmHGvf5MXwB2kOxHXm9oUJSlQGq56PZs8D0H3ldRnO8WTObfg6aJ7H_4v_CMI/s1600-h/IMGP0047.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350076115187451442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrxLfISsMKNi37IO19TeEPd728-lLKQy335L7GhU9BI8Kdpmeo0R5uzdj6hiwamDxPc9dRLuGtKBBM4-xmHGvf5MXwB2kOxHXm9oUJSlQGq56PZs8D0H3ldRnO8WTObfg6aJ7H_4v_CMI/s320/IMGP0047.JPG" /></a>Sunday we hit byres street and bought a SIM card for the GSM cell phone that we brought with us (thanks Jack). Carphone Warehouse is an awesome store. Cell phones work a bit different here and pretty much all plans are pay as you go, so for 10£ we got a card and 50 minutes calling anywhere in the UK, free incoming text and calls as well. We also bought a couple books for reading.<br /><br />Then we hit the road with the intention of going to the Isle of Skye. The drive was awesome with excellent scenery. We took our time and it was great to have a car and stop wherever we wanted. The driving was ok, but I was still getting used to it, coming out of Glasgow was a bit hectic, and some stretched of road were really really narrow, barely enough room for two cars. I just wasn't used to being that close to the shoulder and passing oncoming traffic so close.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqRJmphrpw2ReyaMWMUfAxK40qaxzqJR7df2AMqnEPb59mR8_5hEwlTfuOQYgxvTyD9spBLM3BeyfpYJERM6Tu6s0zaSeGeD64d9FH-yn0UNiI7BvV9XrNHm5c7c1TpeAAwm8V2MyThc/s1600-h/IMGP0104.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350076674378948210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqRJmphrpw2ReyaMWMUfAxK40qaxzqJR7df2AMqnEPb59mR8_5hEwlTfuOQYgxvTyD9spBLM3BeyfpYJERM6Tu6s0zaSeGeD64d9FH-yn0UNiI7BvV9XrNHm5c7c1TpeAAwm8V2MyThc/s320/IMGP0104.JPG" /></a>We stop at a few interesting spots passing through Fort William and on the way to Mallaig. We saw the train bridge from Harry Potter which was cool. We made it to Mallaig but not in enough time to get the ferry to Skye, so we had an excellent dinner at a seafood restaurante right on the warf. Then we wild camped in the hills. Wild camping is allowed anywhere in Scottland. Technically you could camp on someone's front yard as long as you aren't disrupting them and you take out all garbage. So camping is allowed anywhere, but usually it means you pull off the road and hike into the hills.</div></div></div>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-63882583528606812302009-06-11T00:41:00.000-07:002009-06-11T00:48:15.492-07:00Salmon Arm to GlasgowWe did the usual drive to Vancouver around 1pm on Thursday and after a quick stop at MEC, had a deliciouse dinner with at my Aunt and Uncle's house in down town Vancouver (thanks again Jim). They were also good enough to drive us to the airport the next morning.<br /><br />The flight was uneventfull, there wasn't even that much turbulence (so Cara was happy). The budget flight didn't give us too much food though and we arrived hungry in Glasgow.<br /><br />Now for the interesting part of our vacation... Driving. We had some hassle getting a rental car, but after a bit we got our Ford Focus (upgraded from whatever mini thing I booked). Everything was backwards and shifting with my left hand was a bit weird at first. The drive through the middle of town was stressful and by the time we finally got to the hotel I didn't want to drive anymore. So we walked and got some groceries and then had a DIY meal in the room.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-20890485619622635442008-07-11T10:06:00.000-07:002008-07-11T10:31:27.776-07:00Vernon and VancouverThe rest of the flight went pretty smoothly although the with a 747 there is a lot of luggage to come off and with all the people the customs/immigration lines are long too. Also my Dad and Uncle Jim were waiting at the airport and had been for a couple hours, although they didn't seem too put out as they spent most of it in the airport pub. So I got my first taste of driving again and on a stick too. I don't know when the last time I drove a stick was, must be two years or more. No problems though. It was now almost 9pm and we had a late, yet very delicious, rib dinner back at Uncle Jim's place. Then after chatting for a bit I started struggling to keep my eyes open. Of course I'd been awake for 24 hours at this point. So me and Cara said goodnight around 11pm and went to bed.<br /><br />Getting over jet lag sucks and I was awake at 5am. I forced myself back to sleep though and got up at a more regular 7:30. After some breakfast we all hit the road, but stopped in a MEC for a little pit stop. A couple of my merino wool garments had developed some tiny holes in them, and as they were quite expensive, I exchanged them for new ones. Cara also bought a new backpack for cycling, as she's hoping to cycle to work for the summer. After the short stop we really hit the road and started driving back to the Okanagan. We stopped for lunch in Merritt and Cara and I were relieved to see Canadian pricing again. Traffic in Kelowna was horrid, as usual and even with the new bridge up and running, getting through town is a pain. Back in Vernon we received a warm welcome from my Mom and Sikko.<br /><br />We're finally home now and it feels good. I'm sure we'll eventually wish we were back traveling again, but for now we're just happy to have things like washing machines and large showers at our finger tips. For right now we're staying a few days at my parents house so we can catch up with all the people that want to see us safe and sound with their own eyes. So when we get back to our house in Salmon Arm we'll be even more impressed with things like a closet full of clean clothes and a selection of shoes to wear. It's all the little things you miss, like having a fridge where you don't have to label your food.<br /><br />So I hope everyone enjoyed the Blog! I did it for ourselves of course too, so we can look back and read about all the stuff we forgot about too, but I wouldn't mind knowing who found it interesting. So if you did read it please leave a comment with your name and any suggestions for future blogs. Too much info, not enough info, less boring pictures of stuff and more people pictures? I was thinking about making an abridged version for people who thought it too lengthy. Anything you might think will make it better. Thanks for reading,<br /><br />Nathan and CaraNathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-23379002215978980552008-07-11T09:11:00.000-07:002008-11-12T21:22:59.016-08:00London at Long Last<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUor93-Oa9umRzWESSPO85Oek7LdTxGSYP9QbCD-_bc32S6QGINIpmzK_RzuuPY4AEuhO2NmC-clHTQfRKUFMyYSp9PdYEJzKrs4rKAHp4vi-iF9aigCxldc_F3kUqUZFDnc7y19l-qT4/s1600-h/IMGP0120.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUor93-Oa9umRzWESSPO85Oek7LdTxGSYP9QbCD-_bc32S6QGINIpmzK_RzuuPY4AEuhO2NmC-clHTQfRKUFMyYSp9PdYEJzKrs4rKAHp4vi-iF9aigCxldc_F3kUqUZFDnc7y19l-qT4/s320/IMGP0120.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221795110946021170" border="0" /></a>Finally in London and we were about 45 minutes late. Caleigh and Tom were there at the airport though and so that was nice, again the friendly face is nice to see. We didn't have too much time to waste though so we all got on a train and then took metro to London proper. We checked into the hostel and dropped our bags in the room before going deeper into London. I thought taking the London Eye would be a cool experience that we could all do together. I wasn't aware of Tom's uneasiness with heights though, but he had agreed<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfGSpPWa2yVN6u1Cp0j57wb0XgS8-6SP5aFXwGL-WCCjc6RborNlfBdlo-1PGuawsnr13-9XqJVfVmTteazpgk5oeLUk1HSgamOcSOsqQBIaqAt60f0BvhiVCcm8D02mqjdhOY-U8T10/s1600-h/IMGP0150.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfGSpPWa2yVN6u1Cp0j57wb0XgS8-6SP5aFXwGL-WCCjc6RborNlfBdlo-1PGuawsnr13-9XqJVfVmTteazpgk5oeLUk1HSgamOcSOsqQBIaqAt60f0BvhiVCcm8D02mqjdhOY-U8T10/s200/IMGP0150.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221799947180781410" border="0" /></a> before I found out - what a good sport. I also didn't know it was so expensive, at 15 pounds each (30 CAD) it cost a dollar a minute to experience the view. Oh well the ride was pretty good actually and neither Tom nor Cara seemed to have a problem with it. It was good times, but before we knew it, it was time to think about heading back, because Caleigh and Tom had a 2 hour train ride back to Portsmouth. So we found a place to eat in the train station so they could run off when their train was ready to depart. Dinner was ok and reasonably priced, the company was much better and we got to catch up. Soon they had to leave, but it was no tearful goodbye as they are coming to Canada in August for a vacation. <p>Cara and I remained at the pub while Cara finished her meal and afterwards we caught the metro back to our hostel. We were actually surprised when we checked in and saw an X-Box and a TV and DVD player in the room. Also they have free loaner DVDs in the office, so we were looking forward to relaxing and just watching a movie, but alas both the X-Box and DVD player were broken, so we settled for some British programming, "Nevermind the Buzzcocks" - hilarious! Along with the broken DVD players, I wasn't impressed with the place. It obviously hadn't been vaccumed or swept in ages and the free barbeque was nowhere to be found. Even the common area only consisted of a shabby picnic table in a rundown backyard.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvWJVNYQZ1ubpt5K6ndynZmTI7GKprIspXW4nTzE0mamY0pCXeblumwriYBJHGsJfuHJi2lgQBQfFYvD0ibIjlv9TrggmMRro55BGLeTCdWFH3RGEwteGotlNHpsVGWvP3nrI9vpm4ss/s1600-h/IMGP0235.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvWJVNYQZ1ubpt5K6ndynZmTI7GKprIspXW4nTzE0mamY0pCXeblumwriYBJHGsJfuHJi2lgQBQfFYvD0ibIjlv9TrggmMRro55BGLeTCdWFH3RGEwteGotlNHpsVGWvP3nrI9vpm4ss/s200/IMGP0235.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221801356139283122" border="0" /></a>Monday morning we got up early and had our free breakfast sitting on bean bag chairs in the office watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Pretty random, but good nonetheless. After breakfast we headed out on the town not really sure what to do. It was raining so we thought a museum or two were in order. All the major museums in London are free and the Natural History Museum was pretty good and covered all sorts of biology and geology. It was huge though and by the time we were done there we had no time to do another museum. After the museum we headed out and had some really excellent Asian food at a place recommended in our guide book. Still can't get over the prices, but it's near the end so suck it up I suppose. After<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWmBd7JTqLgEyoj8kE5DOAa2JZ0BCQY0fY4Z5p53hTMSlgrkQtzUISbuCTB-9_92FDIrMP9ZevT0tmtIJZRTJr33XPYvIk4-WXZ9qdXsfc7FNQClop6KvUcGGvOL-SQm_t6ERzEsPwNA/s1600-h/IMGP0280.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWmBd7JTqLgEyoj8kE5DOAa2JZ0BCQY0fY4Z5p53hTMSlgrkQtzUISbuCTB-9_92FDIrMP9ZevT0tmtIJZRTJr33XPYvIk4-WXZ9qdXsfc7FNQClop6KvUcGGvOL-SQm_t6ERzEsPwNA/s320/IMGP0280.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221797254159104610" border="0" /></a> an early dinner, we took the tube to the mega store that is Harrod's. 5 floors of everyting you could want. We looked in on lots of it, but the huge toy department and the map room stuck out. The map room had original antique maps, some selling for 10,000 pounds (20,000 CAD). After Harrod's we took the tube to King's Cross and checked out platform 9 3/4 (from Harry Potter fame). Only recently they put up a sign as well as the half stuck trolly. After snapping a few pictures we got back on the tube and headed down to visit London Bridge. Nothing special there, but we also walked around the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsBwnm8bS9r99MKMzMeV1oAE9RXvxAmTU9DQQwdn6VBlUiEGuSBYDqUP_GcP7nZCbLr-yjddfZ7VUNerBHBvb2ZFIHqvHedvzSLMrZYSGH-8ZBRXchghOnsRfcHy3wFaB6TtI6aKeh1s/s1600-h/IMGP0490.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrsBwnm8bS9r99MKMzMeV1oAE9RXvxAmTU9DQQwdn6VBlUiEGuSBYDqUP_GcP7nZCbLr-yjddfZ7VUNerBHBvb2ZFIHqvHedvzSLMrZYSGH-8ZBRXchghOnsRfcHy3wFaB6TtI6aKeh1s/s320/IMGP0490.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221795113416563122" border="0" /></a> Tower Bridge, which is special. The most photographed sight in London it would be hard to take a unique picture of it, but I still took a couple. After that we tubed it back to the hostel so Cara could phone Nan and set up dinner for Wednesday. We were originally planning on going to Legoland with her, but we realized our flight is at 5 and not 9, so no time for that. I'm bummed but we've decided to do a 1-2 week trip to the UK at a later date, so we'll have to do that and all the museums we missed then. After getting things organized we headed for bed again.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y5SZOnOtc1D8l7ANwZRunupHxzz5SHIjq_Vr8oKMx2Q5v9wZ1rD84Edw6eOyFIgAaPNrgV52NYXvuNHo2ydXBeNsIiVJ8a9XPubaUaH6so7r5tVQaD_Sdnwdgi_3lvZ_mD9rGCnZfL4/s1600-h/IMGP0090.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Y5SZOnOtc1D8l7ANwZRunupHxzz5SHIjq_Vr8oKMx2Q5v9wZ1rD84Edw6eOyFIgAaPNrgV52NYXvuNHo2ydXBeNsIiVJ8a9XPubaUaH6so7r5tVQaD_Sdnwdgi_3lvZ_mD9rGCnZfL4/s320/IMGP0090.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221795121827560690" border="0" /></a>Tuesday morning we got up early and went in search of a special souvenir. It turned out to be a wild goose chase, but in the end we found a goose. It all started at Harrod's the night before and after not finding it there they recommended a place that we now were trying. Not there either so we got referred to another place nearby. So after 3 stores and a lot of walking and metro I finally got that all important souvenir. We were also planning on taking a final free walking tour and so we rushed off to join up with that. The walking tour wasn't as good as the other ones, but it was still pretty good. Apparently London is the<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVQTAg2nwDK1F7fGWYBKXksencics6QYbEeEQ1TgKy7IiGf7HNfhyq2h4tyL3mozK3q_w3bWVfXpFisge-wsChUMkOQBvHjctY4CtXVrOiVWOCrQR3yvAJrJY7t9JrFNt0ZyRfJtNcftw/s1600-h/IMGP0164.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVQTAg2nwDK1F7fGWYBKXksencics6QYbEeEQ1TgKy7IiGf7HNfhyq2h4tyL3mozK3q_w3bWVfXpFisge-wsChUMkOQBvHjctY4CtXVrOiVWOCrQR3yvAJrJY7t9JrFNt0ZyRfJtNcftw/s320/IMGP0164.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221797263859473362" border="0" /></a> least desireable place to work for the tour company, because it's the most expensive to live, so the guides are a bit sub-par. But we actually saw the Queen, which is highly unusual. Granted she whizzed by in a car and so we didn't really see her that well, but a sighting nonetheless. The changing of the guard was cool too and the horse guard even cooler. After the walking tour we circled back around and went to St. James' Park. A czar gifted a flock of pelicans to the city/royals about 300 years ago and the descendants are still there, but just recently they've developed a bizarre habit in which they eat pigeons whole. We didn't see this happen though. After the park we went back to the Tower Bridge area and walked across the Millenium Bridge and looked at some of the sights in the area. Then we met up with Cara's friend Ross from Edinburgh for a beer at a local pub. Scottish Ross had some gossip to fill Cara in on and we had a good chat about other topics as well. After having a few pints we headed back to the hostel and headed for the supermarket to<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOF4pKUa-Wz5C9NS2Tc5YVYJTzlcSQKlw59OpY8f0Bzt-0dl-1wRHkX9KxiiUnWfRqMDipEIIA8fmygxPuF_XpdISJ7KWrfpLPI4008tcJFD_wfFqceb_s-HRs7KQwoKTdTJZDDmS_2o/s1600-h/IMGP0441.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOF4pKUa-Wz5C9NS2Tc5YVYJTzlcSQKlw59OpY8f0Bzt-0dl-1wRHkX9KxiiUnWfRqMDipEIIA8fmygxPuF_XpdISJ7KWrfpLPI4008tcJFD_wfFqceb_s-HRs7KQwoKTdTJZDDmS_2o/s320/IMGP0441.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221795126834701138" border="0" /></a> pick up a last few items, such as high quality tea. With that finished we headed back to the room and grabbed a Subway sandwich on the way. For 4 pounds it would have been difficult to buy the ingredients and we didn't need leftovers at this point. Back at the hostel we found a bunch of Canadians, a Spanish girl and a New Zealand guy out in the rundown courtyard and had a couple beers and ate our sandwich. A few of them headed to the pub afterwards, but we weren't really enjoying their company all that much, so we headed to bed.<br /></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMCMsAUu5gY6RwxmkC7WZqwmhmVI20Ta89K6jD3EYHxAhJDEdKApc9s9T5yJR9wyUxLA29LMi_Fw4TWUoTCe_6IXpR8ivMB5fw6arezUptgslSyUkkXurl7RwCKPdSAU9eAHJFhvvPRc/s1600-h/IMGP0060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnMCMsAUu5gY6RwxmkC7WZqwmhmVI20Ta89K6jD3EYHxAhJDEdKApc9s9T5yJR9wyUxLA29LMi_Fw4TWUoTCe_6IXpR8ivMB5fw6arezUptgslSyUkkXurl7RwCKPdSAU9eAHJFhvvPRc/s200/IMGP0060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221799952954888450" border="0" /></a>Wednesday morning (the day of our flight back home) we got up early and checked out of the hostel. The baggage room was pathetic, but we left our bags there anyway. Then we hopped the tube back out to the Camden open air market. We didn't really know where we were going, but I was looking for a particular t-shirt and stopped in at the first shop I saw. A sketchy shop with some shady looking attendants. I looked but didn't see much and when I went to leave they started pressuring me a lot to buy something. I declined and went to leave again but the guy insisted I take a look downstairs. I didn't have a good feeling about it, but I went down anyway, because honestly, what could happen? Downstairs was nothing, a basement with some second hand coats. Then he got really sketchy and blocked our way upstairs. I agreed to buy a shirt for 15 pounds, and he let us back upstairs. We paid and left, with a decent shirt and a special London experience. I wasn't worried that something might happen down in the basement, but the guy was definately making it seem as if something might, so I can't help but wonder how many people have fell victim to his act. We had to pay in Visa because we were short of cash, so we'll have to watch our accounts, because I definately wouldn't trust those guys as far as I could throw them. T-shirt in hand, we finally found the real Camden market and it was huge and the shops that were open, were really cool. </p> Unfortunately before we knew it, it was time to make our way back and meet up with Nan for lunch. We tubed it back to the hostel and then tubed it to a train<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8wIyvPMNt3TXpB6YTNxdJT2SjL7qHW6TrL37zEDXoCNTxQVGf3gCyeGNPIfEqWjfOUdtInJCGjGqZOhYz1hAFARBmU_pmm7LaowXq6oNpTucI5AjYJDkRKH_o7z1KAPYVkyTcnIDeYg/s1600-h/IMGP0494.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8wIyvPMNt3TXpB6YTNxdJT2SjL7qHW6TrL37zEDXoCNTxQVGf3gCyeGNPIfEqWjfOUdtInJCGjGqZOhYz1hAFARBmU_pmm7LaowXq6oNpTucI5AjYJDkRKH_o7z1KAPYVkyTcnIDeYg/s200/IMGP0494.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221801360745714850" border="0" /></a> station and then caught the train to Gerrard's Cross. We arrived early (and in an e-mail we read later, found that that was the time we were supposed to be there, so that was lucky) and met Nan for lunch at a restaurant nearby. It was excellent food and very nice of Nan to treat us to a final meal in Europe. Then after she was nice enough to give us a lift to Heathrow, we said our goodbyes. Check in was so easy and security was a breeze. We were thinking maybe Terminal 5 had all the kinks worked out. We did some duty free shopping and, after waiting around for a couple hours, boarded our flight with an expected delay of 20 minutes. Apparently we needed to<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioD10fmQTlYOVJsglDGvQBVKulWNWe3Mboa6VPwyrRqWc1-Yd7XCjDfPgsHEDyWbJNPLH9XYxbpyld-M7Vk4WWGrVqtihvSNKvHjjWQ8FXcG2Z4hYh0YHLbQYgaulDLq17SUPGE-9Nkg4/s1600-h/IMGP0485.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioD10fmQTlYOVJsglDGvQBVKulWNWe3Mboa6VPwyrRqWc1-Yd7XCjDfPgsHEDyWbJNPLH9XYxbpyld-M7Vk4WWGrVqtihvSNKvHjjWQ8FXcG2Z4hYh0YHLbQYgaulDLq17SUPGE-9Nkg4/s320/IMGP0485.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221797271011410946" border="0" /></a> wait for some connecting passengers and their baggage. After the delay turned into an hour we finally made our way out onto the runway, only to turn around due to a 'baggage discrepancy.' After the delay was over 2 hours we finally took off. Should have just left those late passengers in London. To fight jet lag, we're planning on staying up until Vancouver. So we've just watched our 3rd movie and our dealing with a grumpy flight attendant, because we ordered special meals (sorrrrry). Hopefully my Dad got the news about our delay and isn't waiting for us for ever.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-75272884775763832092008-07-07T14:41:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:22:59.378-08:00Double Dose of Dublin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv86hXGU1RRRPUUCh3-c4m-XvRPMwCMZ_kvddPVDBMnsTr7_wiBoZ9czJ2eul-X3QbnmwUikJ8jTwK8wSpqzOznYWpNNSiLei2kilTuaM0BGQjFmqxL3bC4TTJBfeywID9YBRWSs6c-OM/s1600-h/IMGP0018.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv86hXGU1RRRPUUCh3-c4m-XvRPMwCMZ_kvddPVDBMnsTr7_wiBoZ9czJ2eul-X3QbnmwUikJ8jTwK8wSpqzOznYWpNNSiLei2kilTuaM0BGQjFmqxL3bC4TTJBfeywID9YBRWSs6c-OM/s320/IMGP0018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220391160324578546" border="0" /></a>We arrived back in Dublin late, but caught a bus to our Hostel. The reception was closed for a staff changeover and after a half hour we finally got our room. We received a bit of surprise when we found out we booked a dorm room. I remembered why we did that when I saw that private rooms where almost twice that of dorms. We were tired and weren't looking forward to the 8-bed dorm. We got to the room and everyone was already in bed (at 10:30pm) so we did the same. The most annoying part about dorms is tiptoeing around while people sleep.<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rJMCUkaX5O2gBudGZMEIfPOXE7i-4nnXN8k-BKskeE_oLjv6gFW_vBQF59gRf4Udi_WctzH0t0lP4MPDA9sHOH_R3XPxjXbGYY1FzIILeu96UjQRqtoKqVK2u1FV8Xai6M-hDK3l5AY/s1600-h/IMG_2046.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2rJMCUkaX5O2gBudGZMEIfPOXE7i-4nnXN8k-BKskeE_oLjv6gFW_vBQF59gRf4Udi_WctzH0t0lP4MPDA9sHOH_R3XPxjXbGYY1FzIILeu96UjQRqtoKqVK2u1FV8Xai6M-hDK3l5AY/s320/IMG_2046.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220391633348469042" border="0" /></a>Saturday morning we got woken up by some early risers catching a train and a few hours later we snuck out to have breakfast. By the time we returned around 10am, people were still sleeping so we tiptoed again and got ready for a day out. Right away we headed out to take in a couple of the free museums. The National Gallery was pretty good and Cara got her painting fill for the day. After the Gallery we went to the National Museum. I thought it was pretty interesting and got my museum fill for the day, but we rushed through the last half because we wanted to visit the Kilmainham Gaol. It was all the way across town though and took a good walk to get to. We got there eventually and had just enough time before closing to take the last tour. It was really excellent and gave a good view into Ireland's turbulent past and struggle for independence in the early 20th century. After the jail closed we walked to the Guinness brewery, guiding some lost Americans along the way. At the factory we showed the ticket checkers our used stubs and said we just wanted to visit the gift shop. We did that and bought a lot of product. I still think they should give me the stuff for free if I'm going to walk around with a brand name on my chest, but since they weren't having that, I paid for the stuff. Then we went into the museum, even though we weren't supposed to, but we already paid once. We tried to buy a Guinness at the bars upstairs, because it really did taste better than anywhere else, but they were closed so we ducked into the tasting room for a little thirst quencher. Then we walked back to our hostel and it poured rain the whole way. Back at the hostel we finally had the room to ourselves and got cleaned up before heading out for the night. We ate some awesome Korean food and walked into the heart of the night life in Dublin. We looked into a couple of live music places until we found one we liked. It was perfect although a bit crowded. After the first act<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDODZET2KuAqd1oO9pOULMpqAu0T-HD1OjCY3o0ZlLdI5OPZvqLp1RDhZI3MH5tqXpWyCmiM9d4uG8oHjsxTo3PZKXPNXtmQEv6QpFBc3TM5MdXrYAdSEBhcN4uduj7KYzBk8WEiahoWc/s1600-h/IMGP0060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDODZET2KuAqd1oO9pOULMpqAu0T-HD1OjCY3o0ZlLdI5OPZvqLp1RDhZI3MH5tqXpWyCmiM9d4uG8oHjsxTo3PZKXPNXtmQEv6QpFBc3TM5MdXrYAdSEBhcN4uduj7KYzBk8WEiahoWc/s320/IMGP0060.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220391170793749250" border="0" /></a> finished it cleared out a bit and a stagette party took up the seats next to us. We had a good chat with one of them and found out that Dublin is a pretty popular destination for Brits on a bender. We saw lots of stagette party groups around town too. After a couple pints we made the walk home. Back at the hostel we headed for bed around 2am. Next morning we were up at a decent hour and had breakfast before hopping a bus to the airport around 9am. At Dublin airport the lines were non-existent and everything ran smoothly. The only thing that didn't go smooth was that I realized I also lost my Visa. Now I was completely without any plastic, since I lost my bank card back in Croatia. With 3 days left though it wasn't devastating. I tried to phone Visa, but after 15 minutes of holding I got disconnected. After that we went through security and spent our last Euros on some food. The plane departed a half hour late and that makes the total for on time Ryan air flights 1 for 3. So far the flight has been uneventful and we hope Caleigh and Tom don't show up too early to meet us, because we'll be late.</p>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-74033355176240037972008-07-07T14:23:00.000-07:002008-11-12T21:23:00.480-08:00Green Grass in Galway<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnrNt5PD4u_d7slsyjD_LcH-gEuy10g6whnGsrqBrvsfZe7nW5_VOoCzd2yRoZX6Qfs2h4Rec1ZpiN1XFcVad3-PuTh47K_BJ83UVykhcRHAta1eVueSfUGZVbdpJmiAMDIjQOjJdz7w/s1600-h/IMGP0269.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihnrNt5PD4u_d7slsyjD_LcH-gEuy10g6whnGsrqBrvsfZe7nW5_VOoCzd2yRoZX6Qfs2h4Rec1ZpiN1XFcVad3-PuTh47K_BJ83UVykhcRHAta1eVueSfUGZVbdpJmiAMDIjQOjJdz7w/s320/IMGP0269.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220387278359613378" border="0" /></a>The trains in Ireland are a bit old but that isn't a problem, still much better than Croatia. We caught a bit of sleep and got into Galway at a decent hour. We walked to our hostel, halfway across town, and it only took us 10 minutes. We checked in and checked out our sweet digs. It is actually an apartment that they rent out to students in the slow season, but now, when things are busy, they use it as private rooms for the hostel. It had a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom shared between us and another couple of people. The kitchen wasn't equipped so we used the main one in the hostel. So first order of business was to get some food, so we hit the conveniently close grocery store and bought some stuff to make stirfry and some breatkfast, and a bit of Irish beer. We went back and made use of the hostel's giant kitchen: 3 stoves, 2 fridges and 2 sinks. It was great and had all the equipment and dishes you needed. After that we got down and did some internetting. And then we got ready for bed. Before bed we decided we would use the washing machine in the apartment common space to do some needed laundry. BIG mistake. The front door on the machine leaked and water went everywhere, and for some reason the water was brown. Luckily Cara was scared we might get caught using the machine and went to check it out, so it only leaked for 5 minutes. That was enough to get the comon room pretty wet. So we spent the next half hour soaking up all the water with our shirts and wringing them out in the sink. Then I went down and asked to use their pay machines to finish our already soaking laundry, but it was closed for the night, so we had to let it sit on the balcony all night. Not a great start. Next we went to have some showers and someone had used all the hot water and we both had a couple of freezing cold showers. <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5KhfSLE0JVcj89vTmio7RwCG3F84yI9_lxBMTs2nwptgGaVHKt5byfe3S7GRx4h-G63WXu3y6beE8rUUE3HEDRh_bq2TIuvH4Aoix5orNkyFcC5ydBUqzk1xbm_VVTntEglyX7jxF4A/s1600-h/IMGP0471.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5KhfSLE0JVcj89vTmio7RwCG3F84yI9_lxBMTs2nwptgGaVHKt5byfe3S7GRx4h-G63WXu3y6beE8rUUE3HEDRh_bq2TIuvH4Aoix5orNkyFcC5ydBUqzk1xbm_VVTntEglyX7jxF4A/s320/IMGP0471.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220387287643710114" border="0" /></a>Thursday morning we woke up early, too early. I had forgot to change the time on my tablet and the alarm went off an hour early (the UK is an hour behind continental Europe). Didn't get much sleep for the next hour, until we were actually supposed to get up. Thursday was dedicated to taking a bus tour out to the Cliffs of Moher. There were lots of sights on the way to the cliffs and one of my favorites was the Dunguaire Castle. We also stopped in a little town to grab some lunch. Me and Cara both had some seafood cowder and it was delicious. After the lunch stop we made our way to the cliffs taking in some more sights along the way. I loved the scenery. Ireland is a really rocky place, really rocky. So before the land can be farmed the farmers had to clear it of any stones. What to do with thousands of stones? Build fences, beats piling them up in piles. It really adds to the scenery. Also in this part of Ireland, because it's so close to the sea, the farmers would haul wagons of seaweed up to add material and fertilizer to help the plants grow better. We also caught some background on the potatoe famine. Back around 1845 there were actually almost twice as many Irish living in Ireland as there are now. After 1850 there were about half there are now (from 8 million to 2 to the current 4). For three years the famine lasted and all because of a fungus that attacked potatoes. Back then there were no world organizations and the British actually made the Irish work in work camps in exchange for food. Most people immigrated to the US, but a many died too. All interesting stuff, if a bit sad, but before we knew it we were at the cliffs. The cliffs were cool in their own right: sheer drops to the sea below, some over 200 meters high. There are puffins that nest on the cliffs as well, but the park is fenced off and everyone is kept on paths, so the only viewing point was too far away even for my zoom to really get a good shot of them. At the far end of the park though, the path ends and there is a huge sign saying "Private property don't go beyond this point". But everyone was, and even the Rangers didn't seem to care. We<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SXxvumOy2Qs3rgUa-oKCUets-RRJnYvNqMmFGo4i9tqHgpTQ_ng5ITnDo9Cmz8eZTl8WELE3PHIIMgjKkMRi5e2aWn1rCUJWwzqpohp8ZUymWQVMQp2Y7hFaUl3WIzuuQd0F3GVlEk0/s1600-h/IMGP0459.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-SXxvumOy2Qs3rgUa-oKCUets-RRJnYvNqMmFGo4i9tqHgpTQ_ng5ITnDo9Cmz8eZTl8WELE3PHIIMgjKkMRi5e2aWn1rCUJWwzqpohp8ZUymWQVMQp2Y7hFaUl3WIzuuQd0F3GVlEk0/s200/IMGP0459.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220388493972286082" border="0" /></a> joined in, although you could see a few more ethical people glaring. We were borderline, but decided to go because the stop was 2 hours and we'd already walked most of the park. It was much more what I was expecting and you could get right up close to the cliffs. Apparently, this is what the park used to be like, until they changed it because of too many accidents (people were falling off the cliffs into the sea). So I think that's why the Rangers didn't care, because they don't, as long as no one gets hurt inside the actual park, they aren't liable. It was spectacular and after we had our fill we visited the visitor center and watched a lame 3D movie and read some boring geological stuff<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbzYjFTJKaB_1ZE71SArNe1E06itu5S3zaeeX-kWMm4r8tBHRQ72wV3N4kHR-fw0Grl8XOCf4nQI2agHTcFME2rd7I-ogAiryhfXFwfKNpn29PierLEECvM6OrDF0MWlT7dCkm3RmSC0/s1600-h/IMGP0094.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbzYjFTJKaB_1ZE71SArNe1E06itu5S3zaeeX-kWMm4r8tBHRQ72wV3N4kHR-fw0Grl8XOCf4nQI2agHTcFME2rd7I-ogAiryhfXFwfKNpn29PierLEECvM6OrDF0MWlT7dCkm3RmSC0/s320/IMGP0094.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220389599070357010" border="0" /></a> (sorry Adam). Then the tour was off again and we took in some more Ireland scenery, including a 6000 year old burial site. There were people on the tour who needed to catch a train at 6 and we made it with only 10 minutes to spare. We both know that feeling. We got off at the train station too, just to walk through town again. We stopped at a mall and Cara found the "most amazing store". It was pretty good though and I even bought something. We're going to be trying hard to make weight on Ryan Air, but our allowance jumps 8kgs on British, so that's good.</p> <p>Back at the hostel we went to make dinner. Luckily we only had to make rice because we had leftover stirfry. There was some Australian field trip in the kitchen trying to feed 40 kids. Way too many cooks in the kitchen and they had comandeered almost all the cutlery, dishes, and even the tables. Pretty annoying, but we managed to squeeze into a corner and get our dinner made. There were some really anoying Americans sitting next to us saying stuff like "you're American first and formost, before even human" and talking about some fat German girl (like she might not understand English and that Americans aren't the fattest nation on earth). We also noticed that they labeled their food in the fridge "America F@#% Yeah". Funny how Amercians think that movie is awesome and not poking fun at them. I felt like telling them that I've always heard people like them existed (the "ugly American") but until now haven't seen such a prime example, most of the Americans we've met on our trip have been pretty good.<br /></p> <p>After getting over our annoying American experience we headed out into the town of Galway for a taste of a traditional pub. We got to a packed local pub and found some standing room at the back. It was pretty cool and the music was great, although they threw in some CCR and the like now and again. After a pint of Guiness we decided to check out a different bar. We liked the second bar too, but it was even more crowded and that made us try another place. The last stop on our self made pub crawl was more party and less traditional. Galway is actually comprised of 1/3 university students, so that added to the tourists, makes it a pretty big party town. I recognized most people from the hostel. Suddenly we realized (by eavesdropping) that it was July 3rd and at midnight July 4th would be upon us, so we got the heck out of dodge, before the annoying Americans got going. Back at the hostel we packed up a bit and went to bed.<br /></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgswOHJs6UNQMmyIDe5TD3PJ1R189TelC6FdCfJFIUWDtY4dx-HUXhAm3a-Cds-SxqncZzojS3chSj-45V0XHYTL7ZbuUSXGpuMFdxG5W1bdM8s6nTGKyBBygISweVijgC_EIAxqK0-s/s1600-h/IMGP0241.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFgswOHJs6UNQMmyIDe5TD3PJ1R189TelC6FdCfJFIUWDtY4dx-HUXhAm3a-Cds-SxqncZzojS3chSj-45V0XHYTL7ZbuUSXGpuMFdxG5W1bdM8s6nTGKyBBygISweVijgC_EIAxqK0-s/s320/IMGP0241.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220387292100364770" border="0" /></a>Friday morning we got up early again, ate breakfast and checked out of the hostel. We felt like there wasn't much else we wanted to do in Galway so we decided to take the second bus tour out to the countryside of Connemara before taking a bus to Dublin. We were a bit nervous after the close call of yesterday and made it clear to the bus driver we were catching the train. The second tour was really good too, but the Driver was not quite as funny, but once you caught on to his humour, still pretty good. We stopped at very cool, secluded, and delapitaded friary, called 'Ross Errily Friary'. That was really the highlight until we reached Kylemore Abby and Gardens. Kylemore didn't always used to be an Abby it was actually a gift by some super rich guy in the late 1800's to his wife, who liked the area while on vacation. After the guy had a bit of bad luck and two deaths in the family, he moved back to Manchester and sold the place. It sat for a number of years until a group of nuns, looking for an Abby bought it. Since them and until 2012 it will be a nunnery, but after 2012 it will be 100% a tourist destination. Currently half is roped off for tourists. A cool stop, but a bit rushed. After we<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZEZm1d7sfG_nOYRlzdC2uDh_73awJFmsQ0K9N4l2jxZa2qEaFBVv6Kzzq41-NC1RA0g7gSs0HuDxb31QRX63VTIln02Eoi3ykK5HLqA2VcDgh_QNIIDkF6Cv9qtLcgwBK6M-sySFpts/s1600-h/IMGP0018.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIZEZm1d7sfG_nOYRlzdC2uDh_73awJFmsQ0K9N4l2jxZa2qEaFBVv6Kzzq41-NC1RA0g7gSs0HuDxb31QRX63VTIln02Eoi3ykK5HLqA2VcDgh_QNIIDkF6Cv9qtLcgwBK6M-sySFpts/s320/IMGP0018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5220389604253485298" border="0" /></a> got back on the bus we started back to Galway, catching a couple more sights along the way. We got dropped off at the train station a full 20 minutes early, so that was good. When we got to the train station we were a bit puzzled by the strange setup they had going on, and we had to ask a couple people before we realized there was a huge snaking line to get on the train. We had a chat with a nice Irish fellow, who quelled our fears about the train getting too full. After a few delays we got on the train and found a seat in first class no problem, but left a full half hour late.<br /></p> So here we sit on a train to Dublin. Our very brief encounter with western Ireland was really good and, althought we had to join in with the true blue tourists to see the country side, it was all worth it. We especially enjoyed the Cliffs of Moher and the traditional pubs. Hopefully we can take in some more pubs while in Dublin.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-78255704903248885272008-07-02T12:18:00.000-07:002008-11-12T21:23:01.005-08:00Paris Pitstop<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw201IO4hAi9KrWbFsokGfAM8ZwdkFg-kbFAJkgzPZUkhEb7mPTR7w6JSW6B6jUnFbeD0s8UnleGasIPthjd-YPyEm66zZI35wZlrYJeMxJzOgTHJQHvfPkmpDcLDFA13RNtfGryrZ9Kg/s1600-h/IMGP0129.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw201IO4hAi9KrWbFsokGfAM8ZwdkFg-kbFAJkgzPZUkhEb7mPTR7w6JSW6B6jUnFbeD0s8UnleGasIPthjd-YPyEm66zZI35wZlrYJeMxJzOgTHJQHvfPkmpDcLDFA13RNtfGryrZ9Kg/s320/IMGP0129.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218499122635537874" border="0" /></a>The ride to Paris was pretty packed and our first class tickets paid off again, as people in second class were standing in the aisles. Once in Brussels we tried to phone Manon with our 40 minute layover. The phone call ended up costing 5 euro because the phone card we bought in Brussels only lasted a few minutes. It really puts things in perspective when you pass up a dinner or museum because it's a bit expensive when you can easily pay 5 euro for a 4 minute phone call to a place that is really only 300 km away. Oh well we got through and got the info we needed, so we waited for and then boarded a train heading to Paris, complete with gourmet lunch. We got into Paris at just past 1:30 and were due to meet Manon in La Defense at 2:15. So we went straight to the metro and with all our bags went to La Defence. The metro was totally packed and not a pleasant ride. We arrived about 5 minutes late. After an iced coffee at a nearby cafe, Manon needed to get back to work, so we said goodbye and took the 45 minute ride back to the east side of Paris. We found our cosy hotel, called Hotel Cozy, without difficulty and dropped our bags off. We then rushed out and tried to get to the Catacombs before they closed at 5pm. It was now 4:30 and wasn't looking good timewise. There was a closure on the metro as well so we scrapped the plan and scoped out the arena where Iron Maiden was playing and bought some shirts, before heading back to the hotel, where we got ready for the concert. We rode the metro back to the venue and found a huge lineup and started waiting in line. I even checked with a couple people in line to make sure it was the right one, of course a guy came by about a half hour later and yelled out in French that we needed to go to the other side. We waited in a much<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MEb4ctySLzTg7WEQDYCyO1Wzk1iH7mKoxyXpuX4boZhgAEAUTA56sWiRiIj1wOHjvcow1T9TaS3h7mXZ86Ufjw9oMvODyx3PSSs2C7ZZ6sfix6T-JqLOFQ2UIq6Z5AUv6selPAwhvTE/s1600-h/IMGP0181.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1MEb4ctySLzTg7WEQDYCyO1Wzk1iH7mKoxyXpuX4boZhgAEAUTA56sWiRiIj1wOHjvcow1T9TaS3h7mXZ86Ufjw9oMvODyx3PSSs2C7ZZ6sfix6T-JqLOFQ2UIq6Z5AUv6selPAwhvTE/s320/IMGP0181.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218499901385629506" border="0" /></a> shorter line and got in no problem and found some decent seats, which made me wonder what kind of seats I could have gotten had we found the right entrance off the bat. The long line was for standing room on the arena floor. We watched an Irish heavy metal band preform and then Avenged Sevenfold came on. The people in Paris did not like them and booed them a couple of times. Might have been because he said something to the effect of "we're Avenged Sevenfold and we're from the #%*&ing United Stated of America". And also they didn't even know how to say "hello" in French, or didn't want to, I'm not sure which. Anyway, I liked it, but I don't think they were giving it their best. But that's ok, because Maiden came on shortly after and they were awesome, again. I particularly liked the 'Fear of the Dark', the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and, one of my favorites, 'Wasted Years'. Of course 'Run to the Hills' and 'Number of the Beast' are always a crowd pleasers. We walked away sweaty and happy, especially myself. After the concert we had to unfortunately get to bed, and that happened around 2 minutes to midnight... Zing! <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr3Xi8Lqh6qBn0HFs_xW0v0Hxigop4f40yq1zqwjek6nukYq_tsDT-8p1iYF1uC0p9v1RKz3vz66WslT22rYR-JbWoDhrWQjIjfGNEBgbyL_6U3C0VsJRLoVj6Wz1eCdtpWqaQ6OCE1U/s1600-h/IMGP0030.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr3Xi8Lqh6qBn0HFs_xW0v0Hxigop4f40yq1zqwjek6nukYq_tsDT-8p1iYF1uC0p9v1RKz3vz66WslT22rYR-JbWoDhrWQjIjfGNEBgbyL_6U3C0VsJRLoVj6Wz1eCdtpWqaQ6OCE1U/s320/IMGP0030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218499111917860290" border="0" /></a>Wednesday morning we got up really really early: 5:15. Then took metro and then a bus to the Beauvais Airport. Typical Ryan Air, complete with 70 minute bus ride. We got to the airport and waited in a ridiculous line to check in and then avoided a monster line by asking a securtiy person where we should line up. So we got the express security line which was good, because we only had a half hour to takeoff by this point. The flight was uneventful and we touched down in Dublin on time. We paid for an express shuttle to the train station, but still missed the train to Galway by 5 minutes. Too bad and now we had 3 hours to kill. Hmmm... what to do with 3 hours in Dublin... I know: Guinness Tour. We had a breakfast at 11am of 50 euro cent french fries and then hit the Guinness tour. It was pretty good and even with 3 hours we didn't get through it all, but we made sure to save time to get our free pint of Guinness. So we'll be heading back to the gift shop on our way back through Dublin in a few days. After visiting the happiest place on earth, we sped-walked our way back to the train station and caught the train to Galway.</p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfanbnd4HYUY3T2wSEfWSWiEBHvG9UmUg3m2b99C5d1YjLi4vZ4Cpa7ZnDroH8uPLLE3tAepJeMHicv4Q8BJDRxc8iO9zGKpm60knoMwFlzqvnvpslwbRLyIsejAehDYU-FertRatXPV0/s1600-h/IMGP0110.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfanbnd4HYUY3T2wSEfWSWiEBHvG9UmUg3m2b99C5d1YjLi4vZ4Cpa7ZnDroH8uPLLE3tAepJeMHicv4Q8BJDRxc8iO9zGKpm60knoMwFlzqvnvpslwbRLyIsejAehDYU-FertRatXPV0/s320/IMGP0110.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218499894655868082" border="0" /></a> Now we're making our way across the Emerald Isle to the west coast. Galway should provide a convenient and different look on Ireland from Dublin. To really get a feel for Western Ireland you need to get more off the tourist track than Galway, but with only 4 days, we didn't want to spend too much time on the rails getting away from the crowds. Hopefully weather permitting we'll rent some bikes and see some countryside tomorrow, but right now we're feeling pretty tired and are going to try and catch up on some sleep.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-78180752618909209292008-07-02T12:06:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:23:01.475-08:00Alternative Amsterdam<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LfIw7NXt3ZcVpIxTNd14Y7IBu2E_rRvWwOM_f-rJKYCyuhdkWn73_-Q_BHuLyPGTWp7H2vHFD5ergUoyPr39XjF5H0zs2NUqXQNgZGcarOdIL1QR93TU_0DxYQZO8ZiEzRqeocO5lyY/s1600-h/IMGP0127.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LfIw7NXt3ZcVpIxTNd14Y7IBu2E_rRvWwOM_f-rJKYCyuhdkWn73_-Q_BHuLyPGTWp7H2vHFD5ergUoyPr39XjF5H0zs2NUqXQNgZGcarOdIL1QR93TU_0DxYQZO8ZiEzRqeocO5lyY/s320/IMGP0127.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218501817258828706" border="0" /></a>The train ride from Berlin to Amsterdam took around 5 hours and we changed trains just outside Amsterdam, in order to go all the way to the central station. We had planned on making reservations to Paris before heading out, but once we got off the train it slipped our minds. Instead we concentrated on finding our hostel. The directions were good and after a 10 minute tram ride and a couple minutes walk we were there. The hostel was highly rated and well run, although we think we must have gotten a trainee because she told us we needed to sleep in separate bunk beds (as in each of us on a bottom bunk, sharing the bunk with a stranger). Once in the room we saw that one bunk was completely empty and we asked to change beds and a different lady didn't see any reason why not. We made our beds and settled in. Then we headed out and started getting familiar with the city. We walked to the center and got some falafel at a place recomended in our guide book. As long as you don't eat all your dish (the pita) you get endless salad bar. So we filled up on cous-cous, salad and various vegtables. It was pretty good and cheap too. Then we made our way back to the train station because that is where the tour of the redlight district started from. We have really like the New Europe guides so far and this time we decided to take one of their paid tours. Those Australian party dudes made the red light district seem shady and not safe, so we opted for the guided tour. The guided tour was interesting but somewhat less so than we thought. I guess I was expecting to see some sort of Las Vegas or taboos or something. But it was pretty tame with the Redlight District being just another section of town with red lights and very small 'offices' for rent. Basically a tiny room with a bed and a sink and a 'sex worker' inside. We were told that several companies own the spaces and the girls rent the rooms for about 120 euro for an eight hour shift. Each girl is self-employed and according to our guide made lots of money. Since it was the Euro Cup finale that night, the tour group was small and the Redlight District was fairly dead. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7bm9Np9PobH1nNR55wAT3kiFAh4JxtoV51K_KADCmGtB2Ws0xBfJ26CvaxSQ6IIGwCU8926ewFpAytJwhqIPAEsyprczws31TtY6zvj_JiX7WDNStUhvt4R7ocwv_Lt9WzoVImvADVY/s1600-h/IMGP0046.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7bm9Np9PobH1nNR55wAT3kiFAh4JxtoV51K_KADCmGtB2Ws0xBfJ26CvaxSQ6IIGwCU8926ewFpAytJwhqIPAEsyprczws31TtY6zvj_JiX7WDNStUhvt4R7ocwv_Lt9WzoVImvADVY/s320/IMGP0046.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218502855931753122" border="0" /></a>We were assured though that if we came back later after the game it would be without a doubt alive. There were some interesting stops on the tour, including a Prostitue Information Center (PIC) and a daycare situated in the heart of the red light. Apparently a film crew interviewed some of the kids and they think the girls are selling kisses. We also saw the Catholic church that sold more 'indulgences' than any other in the world at one point. Indulgences are piece of paper sold by the Catholic church at one point that absolved your sins, but it cost ya.<br /><br />The tour ended at a bar with a free shot of Jagermeister and 2 for 1 beers. We finished watching the game there and made a friend from Brazil, who seemed to be getting a little tipsy. She was staying at a hotel near our so we decided to walk back together. On the way back she saw a coffee shop and insisted we stop. In case anyone isn't aware, 'coffee' shops are where they sell marijuana. Mostly to tourists though, because less than 10% of Dutch people indulge. We didn't really want to leave Amsterdam without seeing one, so we agreed to acompany her inside. After she got what she came for, she proceeded to act very strange and became pretty pale. This was a headache we weren't really excited to have. We managed to find out where her hotel was and we took her in a taxi back to her hotel. After ensuring she would be ok, we went back to our hostel, swearing not to accompany another stranger on an adventure like that again.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-u2gHcBvWeRVtojZkxtdO_0XOsP3L4s6cKUQA4efAKf06q2X_m60lKajEtwadEbb_FuPuxZuDo8Vhyphenhyphenxm0JcCXwjZ_4_IIQFFPuF1n_IWChfi3BVfZFJr75AsezPri8dtOxs4DFbflPw/s1600-h/IMGP0162.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-u2gHcBvWeRVtojZkxtdO_0XOsP3L4s6cKUQA4efAKf06q2X_m60lKajEtwadEbb_FuPuxZuDo8Vhyphenhyphenxm0JcCXwjZ_4_IIQFFPuF1n_IWChfi3BVfZFJr75AsezPri8dtOxs4DFbflPw/s320/IMGP0162.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218501812718171810" border="0" /></a>Next morning we woke up and got the free breakfast included in the price. It was pretty good and after we headed out and found some internet so Cara could e-mail her friend Manon in Paris. Then we met up with New Europe again, this time for the free walking tour. We got a good look at the town this time and saw historical stuff. All in all it turned out better than the Redlight tour and for less money (see smallest house in Amsterdam to the left). After the tour we tried to rent some bikes, but we were leaving too early in the morning to return them and nothing we said could convince them to let us drop them off. So we went bikeless and walked to the Central station. Here we waited in line for an hour before being able to book tickets to Paris. All trains were full going direct and we needed to connect through Brussels for a hefty price. We aren't flexible anymore though, so we paid. After that craziness we got some Thai food at a place<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxfCQa-l23Rpv_r0AvpLs_ewX226vMvUXIbr51u4z_wpqyJ_CAJLjBpR6immJYYBol9K8X2LkrlgZ4DQ1V0EjBfJUFOVkCuvRaLl9VyZWY9Jo7ydqIvhez_Ysog7eoIkPtla0TX4tiG4/s1600-h/IMGP0224.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRxfCQa-l23Rpv_r0AvpLs_ewX226vMvUXIbr51u4z_wpqyJ_CAJLjBpR6immJYYBol9K8X2LkrlgZ4DQ1V0EjBfJUFOVkCuvRaLl9VyZWY9Jo7ydqIvhez_Ysog7eoIkPtla0TX4tiG4/s320/IMGP0224.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218502864646766818" border="0" /></a> recommended by our tour guide. Excellent food and decent prices. We were planning on biking out of town to see some windmills, but with that option gone we took a tram to one in town instead. It was still cool to see, but it didn't have the sweeping farmlands in the background that I wanted. It was getting late though and we needed to be up early. So we caught a tram back to our hostel and got some internet before heading to bed.<br /><br />Tuesday morning we woke up early and quietly cleared our room. We were at breakfast a half hour early and convinced the ladies setting up to let us in early. There wasn't the great spread we had yesterday, but it was some free food to have before we left on a train. After breakfast we caught a tram to the Central station and then boarded a train heading for Brussels. Here we sit and I am very anxious for the Iron Maiden concert tonight. Then it's up early for our flight to Dublin. Hopefully making our way to the airport isn't a problem by train.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-37892302527128682612008-06-30T13:28:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:23:02.413-08:00Back to Berlin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccXmZmQOh9lPeZmqohEn0GeJ05QJ9nxL8WzP0j_Y4bmd4Aj8kOQNzYCtj1E7xkMkxvEkPPWSzfK5r71DQO3J4WrMrqBwZf7F37SUSbhTkFi4lY9rwtljFaY1hQKlaLVoxdhvfSUlT1pE/s1600-h/IMGP0085.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217776548240428658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhccXmZmQOh9lPeZmqohEn0GeJ05QJ9nxL8WzP0j_Y4bmd4Aj8kOQNzYCtj1E7xkMkxvEkPPWSzfK5r71DQO3J4WrMrqBwZf7F37SUSbhTkFi4lY9rwtljFaY1hQKlaLVoxdhvfSUlT1pE/s320/IMGP0085.JPG" border="0" /></a>We got off the ship in Stockholm way too early (woken up at 5:30 by the crew). Then we paid for the bus to the train station and used the last of our Swedish money to pay for a locker. Once this was done we just sat in the train station for an hour waiting for the grocery stores to open. At 7:45 we hit the supermarket and bought some breakfast and ate it in a nearby park. Then we played the waiting game again for the museums. It would have been all so much simper had the boat just arrived at a normal time. Anyway, we got to the museum and had a nasty surprise when we discovered that museums are no longer free in Stockholm. I guess the government has changed since the Lonely Planet was published. I never did, but I'm sure the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYmY-L6teY2UHv0n16Fb2_dVefKlQLuANwGSWjNrCP4OHCC_lC8lj8MDH_QvhXLw8zNeY6CsI3WtoKx_Y3WtcbpAwIcCaQcdEyqoFqSddJ2x9_dqEU6fbhc4ICoJjmW6R6WZwV0sdouw/s1600-h/IMGP0254.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217782634672724370" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYmY-L6teY2UHv0n16Fb2_dVefKlQLuANwGSWjNrCP4OHCC_lC8lj8MDH_QvhXLw8zNeY6CsI3WtoKx_Y3WtcbpAwIcCaQcdEyqoFqSddJ2x9_dqEU6fbhc4ICoJjmW6R6WZwV0sdouw/s320/IMGP0254.JPG" border="0" /></a>Lonley Planet has an updates section on their website that you should really check out before leaving. Luckily the fare wasn't too bad and we paid on VISA (Swedish money all spent). After looking through the museum with it's Viking sections, we headed out to get some lunch. Lunch happened at a basement fish market underneath a mall. Sounds funny, but it was great and the seafood was fresh, but it was a strange mix of fresh seafood vendors and eating stalls. After a delicious lunch we headed to the library to see about getting a bit of internet. The national library didn't have internet but they directed us to the city library. There we got some free internet and had a long walk to get there. After the library we tried our luck at a couple other museums. One was actually free, the other we skipped because it didn't look to be worth it. The free one however was tiny and didn't have anything authentic, because the real location is under renovations, but they lent us a book displaying the old museum... yay. By now it was getting close to game time and so we made our way to the train station. It was fully packed though, and we just sat in the train station instead. Beer at the bars in Stockholm is not cheap and we each had a magazine we wanted to read. Cara is reading a wedding magazine and I bought a photography one.<br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvb9Y8pHwHCIpN7C4A4WvkQqPJE5DS9paif91npO6TxDvdAv_m7rPDdr3Q2swfgyRvt7r8k757VCEpCAbJiW3f7-vSTQ9xx_W_gk4z6Q-_aGQe4bi4hzvakyVtTp5D5p6dFMt4jxNiWcU/s1600-h/IMGP0323.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217776631842526818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvb9Y8pHwHCIpN7C4A4WvkQqPJE5DS9paif91npO6TxDvdAv_m7rPDdr3Q2swfgyRvt7r8k757VCEpCAbJiW3f7-vSTQ9xx_W_gk4z6Q-_aGQe4bi4hzvakyVtTp5D5p6dFMt4jxNiWcU/s320/IMGP0323.JPG" border="0" /></a>By the time our train left Spain was winning 1-0. A sleeper car to Malmo provided a bit more rest than usual, but still not a great sleep. We woke up outside Malmo and once in Malmo missed the first train to Copenhagen by about 2 minutes. We caught the next train (20 minutes later) and then missed the train to Berlin by 2 minutes (because our train was late). Ok so now we had a 2 hour layover. We had to go make reservations for the later train to Hamburg and were disappointed to find Denmark train really doesn't accept VISA without a pin code. Why I have no idea, but we weren't pleased, because everywhere else in Denmark does. So we paid in Euro, but when we <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4YxGiH1w_pdN4nwKbqy7M-LKz9mYiFEG8hlrNFaE0lB89b0dMnh2zY-DYmhdKNaDvz4id3dacKYOubQp1rtD8cSvMxboLye9qKG5MYYj-BPmo1wNao-jPZhw6eltjsSYAEol8K6KsOM/s1600-h/IMGP0359.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217782835330854962" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4YxGiH1w_pdN4nwKbqy7M-LKz9mYiFEG8hlrNFaE0lB89b0dMnh2zY-DYmhdKNaDvz4id3dacKYOubQp1rtD8cSvMxboLye9qKG5MYYj-BPmo1wNao-jPZhw6eltjsSYAEol8K6KsOM/s320/IMGP0359.JPG" border="0" /></a>tried to give the lady exact change, she wouldn't accept any coins, so we paid in bills and got some nice shiny souvenirs. I tossed the useless stuff on the ground outside, due to lack of sleep and being a little angry at missing 2 trains in a row. We read our magazines and killed an hour and half before our train showed up... you guessed it, late. If only the train we missed was late, we might have caught it. The reservation lady didn't give us great seating either, we were across the aisle from each other and each had our own old man in a suit to share leg room with. The train boarded a ferry again, which was still cool, but much less cool now that we were tired and grumpy. It was raining too, so we didn't bother going outside. Once in Hamburg we waited 45 minutes for our train to Berlin and were glad we paid for reservations even though we didn't need them, because the train was pretty packed and saw lots of other people getting displaced.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CUIZiLZ2xTUTDuWRwUTWI2MsKc30IZ8x2bUezqeK9iGt53xqNKpVRk4Vt2N-CFapSke4led6icyIvC4qsHGZmMaZVedPFJusnyrdtPWie9Ul-FgT-y2XrMxB4HNrQGWblpaTTnmFlKA/s1600-h/IMGP0396.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217776653686660194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CUIZiLZ2xTUTDuWRwUTWI2MsKc30IZ8x2bUezqeK9iGt53xqNKpVRk4Vt2N-CFapSke4led6icyIvC4qsHGZmMaZVedPFJusnyrdtPWie9Ul-FgT-y2XrMxB4HNrQGWblpaTTnmFlKA/s320/IMGP0396.JPG" border="0" /></a>Finally back in Berlin we were feeling a lot better. Away from the Scandinavian prices and back in Germany where trains are fast and frequent. We spent a bit of time finding out about metro and found that our Eurail is good for all S-Bahn, even though the booklet says different. So we rode the S-Bahn to near Anna's house and found the bar where she had left us the keys. Keys in hand, we found the apartment and settled in. We were so beat we decided not to try and squeeze any sightseeing in that night. We went to the supermarket and got some food and then cooked some dinner. Then it was a full 3 hours of relaxing before going to bed. </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZ_jr6urgSMWhhbJ_SDO_8zTKn0ZLiLtdK6k3XdSVRAQ5RJzrVgUn5-AABNGO88QDzfyrt3JmclLn09F35251rohQzz9Pfm0UnjcSEwVx9c1MMfF70s72YHYHlh2FVZNvn_D8vsvdYas/s1600-h/IMGP0493.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217776657104568770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZ_jr6urgSMWhhbJ_SDO_8zTKn0ZLiLtdK6k3XdSVRAQ5RJzrVgUn5-AABNGO88QDzfyrt3JmclLn09F35251rohQzz9Pfm0UnjcSEwVx9c1MMfF70s72YHYHlh2FVZNvn_D8vsvdYas/s320/IMGP0493.JPG" border="0" /></a>Saturday monring we woke up around 9 and got off to a slow start where we didn't get out and about until noon. Once out though we rode the metro and found the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km stretch of Berlin Wall that was painted in 1990 by artists from all over the world. It was neat for sure and many of the paintings are crumbling, but some have been renewed or new ones painted. Cool stuff, and after walking the length of it, we rode some more metro and when to the best wurst stand in Berlin. It was crowded with tourists as I guess it's in everyones guide book. But the wurst was great and after filling our bellies we hit the Jewish museum. It was huge, in my opinion too huge. In 5 hours we didn't see even half of the stuff and skipped 30 entries in our audio guide, and forget the temporary exhibit we paid for. If I found it a bit boring, Cara found it very interesting and couldn't get enough of it. The museum was focused on the history of Jewish people in Germany, but oddly enough had not as much in the sections covering the last 70 years as in the section covering, say, the 1800's. Anyway we left there around 8pm and headed back to the apartment. By the time we got back Anna's roomate Anna was home (Anna is a popular name in Germany) and we had a good chat with her and found out how to connect to their wi-fi. After that we had some beer and made dinner and around then roomate Anna's friends showed up and for a little while we listened to music while getting ready for bed. They left for the bar around midnight, but we didn't join them because our train left early the next morning for Amsterdam. </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8gS2Z8kdkF3CSSDoiNhsZOTkfd3dgJgg6unnYn1KGU7SGNIV4o6H6a7ZzkUb5erV5YD1T1ilZ3jTpmpejRB5bwc5iMdhppr4PFAKfRJC4WjRktUOXnhtw0RJ4UfrDNxennK5GymPu44/s1600-h/IMGP0416.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217783247323186002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM8gS2Z8kdkF3CSSDoiNhsZOTkfd3dgJgg6unnYn1KGU7SGNIV4o6H6a7ZzkUb5erV5YD1T1ilZ3jTpmpejRB5bwc5iMdhppr4PFAKfRJC4WjRktUOXnhtw0RJ4UfrDNxennK5GymPu44/s320/IMGP0416.JPG" border="0" /></a>Sunday morning we woke up early and got packed up and ready to leave. We caught the 3 connection metro ride to Berlin's main station. We left ourselves an hour to get there and by then end only had 20 minutes left. We mailed the last of the postcards and waited for our train. Our train showed up on time and left on time and we are now making our way to the Netherlands. We have 2 nights in Amsterdam and 1 in Paris before we say goodbye to continental Europe and hit the UK. It's a strange feeling; we are happy to go home, but sad to leave it all behind as well.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-60991132745213996632008-06-30T13:15:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:23:03.525-08:00Homesick in Helsinki<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1r5A7kV4al2fWpvzWxX2boQadPdB8f9IuxM2twxEgGn_RoEi_ve9iyE1ZLJ1Ew-3tUYugdM5ZKT6EqOzu_zyGqDELJyfjDnAxZI7EfMxtQVlVZFUBTCc_w1b51tKBr4toL5K4zmXvr4/s1600-h/IMGP0019.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217771745507540738" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw1r5A7kV4al2fWpvzWxX2boQadPdB8f9IuxM2twxEgGn_RoEi_ve9iyE1ZLJ1Ew-3tUYugdM5ZKT6EqOzu_zyGqDELJyfjDnAxZI7EfMxtQVlVZFUBTCc_w1b51tKBr4toL5K4zmXvr4/s320/IMGP0019.JPG" border="0" /></a>We rode the train into Helsinki and found Sami and Pirjo waiting for us on the platform. It was so nice to have a familiar face waiting for us when we arrived in this new and strange city. They showed us to Sami's car, where we dropped off our heavy packs and then went on a small private tour of Helsinki center. We saw the harbour front, some very interesting architecture and the huge Tuomiokirkko (Lutheran Cathedral). We grabbed a hot drink near the Cathedral and talked about what to do for our stay. We didn't have many suggestions other than what our guide book said, so we basically left it up to them for the most part with a couple things we wanted to get done (mostly shopping). After the Cathedral and some tea and coffee, we walked back to the train station, where we collected the car and got some groceries, and then went to Sami's place. We were offered to have Pirjo's place all to ourselves, but we were only staying 3 nights and thought it best to just squeeze into Sami's place in order to maximize visiting time and save on transit and meeting places. Sami's appartment was great, not too small and had everything we needed (mostly internet and laundry). Pirjo cooked us an excellent rainbow trout soup for lunch, that was served with rye bread and some veggies - traditional Finnish cuisine. We also had some great and very flavourful northern strawberries and some great salty licorice (Salmiakki).<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3DNothwHKNcFduzcb_L0xNX1plwWcm51AxKzWDJtkLIKHdOpKhJ25pibIevVqInDqXo5Cn8kitXWIaZL1ABxwBdH5uy0vmwgv8yKZ3SK31oGgwCiY1ZJR7FgRrlMJndNA1IjGcjvELg/s1600-h/IMGP0189.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217772564347967634" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3DNothwHKNcFduzcb_L0xNX1plwWcm51AxKzWDJtkLIKHdOpKhJ25pibIevVqInDqXo5Cn8kitXWIaZL1ABxwBdH5uy0vmwgv8yKZ3SK31oGgwCiY1ZJR7FgRrlMJndNA1IjGcjvELg/s320/IMGP0189.JPG" border="0" /></a>The plan for the rest of the night was to visit Sami's friend Jani, who just happened to have a ... you guessed it, Sauna. Unfortunately Jani's wife, Pilvi was very ill and they didn't feel like hosting guests. So instead we did something else typically Finnish. We drove to a park (forested area) and had beer, a fire, and some roast sausages. We thought it quite funny when Pirjo got upset because she bought sausages that had 73% meat. Aparently real Finnish sausages only should have about 50% meat. They were still delicious and we had a great time and now that we've caught the camping bug, we can't wait to do some camping back home. After sausages we had a fun time cutting up a log and an even better time walking back through the park. The great thing about being this far North is it never really gets dark, so even coming back quite late is not a problem. We got back to Sami's and had some more beer (this time duty free Heineken), watched the football game and talked before going to bed.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzkyuf2mRI3lIadnX_jxIQRxNJ9M5_W1sbG6HCVFEmCUXjFsZWt5NzyB6VWBxUbVjMsx85Se_Nd8_2NnnkZBAJmBsHsZA5Dphu99PtpqsEEnLfL8hnm0E9H_LawhlgtjDu-MCo5UqSiAs/s1600-h/IMGP0122.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217772548241363586" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzkyuf2mRI3lIadnX_jxIQRxNJ9M5_W1sbG6HCVFEmCUXjFsZWt5NzyB6VWBxUbVjMsx85Se_Nd8_2NnnkZBAJmBsHsZA5Dphu99PtpqsEEnLfL8hnm0E9H_LawhlgtjDu-MCo5UqSiAs/s320/IMGP0122.JPG" border="0" /></a>Monday morning we got up not too early and had an excellent breakfast. We had some more of the delicious rye bread, Carelian Pies (rye bread with rice pudding filling), some spreadable boiled egg and butter mixture, and some veggies. After we got going we drove to Porvoo, which is a great little medival fishing town. It's well preseved with a beautiful little chapel. It was a little touristy though, but we bought some souvenirs nonetheless. After walking and exploring the town a bit, we stopped and had lunch in an old boat on the river. The boat had quite the history and is actually of German make. The lunch however was even better than the packaging of the</p><p>restaurant. I had fried Baltic Herring with potatoes and beets. It was delicious and I'm definately going to make that dish when we get home. Cara had the Salmon and thought it was quite tasty as well. After we finished at the restaurant it was back to Sami's place where they collected their Japanese workbooks. Unfortunately Sami and Pirjo were just finishing Japanese classes and were busy Monday and Tuesday nights with class, but unfortunately we couldn't really work Finland into our trip anywhere else. But Sami had Tuesday off and Pirjo unexpectedly switched jobs and was free, so we were actually pretty lucky. Another excellent thing about our timing was that we arrived just after midsummer festival, which is second only to Christmas (and that's debatable) and there are massive sales on at all the stores. So we went shopping. Sami and Pirjo dropped us off at the nearby mall, while they went to class. The mall was pretty big and we had no trouble killing the 3 and a half hours till their return. We then got some more groceries and went back to Sami's where we tried to cook a typical dinner (for us Canadians) for them, with</p><p>one small exception, we threw in some poutine, because they where intrigued by the description of it (poutine was the only Canadian cuisine example we could come up with). So we started with poutine and then had stuffed feta chicken breasts and a salad with lots of veggies. It was pretty good, but the poutine wasn't first class, because the fries were frozen, the curds were really mozzarella and the gravy was packaged, but we did our best. Then we all watched 'There's Something About Mary' - in English with Finnish subtitles, and had some more drinks before bed.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJGzd0lid-fAWp2721z249FSPd7AuEyf0qhxXo5_kYo0tWWBmIbcwL1MHviw-QTe5BkfZeMPS1fJTR8PO0NIXNQvL8mQM9D_jHHRRDqgcUFWloMPS3p4M3lKz0HTliLsaaY46DT6DShg/s1600-h/IMGP0167.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217771746782968258" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJGzd0lid-fAWp2721z249FSPd7AuEyf0qhxXo5_kYo0tWWBmIbcwL1MHviw-QTe5BkfZeMPS1fJTR8PO0NIXNQvL8mQM9D_jHHRRDqgcUFWloMPS3p4M3lKz0HTliLsaaY46DT6DShg/s320/IMGP0167.JPG" border="0" /></a>Tuesday morning we got up and had the traditional Finnish breakfast once again and after getting going again, we took the train into Helsinki center around noon. Then we walked to a record shop that I asked Sami to look up online. Finland is an amazing little place that seems to have the ability to produce way more music (especially Heavy Metal) and sports superstars than a country of 5 million should. I wanted to get into a record<br />shop and pick up some souvenirs. They didn't have everything I wanted, but they did have the one thing I really wanted and even Cara bought a cd. As for the athletes we didn't experience that, but we did hear some great stories about some of them. In particular a ski jumper who's somewhat of a freakshow and a tabloid writer's dream.<br /></p><p>After the record shop we split up with our hosts to do our own things. Me and Cara did a combination of sight seeing and shopping, while Pirjo went to her aparment to get some stuff and Sami went to buy pants. Me and Cara dipped into another record shop and then went and visited the very cool Temppeliaukio (underground rock church). Not sure of the story behind the church, but it was cool nonetheless. After which, we went to another large shopping mall (can't compete with West Ed though). Then we met back up with Sami and Pirjo for lunch at a tractor bar. Yes I said tractor bar. It's a popular sight in Helsinki where by day they serve food, and by night they serve party. The decor is... interesting with farm equipment and tools, including tractors. The food is like the decor: rustic and traditional. I had Carelian Stew and Cara had Finnish meatballs, which are different than Swedish meatball, but equally as good, if not better. </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUyuECWKhrlXtZawoodYrOOYWSPH1tyvB_OBrJ1VAlC_Pkr6z7SiFRBO_f7tUUh0OmvkqDpzUECybzOCnOrol47oIhJ8dsoFFTviyirAz5wDN1ksqFWioKr-nWOM1NRliWFeh-iK5lLk/s1600-h/IMGP0434.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217771779382304370" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIUyuECWKhrlXtZawoodYrOOYWSPH1tyvB_OBrJ1VAlC_Pkr6z7SiFRBO_f7tUUh0OmvkqDpzUECybzOCnOrol47oIhJ8dsoFFTviyirAz5wDN1ksqFWioKr-nWOM1NRliWFeh-iK5lLk/s320/IMGP0434.JPG" border="0" /></a>After the late lunch we split up again so Sami and Pirjo could get to their Japanese class. Meanwhile me and Cara went to the top of a high tower, did some more shopping, and took in a free concert, and went down to the cool harbour again. We had a good time and after it all we met Sami and Pirjo at the train station again. We got some groceries, including Finnish beer and caught the train to Sami's car and then drove to his friend Jani's house. Pilvi was feeling better now and I can see why they didn't want to host us when she was feeling sick, because they are excellent hosts and really went the extra mile. We had coffe, tea, cookies, and a pizza-like dish waiting for our arrival. We also brought some baguette and meat pastries (like sausage rolls) with us, which we ate as well. We had a nice little dinner and talked for a while before getting down to business: Sauna. And trust me, Finnish people consider it serious business, or as serious as you can be while sitting naked in 85 degrees celcius drinking beer. Men and women take turns and it's an excellent time to chat and relax. There's a Finnish saying that says, whatever is said in Sauna stays in Sauna (kind of like Fight Club - rule 1: you don't talk about Sauna). Water is poured on the rocks <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217772567927831218" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmNX3UFG2H4cn7J7YVp0-cMaz5GWyjl8Uhqrvt_OcanjeTf-mlW0wvgQlHgwKAo9B4gWvm-IxJYoLlCvYuI-9yRc5AtZ69T94IKk5vLLuetG_kkLN1g_dgs_o5klPxccpeRpRvnIGTyU/s320/IMGP0365.JPG" border="0" />every couple minutes and it gets pretty hot. It's necesary to take a few breaks and enjoy some cool air outdoors. Me and Cara are hooked and will build our own sauna one day, staying true to the Finnish ways. We got the full rundown of the difference between Finnish, Swedish and Turkish Sauna's. Although I still need a lesson in making the whipping sticks (it's traditional to whip yourself with a birch branch to stimulate the skin). I even heard about the sauna world championships and how they determine the winner. You get into a 100 degree (celcius) sauna and pour a cup of water on the rocks every 2 minutes. The longest time wins. Simple, but intense. It was getting late though and Sami had to work the next day, so we headed home and got to bed around 2am after saying our goodbyes to Sami.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rTvC2hnMkyei8isBkotJDBoXlwVKxHl0UzHdc2BOxmz8H7FXIn99iEOHKsMNP6J-HvDx17DzGFLx0_i7ZXC-h_ipZLi21lM9BKSJndajdeLVIlVB8nxK70zE0AqcJg8Dkr2QST4SLsw/s1600-h/IMGP0023.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217772596081395890" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9rTvC2hnMkyei8isBkotJDBoXlwVKxHl0UzHdc2BOxmz8H7FXIn99iEOHKsMNP6J-HvDx17DzGFLx0_i7ZXC-h_ipZLi21lM9BKSJndajdeLVIlVB8nxK70zE0AqcJg8Dkr2QST4SLsw/s320/IMGP0023.JPG" border="0" /></a>Wednesday morning we woke up early considering what time we went to bed. Sami was gone and I'm sure very tired. Pirjo was still there though and I made french toast for everyone. It had somehow come up in conversation and Sami and Pirjo had never had it before, so we made it for Pirjo and after we send them some maple syrup in the mail, she'll let Sami have a taste. Pirjo left shortly after breakfast to meet her aunt and sail to Estonia for the day. If we had the time, that would have been fun to do too. Anyway, we did a few last internet things and then headed out and caught a bus to the Espoo train station. There we caught a train to Helsinki center (10 minutes) and then caught a train all the way back to Turku. We locked up our luggage and tried to make the best of our 3 hours of free time. We got a map from the tourist office and walked along the river and looked at some boats. One in particular was an impressive Swedish war vessel from the 1700's, it was great, but reeked of tar and wood preservative. It reminded us of the start of our trip in Portsmouth and we didn't go inside this one either because we were running short on time and it was paid entry. We walked back towards the train station and got a cheap bite to eat at a kebab shop. The food took awhile<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGrzvwBFArm-O4wJMN1YaDsPBsGhkBDFmnc3oYR2P-esNmw6ZAEybvcxJLTj7Y8q7MXs1Ul-6FOr-WOShFA1pn90H1JqzLEsvlcBo1NbRVV-qaZGJcaMGT6T6ZMu0X_hH70nVfA0S86o/s1600-h/IMGP0315.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217771760292083346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGrzvwBFArm-O4wJMN1YaDsPBsGhkBDFmnc3oYR2P-esNmw6ZAEybvcxJLTj7Y8q7MXs1Ul-6FOr-WOShFA1pn90H1JqzLEsvlcBo1NbRVV-qaZGJcaMGT6T6ZMu0X_hH70nVfA0S86o/s320/IMGP0315.JPG" border="0" /></a> to get served and we ended up jogging a little on the way back to the train station. Then we caught a ride to the harbour on a train that was passing through. Once at the port we checked in and did the usual wait for 45 minutes before boarding. The boat this time around was much bigger and so there were a lot more passengers. This increased the amount of pushing and shoving going on. Eventually we made it aboard and got settled into our cabin. It wasn't as good as our last lodgings and it cost more, but apparently prices went up after midsummer. It was still pretty decent though.<br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10vsEhrd4mo4s2Khd5QxNI77MImWWsKmC2b5Uy9nqFh0bibDTO5wESHvnDBldBGOGqKE_xvjyrycg6r62l9tn5ieKWPc7vbOWATD78KuqN8AHuxE4XXjNfa743VaFnJ_RNbKukNNtFuE/s1600-h/IMGP0138.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217771784641810482" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg10vsEhrd4mo4s2Khd5QxNI77MImWWsKmC2b5Uy9nqFh0bibDTO5wESHvnDBldBGOGqKE_xvjyrycg6r62l9tn5ieKWPc7vbOWATD78KuqN8AHuxE4XXjNfa743VaFnJ_RNbKukNNtFuE/s320/IMGP0138.JPG" border="0" /></a> After settling in, we went for a little shopping in the duty free. This time we only really bought candy and a few drinks, although we explored the other areas as well. Suddently the 15kg weight limit on checked luggage with Ryan Air is becoming a concern. Oh well, after enjoying some of the last sunshine of the day, we sat down to watch the football game. It was crowded so we sat with an older couple from Finland. Their English was a bit rusty, but we muddled through and they were nice, as well as a bit drunk. Germany prevailed over Turkey and we were all happy for that. I ducked out during the intermission though and caught some great shots of the sunset. With the sun down, but still very light out, we are headed for bed. Hopefully tomorrow in Stockholm turns out well and we are able to get to Berlin with no major probelms. Finland was great and we hope to return one day and explore it more thouroughly, but it reminded us of home quite a bit and we are becoming increasingly homesick. 3 months is a long time to be without a permanent residence.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-68429431411850442022008-06-23T00:10:00.000-07:002008-11-12T21:23:04.635-08:00Soggy Stockholm<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DsMb_DO3QeOUu_JVGeI7hQ6-57mOpQ75vmFwDlJjrQDZo60yIZTzeAh1mBNYKudW10G1____pUjwRcbEjXQ41ko0AXXPGdtTx8xiTTLxoiSRU0_QU7uPj1iP-aiDYaQpO11J5ORMBSw/s1600-h/IMGP0296.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0DsMb_DO3QeOUu_JVGeI7hQ6-57mOpQ75vmFwDlJjrQDZo60yIZTzeAh1mBNYKudW10G1____pUjwRcbEjXQ41ko0AXXPGdtTx8xiTTLxoiSRU0_QU7uPj1iP-aiDYaQpO11J5ORMBSw/s320/IMGP0296.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214971859395496194" border="0" /></a>We arrived in Stockholm after a long and uneventful train ride. The train got quite packed during some of the journey, so we were glad we reserved seats. Still we had to put up with some hip dad playing videos for his stinky 18 year old son on his new video phone. Luckily that only lasted for about an hour near the end of the trip. For the first half though I managed to write the blog and grab about an hour of napping, then it got crowded.<br /><br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-OZd2K6Bk3K76dzwARgbpfkH9IEP9AmPzOFEBg2cUSvTyk7v3-xvIAwnqu-vkkFTb_tDtMkZgBmvqqrjRs-tcGykwBltSLwsIM6Ipso5uhf06NrZWub8_Mggunza1vkgzMPwWieHlf0/s1600-h/IMGP0373.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-OZd2K6Bk3K76dzwARgbpfkH9IEP9AmPzOFEBg2cUSvTyk7v3-xvIAwnqu-vkkFTb_tDtMkZgBmvqqrjRs-tcGykwBltSLwsIM6Ipso5uhf06NrZWub8_Mggunza1vkgzMPwWieHlf0/s200/IMGP0373.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214976142215575362" border="0" /></a></p><p>In Stockholm we tried to get on the metro, but we were confused when we found no automatic ticket dispensers. We asked at the ticket booth and the price was quite a bit higher than we expected so we walked back a few hundred meters to a sales office run by the metro company. Pretty strange set up, but apparently if you buy tickets from the windows at the barrier it's about 5.75 CAD, but if you buy them from the office or any convenience store they are 4$. And that is for a 2 hour pass, if you want a 24 hour pass it's 17$. So the metro like everything else in Sweden is pricey. We were planning on riding the metro quite a bit so we got the 24 hour pass. We got off at the stop indicated by our hostel and walked about a kilometer and a half to our hostel. It was awesome. One of our favorite hostels so far for sure. It was cheap (by Scandinavian standards) and is housed in an old prison complex, and the rooms are cells. At least from the outside, inside they are small, but pretty lavish (by hostel standards), and all have private ensuite baths. The only downside is like everywhere else so far you need to rent linen, so we made use of our sleeping bag liners again.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTD4JiYfrbu0EniAi9PkrinQpmAIwbLCnHf9GNajm-r73eLZyCGaspzjYt6FDwT4hLVIixVjOCToVpKMakQURC5aiIpYy_tmp_gk5cjyK2UKLVlk7kziS9iWxoj6k56Fuphc7DL4GjP8/s1600-h/IMGP0350.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTD4JiYfrbu0EniAi9PkrinQpmAIwbLCnHf9GNajm-r73eLZyCGaspzjYt6FDwT4hLVIixVjOCToVpKMakQURC5aiIpYy_tmp_gk5cjyK2UKLVlk7kziS9iWxoj6k56Fuphc7DL4GjP8/s200/IMGP0350.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214975315722443538" border="0" /></a>After unpacking a bit we headed town to the reception, where an extreemly nice lady helped us locate the ferry offices. We wanted to ensure we had tickets to Finland before the day was done, so we caught the metro to the center of town and then walked a good distance to the Viking ferry terminal. With our Eurail pass we get 50% off on the ferry crossing through the Viking and Silja lines. From what the lonely planet indicated the Viking line is cheaper, but once at the terminal we found that it would be nearly 200 CAD for a Cabin (we had no interest in getting deck passage this far north, not that they would actually make you sleep outside like in Greece). Appearantly we only get 50% off the deck passage and not the cabins, but the booklet explicitly says we get 50% off, even on cabins, through Silja. So we phoned Silja from the Viking terminal and made reservations for about 100 CAD in a cabin, much better.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cYKIzdaedG5oVbbShE0Ge6FCFrc9XN2D3-2y0xl9KKbIh7FoE4Z6lUURK7keR7pjjDHaGucsUL_pg9IA5o9qg9Kx_YUPG_HKhdsU8G0beyCchSnA13uaVS5Ziqn228twFi8ESIt1q2g/s1600-h/IMGP0116.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3cYKIzdaedG5oVbbShE0Ge6FCFrc9XN2D3-2y0xl9KKbIh7FoE4Z6lUURK7keR7pjjDHaGucsUL_pg9IA5o9qg9Kx_YUPG_HKhdsU8G0beyCchSnA13uaVS5Ziqn228twFi8ESIt1q2g/s320/IMGP0116.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214972456777936258" border="0" /></a>After getting our bit of business taken care of, we took the metro and then a bus to the open air museum of Skansen. It is full of traditional buildings that were relocated here from various parts of Scandinavia. It even has some Sandinavian animals. Lynx, Moose, Bear, Wolves, Seals, Otters and even a Wolverine. All of this is extremely exciting to other Europeans, but being Canadian it wasn't that exciting. The bear pen was pretty cool though, because there was a mom with 3 cubs and they were feeling pretty playful. I also wanted to see the Lynx and Wolverine, but not surprisingly both were absent. The Wolverine came out for a second to get some meat that was dispensed, but I didn't manage to get a photo. It rained for the first hour we were there, but let up afterwards. Aside from the animals, the rest of the compound was pretty good and Skansen was really busy because of Midsummer night. Most Scandinavians head out into the country and enjoy nature on Midsummer, but those who can't apparently head to Skansen with a picnic and drinks. There was also some traditional dancers there as well. We got to the park around <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTL-RZYVDZYGVXI0tIjCBDQS2VX9InqEDKPmy2CP7VTvB7rCeLXNozeiQ_Kwmx86ydM6SgkWpXNTdrPorJYc-sXChOHUdfmRcvnHyLXIIh8Gxf4N4ml78dE2BwqxTihib_A-A10AF8PQs/s1600-h/IMGP0068.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTL-RZYVDZYGVXI0tIjCBDQS2VX9InqEDKPmy2CP7VTvB7rCeLXNozeiQ_Kwmx86ydM6SgkWpXNTdrPorJYc-sXChOHUdfmRcvnHyLXIIh8Gxf4N4ml78dE2BwqxTihib_A-A10AF8PQs/s200/IMGP0068.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214975305869731874" border="0" /></a>5pm and left around 9:30 to go downtown to get a good view of the town. The pay elevator was broken, so we got to take a free elevator to the top of a catwalk. The view was great and we timed it just right, because the sun was just setting. After a busy day, we headed back to the prison and had a dinner of soup and salad, while watching the soccer game. Turkey ended up beating Croatia in a shoot out. Another bonus of the hostel was the kitchen, fully equipped with 2 fridges, 2 sinks and 3 stoves.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9oqHCqB0FvwICJ_sVp0ezPxxnGYzxRSgCRQxzFhp2icj6jhXhd2Vemf6V6568IhT-Ihd85ZMPV2GLeSCHECnrEI85pPyso_VtdhmgzCcrc18t8d6gFib5lvTeaYG_BmNBlr9m_y3mRM/s1600-h/IMGP0384.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9oqHCqB0FvwICJ_sVp0ezPxxnGYzxRSgCRQxzFhp2icj6jhXhd2Vemf6V6568IhT-Ihd85ZMPV2GLeSCHECnrEI85pPyso_VtdhmgzCcrc18t8d6gFib5lvTeaYG_BmNBlr9m_y3mRM/s200/IMGP0384.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214976142789237490" border="0" /></a>We woke up Saturday morning early and, after checking out, had some breakfast in the kitchen again. We had until 6:15pm to explore Stockholm before boarding our ferry, so we decided to do some museums and just play it by ear. Well appearantly we're deaf, because we seemed to have forgotten it was midsummers day now. Nothing was open, not museums, not even IKEA (yes we tried to go). The only things that we vistied that were open was the palace grounds, a cafe for lunch, a church and a grocery store. It rained off and on all day and we didn't stay dry for too long. IKEA was quite the journey, a 20<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvF9s6sS316k61c2i6xJWxsrL5KSbpD9_Wtw2VZxsiSJichwl_-SlbZzAlc2lGfauwq6hBEPDSDRb97or6QasywPhDL7lI4mYYy8tEgIR2KSS42h7H_05OO0x46TxPWI1lbNGNi1-RAlg/s1600-h/IMGP0406.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvF9s6sS316k61c2i6xJWxsrL5KSbpD9_Wtw2VZxsiSJichwl_-SlbZzAlc2lGfauwq6hBEPDSDRb97or6QasywPhDL7lI4mYYy8tEgIR2KSS42h7H_05OO0x46TxPWI1lbNGNi1-RAlg/s320/IMGP0406.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214971861039396898" border="0" /></a> minute metro ride out of town and then 5 minutes on a bus. The outside was the same, but we were there to get some cheap food and take some pictures. We got the outside photo, but missed out on the food and going inside. We then went back to town to the old centre of Gamla Stan to check out the Royal Palace. The palace was cool and had some smartly dressed guards. These guys were allowed to move and talk however and were regularly telling people to keep behind the lines or stay out of restricted areas. They also stretched a lot and marched occasionally to check on other areas. At one point a bunch of guards assembled and looked like they might be up to something, but after 15 minutes we got tired of waiting and left. Lunch was good and I had a salmon and spinach quiche and Cara had a delicious chicken focaccia thing. The church was also good with a cool statue of St. George slaying a dragon. After getting groceries and picking our things up at the hostel, we made our way to the ferry terminal. Check in took all of 2 minutes and then we waited around for 45 minutes before boarding. The cabin was decent and had sheets!!<br /></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6zByIb1srxrIdQiU9C_qlgzm9dlaxlzJ_P334dRzqylTD0-kqm7PqMp2AehLaT-3ITpS2tP5CEV1XZaoTQgBbWauSgtmWgotdpycztMchBro_S5gEK-UOmWJxpRrEQvUZn_d1j8dduE/s1600-h/IMGP0103.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6zByIb1srxrIdQiU9C_qlgzm9dlaxlzJ_P334dRzqylTD0-kqm7PqMp2AehLaT-3ITpS2tP5CEV1XZaoTQgBbWauSgtmWgotdpycztMchBro_S5gEK-UOmWJxpRrEQvUZn_d1j8dduE/s320/IMGP0103.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214972449586265458" border="0" /></a>The sailing was pretty good and we stocked up on some duty free wine and beer, because we are staying with Sami and Pirjo and wanted to bring them something. We checked out the bars on board as well as the restaurant and disco. All were cheap by Scandinavian standars and were definately popular destinations, but not enough for us to partake. I thought it was quite interesting and it's quite popular for Swedes to sail to Finland and back in a day and basically party and buy duty free stuff. If you buy 4x24 packs of beer, you get a free wheeling cart to carry them with and we saw lots of people with wheeling carts. We also watched enough of the Russia vs Holland game to see it go to overtime, much to the disappointment of the Russians in the crowds, and watched the sunset before heading to bed.<br /></p> Sunday morning we got up to some lady yelling something in Swedish into our room at 6 am. By 7 am we were off the boat and on the train platform waiting for a train that didn't depart until 8:30. Finally in Finland and we can't wait to get to Helsinki. It doesn't look to be much cheeper than Sweden, but with a place to stay and friends to visit with we should have lots of budget to spare and some good times.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-85565707105373305262008-06-23T00:03:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:23:05.226-08:00Only Oslo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMtorra7QYq-6bqJkkNIZJyCJrD2jCkJJIxuOykOP29gmnMu5T60tP7XEpadNzPt3Yz9CUVT8t3GUYIQTEEccesYHdDB-sMdy_wLCRj77vbQTy70kj6khOH_5iSYxemw-j0lIvfdmw_Y/s1600-h/IMGP0439.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMtorra7QYq-6bqJkkNIZJyCJrD2jCkJJIxuOykOP29gmnMu5T60tP7XEpadNzPt3Yz9CUVT8t3GUYIQTEEccesYHdDB-sMdy_wLCRj77vbQTy70kj6khOH_5iSYxemw-j0lIvfdmw_Y/s320/IMGP0439.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214969839371693442" border="0" /></a>The rest of the train journey was good and we enjoyed the scenery and napped a bit. It was a 7 hour train ride though and by the end of it I was getting really restless. Usually trains are a good time to rest up after a long couple days of walking, hiking and sight seeing. But in Bergen, because of the rain, we didn't do a whole lot of that, so this was just wasted time to me. We also just kinda jumped into an empty car and after a little while we realised we were in the children's car, as more and more parents with little kids kept getting on board. We really should have noticed becase there was a playground in the next compartment. But we already confirmed the seats weren't reserved with the conductor, and as he was a surly conductor, we didn't want to bother him again. The train was also going really slow and at times it was crawling along and waiting at stations for ever. So it was no surprise when our train got in late. Luckily the scenery was good, or it would have been almost unbearable.<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_VmnSaPMnA-QlFBF0NKbE6cN3gGST4BzwrJFmtf_OlOhqLw0rm-nsIYFpdiffsnLISaEWJ0Gdc-fVpQ_oZpNzdYr9gktEokSFvrsqlX9rW6V_KDY6NAC02Hf4Ti7sTL1CtXdB4mCZrA/s1600-h/IMGP0004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_VmnSaPMnA-QlFBF0NKbE6cN3gGST4BzwrJFmtf_OlOhqLw0rm-nsIYFpdiffsnLISaEWJ0Gdc-fVpQ_oZpNzdYr9gktEokSFvrsqlX9rW6V_KDY6NAC02Hf4Ti7sTL1CtXdB4mCZrA/s320/IMGP0004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214969844932364706" border="0" /></a>We arrived in Oslo and walked through the rain to our hostel. We checked in and then headed back out and got some food, which we dropped off at the hostel. It was still raining and windy so even our umbrellas weren't much good. But we were determined not to waste another day indoors. Especially when we were planning on leaving Oslo for Stockholm early the next morning, so these would be our only few hours in Oslo. We went back to the train station and checked times for trains to Stockholm (something we could have done when we first arrived, I know). Then we did a nice walk along the river that was suggested in our guide book. The walk was ok, but the side of the river we decided to walk on, looks to be a popular hangout for homeless, so it wasn't all that scenic. The walk ended in a cool trendy area of town, and I took a couple photos of some grafitti. There was also a cool bar, but at 12 CAD for a beer, we decided to skip it. Then we headed back to the hostel where we watched Germany defeat Portugal. Cara was sad for Ronaldo, but we didn't really want Portugal to win and were happy Germany won. Then we headed to bed.<br /></p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobLb3JtBDOYdulh9MXsprqrVK9CVGNjtw0eNh3ovsnvl3lL5Mf_HSFnTPo3Oxy1UTrvejyh2NIzkux2yTF5omXFtrxpuj3fMMllTPOHxWD3ybgcyOjvTHlR97x9aCzhElBEA1Nm8HafQ/s1600-h/IMGP0446.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjobLb3JtBDOYdulh9MXsprqrVK9CVGNjtw0eNh3ovsnvl3lL5Mf_HSFnTPo3Oxy1UTrvejyh2NIzkux2yTF5omXFtrxpuj3fMMllTPOHxWD3ybgcyOjvTHlR97x9aCzhElBEA1Nm8HafQ/s320/IMGP0446.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214970495800987266" border="0" /></a> The night's sleep was pretty crappy. Our last roomate to get in, at 3:30, was really noisy and took an hour to get to bed. Then at 6 am our first roomate to bed was up and getting ready to leave and was also pretty noisy and took most of an hour to leave. We were up at 6:45 though to catch a train and we, being the nice people we are, were quiet and only took about 10 minutes to clear the room. Then, after checking out it was off to the train station, where we boarded a train to Stockholm. We hope to catch up on some missed sleep and really really hope that it doesn't rain in Stockholm the entire time we're there.Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1328457320225867572.post-87769581900678782782008-06-22T23:40:00.001-07:002008-11-12T21:23:05.984-08:00Boggy Bergen<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtwHflNaY8gY6eOeDUpNvAoeh1MShGeFgl2vZLEWXNt8WMEIEmX-Ud6UCY8zGd1WZxE6eD3QQ1Xjh_cfFiKKMIeVzLmOMk5wQ7HvFrCC9zDw0f-aS3Q9TAIMTyZy0V-onlBMFJpEih6k/s1600-h/IMGP0426.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHtwHflNaY8gY6eOeDUpNvAoeh1MShGeFgl2vZLEWXNt8WMEIEmX-Ud6UCY8zGd1WZxE6eD3QQ1Xjh_cfFiKKMIeVzLmOMk5wQ7HvFrCC9zDw0f-aS3Q9TAIMTyZy0V-onlBMFJpEih6k/s320/IMGP0426.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214967274600791810" border="0" /></a>The train to Bergen was great, but we were very tired and couldn't keep our eyes open to see all the scenery, but we need to come back through this way on our way to Oslo, so hopefully the second time around we aren't so tired. Anyway we arrived in Bergen and made our way across town to the tourist information office. We asked if they could book us some accomodations, of course, but for a 10 CAD fee. Hmmm. Well we didn't really have many more options so we paid the fee which ended up beeing about 10% the cost of our room. 100 CAD for a room in a private house with a shared bathroom. Norway is pricey<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPvgwFksXCXgGlcXXijUxOwu2U3wAvpzir4NpngIp3N1u9JyuqN5Dh136ZDkYZlL_Vz0l88dIkD1TZqxNN9APUxHXum2nMu83eTxkMH2azbz8CeZAyhS-5Wgwk3_z9qYyEZSCzZeKiqE/s1600-h/IMGP0395.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWPvgwFksXCXgGlcXXijUxOwu2U3wAvpzir4NpngIp3N1u9JyuqN5Dh136ZDkYZlL_Vz0l88dIkD1TZqxNN9APUxHXum2nMu83eTxkMH2azbz8CeZAyhS-5Wgwk3_z9qYyEZSCzZeKiqE/s320/IMGP0395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214965737688902258" border="0" /></a> and there is no way to avoid it, even the hostels would be almost this much. We had trouble finding the place because the map description had left and right mixed up and even the drawing suggested a left on the last turn, where it should have been a right. We met the father of the owner of the house who couldn't have been much more than 40. Cara and I both agree he was pretty young, and especially compared to European standards, Scandinavians have kids quite early (like Canadians), whereas in Paris, for example, it was the norm to see a 40 year old mother dragging around a 3 year old kid. Anyway, the son of the man apparently just bought this place for a paltry 3.5 million Krona (700,000 CAD) and is renting rooms to help pay the mortgage. Nice fellow, but busy, as he was the main renovator of the house. <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bNmasiKBru7EsqFvOvM7ZMXi0snS_KjKa8EWOt9E9ImQAGNAXid-L_mMEraVXySZpX7NYTBAdzNByqOch2iirlVS3CR-oCH5z5DVq66f86J1sY7LPRKMuGuapegSn8Jg0yOZ-DGMp40/s1600-h/IMGP0225.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2bNmasiKBru7EsqFvOvM7ZMXi0snS_KjKa8EWOt9E9ImQAGNAXid-L_mMEraVXySZpX7NYTBAdzNByqOch2iirlVS3CR-oCH5z5DVq66f86J1sY7LPRKMuGuapegSn8Jg0yOZ-DGMp40/s320/IMGP0225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214965727143320050" border="0" /></a>After unpacking a few things, we headed out to explore the town a bit. We walk around for a few minutes and then stopped off at the library in town to take advantage of their free internet. It was nice to find something free in a country so expensive. We then headed off to a nearby grocery store where we bought some pricey groceries. We headed back to the room and used the kitchen to cook some spaghetti with mystery meat (cheapish meat patties that were beside the meatballs). The dinner was good and filling and afterwards we kinda just lounged around and met the other owner of the house, the son's girlfriend. She was really nice too, and you could tell she was excited about owning a house. We chatted and then, because we were still beat, had an early night.<br /></p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifLWPWI-Fg5bQvMEcGGEnGKeGWNXCfzEUNSl_501U-YpbnBUmN3SGjYCsZo0Gwn09_ij1tR4qDomWFGUqkmDx1qYk1KhvEAM9w6WAWylkJnb2WrNTclrE95FMVyFkEBX_KuXm4KJfYQs4/s1600-h/IMGP0249.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifLWPWI-Fg5bQvMEcGGEnGKeGWNXCfzEUNSl_501U-YpbnBUmN3SGjYCsZo0Gwn09_ij1tR4qDomWFGUqkmDx1qYk1KhvEAM9w6WAWylkJnb2WrNTclrE95FMVyFkEBX_KuXm4KJfYQs4/s320/IMGP0249.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214967268726577026" border="0" /></a>Wenesday morning we got up early and made breakfast in the kitchen, scrambled eggs and yogurt. Then we headed out and found some information on hikes in the area. Then we set out on a nice 6 hour hike along some of the mountains in the area. Unfortunately we got only about 1/3 of the way through before a storm blew in and drenched us. We took cover from the wind in a little gully and from the rain under a tree and ate some lunch. After we were done eating we checked the sky and it didn't look like it was going to pass anytime soon so we turned around and headed back. Luckily going down is faster than </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixN8ZTaUI3Asvs0M6WUrPgLtTveggiiDCCVZeomARWi1nwbMaLbNcueiV4hYZ-jmKGcobYJvTSNCXC0aC5IWotpjalD5AVmMcNZAQjv4thF4Yz-KF2rg0bYhcqxdQ6nWyL1NqBovyG56Y/s1600-h/IMGP0292.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixN8ZTaUI3Asvs0M6WUrPgLtTveggiiDCCVZeomARWi1nwbMaLbNcueiV4hYZ-jmKGcobYJvTSNCXC0aC5IWotpjalD5AVmMcNZAQjv4thF4Yz-KF2rg0bYhcqxdQ6nWyL1NqBovyG56Y/s320/IMGP0292.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214965727887732914" border="0" /></a></p><p>coming up and we made good time back to town. Just good enough time to see the storm lift. Well not really, it just broke for a bit. So with a rainy afternoon ahead (and the weather report just said cloudy...), we hit the library again. The connection speed was really good and so we both got our own computers and Cara uploaded about a month's worth of photos to Facebook (check it out if you have Facebook, if you don't, get out from under your rock, just kidding). After the alloted hour we went back through the downpour to the room, where we hung up 2 sets of drenched clothing. It was nearing supper time, so we cooked round 2 of the spaghetti and relaxed and watched a movie. It was really too bad about the weather, because Bergen looks like an awesome town to explore. Unfortunately everything is outdoors and when it's raining so hard, you don't want to be outdoors. We headed to bed, hoping for some good weather the next morning, so we could explore before heading out to Oslo.</p> <p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4rLa5CzO76sZ1eV49hcnU6VCkYcIu4N_sHYqj0eESblOdLJM10K8p2W4Cyuuxo1TB_mnc-aqc469jCAzAzU0uIbOJxdujHxbcacyRhSAwfI4V1LGwJRidehfRsbBmjwsiKT3VWR1UrM/s1600-h/IMGP0370.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4rLa5CzO76sZ1eV49hcnU6VCkYcIu4N_sHYqj0eESblOdLJM10K8p2W4Cyuuxo1TB_mnc-aqc469jCAzAzU0uIbOJxdujHxbcacyRhSAwfI4V1LGwJRidehfRsbBmjwsiKT3VWR1UrM/s320/IMGP0370.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5214967270458133298" border="0" /></a></p> <p>Thursday morning we got up early and packed our stuff. Then we headed down to the kitchen and made round 2 of scrambled eggs. We looked out the windows too and assessed that another day of rain was ahead. With that in mind we decided to take the earlier train out to Oslo. The train didn't leave for an hour so we .... headed to the library again! At least we caught up on lots of research for the rest of our trip and Cara caught up on her facebook. Then we jumped on the train to Oslo and dealt with the surly conductors again. Both the journey to and from Bergen were met with some surly conductors who did not seem pleased to answer your questions. Anyway, here we sit, enjoying the great passing views again, and hope for some better weather in Oslo.<br /></p> <p><br /></p>Nathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12166713193632635214noreply@blogger.com0