A little change in plans...

There has been a little change in plans. My dad was taken to the hospital the day I was to leave and is in Intensive Care (ICU) with pneumonia. He is getting great care and has come a long way since the day he was admitted but still has a long way to go. Please keep him in your prayers. For those wondering Antarctica will remain on my wish list.

Day by day he is getting better, so keep fighting dad.

"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