"The Map" Summer 2010 Destinations

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Scroll across the map using the arrows on the top to see all of the locations.

A) Beijing China B) Ulaanbaatar Mongolia C) Irkutsk Russia D) Listvyanka Russia E) Ekaterinburg Russia F) Moscow Russia G) St Petersburg Russia H) Helsinki Finland I) Tallinn Estonia J) Stockholm Sweden K) Oslo Norway L) Andalsnes Norway M) Bergen Norway N) Oslo Norway O) Copenhagen Denmark P)London United Kingdom

It was an awesome, expansive trip that covered a lot of land and I met numerous amazing people along the way. Until the next adventure, keep loving life.

The following link will get you all of this trips photo albums and some previous trips pictures.

Click on this link for the photo albums

Stonehenge and Bath England Photos

I had another terrific day today. I went to the City of Bath and saw the Roman Baths and then on to Stonehenge for a private tour where we actually got to walk around in Stonehenge and not just around the perimeter of it. It was so cool. I booked a day trip from London out to both and it turned out to everyone’s surprise, even our guides that we had a private evening tour of Stonehenge that included going right up to the stones and checking them out as the sunset in the background. Most people have to do the loop around the outside so this was really neat, hence why I took so many photos because there was no one around and therefore no one to get in the way. It was closed to the general public at this point. There were 25 of us in our group and all day long there are tour busses upon tour busses there, but not for us. So this was really special.
Check out the photos at the following link;
Many Stonehenge and Bath Photos

London England, Photos

The picture is taken with the Tower Bridge in the background.
Oh my word. I have had a sightseeing overload kind of day. There is just so much to see in London my head is spinning. I started the day at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard with all of the other tourists and then I did the hop on hop off bus around London. It went to all the major sites and helped me get my bearings. Total tourist thing to do, but with the number of sites there are in this city it was well worth the 20 Pounds it costs. It even included a boat cruise and walking tours. I ended up at Westminster Abbey at mass time, so that saved having to pay over 10 pound to see the inside of the church, they can’t charge you to worship, so I went to mass. I saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery (when it was raining outside, a good way to escape the rain), St Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge to name a few things. The museums are free in London which is great. So that was a great way to escape the rain.
Check out the numerous photos at the following link;
Many London England Photos

Pub Crawl Clapham London England Photos

Aug 20 2010 A little bit of a hiccup today that cost me $350. I missed my flight and had to buy another one. It was a stupid, costly mistake, but these things happen. I was on my way to the airport by train which was to take 20 minutes and the train was delayed. It was to arrive on track number two but in hind sight there was a regular train that comes on track number two at the same time and the one I needed must have come through second. The monitors didn’t indicate where this train was going and there were no workers around so I got on it. I guess I should have waited and maybe there was the correct train behind it? I wasn’t the only one who got on the incorrect train. We realized after about 30 minutes on it that it wasn’t going to the airport and had to get off and wait for another train. We got on the next train that was also to take 20 minutes to get to the airport. I and the other three people that made the same mistake got on the train only for it to go to Central Station and be delayed there for another 20 minutes or more making this train take 50 minutes. I made it to the airport as my flight was boarding and had to buy a new ticket. When I bought it the guy said you need to move as this new flight leaves in 50 minutes and you need to check in. It was funny because then this flight was delayed 25 minutes waiting at the gate and if that had have happened to the first flight maybe I could have made it. I will give the check in person credit they called the gate to see if I could board but they said I wouldn’t make it. So I am hoping these are my three things as you know things tend to happen in threes, ATM card eaten, wrong train and missed flight, hopefully the last two aren’t a combo unit and I still have a third thing to come.
So last night in the paper I read that SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), who I am flying with, has had 17 000 safety violations that they have flown with over the last seven years, so maybe I wasn’t suppose to make that first flight? Anyways these things happen and it is a good thing I still have a pay check coming through, a credit card to fall back on and a job to come home to. Off to London for the week to spend time with Karen and Tina my cabin mates from the Trans Mongolian/Siberian Railway.
I wasn’t the only one who missed my flight in the line boarding these two guys beside me were also belly aching that they had to get new flights and pay the difference etc. Another guy with them also had the same problem and he only has one hour to make it to his next flight in London and on to the States. I wish him good luck. I cannot see him making it.
Karen gives the most amazing directions. I made it to her flat without a problem. It took an hour and twenty minutes from the airport via the Underground or Tube with three changes and then a little walk. After the rest of the day I really appreciated her thorough instructions. I arrived to a lovely homemade pizza dinner with Karen, Tina and Bobbie (Tina’s mom) who are both visiting from Brisbane. Karen and Tina were my cabin mates on the train across Siberia.
The flat is huge so we all fit nicely. It is a two bedroom that she shares with another woman Kirsty, who happens to be in France at a wedding for the weekend. The flat has a good size kitchen a lovely bathroom with a nice tub and shower and a big living room. It is a pub that was converted into four flats. The guests are all in the basement and it is massive. We each have some form of double bed, a futon, blow-up or a mattress and there is still tons of room for all of our stuff and a few tables and even more floor space. It is great. The flat is in a great location too. Just off of High Street in Clapham Common.
So yesterday we headed out to check out the many Charity Shops on High Street and the Pound Store (Dollar Store) as it is so good and ended up on an old fashioned open top double-decker bus doing a pub crawl. As you do... We hit the Charity Shops along the way checking out the park and some of the sites and then had lunch at a pub and a couple of pints. We made it to the Pound Shop and then thought on the way back to the flat we would stop into another pub for a drink and happened upon this free pub crawl so we joined it with all of our shopping in hand. It was very random. We ended up having an awesome afternoon touring around in the open top bus and having a pint and some great food along the way, got to love spontaneity.
Check out the photos at the following link;
Pub Crawl in Clapham London Photos

More Copenhagen, Photos

Well today was day two on the free bike in Copenhagen and my pelvis is suffering from it. You know the pain I am talking about, you have all had it. Man, oh, man it is raw. The bike was a great way to get around this city though. Today I met Kelly a girl from Nova Scotia in my room and we toured around together, you can cover so much more ground on the bike. It was fantastic and there was no rain today and the sun was a shinning, yeah. Kelly is like having your own personal photographer, I feel like there are many Sarah shots today. You can see for yourself;
More Copenhagen Denmark Photos

Copenhagen Denmark, Pictures

This is a picture of one of the bike traffic lights in Copenhagen. They have a great transportation system for cars and bikes. There are bus lanes, car lanes, bike lanes and even turning lanes for bikes, all controlled by separate traffic lights.

I am currently in Copenhagen Denmark and having a great time. It has been raining for the last couple of days, but today it wasn’t until late in the afternoon and I had got most of the day in dry. Copenhagen has an awesome bike rental system, they are free for hire. You only need a 20 Kroner coin, $4 piece. You put it in the slot like we do at home with quarters for the grocery cart and you get it back when you return the bike to any spot around town. So I met a guy from Saskatoon in my hostel room this morning and we toured around together for the day. I walked a ton yesterday but with the bike I was able to cover more ground today. What an awesome system. Some other European cities have the free bikes but you have to use your credit card as a deposit and the systems are not the easiest to figure out when you put your card in, so this was easy. I am sure if they had these in our town they would be put to use late at night getting home from the bar and instead of the boys having to return shopping carts from the apartments it would be bicycles. I know I would be using them to get home.

We happened upon this interesting hippy part of town today called Christiania. There is a large arch way they says “Christiania” you can enter through and when you leave the other side says “You are now entering the EU.” I mention this because I am sure there are no rules in this little commune. There are pot plants growing freely along the pathways and in flower pots, drug paraphernalia for sale at large, as well as cheap food and drink and typical souvenirs. There are signs around that say “say no to hard drugs.” There are people wearing and selling “Safe Christiania “shirts. It is on prime harbor front real estate and there must be people wanting to demolish this little area. It has great housing complexes around it.
Went to the National museum and library today to get out of the rain for a bit and they both were very good. The library is very old and very new. Two well combined buildings.

You couldn’t take pictures in Hippy Ville so the ones I have of the outskirts don’t do it justice. You can check out all the Copenhagen pictures at the following link;

Copenhagen Denmark Pictures

Flam Railway Norway, Photos

Check out this crazy (up until last year) two way road. At this point I am 12 hours into a 14 hour trip across Norway. Today’s journey consisted of three trains, a bus and a boat and is called “Norway in a Nutshell.” The trip takes you from one side of the country to the other. The day started with a packed, standing room only train that resembled more of a commuter train than a tourist trip. You could say it was over sold. At the next spot where you are to catch a bus there wasn’t enough of them, but things got figured out and more space was available as the day went on. I was one of hundreds doing this little excursion today. It is not a package deal, just sold as one so you have the right connections along the route. Enough about the logistics, it is all about the views and they are SPECTACULAR! I took the Flam Railway today which is known for its twists and turns up the fjord. It really is breath taking with huge rock cliffs, mountains, waterfalls, bridges, tunnels and random little villages. There was one tunnel that was over six kilometers long that I went through the other day. There are also locals on these modes of transportation too, but they are going to the fjord to climb it, or mountain bike up it. Good on them. The little towns and fjords are beautiful. If I come back here, or if I could suggested to anyone coming here, skip the big cities and head to the fjords, bring a good pair of hiking books and let your thighs ache with the rest of them. If you hit the right spots you can kayak, ice hike on a glacier and bike to name just a few things. I tried to take some photos but as you know they never capture the whole thing and really I just had to stop again and just take it all in. You can check out what I did get at the following link;
Pictures of The Flam Railway and crossing Norway by three trains, a bus and a boat

Bergen Norway, Photos

The photo is taken in the Fish Market in Bergen Norway. Bergen is another lovely town, with great hiking paths a funicular up to the top of their large hill and neat old buildings. I took the funicular up and walked back down zigzagging through the forest, my thighs are getting a good work out. Again there were lots of people running up and down it for their exercise. They sure are active here.
Bergen is a town of rain, so I did a walking tour through the town in the rain today. It was quite cool so my scarf and sweater were needed today and then by 7:30pm the sun was out and I was working up a sweat in shorts and a t-shirt.
Check out the photos of Bergen at the following link;
Pictures of Bergen Norway

The Fjords of Norway, Photos

Well I have just arrived in Bergen Norway after a journey that consisted of three busses, five ferries and 12 ½ hours of scenery. You may say, wow, you can keep that. But really it was WOW, WOW to the views. The journey wasn’t really that difficult. The busses went right onto the ferries and they were all pretty short crossings. The trip was from Andalsnes in the West Coast of Norway, to Bergen further south on the Coast. I can say that I don’t think a straight passage exists on a Norwegian highway or train track for that matter, as I spent the day before getting from Oslo to Andalsnes by train, also SPECTACULAR. Everything winds and bends around and through the mountains, fjords and lakes. Always one of the three to look at and then there is the road to check out. It weaves and winds up and down the Fjords and is extremely narrow in parts and when you come head on with a tractor trailer and just squeeze by each other on the side of a cliff you count your blessings and this just happens and keeps happening. The site of the trains zigzagging up, down and a across the fjords are something to see.

At one point today the bus drove by this large lake and it was the right time of day for the mountains and sky to be mirrored in the lake, it was awesome. There are many waterfalls and streams running down the Fjords that are excellent too. The pictures don’t do it justice and I just had to stop trying to capture it. I would recommend you come and see what Norway has to offer. Get out into the little towns and see it. Bring your wallet though, for your reference a can of diet Coke costs $6, she’s a little pricey in this fine country.

So after my train journey yesterday I went for a hike as you do in Norway up one of these fjords or mountains. Wow, let’s just say that is a little bit of a work out. Up, up, up, over the roots, through the roots, up rocks, down rocks, no sure footing and then you make it up there and just have to come down. It was just as bad coming down, worse on the knees actually. So as I am struggling up a buff Norwegian man with his shirt off and tight little shorts goes sprinting by me and like that wasn’t enough he lapped me coming down. There are competitions in town to see who can get up it the fastest. I would have to say if I lived in that little town I think I would get better at climbing in general, maybe even sprinting up as Andalsnes resembles a ghost town. But let’s not forget the views, once up that fjord the views were spectacular and it was worth the effort.

Check out the photos at the following link, some are through the train window so not the best quality but a little taste of Norway just the same.


Pictures of the Fjords in Norway

Uppsala Sweden, Oslo Norway, 2 sets of photos

The picture is of me riding the statue at the Sculpture Park in Oslo Norway.

I visited Uppsala Sweden the other day. It is a lovely University town with a 190 000 people and 40 000 of them are students at the “oldest University in Scandinavia.” The University has a cool building with a copula on top. The copula is open to the main floor where dissections were done 300 years ago on prisoners. The room is a big cylinder with seats up and down the sides for observing. It was a quant town and easy to get around by foot. They had a reggae festival on, so I was a little out of place because I didn’t have my hair in dreads.

At the grocery store you have to see the tills they have. The cashier doesn’t even have to come up with how to make your change anymore. The machine literally passes out the correct bills and spits out the change. The cashier doesn’t have to put the money into the till either. They just have to place it on the corresponding number and the machine sucks it up.

I am currently in Oslo Norway, again another nice town. There are some beautiful neighborhoods here and lovely walking to do through the residential areas. Speaking of walking, yesterday Jessie (yet another Aussie traveler) and I walked over 20 km’s. It was great, you name it, we walked to it. We saw a Viking ship, the ski jump, the Opera house, the palace, the beach and the very cool sculpture park. We went to a free concert at the Cathedral which was amazing. It was put on by the Norway Youth Choir and they were excellent. There was also the Tour de Norway for kids, bike race today through the town.

For the next little while I will be moving around Norway doing a circle around to the north, west coast and back to Oslo to check out the scenery by, train, boat, bus and of course foot.

Check out the Uppsala Sweden pictures at the following link;

Pictures of Uppsala Sweden

Check out the Oslo Norway pictures at the following link;

Pictures of Oslo Norway

Stockholm Sweden, Pictures

I love when you are presently surprised and that is how I felt on my boat trip from Helsinki to Stockholm. I had booked a ticket to come by ferry, but as it turns out the “ferry” was really a mini cruise ship, complete with entertainment. It is big business to go between the two places and people do it as a mini holiday. So here I was thinking I was going on a true “ferry” for the night and hoping I could get some sleep. I was told I had a bed, which was great as people told me you could have to sleep on the deck or on the restaurant floor once it is closed. So when I showed up and was given a key to a cabin it was great. I was waiting for the other three people to show up in the room as it could accommodate four, but nope, had it to myself. Even had a bathroom in the cabin and it was the best shower I had had in a week. So then I had to dawn a dress as it was a cruise boat and I went to watch a couple of bands play. It was great. Single girl on a cruise ship in a dress at the pub leads to some interesting individuals to entertain you for the night. I will leave it at that. All in all, it was a great evening.

So now I am in Stockholm. It is a lovely city with lots of water and islands. I have done tons of walking here and a little shopping in the neat boutique type shops in the old city. Really it has been eight hour days of walking and checking out the lovely buildings. Sorry Jack there is no Mats Sudin stuff around. They don’t realize how popular he is and how lucky they are to have him. All they care about is this princess who just got married, big deal, what about hockey?

Today I met my friend Michaela from the Serbia - Gun Train (see my post- guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian train) to refresh your memory.
Guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian Train

http://smoloney.blogspot.com/2009/07/guns-drugs-fireworks-cigarettes-and.html
She is great. She is just back from a one month train trip through Eastern Europe. So it was cool to chat about that. She is living in Uppsala, a University town, so tomorrow I will go and have a wander around there. It is a 40 minute train ride outside of Stockholm. While we were having a hot chocolate and latte at the café in the square we were entertained by a set of three female musicians. They were absolutely brilliant so I spent the afternoon listening to them. They did a wide variety of cover tunes and were excellent.

Check out the photos of Stockholm at the following link;
Stockholm Sweden Pictures

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Tallinn, Estonia Photos

Took a little day trip across the Baltic Sea yesterday to Tallinn Estonia. As you can do in Europe, just hop over to another country for the day, so that is what I did. It was an hour and a half long ferry ride. Tallinn Estonia has a lovely “Old City” to mull about in. You can check out the photos at the following link.

Tallinn Estonia Pictures

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