A story of two little pigs and their travels

We're back!

2009-07-17T14:00:00.003+10:00

Okay, so this is just a short post.

We're back in Australia - we got back in early March in fact. We're planning to put up a whole host of posts about our adventures since we left Sweden but we were so busy travelling that we never got round to doing it!

Something will be up in the next few weeks though just to make the blog complete!

:) Nat and Candice

Exploring the Arctic Circle

2008-12-02T02:27:00.020+11:00

It was getting towards the end of November and the days were getting shorter. If we wanted to see Lappland, it would have to be soon or else it'd be too dark to do much up North.

We decided it was now or never and so together with Thomas, Ryan and Casen we booked our 16-hour train trip up north past the Arctic circle to see what lay in store. The plan was to go all the way to Abisko (Sweden's northernmost settlement of any significance) and if we were lucky, see the northern lights!

Casen, Ryan, Thomas and Candice on the nattåg (night train) from Uppsala to Abisko

The trip in "cattle class" took its toll on us

Towns were blanketed in snow as we whizzed by

The train ride was very long and we were inexplicably delayed at various stations through the night. Finally as day broke, we saw the stunning view of the sub-Arctic tundras. We passed Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost city and prepared to get off at Abisko.

Unfortunately for us, Abisko has two train stations. Originally, we got off at the right stop (in town) but due to a communication error, we thought we had disembarked too early and so we hurriedly got back onto the train only to find we had been right all along!

This meant we had to get off at the secluded Abisko Turist-station stop, which though stunningly beautiful, was a 30-40 minute walk back to where we were supposed to be - and was closed anyway. It was around midday and the sun was in the sky, so we decided a little walk through the snow couldn't hurt us!

The train as it drops us off at the wrong station

This was our view as we got off

We were suprised to find that Connex had its fingers in this pie too! All the way up here in the Arctic Circle!

Candice all rugged up like a pig

View of the mountains and the lake

The boys taking it all in

The light was getting low and Casen's feet were beginning to freeze so we had to make tracks and find our way back to Abisko village.

Trekking back to Abisko village.

Abisko

Abisko has a population of about 170, one supermarket, one restaurant, a bunch of houses, and a whole lot of amazing scenery. Situated as far north as you can possibly go and still be within the borders of Sweden, it was the perfect place to experience life in the world's northernmost extremes.

East Abisko station

At this time of the year, the sun rises at about 10am and sets about 1.30pm. With barely enough daylight to work up a sweat, the days were precious. The darkest day of the year is usually the 21st of December where the sun doesn't even rise!

View from our hostel room

We stayed at the Abisko Fjällturer hostel, owned by an eccentric old Swede and his two sons. It was more like a house than a hostel - everything was done ad hoc. The people we met were all really fun and the fact that we didn't have a television, mobile phone reception or the internet added to the isolation and need to socialise.

The sauna is very popular in Nordic countries - and as it is customary to take a sauna naked, usually males and females are seperated in public or communal saunas. Not here! The old Swedish owner (dubbed "Naked Man" by us) was adament that everyone should be in the sauna together naked! We weren't so keen and so only Candice ended up trying it out (with other girls of course) after they begged Naked Man to let them go in alone.

Having a sauna involves, running out naked into the snow and rolling around before coming back in for more sauna action. It's apparently very healthy.

Glögg, traditional Swedish Christmas wine

Julmust, Swedish Christmas softdrink - it tastes like spicy coke

Thomas in the kitchen where he belongs

One of the most amazing things about being north of the Arctic Circle is experiencing the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). These are naturally occuring lights in the sky (usually at night) which can be observed in the polar regions of the world (the Southern Lights of Antarctica are called Aurora Australis).

The first night was clear and we were lucky enough to actually see the Northern Lights in action! Unfortunately it was too dark (and our cameras too crappy) to get a decent picture to show you what we saw, but it was beautiful.

Warming ourselves by a fire while we wait for the lights to appear

The next day we decided to go cross-country skiing around the area. In heavy snow, skiing is the best way to get around fast and explore.

Candice ready to go

We had to make the most of the weak daylight

We decided to take a route suggested by Naked Man which loosely followed the railway line back to the tourist station at which we had been marooned the day before and then cut off towards the water.

Snow coming off the mountains

The road

I got so hot skiing that I had to take off my headgear

Pigs at the Arctic Circle

A frozen river gorge

When we arrived at the water's edge, we "made camp" and drank some hot tea from our thermos. The tea was cold within about a minute and would freeze in about five.

On the expanse of frozen nothingness

Candice

The lake was full of floating ice

As it would soon be dark, we decided to make our way back.

Abisko

Hanging out at night with the hostel crew

Early the next morning (well, 9am but it was dark and it seemed like 5am) we set about preparing for our dog-sled trip.

Thomas and Ryan get close and personal with their vehicles

We were taught how to "saddle" the dogs and fasten them to our sleds. After a crash-course in braking and steering, we were off!

Candice's view from her sled

To be honest, if you had asked me a year ago if I ever thought I would go dog-sledding I would have said "probably not". I guess it's one of those cool things that you'd do if you got the chance but that you probably wouldn't go out of your way to make happen. It was very surreal to be actually flying through the air on a wooden contraption pulled by huskies!

My team and I

Candice during one of our breaks

The dogs would howl alot and were dear things

Whenever we left tree cover, the icy wind would whip our faces so much that one of my cheeks was numb.

View of Casen as he struggles in the snow storm

This is how beautiful Lappland is:-

We left Abisko with a heavy heart, knowing we would probably never be back. Our original plan was to go to Narvik in Norway to see the fjörds, but due to train delays, we decided to go a little south to Kiruna.

Kiruna

Kiruna is Sweden's northernmost city and is the capital of the district of Kiruna, in which Abisko is situated. A mining town of 25,000 people, over the next 10 years it is actually going to be moved about 20km to counter mining-related subsidence.

Kiruna is world famous for the Ice Hotel. Unfortunately, we were a bit early and they had just begun buidling it.

The mines of Kiruna

The hazard of snow on public benches

Walking around Kiruna reminded us of a ski-resort town.

The streets of Kiruna were completely snowed-over

The wooden Kiruna Church, built in 1912 was voted Sweden's most beautiful building

The interior of the church and the organ - simple yet beautiful

It was only 2pm but it seemed like late night. We made our way back to Uppsala, catching the night train at 6.30pm - we were so tired that we slept almost all the way!

Helsinki

2008-11-07T04:53:00.016+11:00

On the 30th of October, we made our way across the Baltic sea to Finland. This was our final international trip while we live in Sweden and our first one by sea.

A cheap alternative to short-haul plane travel is to go by sea. Catching the cruise ship (or ferry) from Stockholm to Helsinki is an experience in itself. Several ferry lines operate across the Baltic sea. We caught the Mariella, which is a ship in the Viking Line.

Scandinavian ferry cruises across the Baltic are renowned for their "booze cruises". It seems that Swedes and Finns come out of their shells when they get onboard and literally drink themselves to death on these cruises. This is because alcohol is duty-free onboard due to the fact that it's an international cruise. Although our trip had its fair share of drunk Finnish medical students on our level, it was otherwise not that bad. The real drinking cruises happen on actual overnight "booze cruises" from Stockholm to Åland and back.

My cabin: the fake window rubbed in the fact we were in the lowest class.

I was sharing a room with Maxim, the quirky Ukranian. Here he is with Candice at the bar.

After a long journey, we finally arrived in foggy, wet, cold Helsinki.

We were met by Richard Brewis, an old family friend who I (Nat) had known back in Sabah. The Brewises were linguists who were responsible for the world's first complete Murut-language dictionary.

Candice and Richard

We were blessed enough to stay in a hotel this trip. Candice was so excited she had to be in the picture.

Upon arrival we embarked on the "Richard Tour of Helsinki". Richard took us round to see many of the city's landmarks on the reliable tram-network around central Helsinki.

Finland is an interesting country caught between Scandinavia and Russia. A Nordic country with a population of 5.3 million, it is not technically part of Scandinavia. Finnish is one of the most difficult languages in the world and is virtually unrelated to anything else in wide usage apart from Estonian (and more distantly, Hungarian).

Having said that, Finland's history and culture has always been linked to Scandinavia - including hundreds of years under Swedish rule. Today, evidence of this can still be seen as Swedish has been kept as the country's 2nd official language - street signs in Helsinki are in both languages and kids are taught both at school. In fact 5% of the population still speak Swedish as their mother-tongue! This means most Finns are trilingual, being able to speak Finnish, Swedish and English fluently.

Finland was conquered by Russia in the early 1800s and only gained independence in 1918 after a bloody war. Unlike it's southern Baltic cousins (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Finland stood up to the USSR and resisted expanding Soviet influence, turning towards Western Europe and its former colonial master, Sweden.

Richard and I in one of Helsinki's market squares

Walking around the streets of Helsinki, we realised that it was a much more recent city than Stockholm with an abundance of neo-classical and art-deco influence in its architecture.

Richard took us to Helskinki Olympic Stadium where we tried some traditional Finnish quisine - herring with sausage and pork soup!

At the cafeteria of Helsinki Olympic Stadium

Helsinki played host to the Summer Olympics in 1952, something which the city is still proud of today. An amazing view of the city can be seen from the stadium tower but unfortunately it was closed when we arrived.

Helsinki Olympic Stadium

The first photo above is us beside the statue of Paavo Nurmi, arguably the greatest track and field athlete of all-time (yes I looked him up). He won 12 olympic medals (second only to Michael Phelps) and broke 22 world records and probably would have won more had he been allowed to compete at the 1932 summer olympics.

Founded by the King of Sweden in 1550, today Helsinki is a bustling city of just over a million inhabitants. It seems to have a character of its own, unlike Scandinavia but also far from Russian. Perhaps it's the language, or the fact that Finnish people generally keep to themselves (hence the stereotype of the "silent Finn") and avoid small talk.

A busy Helsinki street

One of Helsinki's best attractions is the world-renowed "rock church" or Temppeliaukion Kirkko. Built in 1969 this Lutheran church is actually built into the living rock.

The Rock Church

The National Parliament Building

We were lucky enough to catch up with the Brewises who have been back in Finland for over a decade now. It had been 11 years since I had seen them. They took us out for Nepalese!

Me, Richard, Johanna and Kielo

Much like Sweden, the traditional Christian demomination of most Finns is Lutheran. Helsinki Cathedral is the largest church in the city.

Helsinki Cathedral

The reliable Helsinki trams

The Finnish Worker's Memorial is often the subject of pranks

McDonalds was not far from where we were staying so we couldn't resist!

Finding solace at Maccas

Hanging out with the Brewises in Vantaa, suburban Helsinki - everyone was changing to winter tyres

Our friends from back in Uppsala - Lauri and Vincent just happened to be in Helsinki the same weekend

Hotel Anna, where we stayed - a nice, clean hotel in the heart of town. Highly reccomended.

Helsinki Central Station

One of the locals?

The Orthodox Cathedral

View of Helsinki from the Orthodox Church

The markets

The harbour

At the docks

Candice in the park

Since we had enjoyed it in Latvia and Estonia, we felt it was necessary to taste Hesburger (Finland's own fast-food chain) one last time.

Munching down a couple of bad boys at Hesburger

This is another Viking Line ship, the Gabriella which we caught home to Sweden

Helsinki at night as we cruise away

Our trip home was uneventful except that we decided to explore more of the ship this time. We celebrated by drinking a couple of duty-free beers on the chilly deck as we watched the lights of Helsinki fade into the distance.

On the Gabriella, drinking Becks

We awoke the next morning to see ourselves calmly cruise into Stockholm.

Coming into Stockholm, we pass lovely waterside suburbs

For more pictures of our time in Helsinki, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62335&l=9fd25&id=681501850

Autumn in Uppsala

2008-11-07T04:52:00.017+11:00

Höst = Autumn

Despite the fact that we're writing this blog entry in winter, the bulk of our stay in Uppsala has been in Autumn and so I (Nat) will do the narrative in the present tense.

Autumn shots

Uppsala is beautiful in Autumn and we're glad we're here to experience it.

As I (Nat) cycle into town

The river Fyris

The Botanical Gardens, started by legendary biologist Carl Linnaeus.

More shots of the Fyris from town

Domkyrkan amongst the golden leaves of Autumn

Uppsala Castle

Lake Mälaren is only a 10 minute bike ride from our place so one day we decided to check it out. In summer, it would have been a great place to take a dip. I was tempted but chickened out.

Thomas and I on our bikes

Is it safe to eat?

Official lake exporation crew

The beachy part of the lakeside

Our mode of transport

The boats at Skarholmen

One of the many beautiful houses by the lake

The trees are green and gold

View of Uppsala from the castle

We cycle past this everyday. The shiny thing in the second photo is a train in the distance, reflecting the sunlight

Lilla Sunnersta in Autumn

Autumn life in Uppsala

Judging from this blog (and our Facebook profiles), it would seem like we spend most of our time travelling around other countries. Truth be told, we do have normal mundane everyday lives in our temporary home, Sweden. It's just that, you see, it's not often that we take photos of mundane everyday things.

Our lives are simple, and we're amazingly happy. We don't have a car here - so we get everywhere on our bikes. Since we live about 6 kilometres out of town, we get a lot of exercise cycling in and out everyday.

On the road to the shopping centre at Gotsunda

Candice has uni around 3 days a week and I (Nat) am studying Swedish full-time at Vuxenutbildningen Cederblad (Adult Education Centre) which I can do for free because somehow I qualify for free government-sponsored Swedish lessons for immigrants. It's a bit like school - I start at 8.30am, have recess at 10am and finish at 12.00pm. I've also just started a job at a pizzeria - but I'll talk more about this in our Winter blog post.

Initially we had a lot of time on our hands and not so many friends. These days, we're always filling our free time with travel and hanging out - we actually find ourselves quite tired!

Candice cooking köttbuller (Swedish meatballs) at home

We do miss Australia now and then but Uppsala is beginning to feel a lot like home. Our favourite show on TV is Australian Border Security, which for some reason airs for about 1 and a half hours every day here! I never even used to watch it back home.

I'm teaching Candice to play the guitar and she's really good!

We take turns swapping between the bed and the floor

At Henning's birthday party

Candice's birthday fika

We've also met a whole bunch of people from around the world through our international bible study group (which is in English).

Singing songs and doing the actions to "Father Abraham" at the International Bible Study Group

At Sweden's very own fast-food chain, Max. The Crunchy Nacho Burger takes the cake.

At Flogsta with the crew - it was sort of a dinner party

Thomas and Alex's lovely chokladkaka

Every Thursday, it is a Swedish tradition to eat pea-soup. This is what it looks like.

At Vera's birthday dinner

Visitors to Uppsala

Despite the small quarters of our studio apartment, we've actually been able to play host a couple of times to visiting friends of ours to Uppsala. Seeing as most weekends this Autumn we have spent travelling Europe, it was a small wonder that we managed to fit it in!

In September, straight after our Berlin and Amsterdam trips, Pascal (who's just moved to Germany) visited us from Sabah. We went to school together back in Kota Kinabalu.

Pascal and I in Stockholm during his visit

Pascal even joined us for Henning's birthday party

A little later in Autumn, Emily visited us from Melbourne. She was on a little world trip of her own.

Emily and Candice cycling to the city from Sunnersta

At the castle

Candice and Emily marvel at the beauty of Autumn

Cycling down by the river

Tuning the brand new organ at Dom Kyrkan - it takes about one month to tune!

Lake Mälaren is a great place to hang out and have a bonfire. A whole bunch of us (including Emily) made it down one chilly Autumn day and roasted marshmallows, sausages, played games and generally had a good time. We had to cycle home by about 4pm as it was cold and getting dark.

Ginger, Hannah, Candice and Jenny

Roasting sausages and marshmellows

All in all, it's been a great Autumn. Uppsala looks beautiful and though it is a bit cold, we're still able to cycle around everywhere. It feels great to be alive!

Us on a rock in the forest near our house

Fore more pictures of Autumn in Uppsala, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62305&l=d63c6&id=681501850

Estonia

2008-10-15T02:59:00.014+11:00

In the early morning hours of Sunday the 11th of October, we made our way to Riga Central Bus Station. The day before we had booked tickets on a Eurolines bus to Tallinn and we didn't want to miss it.

When we arrived we thought we had gone back in time. Most of the busses looked like they hadn't had a tune up since 1978 - and some sounded like it too!

The Soviet-era busses at the Riga Coach Terminal

We were relieved when our modern Eurolines coaster pulled up and were soon fast asleep as we sped through the Latvian countryside towards Estonia.

Since recently both signing up as member countries to the Shengen Agreement, Latvia and Estonia have no border countrol between each other.

The Estonian border

Estonia's history is almost identical to that of Latvia. From about 1227, Estonia has been passed between Danish, German, Swedish and Russian rule. In 1918, Estonia declared its independence from Russia only to be swallowed up by the Soviet Union again in World War II. Much like its neighbours to the south, Nazi Germany took over for a few years only to be replaced again by the Soviet Union.

Estonia regained its freedom with the fall of the Soviet Union on 20 August 1991 and since then has become one of the fastest-growing economies on earth, looking towards Scandinavia instead of Moscow, throwing embracing English and distancing itself from Russian.

Estonians are finnic people, closely related to the Finns. The Finnish and Estonian languages share many similarities and are almost (but not quite) mutually intellegible.

Pärnu

Our first Estonian stop was Pärnu. Pärnu is the 4th-largest city in Estonia and was a sleepy little town which had a remarkable mix of ugly Soviet-style buildings and newer Scandinavian-style houses and shopping centres.

These odd-looking wooden houses can be found all throughout Estonia and Latvia

Scenes of Pärnu

Tallinn

Approximately 1.3 million people live in Estonia. Almost a third of the population of the whole country live in Tallinn, Estonia's amazing little capital.

We had heard that Tallinn was beautiful but quite simply, it was amazing! Tallinn is far more developed than Riga and has one of the most well-preserved Old Towns in Europe - literally like a real-life Disneyland!

The Tallinn tram we caught from the bus depot to the Old Town

When you walk into the Old Town, you could well be travelling back in time. It's a wonder that this medieval museum has survived hundreds of years of war, invasion and even Soviet occupation! Cobblestone streets, churches, castles, a brilliant view, great nightlife - it has it all.

Entrance to the Old Town

Let's go back in time!

The Three Sisters

St Olav's Church was once the tallest building in the world (between 1549 and 1625). Named after King Olaf of Norway, it was built in the 1200s and was the centre of Tallinn's then thriving Scandinavian community. And yes, in case you were wondering, they made it taller in 1549.

Beautiful Old Town streets

The Old Town square

Candice in the square. If you stand in a certain spot, you can see all the tallest towers in the Old town from the one place.

Needless to say, tourism is booming in Tallinn these days. What is still touted as a cheaper alternative to Scandinavia, is now almost just as expensive. In a bid to adopt the Euro by 2010, prices have almost doubled within the space of only a couple of years.

The medieval-themed restaurant in Tallinn. Actually very cool.

Old and new: McDonalds at Viru gate

Get some former Soviet Maccas in me!

Viru Gate

St Catherine's Passage

Pigs in Tallinn!

The Tallinn Old town boasts at least 7 church towers (maybe more, we might have missed some!)

Part of the castle on Toompea Hill

Alexander Nevsky Orthodox Cathedral

The Danish King's Garden, where according to legend the Danish flag fell from the sky in battle signalling victory for the Danes

I couldn't resist it

Estonia is truly moving on from its colonial past and its unwanted incorporation into the USSR. These days you might be forgiven for thinking it is part of Scandinavia - because that is certainly the direction it's moving in. The similarity between the Estonian and Finnish languages, its proximity to Sweden and Finland and the constant fear that Russia will one day breach its borders only serves to hasten this trend. Not a single bank is Estonian-owned, Tallinn is served almost exclusively by Swedish banks.

The contrast between Old Tallinn and New Tallinn is striking. From the lookout on Toompea Hill, you can see skyscrapers among the steeples. Tallinn is apparently the most "wired" city on earth with wireless broadband available virtually everywhere. It's also the birthplace of Skype.

An amazing blend of Old and New

The Old Town, from Toompea lookout

The situation with ethnic Russians in Estonia is almost the same as in Latvia, if not worse. There is very little intermingling between Russians and Estonians, despite Russians making up 30% of the population. The tables have turned on the Russians who are now the lower class, many of whom are now stateless as they were not granted Estonian citizenship in 1991. While there are many exceptions where people are mingling (especially among the younger people in the cities), it's still a sensitive topic.

"Estonia", 1994

After living in Sweden for several months, we were overjoyed that we could finally afford to watch a movie at the cinemas. We went to the aptly named "Coca Cola Plaza" to watch Star Wars: Clone Wars.

Coca Cola Plaza

Leaving the walls of the Old Town, the 21st century suddenly hits you.

The Tallinn City Centre

Tallinn has been refered to as "the Silicon Valley of the Baltic"

This Soviet-era building is now part of chic Tallinn

We were extremely fortunate to be able to catch up with our Estonian friends we had made while in Riga. On our last night in town we met up with Tina, Kristiine and Nele who took us to one of Tallinn's best haunts, the Hell Hunt. James, one of our friendly hostel mates from England also came along.

I (Nat) trying some Estonian Beer

Despite it's gory sounding name, "Hell Hunt" actually means "gentle wolf".

At the Hell Hunt with James Brown and the Estonian crew. Yes, that really is his name.

An uncanny thing happened that night. We spotted a Portugese lad named Carlos who is the splitting image of our friend Dave Powys back home. We just had to go and talk to this bloke. We ended up making friends with him, taking photos and he even shouted us all a drink at a nearby pub!

Candice, "Dave" and I

We ended our trip to Estonia feeling tired but definitely better for it.

Tallinn Airport, the closest airport we've ever seen to a road - ever!

For more photos of our time in Estonia, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59360&l=bb5f1&id=681501850

Latvia

2008-10-15T02:58:00.013+11:00

On the 9th of October we found ourselves off on yet another trip outside Sweden, this time to the Baltic countries. Our first stop was Riga, the capital of lovely little Latvia.

Latvia may not spring to mind immediately when somebody mentions Northern Europe, but this little post-Soviet gem is touting itself as the "Gateway to the North" these days.

Here's a little bit of background. Latvia's history over the last 1000 years has seen it change hands several times between larger powers - (what is now) Germany, Poland, Sweden and Russia. After World War 1, the country was devastated and calls for self-determination lead to a proclamation of independence in 1918 from Russia. In 1939, with the outbreak of WWII immenent, the USSR bullied Latvia into accepting a "mutual acceptance" pact which effectively placed them under the control of Moscow. That was the end of Latvian independence (apart from a brief stint of 2-3 years under Nazi German rule) until 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union.

We arrived at night and with the help of a few Latvian phrases I (Nat) had memorised, we made our way from the airport to the centre of Riga.

Our hostel, The Arganaut in the Old Town of Riga

We couldn't believe we were actually in part of the former USSR! It was thrilling to discover yet another part of our world - the first time we had actually been to a former Eastern Block country (Berlin doesn't count).

Riga is a beautiful city and boasts a stunning "Old Town" amidst a bustling modern day metropolis struggling to shrug off its Soviet past. The Latvian economy is booming, driving prices up. Despite this, it was still a whole lot cheaper than Scandinavia. For some reason though, the Latvian Lat is higher in value than the Pound Stirling!

The Old Town streets are nicely preserved

Riga Cathedral, the largest church in the Baltics

House of the Blackheads

Latvians are closely related to the Lithuanians to the south and speak a completely different language to Russian. Today, the Latvians have turned the tables on the Russian language, despite the fact that almost 30% of the population of 2.3 million is still Russian. Latvian is taught in schools and is the language of everyday usage. English is now the preferred second language which means Russians who refuse to learn Latvian are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to education and employment.

Instead of Russian, English is now becoming the lingua franca between the Latvia and other Baltic countries (especially Estonia).

A tram in Riga over the river

Candice and friends

The National Opera House

One of Riga's most important landmarks is the Freedom Monument. Built after the Latvian War of Independence in 1918, it somehow survived Soviet plans to demolish it during the Cold War. Latvians would risk inprisonment by placing flowers at the foot of the monument. Today it is guarded by soldiers at all times as it is an extremely important national icon.

The Freedom Monument

Common kids, play soccer in the street in front of traffic!

Riga Castle, where the president resides

An avenue near Riga Castle

Latvian Maccas - after Norweigan prices, this cost a pittance!

We really felt that we were in Eastern Europe. The bustling Riga markets were a short walk away from our hostel and was dominated by ethnic Russian traders - even the signs were occasionally only in Russian and Latvian was not always understood.

The Riga Markets - a must-see

The markets are massive and are both outdoors and inside hangar-like buildings. Staffed mainly by ethnic Russian women, the food is cheap, the service is bad and chopped-up animals are everywhere. Ahh, a true market.

This "hangar" only sold meat

A Latvian market pig

What can we say? Australians seem to be taking over the world, one hostel at a time. The Arganaut was no exception - it was almost like being home again. Apart from a smattering of Estonians, every second person we met was from Australia! We made some great Estonian friends too - who gave us great insight into our next travel destination, Estonia!

Candice checks out some Latvian brew!

Some of the hostel gang

Venturing outside of the Old Town, Riga still bears the hallmarks of a city of the Soviet Union.

A trolley bus. Half-tram, half-bus, this Soviet-era monster stalks the streets of Riga

Russian Orthodox church in Riga

View of Riga on a hazy day

Soviet-era construction is still evident today around the city

We decided to randomly take a traim out into the burbs...

The Riga Zoo

We discovered an amazing park around the zoo, since we couldn't actually be bothered paying to get in.

A bed of Autumn leaves

Us in the Latvian woods

Autumn was in full swing around us

Me (Nat) playing cricket with a stick and an acorn

Back in the Old Town, there was plenty more to see and do.

Russian dumplings!

Beautiful Old Town streets

The Swedish Gate, dating back to the Swedish occupancy of Latvia hundreds of years ago

Candice with Neli and Tina from Estonia

Latvians are fiercely proud of their country and its independence and relations with Russia are at a low. Latvia has joined the European Union, NATO and is hurriedly trying to adopt the Euro as its currency.

We witnessed the sound check for a Latvian cultural celebration featuring aging popstars and a massive choir

A defaced billboard - tensions are still high between Latvia and Russia

After a good night, we were introduced by some Finnish friends to Hesburger, the fast-food of Finland which can be found all over the Baltic countries.

Hesburger, Finland's gift to Latvia

For more photos of our time in Riga, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59349&l=12fba&id=681501850

Oslo

2008-10-08T04:30:00.017+11:00

After a long trip it was great to snuggle up to a warm fire. We were staying with Anita and Arne, parents of our good friend Zubin back in Melbourne. Arne, a Norweigan diplomat and Anita, a world-renowed journalist were a wealth of information on loads of interesting world topics. Each day we spent hours and hours over dinner or breakfast talking about politics, geography, history, language, culture and everything in between!

On top of that they were amazing hosts and fed us scrumptious home-cooked, tummy-filling meals.

Oh, it was good to be in Oslo!

Anita and Arne's lovely suburban cottage

Happy to be in Norway!

Arne insisted that we sample some local Norweigan delights...

Goat cheese!

Norweigan vodka. Amazingly this vodka is bottled and distilled in Norway, then shipped across the globe to Australia (rolling apparently), then back to Norway, so that it crosses the equator twice!

Prawns on bread.

Cod liver oil, not so delightful - but apparently good for one's health!

Oslo is a lovely little city in Southeastern Norway. One of the smallest capitals of Europe with about 550,000 inhabitants, it is the third largest city in Scandinavia after Stockholm and Copenhagen (not counting Helsinki - which is technically not part of Scandinavia).

Norway has had a turbulent history. From vikings to Danish and Swedish rule, it has constantly been squabbled over. Norway really only became an independent country again in 1905 when it peacefully seperated from Sweden. Public opinion favoured a monarchy so a Danish prince (Prince Carl of Denmark and Iceland) was crowned King of Norway (he took the name Haakon VII in favour of the Norweigan kings of old). Peace in Norway was relatively short-lived when it was invaded by Germany in WWII. Because the monarch was actually Danish, a famous speech by the king urging his fellow Norweigans to stand up against the Germans, was delivered in Danish and broadcast across Norweigan radio. These days his grandson is king and lives a quiet unnasuming life.

Olso today is a compact city with plenty of attractions. Norway's economic and social welfare reforms over the last 4 decades has made Norway one of the richest countries in the world per capita and Oslo arguably the most expensive city on earth, especially for the humble backpacker.

An Oslo tram

Candice in the gardens of Slottsparken, the Royal Palace.

A Norweigan Royal Guard at Slottsparken

View of the main street from the Royal Palace

Slottsparken

We spent a lot of time walking around Oslo.

Us exploring Oslo

Oslo is an extremely modern city interspersed with older buildings here and there. It lacks the great "imperial capital" feel of both Stockholm and Copenhagen and in a strange way reminded us of Hobart, Australia's southernmost capital city - and probably as far as you can get from Oslo on this planet.

The Oslo skyline

Oslo University

The National Theater

There was a breast cancer awareness march in the city that day

A drop-in church

Candice couldn't resist the long lolly sticks

The modern side of Oslo

Despite the hefty price tag for many of Oslo's attractions, there are some cheap pearlers! The Oslo National Museum is run by the university and was free. It showcased some great samples of artifacts of antiquity from around the globe.

An ancient Ethiopian Coptic Christian bible

A 4000 year old (middle dynasty) Egyptian mummy, so well-preserved you can still see the skin and hair!

Me (Nat) and a dead reindeer

We also made it to the National Art Gallery which houses the world's best collection of Edvard Munch paintings. Best of all, it too was free to visit. Unfortunately we were not able to take photos inside.

For visitors to Oslo, we recommend this free museum over the Munch Museum as it actually has a better selection of his art - including The Scream (1893).

The National Art Gallery

We sampled McDonald's in Oslo. We couldn't even afford a normal meal here - they are seriously the most expensive we've ever seen. Between $25 and $30 for a meal!

World's most expensive Maccas?

Candice all rugged up

The Oslo harbour

We walked to Frognerparken (or Frogner Park in English) which is part of the Frogner manor. It used to belong to rich families in the 19th century, before being aquired by the city of Oslo.

View of Frognerparken from its gates

Frognerparken is famous for housing the Vigeland Sculpture Park, created by Gustav Vigeland during the first half of the 20th century. The massive works represent various ages, moods and stages in lives of people. It culminates in the "Monolith", with its 121 figures struggling to reach the top.

Some of the weird naked figures in Frognerparken

The Monolith

View of Oslo from Frognerparken

Late afternoon in Frognerparken

Further exploration revealed that Oslo is a cosmopolitan city with plenty of chic places to go.

Inner suburban Oslo

Pigs in Oslo!

Arne and Anita, who made us feel at home

All of us together just before dinner one night

Despite the gloomy forcast, the weather in Olso the next day was amazing. We decided to get a 24-hour public transport pass which covers the ferries to Bigdoy where most of the museums are located. An Oslo Tourist Pass gives unlimited access to public transport and pretty much all the museums but we decided it was cheaper to pay individually for the museums we wanted to see, taking advantage of the amazing student discounts on offer.

The ferry to Bigdoy

On the ferry

The Norweigan flag ripples in the wind on a beautiful day

The Viking Ship Museum (Vikingshiphuset)

There are three large ships at the Viking Ship Museum, found in three large burial mounds on the farms of Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, in Eastern Norway.

The Osburg ship was built in 820 AD and had been a sailing ship before being used as a burial ship for a prominent woman in 834 AD. The Tune ship was built in 900 AD. The Gokstad ship built around 890 AD was used in the burial of a powerful chieftan in 900 AD. Cool.

Us at the museum

Next we visited the Fram Museum. This houses the famous Fram ship, built in the late 1800s. It is the strongest wooden ship ever built and was used in two Arctic expeditions and also in the famous expedition of Roald Amundsen in 1911 which was the first to reach the South Pole in Antarctica.

The Fram Museum

The Fram

At the helm of the Fram

View of Oslo from the Fram Museum

Oslo is well-known for its proximity to nature. Hiking, cross-country skiing and other outdoor activies are highly popular among locals. We wanted to get a feel for the Norweigan outdoors, so we took a train up to Frogneseteren, the last station on its line. Unfortunately the weather changed dramatically and by the time we made it up, it was pouring with rain and our hopes of walking in the woods were dashed.

The Oslo metro

End of the metro line at Frogneseteren - unfortunately the lovely view of Oslo was obscured by fog and rain.

Thus ended our great Scandinavian rail trip. After bidding Arne and Anita a warm goodbye (in a cold city), we took an overnight train all the way back to Uppsala in Sweden. We awoke to dawn breaking out over the beautiful Swedish countryside and prepared to resume our normal lives, at least for the moment, as residents of Sweden.

For more photos of Oslo, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57618&l=aada8&id=681501850 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57626&l=341ed&id=681501850

The train to Oslo

2008-10-08T04:26:00.008+11:00

The bulk of the train ride from Copenhagen to Oslo takes place in Sweden. The fact that we had to change trains in Göteborg (Gothenburg) meant that we got to see 3 countries in 1 day. And not just that - 3 major cities in 3 countries in one day.

The train thundering across the Strait of Øresund back into Sweden

Much of Southern Sweden (especially the Skåne region) resembles Denmark - flat land, quaint farm houses and not many trees. The route from Copenhagen to Gothenburg is a well-travelled route and so we didn't even need to reserve seats on the train.

The Skåne countryside

The views were great from the train

Arriving in Gothenburg, we had a few hours to kill so we wandered abit around the city. Gothenburg is Sweden's second largest city with a population of around 500,000. It enjoys a healthy rivalry with Stockholm and boasts the largest university in Scandinavia, Gothenburg University. It also happens to be the only city in Sweden that kept its trams.

The tram in Gothenburg

Is there a city in Europe that DOESN'T have canals?

Once again, the weather was great

Hanging out in "The Gott"!

A German church in Sweden

Unfortunately we didn't have time to check out the great beaches around Gothenburg (not that we could have swum anyway) but we thought we'd have a peek at the harbour.

Gothenburg is located on the beautiful West Swedish coast

A docked boat

Candice hangs out

A view of the city from the harbour

Eventually we wandered back to the train station and climbed aboard our next train, this time run by the Norweigan carrier, NSB. The trains were even more plush!

Making myself comfortable

An announcement was made when we crossed the Norweigan border

As luck would have it, we bumped into some fellow Aussie travellers aboard our train, Patrick and Steph. Chatting the whole way made the 7 hour train ride seem like 2.

Candice, Patrick and Steph

It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived in Oslo. We were staying with friends in the suburb of Nadderud so we had to quickly figure out the bus system when we arrived. Trying to get orientated in a new city is always hard when you first arrive. Though cold and substantially wet, we were glad to have made it to the world's most expensive (and richest) country.

We had to change busses a couple of times

We eventually found our way to Arne and Anita's place and were soon warming ourselves up in front of a lovely fireplace!

For more photos of Gothenburg and the train ride to Oslo, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57612&l=ff9b9&id=681501850

Copenhagen

2008-10-08T04:25:00.019+11:00

Our train trip from Sweden to Denmark took about 17 minutes. Actually it was probably shorter than that because we stopped at Copenhagen airport on the way to Central Station. We were pretty tired even though it was only 11am, owing to our early start in Malmö but we were excited about seeing our second Scandinavian country!

Us on the train from Malmö to Copenhagen. The two cities are so close that a Copenhagen metro ticket covers all of Malmö as well.

One could say that Denmark is Sweden's historical rival. Stemming from the same roots, the two kingdoms warred with each other for centuries, took turns invading each other and even today take pride in nationalistic rivalry mostly played out on the sporting field. Poor Norway was always caught up in the struggles somehow, having been under both Swedish and Danish control at different times.

Today Denmark is Scandinavia's smallest country in terms of area (having lost the region of Skåne to Sweden) but the second largest in popuation after Sweden with about 5.5 million people. About a fifth of the country's population live in Copenhagen, making it Scandinavia's second largest city (after Stockholm) with a metro population of about 1.2 million. Denmark's days as a mighty coloniser are still evident in that the Faroe Islands and Greenland are still part of Denmark, albeit being semi-autonomous.

Our train thunders across the 8km long bridge joining Sweden and Denmark via the Strait of Øresund

Copenhagen Central

Copenhagen has a distinctly imperial feel about it (much like Stockholm) however Danish sounded almost like German to us, despite the fact that on paper, it's pretty much the same language as Norweigan and Swedish. This was a reminder that Denmark is very much the southernmost Scandinavian country, linked to the bulk of the European landmass.

Copenhagen city centre

The Tivoli Gardens, one of the world's oldest amusement parks

Copenhagen is one of the most expensive cities on earth, so we had to watch our spending.

McDonalds in Denmark. My Big Mac meal tasted burnt. Plus it was super expensive because of a surcharge for paying in Swedish Kronors.

City Hall

Funky artwork all over the city

Candice enjoying the sights

In contrast to the chilly Autumn weather we had been getting in Uppsala, Copenhagen was beautifully sunny. We could almost just wear T-shirts. We wandered around town with our small backpacks, taking advantage of the great weather.

It was a great Autumn day

Picturesque Nyhavn, the face of many a Danish postcard

Hanging out in Nyhavn

Danes are statistically the happiest people on earth. With a gem like Copenhagen for your capital, it's not hard to see why. A series of canals run through the city - you're never too far from the water.

View from the National Opera House (or was it the theatre?)

A Danish warship, ready to pounce

A few years ago, Danish Crown Prince Frederik (heir to the Danish throne) married Mary Donaldson, an Australian girl from Tasmania. Princess Mary is has become the darling of the Danish public (much like in the cheesy movie The Prince & Me) and has taken to royal life like a true future queen. She has two children, Prince Christian and Princess Isabella. It's funny to think that the future King of Denmark will be half-Australian.

Christiansborg Palace, home of the Danish Parliament, office of the Prime Minister and official reception area of the Queen

We didn't see Princess Mary but we did notice that the Royal Guards were not as disciplined as in London

Ahh, the Little Mermaid, Copenhagen's most famous icon. The actual bronze statue is neither as impressive or as big as we thought it would be. Apparently this a common misconception of tourists. The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of Carlsberg who was fascinated by a ballet based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale.

The Little Mermaid

Just as we arrived, a busload of Chinese tourists pulls up, empties and for a frenzied 5-10 minutes, it is bedlam as they snap photographs of the mermaid. Some of them were even videotaping it! We couldn't help but sit back and watch in amusement.

The "real" mermaid. The guy on the left is proudly posing with his camera.

Us and the poor little mermaid that has reportedly lost her head a few times over the years in countless pranks

The side of the city where we stayed

That night there was a cheap vegan food night at our hostel which was a Godsend in this expensive city. We met some really cool people and ended up going out with them after dinner. Jean and Eva showed us some really cool Copenhagen night life.

Candice, Eva and Jean

The theme of the night was experimental Jazz

Click to see some experimental Jazz action at Studenthuset bar

Danish beer in Denmark. Finally.

Cycling in Copenhagen at night. This is our view of Jean and Eva as we cycled behind them.

Click to play our cycling video

The next day we continued seeing the sights that Copenhagen had to offer.

Statue of the former Queen of Denmark

At the Royal Gardens of Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Castle, where the Danish Crown Jewels are kept

Bike + Castle = trouble. Apparently

The Metro

An amazing church building in Christianshavn

The canal in Christianshavn

Any visitor to Copenhagen must check out Christiania. Started as an alternative lifestyle commune in 1971, it is a partially self-governing neighbourhood in Copenhagen. The neighbourhoo's tolerance for soft drugs has come under harsh criticism and has attracted criminals not associated with the commune to sell contraband.

The entrance to Christiania

No photos on Pusher Street

A photo of the area we were not supposed to photograph

Being an alternative lifestyle community, the neighbourhood houses restaurants, art galleries, cafe's, shops and even music venues. We were suprised however at the amount of rubbish we saw lying around everywhere - it was certainly a lot dirtier than the rest of Copenhagen. The other strange thing was that there was so much commerciality about it all - people trying to sell you "Christiania" souvenirs - from T-shirts to bongs and keychains. It seemed almost... contradictory.

Unfortunately we visited rather early in the day and many of the shops and cafe´s had not opened yet. There were a few drunk bums lying around outside some pubs though.

Some interesting Christiania artwork

As we leave Christiania

Before we left Copenhagen, we had to try some street food. Although most people don't realise it, the hotdog was actually invented in Denmark (and not the USA).

The hotdog is everywhere on the streets of Copenhagen

We left Copenhagen wishing we had more time in this lovely city. We hopped back on the train. Next stop: Gothenburg.

For more photos of our time in Copenhagen, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57456&l=2ccfc&id=681501850

Malmö

2008-10-08T04:24:00.009+11:00

Being spontaneous can be really fun sometimes. On a Tuesday 30th September 2008, we decided to visit both Denmark and Norway. We left the next day.

Forward thinking meant we had purchased a "5 days in 2 months" Eurail pass for Scandinavia before we left Australia. Once used for the first time, the pass is valid for 2 months. We can use up to 5 days of travel with our pass. We didn't realise it would actually be as easy as it was - we didn't even need reservations for most of our trips either - plus the pass gave us discounts on other things (like cruise fares) and also free public transport on metro trains.

We decided to go Stockholm-Copenhagen-Oslo-Stockholm. In reality, this route meant Uppsala-Stockholm-Malmö-Copenhagen-Gothenburg-Oslo-Uppsala, so we were able to see 2 extra Swedish cities.

Since overnight travel counts as the next day, we made full use of it by taking an overnight train which left Stockholm at about 11pm, arriving in Malmö at 6am the next morning.

Our train arrives in Malmö at 6am

Malmö. Here's a little background for the uninitiated. It's Sweden's 3rd-largest city and is located in the southernmost province of Scania (or Skåne in Swedish). Malmö is right across the Oresund Straight from Copenhagen which means the Danish capital is literally a 20-minute train ride away. Copenhagen airport is even closer.

And here's a little tidbit of trivia for those with nothing better to do (like me, Nat): Malmö's location in southernmost Sweden makes it closer to the Italian city of Milan than to the northernmost Swedish town of Kiruna. Sweden's a pretty big country for Europeans.

Malmö is famous for that crazy Swedish tradition of jumping into the freezing sea in winter after a hot sauna.

Welcome to Malmö!

They say that people in Skåne are more Danish than they are Swedish. While this may not be entirely true, they do understand the Danes alot better than the rest of Sweden. The countryside also looks a lot like Denmark.

It was a chilly Autumn morning but we braved the cold to see as much as we could. After all, the earlier the better!

Candice with the marching instrument-wielding statues near Stora Torget

We decided to warm up in the only cafe that was open - McDonalds!

Adolf Gustav Square - we watched the sunrise from Maccas

Our constant companions - the Lonely Planet and our set of cards

Malmö in the morning

Hugging some bronze cats we found

I (Nat) stubbed my toe while trying to kick this one

We found it! The ugliest building in Sweden is:-

The Hilton Hotel in Malmö

We walked around town but everyone seemed to be taking their sweet time to get up. This building caught our attention.

In the park

Candice strolling among the Autumn leaves

Scandinavian signs have been a source of constant amusement for us.

The cure for flatulence

Catch the poo as it comes out! Please.

Back-to-back signs: Play soccer with your kid in front of oncoming traffic - oh no wait, don't!

More shots from the lovely central park in Malmö. And yes, that's a windmill.

Sunflowers

Lilla Torg (Little Square)

Cheese!

The bronze statues in daylight

Malmö has a series of canals too

"Non-Violence" by Karl Fredrik Rehtersward in 1985

We stayed in Malmö until about 11 am before taking the train across the sea and into Denmark.

For more photos of Malmö, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57440&l=c04cd&id=681501850

The Dutch Countryside

2008-09-29T09:23:00.006+10:00

Cindy grew up in North Holland in the town of Hoorn. We were lucky enough to be able to have her as our tourguide in the beautiful Dutch Countryside. We popped in to see her dad, George who was a weath of knowledge on everything Dutch!

Dutch cakes

In Hoorn, the canals run right up to the backs of hte houses.

Cindy and I (Nat)

Pascal, Candice and I at George's

Tea at George's

Cindy took us to see some traditional Dutch windmills at Schermerhorn.

These windmills, first used in the 1600s harnessed wind power to reclaim land for living and agricultural purposes

Posing outside the windmills.

These days, the windmills are more of a tourist attraction than anything else - modern machines do all the work

Wearing clogs and carrying milk

Inside the windmill: the mechanics of it all

Most of North Holland is about 2 metres below sea-level. Without windmills, we would be underwater.

A beautiful little village we had lunch in (I forgot its name!)

Canals in the village

Cindy took us to a clog and cheese factory near Edam.

A clog-making demonstration

Today, clogs are made by machine but in the old days, they were all made by hand.

The Netherlands is famous for its cheese. A cheese and clog factory together? The woodchips from the clogs are used to smoke the cheese! Recycling!

Dutch cheese - Edam, Gouda and Smoked Gouda!

Our short time in the Netherlands was well worth it. We bid Cindy, Niels and her cats goodbye as we headed back to Sweden where Pascal stayed for a few days. Unfortunately the great weather stayed behind.

Macho, one of Cindy's cats

For more pictures of the Dutch countryside, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54447&l=74138&id=681501850

Amsterdam

2008-09-29T09:19:00.007+10:00

We were excited at the prospect of venturing into the Netherlands but at the same time wished we could have spent a few more days in Berlin - or even Germany for that matter. It took a couple of train changes to find the Berlin bus station and here we said goodbye to Pascal, who was going to fly to Amsterdam and meet us the next day.

Our Eurolines bus in Berlin

The bus was scheduled to leave Berlin at 7.30pm and arrive in Amsterdam at 6am. It was a night ride, so we were able to sleep most of the way, stopping only to get off briefly in Magdeburg and Hannover. For some reason, the bus arrived in Amsterdam 1 and a half hours early (4.30am) - before the bus station had even opened! A whole crowd of us waited patiently till 5am when the station opened, got inside and tried to get some sleep until public transport finally started about 6am.

Amsterdam at 4.30am

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with our dutch friend Cindy. Cindy had a perfect little flat in the middle of Amsterdam, just near the Albert Cuypmarket.

Candice and Cindy

Albert Cuypmarket, a Dutch experience!

Pickled herring - traditional Dutch food

Dutch fast food - the kroket!

As in London and Berlin, we did the free walking tour offered in Amsterdam by New Europe Tours. We highly recommend it!

Outside the Palace in Dam Square

I don't think we can talk about Amsterdam without mentioning the Red Light District. Amsterdam has a reputation for being a very liberal city - mainly because of its decriminilised soft drug stance and the fact that street prostitution is legal. The Amsterdam policy is that if prostution is regulated, it will be safer for everyone, especially the girls. Whether or not this is true in reality remains to be seen as that doesn't necessarily prevent the illegal trafficking of sex-slaves. It's true that prostitution is legal in many other places around the world (including Australia for that matter) but the famous Red Light District in Amsterdam (it's actually officially called this) has been this way for centuries, remember it used to be the busiest port in Europe! Due to complaints from other EU member countries, the Dutch government has tried to reduce the number of "ladies of the night" in Amsterdam by buying out many of the "windows" but this hasn't reduced the number of curious tourists that come to gawk at the spectacle everyday.

And no, we didn't take any pictures. Just in case you were wondering.

This anonymous sculpture suddenly appeared one day on the ground. The council decided to keep it.

Like Venice, Amsterdam has an intricate system of canals running through the city

World's first corporation: Former offices of the Dutch East India Trading Company

The Marihuana & Hemp Museum

This was one of the funniest (and possibly dumbest) things we've ever seen. A mobile bar powered by drunk Australians who are actually cycling at the same time as they drink!!

Like all good cities, Amsterdam has a tram network

Char Sau Fan (pork rice) at a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam

Candice wolfing it down

Dutch McDonalds! Not too shabby.

You will never see this sign anywhere else in the world

Pascal and I (Nat) out at night

Amsterdam Ninjas

Although Amsterdam seems synonymous with marijuana usage these days, the fact is very few Dutch people actually smoke it - it's mainly the tourists who come to use. New Zealand actually has the highest amount of weed smokers per capita! The Dutch government is also cracking down on the number of "Coffee Shops" (yes, that's what they're called) in the city, again at the request of other EU member countries.

For the discerning traveller, Amsterdam also has many famous attactions not associated with vice. Take the Van Gogh Museum for instance.

We also made sure we visited the Anne Frank House, now a museum dedicated to Anne Frank and her family who hid here during the Second World War as the Nazis cracked down on Jews. If you haven't heard about Anne Frank, I suggest you do a google search right away - we're not going to say anymore except you can see the random video comment we left after we saw the house here: http://annefrank_engels.bitmove.tv:80/bitmove/annefrank_engels/index.jsp?uid=3151FDDB6C1976BCDF122892A23A78E8&format=wmv .

By day, Amsterdam is beautiful. Like Uppsala, there are bicycles everywhere. In fact, Amsterdam probably has the highest rate of bicycles usage per capita of any capital in the world. This makes walking dangerous.

Museum plains

In Vondelpark

A cool drum act in Vondelpark

The random drunk Italian guy in the background was singing out of tune

Church of St Nicholas (Sint Nicolaaskerk)

Overall, Amsterdam (with a population of less than a million) was a very enjoyable city. More people speak English here than any other European non English-speaking country - we even met an English girl who'd lived in Holland for two years and hadn't bothered learning any Dutch! They certainly give the Scandinavians a run for their money!

For more pictures of Amsterdam, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54444&l=a7bf5&id=681501850

Berlin

2008-09-28T18:02:00.014+10:00

Although Sweden isn't the most central place in Europe to be based, it's still in Europe - and that means (in Australian terms) everything else in Europe is close!

While the weather was still good, we decided it was time to pop into Germany. The original plan was to fly to Berlin, hang out, then take a bus to Hamburg on the way to Amsterdam. Unfortunately due to time constraints, we had to ditch Hamburg - after all Candice still had class in Sweden to get back to!

Because we had booked an "enviromentally unethical" cheap flight with Ryanair, we had to travel all the way back to Skavsta airport - the bus and train ride there cost more than our flight!!

As luck would have it, one of my (Nat's) best friends from back when I lived in Sabah, Pascal just happened to be in Berlin. A fellow Eurasian, Pascal is half-German and his mum actually comes from Berlin - so this meant that we pretty much had a local tour guide with us!

Pascal and I (Nat) pose with a train inspector on the S-bahn train from the airport

I think this is the U-bahn

After checking into the amazing Generator hostel in East Berlin, Pascal gave us a quick night tour of Berlin. Used to navigating ourselves around a new city, this time we left it all up to Pascal - which means we don't even remember the names of some of these places! Pascal's passable basic German meant we didn't even have to stumble around in English.

Out in Berlin at night

The beer in Berlin is cheap and can be bought anywhere - suprisingly people even drink on the train!

Chowing down on kebabs - Berlin-style

Berlin street food: Currywurst (curried sausage) and chips with mayo!!

This beach-themed bar actually had sand on the floor

Berlin is an amazing city of around 3.5 million. It doesn't strictly have a city centre and the sights spread far and wide. The city's tumultous past 80 years or so have made it a living museum of several wars that have shaped our world. We couldn't wait to start exploring!

View of East Berlin from our hostel

View of a grassy-roofed sports centre from our hostel

Nothing beats a free city walking tour, and just like London and Edinburgh, Berlin has one too. New Europe Tours (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/) is the company that conducts the tours, at the end of the day you choose whether to tip your guide - that's it!

Amazingly, it was still technically summer down here in Germany! I actually wore shorts. What a contrast to Sweden!

The Brandenburg Gate

The prestigious Hotel Adlon, where in 2002 Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a window

The Berlin Wall (which came down in 1989) is still marked by this double cobblestone line that runs right through the city (even on roads)

Officially called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the Halocaust Memorial cost 27 million Euros to build

Candice at the memorial

The Germans have done nothing to cover up their past - they believe every generation should be reminded of the atrocities that were committed so that it should never happen again. Determined to make sure that Hitler be afforded no respect, they refuse to build any memorial or glorify anything from the days of Nazi rule.

The site of Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun in 1945. Now nothing more than a car-park

After World War II, Germany was carved up between the USSR, USA, Britain and France. Berlin was split in half between the allies and the Soviets. There was no place on earth like Berlin during the cold war - it was literally where Soviet East and Democratic West converged into one place, staring each other in the face. Berlin was important, for if it fell the whole block could fall. That's exactly what happened.

Part of a wall mural, showing the ideal utopian communist state (at the former East German government complex in East Berlin). The reality was quite different.

Remnants of the Berlin Wall. Ironically, the wall is now protected by a fence.

The sign at Checkpoint Charlie, one of the allied checkpoints between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. This one happened to be American. There were also British and French checkpoints.

Berliner Dom, the largest church in the city

Pigs in Berlin

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park

These mobile hotdog-selling dudes are everywhere! Only 1 Euro.

A building that looks like a German helmet

The Berlin skyline

On our final night in Berlin, Pascal took us to have dinner with two of his aunts. Ironically, they are from his Malaysian side and not his German side - two Kadazan ladies who married Germans and moved to Berlin years and years ago. In typical Kadazan style, they cooked up a storm - and it was great for me to practice my Kadazan again. They are fluent in English, German, Kadazan and Malay!

Dinner

The Berlin Zoo is the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular wordwide. With almost 1,400 different species and around 14,000 animals, apparently it has the most comprehensive collection in the world. During WWII, the zoo somehow bore the brunt of many bomb attacks and only 91 of the then 12,000 animals survived. We thought we'd check it out - we've only posted a handfull of the numerous photos we took there.

A sleeping rhino

Pigs

Pandas

The kangaroos reminded us of home!

Die orang utans, die!! Okay, "die" means "the" in German.

As is my custom, I had to check out German McDonalds. Arguably the best specialty burger out of any McDonalds that I have visited so far, the McRib (pork rib burger) certainly did not fail to impress. Good luck trying to find that in Malaysia!

The best PIG burger ever!

Markets in Berlin

Bombed in WWII, this church was never restored

Lining up for some more German street cuisine!

Sure to satisfy

After only a few days in Berlin, we sadly bid it goodbye and caught a Eurolines bus across the country into the Netherlands (stopping briefly in Hannover). Rest assured, we will be back.

Wir lieben Deutschland!!

For more photos of our time in Berlin, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54433&l=debb2&id=681501850 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54441&l=00072&id=681501850

Stockholm Syndrome

2008-09-28T17:57:00.009+10:00

Despite living only 70 kilometres from Stockholm, we didn't actually get a chance to visit the self-styled "Capital of Scandinavia" until the 3rd of September. We had grown so used to life in Uppsala that we had forgotten that there was a big city just lurking round the corner. Really, we just had to get off our bums and do a bit of exploring.

Our Austrian friend (and fellow exchange student), Thomas joined us as we got an early start from Uppsala about 9.30am.

When we exited Central Station, the weather didn't look promising. In fact within 15 minutes it was already bucketing down with rain.

Stockholm in the rain

Thomas and I (Nat) as we enter Gamla Stan (the Old Town)

With a metro population of about 2 million people, Stockholm is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It's the home of the Swedish royal family, the centre of administration and parliament of the country.

Stockholm (literally meaning "wood island") dates back to around 1250 when it was founded in order to protect Sweden from a sea invasion by foreign navies and to prevent the pillage of nearby towns. It was built on a series of islands at the mouth of Lake Mälaren and today has earned the nickname "the Venice of the North" due to the vast amount of water that flows around and through the city.

Stockholm is made up of islands

The historical site of the city centre is today Stockholm's Old Town, an entire island which houses parliament and the royal palace among other interesting old buildings. It's definitely a tourist trap as we discovered.

Street in the Old Town (Gamla Stan)

The Old Town Square

The exorbitantly-priced Nobel Museum

Studying the Lonely Planet

The Changing of the Guard, at the royal palace

Miracuously, about noon, the sun decided to come out! We almost had to re-take all our photos.

A city between bridges

Sargels Torget ("Sargel's Square")

Stockholm street

The Stockholm metro

Sweden: when a coffee can cost more than a beer

Views of Stockholm from above the roof of a restaurant in Södermalm

Lake Mälaren flows into the Baltic sea

We pose by the lake

Thomas and I

Evening approaches

This guy was busking in Sargels Torget. He had a tiny radio blaring techno held to one ear and was "playing" a harmonica while dancing. Well, he was making noise on the harmonica. It was the funniest thing to see this guy going off!

A classy 7-Eleven

A docked sailboat in the Lake

Stockholm at night

We've been back to Stockholm a number of times now and are continually discovering new aspects of this great city. The Vasa Museum is still on our to-do list though!

For more pictures of Stockholm, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52940&l=b8c92&id=681501850

Sweden at last - settling down in Uppsala

2008-09-28T17:51:00.008+10:00

We had been on the road for so long that the thought of settling down, studying and working again (despite being the primary purpose for our trip in the first place) seemed strange. Nevertheless, we were sick of living out of our backpacks and were looking forward to doing mundane things again like watching TV.

Before we left Melbourne, we had tried to learn a little Swedish via a set of CD language courses. It was only basic conversation but we were eager to try and use what we knew. Sweden however is a country with an amazing fluency in English (as is all of Scandinavia) and so practicing Swedish when you can just speak English was going to be a challenge.

The other thing was money. With a reputation for being one of the most expensive countries on earth, Sweden is not usually the first choice for the budget-concious traveller. When we arrived, the Australian dollar was worth about 5 to 6 Swedish crowns, making the conversion rate even more hard to decipher. With a superiour conversion rate, we had a false sense of our dollar going further than it really was.

Having flown in with Ryan Air, one of Europe's notorious budget airlines, we landed at Skavsta Airport in Nyköping which looked more like a warehouse than an international airport. The bus ride to Stockholm took about 1 and a half hours, which was about as long as our flight.

On the bus to Stockholm

We were ravenous by the time we arrived but still had to find out how to catch a train to Uppsala, the university town where we would be staying. Uppsala is about 40 minutes north of Stockholm by high-speed train. After buying our tickets and realising that the next train was leaving in a matter of minutes, we hastily purchased what was to be the most expensive Burger King meal of our young lives to date and jumped on the train.

Candice digging into our first (and probably last) Swedish Burger King meal onboard

The high speed SJ train at Uppsala Central Station

We had heard that many people cycle in Uppsala but we weren't exactly prepared for this:

The multitude of bikes parked at Uppsala Station

Uppsala is Sweden's 4th-largest city and houses Scandinavia's oldest university. The student population is very evident, making up about 40% of its 128,400 inhabitants.

The quaint streets of Uppsala

Uppsala University's main University Building which apparently was one of the first in Scandinavia to get the telephone

Candice on the main street (or rather mall) of Uppsala, Kungsangatan

I (Nat) sample Swedish McDonalds

We had organised to rent a little flat with Akademihotellet, the student housing department. Unfortunately, the university had run out of the little two-bedroom flats which we were supposed to get and so we had to be content with a studio apartment. This actually suited us better because it was cheaper but it did mean we were going to have to buy another bed!

We were dismayed to discover that our accomodation (dubbed Lille Sunnersta or Little Sunnersta) was situated in Sunnersta, a suburb about 6 kilometres south of the city centre. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem, except a one-way trip on the bus costs 30 crowns (almost 6 dollars) per person! Walking was out-of-the question as it takes over an hour, so the only option was to join the thousands of others who have invested in bicycles.

Lille Sunnersta, where we live

Candice and Veera, our lovely Estonian friend who lives below us

Uppsala is a lovely little city situated on the Fyris river. Its short skyline is dominated by the Dom Kyrka (Uppsala Cathedral), which is the largest cathedral in Scandinavia and the headquarters of the Church of Sweden.

Uppsala University itself is about 600 years old and througout its history boasts a list of Nobel laurietes and famous names like biologist Cark Linnaeus (father of modern taxonomy) and Anders Celsius (who proposed the Celsius temperature).

The other prominent building in the city is Uppsala Castle, a massive pink assault on the senses built in the 16th century in which the Governor of Uppsala now resides. The castle has burnt down a number of times over the years, each time being rebuilt according to current fashion. Apparently the last time it was rebuilt in the 1800s, it was fashionable to paint castles pink.

Dom Kyrkan dominates the Uppsala skyline

Uppsala Castle atop the hill

Dom Kyrkan (Uppsala Cathedral)

The first couple of weeks saw us trying to sort out the essentials. Because we had been backpacking around the world, we had packed relatively light - especially in the context of having enough things to furnish a house. In fact the first thing we did was to empty our backpacks on the bed and rejoice in this newfound space!

A trip to Ikea, Sweden's famous furnishing and homeware export to the world solved our immediate problems. We soon found our local suburban shopping centre too and did some food shopping. We have almost become vegitarians here - not by choice but only because meat costs a small fortune!

Thanks to the help of some friends, we managed to score ourselves two secondhand bikes for 500 kronor (crowns in Swedish) and even borrow a spare one! Soon we were cycling about 12 kilometres a day and getting fit again!

Ikea in Sweden!

This is me in our little flat watching TV. For a second bed we have a mattress that slides undernearth our single bed. We take turns on the floor.

British Pub and Indian Kitchen, owned by Turks. Makes an interesting combination.

A typical Uppsala street

The Cathedral as viewed from the other side of the river

Although it was summer (August) when we arrived, the nice warm weather soon gave way to the beginning of chilly Autumn. Autumn in Scandinavia begins midway through August, earlier than most other European countries.

Students milling around inside the Neo-Renaissance Universitethuset (Main University Building) during orientation

A reception for new students inside the Universitethuset Grand Hall. A stringed orchestra is playing.

Life in Uppsala is a lot slower than life back in Melbourne. I somewhat enjoy the simplicity of student life all over again. We've made friends and are becoming more and more acquanted with Swedish life.

Because of my visa, I am considered an immigrant. This entitles me to free government-sponsored Swedish lessons through SFI (Swedish for Immigrants). Candice is also lucky enough to learn Swedish at uni.

Candice soon discovered that her timetable had very few contact hours, enabling us to fit in a whole lot of travelling while we live in the lovely land of Sverige (Sweden). This travel is the subject of future blogs (which I know we are very overdue in posting) - we'll keep the updates coming!

The church we attend in Uppsala, Korskyrkan

My mean green machine, Kermit came complete with a basket!

University nightlife in Uppsala

For more pictures of our first few weeks in Uppsala, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52936&l=47431&id=681501850

York and back to Ipswich

2008-09-28T17:48:00.005+10:00

York

Leaving Scotland, the three of us headed towards the city of York in Northeast England. York is a historic walled city that has played an important role in England (and even the Roman empire) since about 71 AD. Walking around York was almost like walking around a living museum.

This is where we parted ways with Sally (who is going to study in the USA) with a promise to all come back to England for Christmas!

The city wall

The River Ouse

An old door

York Minster, the second-largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. Construction began in 1220, even though previous cathedrals have stood on the site since the 6th Century AD

Posing outside York Minster

The Shambles, a well-preserved medieval street in York with buildings dating back to the 14th Century

An old building on The Shambles

Boats on the River Ouse

Sally and I (Nat) on the city wall

York Minster can be seen from the wall

A gateway through the old city wall.

Leaving Sally at the train station, we drove further south to Leceister (which is a hole and not worth taking any photos of) where teary-eyed, we returned our trusty rental car, Henry and met up with Kelly to spend our last few English days in Ipswich again!

I discover a sausage and egg McMuffin in Leicester the next morning

Back to Ipswich

Needless to say, we were pretty tired after our month spent travelling around the UK. It was good to get some "downtime" again in familiar territory. Kelly and Rob took great care of us and showed us the best that Ipswich had to offer. It had been a few years since I'd seen Rob (in Australia) and this time he had hair! Funnily enough the last time we'd seen each other, I had dreadlocks too.

Dinner party at Kelly and Rob's

Outside the Magpie, one of the good old English pubs we visited

Rob, Kelly and I

And that's it! Our British adventures drew to a close. After a couple of days in Ipswich, we boarded our flight from Stansted Airport out of the English-speaking world into the "unknown" world of Sweden.

For more pictures of our time in York and Ipswich, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52918&l=08447&id=681501850

Edinburgh and Stirling

2008-09-28T17:43:00.007+10:00

Edinburgh

Looking at these photos, it must seem like a heck of a long day for us to fit in the highlands AND Edinburgh. Well, it was. We had woken up early at our midge-infested hostel on the banks of Loch Ness to get an early start down south.

Being August (peak summer season) and the fact that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was on, there was absolutely no where we could get a bed. The nearest place we found room was Stirling, a city in between Glasgow and Edinburgh. After hastily checking in, we drove to Edinburgh to see what we could squeeze into an afternoon.

The city centre.

Although slightly smaller than Glasgow, Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and enjoys a reputation for being one of the hippest, coolest, history-filled cities in the UK.

Edinburgh Castle

We sampled some Italian food in Edinburgh, a tad on the expensive side and nowhere near as good as Melbourne

A Celtic Cross in the Scottish National Museum (yes we managed to fit in a heck of a lot!)

Crowds in the streets for the festival

Scotland is a great place to trace one's Scottish heritage (if you have any), and so like I (Nat) did in Wales, I thought I would see what I could dig up here. My grandma on my mum's side was of Scottish ancestry from the clan Macnaughtan. I looked around and sure enough I managed to locate the Macnaughtan tartan for sale in a shop in Edinburgh. I bought a tartan scarf straight away.

St Giles Cathedral in the Royal Mile

The Royal Mile in the Old Town

Another view of Edinburgh Castle

The Scott Monument, a Victorian Gothic monument to author Sir Walter Scott

Since we were in time for the Edinburgh Festival, the largest arts festival in the world, we decided to get tickets to some random stand-up comedy. We managed to get half-priced tickets to a show The show we went to featured the youngest comedian at the festival, a 17-year old British schoolboy of Indian descent. The show was passable but juvenile at best.

View of the Old Town from where we purchased tickets

Stirling

Originally, the second choice to staying in Edinburgh, we soon discovered that Stirling is a city with a rich history of its own. Situated almost evenly between Scotland's two biggest cities, residents can commute to either and live in Stirling.

Stirling is most famous for the Wallace monument, a monument erected in 1869 to commemorate William Wallace (as portrayed in the film 'Braveheart') the Scottish nationalist hero of the 12th Century. It was in Stirling that Wallace defeated an English army.

Wheat field in Stirling

Stirling Castle

View of Stirling from Abbey Craig

The statue of William Wallace

The Wallace Monument

After Stirling, we left Scotland to go back into England where we would spend the last few days of our British trip.

For more photos of Edinburgh and Stirling, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52912&l=b24c4&id=681501850

Loch Ness and the Scottish Highlands

2008-09-28T17:31:00.010+10:00

Leaving Dundee, we had to decide whether to drive up to Loch Ness via Perth or via Aberdeen. On paper it looked as though the Aberdeen route was longer but since the road looked less windy and much wider, we took that option.

The however, drive took a lot longer than we expected because the road went through every single little town. Due to their age, traffic flow planning in British towns leaves much to be desired. There was a bottleneck of cars in almost every single one.

Finally, after driving for most of the day and seeing the origins of (what felt like) half the place names in Australia, we arrived at Inverness, the "capital" of the highlands, and the largest city this far north in Scotland.

Downtown Inverness

The river Ness

Finally, after a short drive South, we reached the banks of Loch Ness, one of the world's most well-known lakes. Loch Ness is Scotland's second-largest loch by surface area (after Loch Lomond) but is the largest single body of freshwater (by volume) in the whole of the United Kingdom. At its deepest point, Loch Ness is 230 metres - deep enough to submerge London's BT Tower. To give you an idea of how much water it holds, Loch Ness contains more freshwater than all the lakes in England and Wales combined.

The great depth and the murkiness of the water caused by peat has given rise to thousands of alleged of sightings of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, nicknamed "Nessie". We couldn't help feeling hopeful ourselves that something just might poke its head out of the water.

Mist over Loch Ness

We found Nessie!

The Loch Ness Centre attempts to explain away the Nessie sightings as pranks and wishful thinking. Still, an interesting visit

In this part of Scotland, signs are in both Gaelic and English (despite the fact that almost nobody can speak Gaelic anymore)

The banks of Loch Ness

Urquhart Castle, one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland. It's origins date back to as early as the 6th Century AD. Today, the majority of Nessie sightings occur near the castle.

The landscape is absolutely beautiful. Even photographs don't do it justice.

Our hostel. I (Nat) had to use my lawyer negotiation skills to get the price down, seriously!

Lochs abound in the highlands. Although not as famous, there are so many Lochs that can be equally as stunning. The next day we set off back down south.

Loch Lochy

We decided to take the scenic route. And let me tell you, boy was it scenic. We had to keep stopping by the side of the road to gawk at how beautiful the mountains were.

Aussies in the highlands

The dark brooding weather added to the dramatic effect as we drive

We don't even know the name of this peak

We couldn't help but imagine ourselves travelling back in time 1000 years - nothing much has changed!

Sally, Candice and I with our little rental car

Don't let my t-shirt fool you. It was freezing.

We accidentally set our timer to "video", making us look like idiots while we posed in the chilly highlands.

For much of the rest of our drive, we were enthralled by glens, fells and lochs - the natural beauty of Scotland. And that was only the beginning of our day, we still had Edinburgh to see!

For more photos of our time in the highlands, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52905&l=22d92&id=681501850

Glasgow, Dundee and trekking up to Loch Brandy

2008-09-27T02:51:00.010+10:00

Glasgow

There is nothing much of interest in the southern part of Scotland. As we drove through Northern England we didn't even realise we had crossed the border until we figured we had to be because Glasgow was getting so close.

Then suddenly before we knew it we were in Glasgow, Scotland's largest (and Britain's third largest) city. Glasgow is beautiful and vaguely reminded us of a smaller and older version of Melbourne. Plagued by an extremely high crime rate, Glasweigens have attempted to turn their city into Scotland's most modern to catch up with the booming popularity of nearby rival, Edinburgh.

A busy Glasgow thoroughfare

The Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow really reminded us of Melbourne

We ate our packed lunch in Glasgow which we had made before we left our hostel in Shap

Bagpiping buskers in Glasgow

Dundee and Glen Clova

That afternoon we arrived in Dundee, where we would be staying for a few days with my friend Elodie and her boyfriend Colin. Elodie is French and since it had been a few years since we had seen each other, I wasn't prepared for the Scottish accent I heard on the other end of the phone when I called! A French/Scottish accent is a strange thing.

Elodie and Colin's apartment was right in the city centre with a prime view of the River Tay.

View from the apartment in the evening and the view at night.

To kickstart our Scottish adventures, Elodie cooked us up some traditional Scottish quisine - haggis and oatcake. For the uninitiated, haggis consists mainly of sheep's heart, liver and lungs usually boiled in the animal's stomach. For the most part it tasted like pate´.

I sample the fine Scottish dish

The next day Elodie took us on our first Scottish hike. We drove about an hour to Glen Clova, one of the five Highland glens in the western portion of the Angus region of Scotland, before we started on what has to be one of the most scenic walks we have ever done.

The hills were covered in heather

The girls on the trail

The view as we climbed

We finally arrived at our destination, the beautiful Loch Brandee

Pure fresh Loch goodness!

Candice and Sally

Ahhh, Scotland!

More amazing views

The crew: Elodie, Sally, Nat, Candice

Dundee is Scotland's fourh-largest city. Like most cities in Britain, Dundee is beautiful and full of history. Here are some snapshots:

Sadly, this old church has now been turned into an Islamic Education Centre

The city centre

Desperate Dan

Sally and Candice discover Primark, mecca for cheap clothes!

Finally I sampled a taste of that good old Scottish family restaurant:-

McDonalds!

Funnily enough that night we watched the movie Braveheart on TV. Fitting, since we were actually in Scotland.

Sally, Candice and Colin hanging out

We left Dundee early the next morning to do some more Scottish driving. This time, all the way to the highlands! But we'll leave you with this interesting specimen we spotted in front of us:-

The number plate says it all

For more pictures of Glasgow and Dundee visit:- http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52901&l=3e65a&id=681501850

The Lake District

2008-09-26T23:24:00.007+10:00

Together with Rachel and Sally we left the city and drove North towards the Lake District, arguably one of England's most beautiful areas. The Lake District, encompassing several rural towns in Northwest England has long been a popular holiday destination and is famous for its mountains (fells).

The Lakes were a source of inspiration for many famous 19th century poets and authors such as William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.

The main street of Kendal

We had lunch in this park in Kendal. You can see castle ruins on the hill through the arch

We stayed at the New Ing Lodge, a haphazardly-run hostel in the village of Shap. The weather was rather dismal but it added an air of "cosyness" about it all.

Our hostel was in an old farm building (hundreds of years old)

Despite the rain, we managed some interesting walks to see what the area had to offer.

Sally, Rachel and I (Nat) trekking by Lake Ullswater

We weren't alone

Lake Ullswater

Trekking up a hill in Windemere

View of Lake Windemere from the summit

An unintentional arty pose

The girls at the ruins of Penrith Castle in Penrith

Britain: contrasts between old and new

Penrith Castle

The town of Penrith which lent its name to a suburb of Sydney

At this point we bid goodbye to Rachel who had to go back to Birmingham. Sally, Candice and I continued North towards Scotland in our trusty little rental car.

For more photos of the lake district visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52892&l=02481&id=681501850

Birmingham, Nottingham and Sherwood Forest

2008-09-26T20:47:00.016+10:00

Birmingham

After Cheltneham we drove a long 40 minutes to our next destination, Birmingham, the United Kingdom's second-largest city. It's great driving around the UK because you arrive at your destination in no time! We stayed with my (Candice's) friend Rachel for a couple of days. Sally (from Australia) was also staying there before she went to America to do her exchange semester. Rachel, Sally and Jules are friends I made when I went to Sabah, Malaysia for my gap year in 2005. It was so great to catch up with them all and have a little reunion, although Kat and Jess were missing!

Birmingham, I think, is a very cool industrial town! Sure it lacks some of the old buildings that other cities have in the UK. But it has potential to be very funky. Especially with the good old brummy accent and some amazing curries!

Nat and Sally as we sample some Birmingham nightlife

Birmingham has grown as a result of industry and unlike many other British cities is not as picturesque as we imagined.

Much like Venice, Birmingham has an extensive series of canals which were originally used to transport coal. They are now an undiscovered tourist attraction

The first night we arrived, we went out in the city and had a nice little night out in Birmingham with some nice 'new world' wine as they call it in the UK. New world means that the wine is from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia or America. I had never thought about it in that way before. Needless to say 'new world' wine is always the best.

Rachel and her boyfriend Ben.

Sally and Rachel.

Some more wine and a picture of Jules and I.

Nat and I posing.

4 gappers reunited.

Having a little giggle!

Nottingham and Sherwood Forest

As we were not that far from Nottingham and we had a spare day, Nat, Sally and I decided to do a day trip to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. So we made our merry way there in our little black car!

Sally and I in the streets of Nottingham.

A tram, Nat's favourite!

Nottingham is a mix of new and old. It's a beautiful city.

Nottingham is most famous for its legend of folklore, Robin Hood. Records show that Robin Hood did actually exist, though myth may have distorted this common bandit into the benevolent champion of the common man.

The statue of Robin Hood

The gates of Nottingham Castle

Britain's oldest pub. Click on the photo to the right to read the details.

These underground caves in the hillside below Nottingham Castle have been here for time immemorial. The caves have been used for various purposes throughout history, including as stores and even an air-raid shelter in WWII, now they are part of a museum

Sally explores the museum which captures life from the late 1800s to the 1920s

We left Nottingham on a bit of a sour note. Heartless parking inspectors had waited by our car until 4pm (when our parking spot on the road became a clearway became a clearway) just to give us a fine. Despite the fact that I (Nat) ran all the way there and arrived at 4.02pm (as they were just starting to issue the fine), they insisted on being pigs and fined us 75 pounds! So our parking ticket says we exceeded our time by 3 minutes (4.03pm). Definite fat pig's anuses.

We drove about half an hour North in a sullen mood to Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his merry men are said to have lived.

About 900 years ago, herwood Forest covered 5% of the landmass of England. Today it's only a few hundred hectares of trees, more akin to a tourist attraction. The forest is an important area of conservation, housing some of the oldest oaks and birches in the whole world.

Sally and I in Sherwood Forest

The Major Oak, estimated to be approximately 1000 years old was Robin Hood's hideout according to local legend. Frankly, unless they were birds I don't see how that could have been possible.

Hanging out in Sherwood Forest

Yes, yes - it's important to get a picture of the sign to prove we were here

Nat gets his dreadlocks done

Back in Birmingham we had time to kill. As the "Golden Triangle" are of Birmingham is reputed to have the best curry outside of India, we decided to go there for dinner one night, check out some of the amazing dishes and then visit some cool pubs. Which we did. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera and words really just don't suffice.

I (Nat) used to have dreadlocks. I've had them twice before in fact - nice long dreads which I took great care of, and actually ended up selling to a hairdresser for 200 bucks. No kidding. I had em for a total of 4 years before I cut them off to start work at a law firm back in 2005.

Before our trip began, I had been contemplating getting my hair dreadlocked again, seeing as it would probably be the last chance I'd ever get to feel 'young and free' and dreadlocked again.

My old dreads back in the day. Circa 2004

We'd left Australia in a hurry and in the few days between finishing up work and getting on the plane, I had totally forgotten about dreadlocks. On a whim in Birmingham I decided to get my hair dreaded again - although this time a lot shorter. We looked up the only dreadlocking hairdresser in the city and went to her house that very day to get them done. She used beeswax to dread my hair, a technique I wasn't familiar with.

Getting the dreads done

As it was taking so long, Candice and Sally went for a walk to see the canals

When they were just finished, I looked like Sonic the Hedgehog

A rainy night in Birmingham

We spent the next couple of days just bumming around in Birmingham, relaxing and getting used to sleeping in a proper bed again. Rachel and Sally were to join us on the next leg of our trip up North.

For more photos of our time in Birmingham, Nottingham and Sherwood Forest visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52878&l=27bd3&id=681501850

Back to England - Cheltenham

2008-08-27T19:51:00.005+10:00

As we re-entered England, the only real change was the placenames. It was peak-hour as we made our way through the suburbs of Cheltenham. This blog post is very short as we were only in Cheltenham for a couple of days.

We stayed with Ruth Martin, an old friend of Candice's mum who has a lovely cottage in the centre of town. Ruth works for British Intelligence so she couldn't tell us too much...or she might have had to kill us! ;)

Cheltenham is a large town of about 100,000 people in Gloucertershire. It has been known as a holiday spa town since the discovery of mineral springs here in 1716 (not that we saw any or even knew this when we arrived).

Cheltenham (and the neighbouring village of Winchcombe) was where Candice's mum spent most of her teenage years, so this time it was Candice's turn to trace her English roots.

Holding up a Maccas takeaway bag in Cheltenham

The centre of Cheltenham. The statue is of Edward Adrian Wilson, a famous Antarctic explorer. The municipal offices are in the background.

"The Minotaur and the Hare", a bronze sculpture in the Promenade

Ruth's a bit of a fitness fanatic (not a bad thing) - recently she did the "End to End" walk which involved 3 months of walking from the Southernmost point of England to the Northernmost point of Scotland. No busses, no cars, no cheating. Now that's hardcore.

To show we weren't lightweights, we joined Ruth for a run with her running club - a superb way to get the blood pumping and to sample some of the countryside around Cheltenham. We met up with the rest of the runners behind a golf club in the hills overlooking Cheltenham.

As we gather for the run

The countryside

Candice made jogging with a camera look easy

Ruth and I (Nat) jog

Cheltenham as viewed from the hills

Candice and Ruth

As it turned out, the bloke leading our run that day was a bit of a character. He's a retired army officer who claims to survive on only 4000 pounds a year. He joined us for a meal at The Plaisterers Arms in the village of Winchcombe after our run and didn't really shut up. He was a fountain of knowledge on how to make ends meet... and on pretty much everything else - much akin to David Brent from "The Office.

Good grub at the pub

We bid Cheltenham farewell and drove a "whopping" 40 minutes to Birmingham, the United Kingdom's second largest city. People here think that's far.

For more photos of our stay in Cheltenham, visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48380&l=6db0b&id=681501850

Driving around Wales and tracing Nat's Welsh roots

2008-08-27T19:32:00.010+10:00

Ahh out on the road again! We set off to explore Wales, a country within a country. You know,until we arrived in the UK, we seldom paused to ponder how the United Kingdom is one nation, yet is made up of 4 component countries which to a large extent still cling to nationalistic roots.

Aside from the obvious sporting rivalry, certain locals from Wales and Scotland love to "hate" the English, but when it comes down to it, they are really all the same! Everyone loves their football, their rugby and a good pint of British beer. Not to mention that people move around and everyone is mixed these days anyway! Everybody has a bit of Celt, a bit of Norman, a bit of Angle, a bit of Saxon and even a bit of Scandinavian in them. How could they possibly not? The British Isles have seen migration, conquest, intermarriage and mingling for thousands of years! When it comes down to it, even the English were originally Celtic! So I (Nat) say, stop the bickering and learn to concentrate on what you have in common - there's a heck of a lot of it!

We began our journey to the Westernmost point of Wales, the city of St David's. St David's is located in Southern Pembrookeshire, which is known as "Little England Beyond Wales" owing to the fact this area has been English in culture and language for centuries.

St Davids has the honour of being the smallest city in Britain. In reality its merely a town of less than 2000 people however the fact that it has a cathedral automatically makes it a city.

The view from Solva, on the way to St David's

Britains smallest city

St David's Cathedral, built in 1181 and still in active use over 800 years later!

The ruins of the Bishops Palace at St David's

The interior of the cathedral

Supposedly St David's (the patron saint of Wales) bones lie in this box

Many ancient tombs lie in the cathedral. This one is of a great Welsh knight who died in the 1200s

We had a very interesting night in the town of Fishguard. What began as a search for cheap pub food ended with us being shouted beers and having a good old yarn with some Welsh locals. Apparently Fishguard is one of the top places in the UK to be during New Year's (don't ask me why). The pubs even have photos of the festivities on the wall. We finally left the pub (to the disappointment of the locals who were quite enjoying meeting a couple of out-of-town Australians), making vague promises to return for New Year's 2009. Whether we make good our pledge remains to be seen.

The pub in Fishguard

After another restful night in our car just on the outskirts of Machynlleth in the county of Powys, we started our next day early. This is because we had agreed to do a little driving off the beaten track in order to "trace my Welsh roots".

My mum is Australian and her bloodline is primarily Scottish and Welsh. Her maiden name is Pugh, which is Welsh in origin. Years ago my grandfather had done some research on the family tree and traced the first Pugh migrant to Australia in the 1800s, Hugh Pugh (my great great great grandfather) to a little village called Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. Since he had visited the village in the 1980s, he was able to give me directions. Just as well because we could hardly see it on the map!

After driving for ages on small roads between breathtakingly beautiful hills out to the middle of nowhere, we finally found it!

Llanfihangel-y-Pennant means "Church of the Archangel by the Little River" in Welsh

Today the village consists of about 8 families. The ancient church of St Michael is still used today. Most of the graves in the churchyard are people with the surnames Pugh and Jones.

The grave of John Pugh, my great great great great grandfather. The tomb of his wife and another Pugh relative lie next to his. John Pugh was the father of Hugh Pugh, who migrated to Australia in the 1800s.

As I (Nat) stroll among the tombstones

We pose amid the beautiful Welsh mountains

Did my great (x3) grand daddy build this house? His uncle probably did. There were a few Hugh Pughs around then. Apparently it was a popular name.

The monument of Mary Jones in Llanfihangel-y-Pennant who walked barefoot 25 miles to buy a Welsh Bible in 1800 for which she had saved for 6 years.

Checking out the monument and ruins of her house

A Welsh stream

We were suprised to see that the sheep in Wales have tails!

Our journey back to civilisation

A Welsh lake

After my little family reunion, we drove back down to Aberystwyth, a famous Welsh university town and then due East across mid Wales back towards England. This particular day involved a lot of driving, and so Candice had to share the load even though technically she wasn't on the insurance for the car. Naughty, naughty.

Candice gets some Welsh-English driving experience

For more photos of Wales, visit
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Cardiff and its surrounding Castles

2008-08-27T19:18:00.008+10:00

After days of living in our car, we crossed the massive bridge that spans the Severn river into Wales. The toll was expensive but it saved us the trouble of travelling up to a land crossing.

The longest bridge we've ever been on

Just around the corner was Wales's bustling capital city, Cardiff. Cardiff only has a population of about 300,000 but is by far the largest city in Wales. Its fairly recent rise to prominence as a major city is mostly due to the boom of the coal industry in the 1800s. Cardiff was only made a city in 1905 and only became the capital of Wales in 1955. Considering the age of everything else in Britain, this makes Cardiff seem almost "new".

Wales has recently enjoyed a revival of interest in the Welsh language. From being in danger of dying out as late as the 1960s, Welsh is now spoken by about 21% of the population of Wales. As such, most road signs have both English and Welsh translations (which seems a bit silly when a place-name is the same in both languages).

Despite our searching, it turns out that almost nobody in Cardiff can speak Welsh - it seems to be confined to the North.

Cardiff in both English and Welsh (Caerdydd)

A busy street in central Cardiff

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Gaz, one of Candice's friends. Gaz is a doctor and was just about to be transferred to Bristol. As it happened, this was also his last weekend in Cardiff - lucky for us!

Our first night out in Cardiff

Wales is famous for its castles. Almost every town boasts a castle or ruins of some sort. Gaz took us to see some castles around the countryside surrounding Cardiff.

Raglan Castle in Raglan

The moat

View from a castle window out into the surrounding the surrounding countryside

View from the tower

Raglan Castle dates back to the 12th Century and was used by nobels up until 1646 when it was besieged during the English Civil War. It was the last bastion to hold out against Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarans.

We were lucky enough to be there for a re-enactment of the battle. Actors would speak to us in character and fired real muskets

Gaz and I pose with a soldier

We had a lovely lunch in the town of Abergavenny

Caerphilly Castle

Back in Cardiff, we realised we had picked the best weekend to visit. The Cardiff Festival was on! Summer in the UK is the best time to catch some of the world's best music festivals. Although we didn't make it to Reading, Glastonbury or Leeds this year (which cost an arm and a leg), this festival was free and right in the centre of town.

Prince Buster, one of the founding fathers of ska (who must be at least 70) busts a move

Ash belts out "Girl From Mars".

Gaz and us at Cardiff Festival

Taking our time to walk around Cardiff, we soon discover it's a beautiful city.

A slug we met in the park

I conquer a pig in the park

Candice pats the pig

Cardiff Castle

Queen Street

Maccas in Wales

Millenium Stadium, the Welsh love their rugby

Bangers and mash, traditional British pub food. Yum yum!

Even my "Brunch Burger" had sausages in it

We left Cardiff to explore more of Wales, feeling well-fed and happy. Back into the car!

For more photos of Cardiff, visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48359&l=11dab&id=681501850

Driving around Southwest England

2008-08-26T19:44:00.012+10:00

Sad to leave our friends in Ipswich but excited to see more of England, we bravely set off to see what adventures Southwest England could offer. As we had travelled Northeast to Ipswich, we had to head back towards London and somehow navigate through its busy road network to get through to the other side.

The problem with driving in the UK is that speed limits are hardly ever displayed. Half the time I (Nat) didn't know if I was driving too fast or too slow. Finally we managed to figure out (with the help of some rather confused Englishmen) that a particular sign on the motorway meant that the National Speed Limit applied - which is 60mph for single carriageway roads and 70mph for dual carriageway roads. Despite the fact that there were speed cameras everywhere, it felt like everyone else was speeding!

As I drive on the motorway

We finally got past London and traffic seemed to thin out as we approached less-populated areas, all the while driving towards the town of Amesbury. Our first stop, Stonehenge.

Yes, yes we know it's touristy but it's something that every visitor to England should see. Once. Stonehenge, the legendary ring of stones atop ancient earthworks is one of the world's most famous pre-historic sites.

Stonehenge, estimated to be at least 4,500 years old.

Stonehenge literally jumped out of nowhere. One minute your driving, the next you can see a paddock to your right with Stonehenge in it and you slam on the brakes to turn off the road. Despite the mystical eeriness about the stones, how they got there and who built them, the site of a fenced-off Stonehenge and a whopping 12 pound entry fee slightly spoils it. We took the cheap option and just looked at the stones from the road (where they are perfectly visible, if you pay you get to stand about 3 metres closer. Big deal.)

Despite the fact that modern day loonies who call themselves "neo-druids" like to think that they have some link with the pagan Druids of old, archeological research shows that Stonehenge was almost certainly not built by the Druids, pre-dating them by a couple of millenia. Apparently it was used as a burial ground.

One of the self-tilted Arthurian Druids protesting something at Stonehenge

The crowds of tourists who visit

You can see Stonehenge from the highway. Just another sheep paddock.

Nearby, was Woodhenge. If you haven't heard of Woodhenge, don't worry - there are a lot of "henges" about, none of them as exciting as Stonehenge. Woodhenge was apparently similar to Stonehenge except made out of Wood. Of course the wood isn't there anymore so concrete posts have replaced the beams of wood which rotted away thousands of years ago.

Woodhenge

The beautiful paddocks

Jetstar jumps at Stonehenge

We continued on towards Exeter, in Devon.

The sky started to grow dark

A graveyard in Exeter of long forgotten people.

St Stephens, the oldest church in Exeter - over 1000 years old!

A street in Exeter

The beautiful Exeter Cathedral, completed in about 1400

True to our cost-saving backpacker travel style, rather than pay for accomodation we slept in the car that night. It was to become the first of many nights we spent in our trusty little Fiesta, and to be honest it was such an exciting way to travel, without the need for planning where and when we had to book accomodation on the road. We did however spend a couple of hours trying to find the best place to park - we tossed up choices like the city centre of Exeter, a random road near caravans or even paying for a caravan spot, but finally decided the easiest (and safest) way was to sleep at a rest area on a freeway.

Our next stop was Launceston. Yes that's right, the original Launceston. Once the capital of Cornwall, Launceston (pronounced "Lance-ton") by the locals is now a forgotten little town of about 4,000 friendly people, packed with historic goodies like castles and old churches. This town lent its name to the second-largest city in Tasmania and is now overshadowed in almost every respect by its Australian counterpart, so much so that most people don't even realise there is a Launceston in England. We soon discovered that this was the case for many places in the UK which have the same names as cities in Australia.

The old castle gate

Launceston Castle, buit by Robert de Mortain in 1087, one of the Normans who conquered England.

Launceston Town Square

Candice finds a door

Cornish Clotted Cream!

After many days of great weather in England, the skies finally opened up. We drove on towards Newquay, passing through the Dartmoor National Park. The moors looked eerie through the rain.

Colliford Lake where we would have spent a night if it hadn't been for weird clowns, wild horses and dog-walkers

We finally arrived at Newquay, Cornwall's most popular tourist destination, a busy coastal town housing England's only surf beaches. During the summer tourists from around the UK flock to Newquay to "ride the waves". The fact that it was a gloomy day didn't seem to perturb any of the Brits who were anxious to get as much surfing in as they could. Evidently, sandy beaches and good waves are a rare thing in the Motherland.

Newquay, we even found Quiksilver and Billabong shops here. It was weird seeing Australian surf brands in rainy England.

Fistral beach

England and surfing? Boy are we pampered in Australia.

The cold weather didn't stop people surfing these less than average looking waves

A sandy English beach. We thought of Paddington Bear stories.

We left Cornwall and headed back North. Our next and final stop before crossing over into Wales was the pretty seaside city of Weston super-mare. Weston sits directly opposite Cardiff (Wales) across the mouth of the Severn river. The tide was out and it felt like you could almost walk all the way to Cardiff! If you're wondering about the name, Weston super-mare means "Weston by the bay" or something in Latin and has nothing to do with strong horses.

The tide was out

View of Weston

Candice in the middle of town

Traditional English entertainment - a Punch & Judy show in Grove Park

Leaving Weston, we drove across one of the many bridges that crosses the Severn into Cardiff, the capital of Wales.

For more pictures of our drive around Southwest England, visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48350&l=6d64a&id=681501850

Ipswich and Aldeburgh

2008-08-25T19:50:00.006+10:00

Picking up our rental car from Lleytonstone, an outer suburb of London, we had to quickly orientate ourselves with English traffic. Britain is probably the world capital of round-a-bouts and nobody obeys the speed limit, despite the presence of speed cameras on virtually every corner. We were thankful though that we were once again in a country that drives on the correct side of the road (left) and within an hour or so I (Nat) felt comfortable enough in the driver's seat.

Our next stop after London was Ipswich where our friends Laura and Kelly live. Ipswich is on the east side of England, East Anglia and is a quaint town with a nice big mansion in the middle of a nice big park as the main attraction. We stayed with Laura and her boyfriend James for 3 days and they took us to some amazing places.

On the first night we went for good old fashion British fish and chips in Aldeburgh, a neighbouring seaside town. The fish and chip shop we went to has been voted the best in the area, and it certainly was amazing, although there was a huge line we had to wait in for about half an hour! Nat and I ordered some fish, with scampi, chips and even mushy peas! We had to try the infamous mushy peas...which were just that mushy peas. Maybe we won't be ordering them again!

The line outside the fish and chip shop in Aldeburgh.

Aldeburgh was exactly what we expected of English seaside towns! It was absolutley beautiful.

Sitting on the pebbly beach eating our amazing fish and chips!

A close up of the fish and chips, scampi and mushy peas!

We couldn't understand how people would sunbathe on such a pebbly beach, surely the pebbles would dig into one's back.

A very old pub, about 600 years old! Nat is drinking what is apparently an old man's drink - warm English ale!

Outside Cross Keys Inn

While we were sitting in this pub having some ales and ciders after our fish and chips some Morris dancers came jingling their way into the pub. It sounded like Santa Claus had arrived. But no, it was just middle-age men, dressed in Morris dancing outfits, with bells on their ankles and flowers on their hats! It was quite a strange cultural experience.

Our little car we hired to drive around the country which we named "Henry the 9th of Lleytonstone", or just Henry for short. In the background is Laura's house.

Walking around Ipswich with Laura and her Dad's dog Barney!

The old Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich.

We were lucky enough on our second night to meet some of Laura's family and friends. Laura just happened to be having a BBQ at her place and we were treated to fine English sausage amongst many other mouth-tinging goodies. In England, you can never really say you're definitely going to have a BBQ because it just might rain. Therefore, any invitation to a BBQ is tentative!

Nat James (Laura's boyfriend) who is cooking a BBQ in the British way! With coals and a small little round thing. We weren't too sure how this would all work but James did an amazing job and the food was cooked and tasted great! Although I think that gas BBQ's are much easier to use!

The docks of Ipswich

The markets in Ipswich.

After experiencing a taste of this good old English town, we bid Laura farewell and drove off on a massive road-trip to explore the rest of Britain.

For more photos of Aldeburgh and Ipswich, visit:-
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