Home again, and I have to admit, I’m happy to be here. I did arrive home safe and sound several days ago, September 1st. The house was intact. A fair number of weeds had built a barrier around the place. I guess in my absence, they felt the place needed their protection. Thanks, but no thanks.
The trip this time was really great, but I think I’ve found my limit for being away. Not to say the trip wasn’t enjoyable. It was. But it began to feel as if I was repeating what I’d done the day before, just in a different location. Ending the trip in Menorca did put a bright light on the end of it. Menorca was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Moving on. I last wrote on Thursday afternoon, and I was sacrificing my siesta. Well, on Friday I sacrificed again, not to write, though, and the sacrifice was worth it. To start the day, Pepe, los ninos and I headed for an abandoned fort, Castell de Santa Agueda, dating back to the time of the Moorish conquest of Spain.
This one wasn’t one that had been rebuilt to look like the original. It had been left to the mercy of wind and rain, and looked the part. It sat atop the second highest peak on the island. Some view! The island is about 45 K by 20K at the widest. We could see at least 1/2 of it. Over the years, the area has been used for farming and grazing. The road to it had been paved with stones when the fort was built. A good bit of the road was still in good shape, as the farmers had maintained it over the years.
In the early afternoon, Magdalena and los ninos attended a birthday party. Pepe and I used the time to have a delicious meal in a local restaurant. This was a very Mediterranean meal, both in content and time. A bottle of wine, some delicious tapas, two dishes, squid, I believe, and peppers. Then the outstanding main course of monkfish. This was followed by desert, and Pepe didn’t do his part, so I had to finish both his and mine. Then coffee and a Menorcan after dinner drink. Quite a meal!
Then he took me to Ciutadella, the second largest city on the island. Ciutadella was, I believe, once the capital of Menorca, but Mao (Mahon), with the better harbor took over that function in more recent times. Ciutadella has the charm you would hope for in a Spanish city, bright, old, narrow streets, busy, flowers. I think you get the idea.
The rest of the time in Menorca wasn’t nearly as interesting; pack, sleep, eat breakfast, goodbyes, and a trip to the airport. The goodbyes were the best part.
The flights back home weren’t exciting. Menorca to Barcelona, Barcelona to London, and London to LA. I guess I should be thankful for that. My flight from London was late taking off, and we must have been fighting headwinds, because we were even later landing. We must have landed at the same time as several other intercontinental flights, because it took about an hour to get through customs.
Which reminds me. Europe isn’t as rigid on passport control as I’d anticipated. Once within the Scandinavian countries, they didn’t check my passport. They stamped it in Austria, on my day trip to Hungary, on entry to Denmark, and on my visit to Estonia. Leaving Estonia was the last time my passport was stamped. I expected it when I left Denmark for Spain, but neither country checked it. . And when I arrived in LA, they only looked at my passport. No entrance stamp. Sort of disappointing, as I’d hoped to be able to show off all the entry and exit stamps. Asi es la vida.
Found out that I did have a few problems with finance when I returned. I thought I’d done a good job making sure all my bills were covered. But I didn’t anticipate the registration renewal for one vehicle. I was gone long enough for the penalty to reach the maximum. Adding insult to injury, the highest penalty step started only 2 days before I returned. And the insurance expired on another vehicle. Forgot to put that one on the automatic payment schedule. That turned out OK, though. It was in the garage all the time, and I didn’t have to pay insurance for it for two months. The author, however, does not recommend the practice.
I often wrapped up my travelogues with some random thoughts and observations. Now that I’m home, I don’t seem to have any, though. Just good to be home again. Keep an eye on the blog. As time permits, I’ll add photos of places I think some of you may find interesting
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Random Photss from the Trip
Here´s one of the Church ships I´ve mentioned
Helsingor Castle, or Hamlet´s Elsinore
And nearly last, but not Least, Spelunking
Yes, Spelunking. At least I think that´s what it´s called. But first, as always, at least one event has to intervene. Such as, after we woke from the siesta, it was time to go to the beach. This time it was at the beach where we´d been searching the night before. A nice sheltered cove with very calm water, and again it was delightful. I´ll probably never swim in the Pacific again. At least that´s the thought until the opportunity arises. Then, head for the surf.
The next day, Tuesday, was the boat trip. Pepe mentioned a cueva (cave) that we could enter. I anticipated pulling up on the beach and looking into the mouth of a small depression in the cliff. Wrong! Our first stop was one large enough for the boat to pull into. And deep enough that we came out a different entrance. The boat wasn´t huge, an outboard that held three adults and three kyds, but still. A bit further on, we reached our ultimate destination. Another cueva, and we pulled up and tied the boat securely to a rock, and dropped anchor. Then flashlights were passed around. Are you getting the idea?
Turns out this was a true cueva, with stalactites and stalagmites and everything else you expect to find in a limestone cavern (not being a geologist, I just assume it was limestone). Quite the sight, I really must say. We were in it for a good hour or more. I´ve been on cave tours in the past, but always on guided ones. Defined pathways, rope barriers, built in lighting, you get the picture. Not here. This was truly "Up close and personal". If the lights went out, we´d have known what true dark really was. My light had a wind-up charger, and I wound it up a lot. There were some places that we had to go through on all fours. We also climbed up/down some pretty steep inclines. My head and the ceiling collided a time or two. Some of the material looked as if it was soaking wet, but it was dry, just nearly as smooth as glass. There were several water pools, though. In several places there was a distinct change in color, with all the rock below a given point a reddish-orange color, and above, more a grey-white. I´ve posted several of the photos on the blog under the heading "Photos from Menorca". Quite a nice excursion, if I do say so myself. Did I mention that at the innermost point, Tomeo, the boat owner, said we´d go out a different way. Uh-Oh. Then I noticed a string along the way. Fine, until I realized I didn´t know if the string led further in, or to the exit. Fortunately, it was the exit. As an afterthought, there was no string on the way in. I guess Tomeo has been there more than once.
From there, it was into a quiet bay for a little swimming, then into the village of Fornells for a lunch. Since the primary purpose of this trip was to get to know Scandinavia, I ordered salmon. And a good one it was. We wandered around Fornells for a while, and Pepe insisted on making my return trip luggage heavier than when I started by getting me a Menorcan T shirt. Thank you, compadre. For our evening snack, we went to a friend of Pepe and Magdalena´s. They had a pool, so Pepe and the kyds dove in. I elected to sit this one out. The snack was delicious, and much more than a snack. I´m becoming a bit rolly-polly, I think
Wednesday rolled around, and we headed off on another adventure. This time it was to the rock quarry. Not the one we investigated the night of the lost Englishman, but an actual working sandstone quarry. You may not think that´s too exciting, but then, you´re not me. In fact, there were two quarries. One had been abandoned, and the bottom filled in with earth. Then trees were planted. Quite an abundant forest. It has it´s own little micro-climate, below the surrounding terrain by perhaps 20 or 30 metres, and sheltered from the wind. Among others, there were fig and olive trees.
Then in the newer quarry, in areas not currently being worked, we were able to see some of the machinery used to cut the sandstone, and understand a bit about the process. Until about 30 or so years ago, all the stone was cut by pure manual labor, picks and pry bars and such. Just like the Egyptians used to get the material for the pyramids. Some pretty interesting photos of the quarry, at least to me.
Then, after a short (1.5 hours is short???) siesta, Pepe asked me if I wanted to take a bath. I sniffed, somewhat self-consciously. Then I realized he meant did I want to go to the beach for a swim. Can you guess the answer? Remember the sheltered cove with the calm water? Not Wednesday! The wind was from the south, and the cove is on the south shore of Menorca. Some surf! We had a really great time, diving into and trying to ride the waves. And again, the water was delightful.
But the day wasn´t over. At 8:30 PM, we attended an equestrian show near Ferreries, where Pepe lives. First, demonstrations of the training the Menorcan horses go through to prepare them for the jaleos. Then demonstrations of several training techniques followed by some very intricate riding demonstrations. Renee, I think you´d have loved it. Since it was night, my usual abuse of the camera didn´t produce too much of merit, but I did get some photos that may be worth while..
So now it´s Thursday. This AM we headed for an ancient ruin near Ciutadella on the western end of the island. It was initially settled in about the 13Th century BC, and abandoned sometime around the Roman conquest of the island, in around the 2Nd century BC. Not too much is known about the life of the inhabitants, nor are any of the structures intact. But it really stirs up the imagination. And made me marvel at the intense amount of labor that went into building it. Lots and lots of rocks were cut and then moved from somewhere.to this location. It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of work early humans did to provide shelter and protection.
On the topic or rocks, the entire island is subdivided by rock walls. And if you really look at them, you marvel at how well the rocks fit in place. By no means haphazard piling of rocks to make a barrier. No mortar used, either. They stay in place because they fit.
It´s now Thursday afternoon, and I´m using my siesta time to create this. Probably the second to last edition of my travelogue. I may get another episode in before I leave, but Friday is the only day left for anything to happen. I leave here on Saturday AM around 10, and arrive in LA on Saturday evening at around 7 PM. Only 9 hours, right??? Hope my luggage keeps up with me on the two changes I have to make. Of course, it´s not nearly as bad to loose your luggage on the away home as it is to loose it on the way out, as happened in Copenhagen.
In case this is the last edition, I really want to say thanks to Pepe and Magdalena on the tail end of my trip, and to Pamela, Rolf, Rudi and Traude at the beginning. It was really wonderful, and makes the trip so much more informative and enjoyable, to spend time with someone who lives in and knows the area. I had a great time in Scandinavia, but it would have been so much better if someone local had been as kind and generous as these folks have been. Thanks again.
The next day, Tuesday, was the boat trip. Pepe mentioned a cueva (cave) that we could enter. I anticipated pulling up on the beach and looking into the mouth of a small depression in the cliff. Wrong! Our first stop was one large enough for the boat to pull into. And deep enough that we came out a different entrance. The boat wasn´t huge, an outboard that held three adults and three kyds, but still. A bit further on, we reached our ultimate destination. Another cueva, and we pulled up and tied the boat securely to a rock, and dropped anchor. Then flashlights were passed around. Are you getting the idea?
Turns out this was a true cueva, with stalactites and stalagmites and everything else you expect to find in a limestone cavern (not being a geologist, I just assume it was limestone). Quite the sight, I really must say. We were in it for a good hour or more. I´ve been on cave tours in the past, but always on guided ones. Defined pathways, rope barriers, built in lighting, you get the picture. Not here. This was truly "Up close and personal". If the lights went out, we´d have known what true dark really was. My light had a wind-up charger, and I wound it up a lot. There were some places that we had to go through on all fours. We also climbed up/down some pretty steep inclines. My head and the ceiling collided a time or two. Some of the material looked as if it was soaking wet, but it was dry, just nearly as smooth as glass. There were several water pools, though. In several places there was a distinct change in color, with all the rock below a given point a reddish-orange color, and above, more a grey-white. I´ve posted several of the photos on the blog under the heading "Photos from Menorca". Quite a nice excursion, if I do say so myself. Did I mention that at the innermost point, Tomeo, the boat owner, said we´d go out a different way. Uh-Oh. Then I noticed a string along the way. Fine, until I realized I didn´t know if the string led further in, or to the exit. Fortunately, it was the exit. As an afterthought, there was no string on the way in. I guess Tomeo has been there more than once.
From there, it was into a quiet bay for a little swimming, then into the village of Fornells for a lunch. Since the primary purpose of this trip was to get to know Scandinavia, I ordered salmon. And a good one it was. We wandered around Fornells for a while, and Pepe insisted on making my return trip luggage heavier than when I started by getting me a Menorcan T shirt. Thank you, compadre. For our evening snack, we went to a friend of Pepe and Magdalena´s. They had a pool, so Pepe and the kyds dove in. I elected to sit this one out. The snack was delicious, and much more than a snack. I´m becoming a bit rolly-polly, I think
Wednesday rolled around, and we headed off on another adventure. This time it was to the rock quarry. Not the one we investigated the night of the lost Englishman, but an actual working sandstone quarry. You may not think that´s too exciting, but then, you´re not me. In fact, there were two quarries. One had been abandoned, and the bottom filled in with earth. Then trees were planted. Quite an abundant forest. It has it´s own little micro-climate, below the surrounding terrain by perhaps 20 or 30 metres, and sheltered from the wind. Among others, there were fig and olive trees.
Then in the newer quarry, in areas not currently being worked, we were able to see some of the machinery used to cut the sandstone, and understand a bit about the process. Until about 30 or so years ago, all the stone was cut by pure manual labor, picks and pry bars and such. Just like the Egyptians used to get the material for the pyramids. Some pretty interesting photos of the quarry, at least to me.
Then, after a short (1.5 hours is short???) siesta, Pepe asked me if I wanted to take a bath. I sniffed, somewhat self-consciously. Then I realized he meant did I want to go to the beach for a swim. Can you guess the answer? Remember the sheltered cove with the calm water? Not Wednesday! The wind was from the south, and the cove is on the south shore of Menorca. Some surf! We had a really great time, diving into and trying to ride the waves. And again, the water was delightful.
But the day wasn´t over. At 8:30 PM, we attended an equestrian show near Ferreries, where Pepe lives. First, demonstrations of the training the Menorcan horses go through to prepare them for the jaleos. Then demonstrations of several training techniques followed by some very intricate riding demonstrations. Renee, I think you´d have loved it. Since it was night, my usual abuse of the camera didn´t produce too much of merit, but I did get some photos that may be worth while..
So now it´s Thursday. This AM we headed for an ancient ruin near Ciutadella on the western end of the island. It was initially settled in about the 13Th century BC, and abandoned sometime around the Roman conquest of the island, in around the 2Nd century BC. Not too much is known about the life of the inhabitants, nor are any of the structures intact. But it really stirs up the imagination. And made me marvel at the intense amount of labor that went into building it. Lots and lots of rocks were cut and then moved from somewhere.to this location. It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of work early humans did to provide shelter and protection.
On the topic or rocks, the entire island is subdivided by rock walls. And if you really look at them, you marvel at how well the rocks fit in place. By no means haphazard piling of rocks to make a barrier. No mortar used, either. They stay in place because they fit.
It´s now Thursday afternoon, and I´m using my siesta time to create this. Probably the second to last edition of my travelogue. I may get another episode in before I leave, but Friday is the only day left for anything to happen. I leave here on Saturday AM around 10, and arrive in LA on Saturday evening at around 7 PM. Only 9 hours, right??? Hope my luggage keeps up with me on the two changes I have to make. Of course, it´s not nearly as bad to loose your luggage on the away home as it is to loose it on the way out, as happened in Copenhagen.
In case this is the last edition, I really want to say thanks to Pepe and Magdalena on the tail end of my trip, and to Pamela, Rolf, Rudi and Traude at the beginning. It was really wonderful, and makes the trip so much more informative and enjoyable, to spend time with someone who lives in and knows the area. I had a great time in Scandinavia, but it would have been so much better if someone local had been as kind and generous as these folks have been. Thanks again.
Menorca at Midnight
Mysterious me, you´ll again have to skip forward to find out what the title is about. Or just read on, you´ll get to it eventually.
The day after the jaleo, there was another, though it really was a mock jaleo. This time the participants rode donkeys, rather than the grand Menorcan horses. And the donkeys were less than willing participants. Neither Pepe nor I were very impressed. But the town turned out again, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I think it was the socializing more than the donkeys.
After enjoying the flavor of the town for a while, we headed back for the house for lunch, or rather, dinner. The main meal is in the afternoon, and is followed by a not too light snack late in the evening. For dinner, we had baked chicken. It was baked in coca-cola. I have the recipe if anyone is interested. It doesn´t sound like something that would appeal to American tastes, but I found it very tasty. And no, it didn´t taste of coca-cola. I specify Coca-cola rather than coke to make certain you don´t get the wrong idea.
After dinner, we followed an old Spanish custom, the siesta. I think I could get used to that. I was the last to finish my siesta.
In the early evening, there was a performance put on for the children of the town. Several actors in clown suits really got the kyds going. And it was one that the kyds could participate in. Singing, dancing, a good time was had by all. Then late that night, at midnight, the weekend fiesta was topped off by a fireworks display. But that´s not the Menorca at Midnight in the title.
The next day was beach day. Pepe and the family took me to a beach on the north side of the island. There was a nice beach, in a large bay with quite a few beach-goers. There were a number of smaller coves in the bay, and we found one that looked good. The swimming here was excellent. Water temperature was fine, and the water was as clear as you can imagine. There were perhaps 20 or 30 bathers there. And to confirm your suspicions, clothing is optional here. Most of the women had tops, but there were those without. And most of the bathers had bottoms, but not all. No, I didn´t, in case you were wondering. What struck me as funny was that it looked like all those who were in the altogether were families. And it was the adults without. The kyds, except for the very young, were all wearing bathing suits. Turns out, bathing in the altogether is not allowed at the resort beaches near the major hotels, only at the smaller, more local beaches.
We broke the afternoon up by going to a restaurant neat the beach. It´s owned by Magdalena´s uncle. There we had a fine meal of paella. Then back to the beach to finish off the day. Didn´t head for home until around 8:30 or so.
Later that evening, just as we had all said buenos noches to each other, the phone rang. Pepe answered, and said it was the police calling. Yes, that stirred my interest. Pepe is the local head of the civil defense group. Turns out there was an English tourist in a nearby town that had gone missing. They were organizing a search team. I picked up on the English part, and volunteered my services, offering the one skill I have that is probably better than anyone else here, my vast command of the English language. Weak point, but Pepe checked, and they accepted me.
So we picked up another pair of volunteers and headed out. Out first assignment was to check on a remote beach and park area. Really good thing the state has provided the volunteers a 4WD truck, because it was really necessary. One of the places we looked was in an abandoned quarry. I hope we get the chance to see it again by daylight. We later patrolled a section of the town, with no luck. They retired us at around 1:30 or 2:00AM, They decided we couldn´t really accomplish much in the middle of the night.
And it turns out that he was located at around 4:00AM. In a town about 25KM from where he was last seen. The police there investigated a possible burglary attempt, and it turned out to be our lost Englishman. No one knows how he got there, least of all him. He was apparently subject to panic attacks, and diabetic as well They suspect he may have blacked out and perhaps hitched a ride to the town where he was found. So there´s Menorca at Midnight.
Today´s plans were to pick up some vegetables at a friend´s garden, then head out to explore the quarry we´d seen last night. But the friend had a swimming pool, and Eder and Marina convinced dad that swimming was a good way to spend part of the morning. And the friend was in the process of preparing a batch of tomato sauce, so we helped in that. I turn a mean juice extractor.
From there, it was back home for dinner, and then, because of our strenuous night last night, a good siesta was in order. The quarry will still be there day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is the boat trip.
The day after the jaleo, there was another, though it really was a mock jaleo. This time the participants rode donkeys, rather than the grand Menorcan horses. And the donkeys were less than willing participants. Neither Pepe nor I were very impressed. But the town turned out again, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I think it was the socializing more than the donkeys.
After enjoying the flavor of the town for a while, we headed back for the house for lunch, or rather, dinner. The main meal is in the afternoon, and is followed by a not too light snack late in the evening. For dinner, we had baked chicken. It was baked in coca-cola. I have the recipe if anyone is interested. It doesn´t sound like something that would appeal to American tastes, but I found it very tasty. And no, it didn´t taste of coca-cola. I specify Coca-cola rather than coke to make certain you don´t get the wrong idea.
After dinner, we followed an old Spanish custom, the siesta. I think I could get used to that. I was the last to finish my siesta.
In the early evening, there was a performance put on for the children of the town. Several actors in clown suits really got the kyds going. And it was one that the kyds could participate in. Singing, dancing, a good time was had by all. Then late that night, at midnight, the weekend fiesta was topped off by a fireworks display. But that´s not the Menorca at Midnight in the title.
The next day was beach day. Pepe and the family took me to a beach on the north side of the island. There was a nice beach, in a large bay with quite a few beach-goers. There were a number of smaller coves in the bay, and we found one that looked good. The swimming here was excellent. Water temperature was fine, and the water was as clear as you can imagine. There were perhaps 20 or 30 bathers there. And to confirm your suspicions, clothing is optional here. Most of the women had tops, but there were those without. And most of the bathers had bottoms, but not all. No, I didn´t, in case you were wondering. What struck me as funny was that it looked like all those who were in the altogether were families. And it was the adults without. The kyds, except for the very young, were all wearing bathing suits. Turns out, bathing in the altogether is not allowed at the resort beaches near the major hotels, only at the smaller, more local beaches.
We broke the afternoon up by going to a restaurant neat the beach. It´s owned by Magdalena´s uncle. There we had a fine meal of paella. Then back to the beach to finish off the day. Didn´t head for home until around 8:30 or so.
Later that evening, just as we had all said buenos noches to each other, the phone rang. Pepe answered, and said it was the police calling. Yes, that stirred my interest. Pepe is the local head of the civil defense group. Turns out there was an English tourist in a nearby town that had gone missing. They were organizing a search team. I picked up on the English part, and volunteered my services, offering the one skill I have that is probably better than anyone else here, my vast command of the English language. Weak point, but Pepe checked, and they accepted me.
So we picked up another pair of volunteers and headed out. Out first assignment was to check on a remote beach and park area. Really good thing the state has provided the volunteers a 4WD truck, because it was really necessary. One of the places we looked was in an abandoned quarry. I hope we get the chance to see it again by daylight. We later patrolled a section of the town, with no luck. They retired us at around 1:30 or 2:00AM, They decided we couldn´t really accomplish much in the middle of the night.
And it turns out that he was located at around 4:00AM. In a town about 25KM from where he was last seen. The police there investigated a possible burglary attempt, and it turned out to be our lost Englishman. No one knows how he got there, least of all him. He was apparently subject to panic attacks, and diabetic as well They suspect he may have blacked out and perhaps hitched a ride to the town where he was found. So there´s Menorca at Midnight.
Today´s plans were to pick up some vegetables at a friend´s garden, then head out to explore the quarry we´d seen last night. But the friend had a swimming pool, and Eder and Marina convinced dad that swimming was a good way to spend part of the morning. And the friend was in the process of preparing a batch of tomato sauce, so we helped in that. I turn a mean juice extractor.
From there, it was back home for dinner, and then, because of our strenuous night last night, a good siesta was in order. The quarry will still be there day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is the boat trip.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Photos from various locales
Told you Sagrada Familia is impressive
Catch the converging contrails
Barcelona, Sagrada Familia on the left
Told you there are 100,000 people on La Rambla
Several photos of the Jaleo in Menorca
Menorca, what a fine way to end a trip
Well here I am, the last stop of the trip. And did I ever arrive at the right time! But you´ll have to skip down a few paragraphs to find out why. Or read all the way through.
I finished my stay in Madrid as I planned, visiting all the interesting places to the west f my hotel. Again, I stayed away from the museums, and just wandered around seeing the sights. I did go in one museum, as it was a church, and I wanted to see the inside of it. Church for part of the day, and museum for the rest. With very limited hours.
I won´t bore you with the names of the places I visited. Suffice to say that there is enough in Madrid to keep you busy all day long for several days. And I could have easily spent several more there and gone into the city in a little more depth.
I got from Madrid to Barcelona with no problems. If I didn´t know where I was, I could have sworn I was traveling through southern California for most of the trip. There were a few spots that reminded me of the north central AZ landscape and a few that looked like southeastern AZ. The last segment was along the coast, and it could well have been CA´s central coast along the southern portions of Highway 1.
Within an hour or so of my arrival in Barcelona, I was settled into a hotel. The Barcelona Tourist Info Center helped on that. More on the TI later. I used the metro to get around town, and found it to be very easy and efficient. And the metro staff are really helpful, as are the Renfre (Spain´s railroad system) personnel. For some reason, I adapt to the underground systems much better than I do surface transportation. I guess that may be because there´s nothing to distract me from finding my station, such as scenery, buildings, etc.
I decided that with just one day in Barcelona, the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour was the best choice, so I signed up for one. It did get to see most of the highlights, I guess. Not too sure, as there wasn´t a great deal of info on Barcelona available at the TI.
The highlight was a visit to the Sagrada Familia. It´s a church designed by the architect Gaudi. If you can believe this, construction started in 1883, and has been going on ever since. It´s scheduled for completion in 2020. Doesn´t seem like anything should take that long to build, does it? I didn´t take the inside tour, as I´d seen it about 8 years ago. Besides, I´ve been inside buildings under construction, and they aren´t all that interesting. But the outside is really something to behold. When I get around to posting some photos again, I´ll be sure to include some. Quite the sight!!!
Another stop on the bus tour led to a tram ride to a view site. The waiting line for the tram was about a block long, and the tram could probably hold about t a half block´s Worth, so i decided to hike up the hill. For you BVS folks, think of the first portion of Jacaranda. For the rest, it was all uphill. But worth the view once I got there. I sat in an open air bar, had a soda, and marveled. The aforementioned Sagrada Familia stood out prominently.
Other than the above, the most memorable parts of the Barcelona stay was "Rambling La Rambla". La Rambla is a long, wide pedestrian street from one of the main plazas, Catalunya, I believe, to the Marina. I don´t think it ever has less than 100,000 people in it, or so it seems.
A comment or two about the TI´s. The one in Madrid was OK, but could have had a bit more information about what each of the locations they mentioned was about. Nearly all they provided was the name, opening hours, location and price. The best descriptive info I found was in a booklet in the hotel room. For some reason, the TI was stingy with maps. The first I got didn´t do much for me. So I asked if there was a better one. There was, and they gave me a copy, but it still didn´t identify much. So the third time, I got the good map, but all the descriptive text was in Japanese. So with that and the hotel info, I got by.
Barcelona was another story. With the exception of the very good help in locating a room, they were not much more than a shill for the bus tour company. No booklet of any sort describing the highlights of the city. The map they provided was a poor quality map of the entire city, with only the major streets identified. When I paid for the bus tour, I was given a better map, primarily highlighting the stops the bus made, and a booklet describing those stops. When I asked for a better map, they told me I could buy one in their gift shop. I did, but it still didn´t compare with the free maps all the other TI´s I´ve been to offer. Do you think I´m disappointed with the Barcelona TI?
And part of it may simply be that in Spain, I didn´t have my Lonely Planet guidebook. Lonely Planet has been my companion on all my international trips so far. This time, I left the European one home, as I had one on Scandinavia. Big mistake. The European one covered Spain, and I think it would have helped a lot. Next time, I won´t be without one. Does this sound like a testimonial? Lonely Planet, are you listening?
And now I´m in Menorca. After an uneventful flight across the Mediterranean, Pepe met me at the airport in Mao, or Mahon. From there, we headed straight for his home in Ferreres, deposited my luggage and headed for the town center. There had been a fiesta for the last several days, and I arrived at the finale.
There is a horse breed unique to Menorca. A beautiful all black horse, and today´s celebration centered around the horses. Pairs of riders rode into the town square dressed in formal riding attire, peaked hat, black coat, white shirt, bow tie, riding boots, you get the picture. The band played, the crowd cheered, and the horses pranced and reared in the midst of the crowd. Quite a sight to behold! The Spanish name for it is "jaleo". I´ll put photos on the blog as soon as I can. Probably the most exciting day I´ve had on the entire trip. I wish I could adequately describe it, as it´s something to see. Something like the bulls in Pamplona, but the horses aren´t chasing anyone. Almost as if the people are chasing the horses.
The local drink for this celebration, at least is called the pomada. It´s made with gin and lemonade, proportions vary, depending on who mixes it. Pepe introduced me to several friends, and they offered pomada. Fortunately, we didn´t get to meet too many friends, and the portions were small.
After a break to join up with the rest of Pepe´s family, Magdalena, son Eder and daughter Marina, and have a bite to eat, we went back to the town center. One the stage in the plaza, there was entertainment, clowns, dancers, magicians, you name it, all by the same three performers. Then, to the carnival. We didn´t get back to the house until almost midnight. Did we sleep well? I´ll let you figure that out.
Time to close for now. Pepe has graciously let me use his computer with it´s high speed connection, so I´ll try to post a few photos. Hopefully, there will be one or two of the jaleo good enough to post.
I finished my stay in Madrid as I planned, visiting all the interesting places to the west f my hotel. Again, I stayed away from the museums, and just wandered around seeing the sights. I did go in one museum, as it was a church, and I wanted to see the inside of it. Church for part of the day, and museum for the rest. With very limited hours.
I won´t bore you with the names of the places I visited. Suffice to say that there is enough in Madrid to keep you busy all day long for several days. And I could have easily spent several more there and gone into the city in a little more depth.
I got from Madrid to Barcelona with no problems. If I didn´t know where I was, I could have sworn I was traveling through southern California for most of the trip. There were a few spots that reminded me of the north central AZ landscape and a few that looked like southeastern AZ. The last segment was along the coast, and it could well have been CA´s central coast along the southern portions of Highway 1.
Within an hour or so of my arrival in Barcelona, I was settled into a hotel. The Barcelona Tourist Info Center helped on that. More on the TI later. I used the metro to get around town, and found it to be very easy and efficient. And the metro staff are really helpful, as are the Renfre (Spain´s railroad system) personnel. For some reason, I adapt to the underground systems much better than I do surface transportation. I guess that may be because there´s nothing to distract me from finding my station, such as scenery, buildings, etc.
I decided that with just one day in Barcelona, the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour was the best choice, so I signed up for one. It did get to see most of the highlights, I guess. Not too sure, as there wasn´t a great deal of info on Barcelona available at the TI.
The highlight was a visit to the Sagrada Familia. It´s a church designed by the architect Gaudi. If you can believe this, construction started in 1883, and has been going on ever since. It´s scheduled for completion in 2020. Doesn´t seem like anything should take that long to build, does it? I didn´t take the inside tour, as I´d seen it about 8 years ago. Besides, I´ve been inside buildings under construction, and they aren´t all that interesting. But the outside is really something to behold. When I get around to posting some photos again, I´ll be sure to include some. Quite the sight!!!
Another stop on the bus tour led to a tram ride to a view site. The waiting line for the tram was about a block long, and the tram could probably hold about t a half block´s Worth, so i decided to hike up the hill. For you BVS folks, think of the first portion of Jacaranda. For the rest, it was all uphill. But worth the view once I got there. I sat in an open air bar, had a soda, and marveled. The aforementioned Sagrada Familia stood out prominently.
Other than the above, the most memorable parts of the Barcelona stay was "Rambling La Rambla". La Rambla is a long, wide pedestrian street from one of the main plazas, Catalunya, I believe, to the Marina. I don´t think it ever has less than 100,000 people in it, or so it seems.
A comment or two about the TI´s. The one in Madrid was OK, but could have had a bit more information about what each of the locations they mentioned was about. Nearly all they provided was the name, opening hours, location and price. The best descriptive info I found was in a booklet in the hotel room. For some reason, the TI was stingy with maps. The first I got didn´t do much for me. So I asked if there was a better one. There was, and they gave me a copy, but it still didn´t identify much. So the third time, I got the good map, but all the descriptive text was in Japanese. So with that and the hotel info, I got by.
Barcelona was another story. With the exception of the very good help in locating a room, they were not much more than a shill for the bus tour company. No booklet of any sort describing the highlights of the city. The map they provided was a poor quality map of the entire city, with only the major streets identified. When I paid for the bus tour, I was given a better map, primarily highlighting the stops the bus made, and a booklet describing those stops. When I asked for a better map, they told me I could buy one in their gift shop. I did, but it still didn´t compare with the free maps all the other TI´s I´ve been to offer. Do you think I´m disappointed with the Barcelona TI?
And part of it may simply be that in Spain, I didn´t have my Lonely Planet guidebook. Lonely Planet has been my companion on all my international trips so far. This time, I left the European one home, as I had one on Scandinavia. Big mistake. The European one covered Spain, and I think it would have helped a lot. Next time, I won´t be without one. Does this sound like a testimonial? Lonely Planet, are you listening?
And now I´m in Menorca. After an uneventful flight across the Mediterranean, Pepe met me at the airport in Mao, or Mahon. From there, we headed straight for his home in Ferreres, deposited my luggage and headed for the town center. There had been a fiesta for the last several days, and I arrived at the finale.
There is a horse breed unique to Menorca. A beautiful all black horse, and today´s celebration centered around the horses. Pairs of riders rode into the town square dressed in formal riding attire, peaked hat, black coat, white shirt, bow tie, riding boots, you get the picture. The band played, the crowd cheered, and the horses pranced and reared in the midst of the crowd. Quite a sight to behold! The Spanish name for it is "jaleo". I´ll put photos on the blog as soon as I can. Probably the most exciting day I´ve had on the entire trip. I wish I could adequately describe it, as it´s something to see. Something like the bulls in Pamplona, but the horses aren´t chasing anyone. Almost as if the people are chasing the horses.
The local drink for this celebration, at least is called the pomada. It´s made with gin and lemonade, proportions vary, depending on who mixes it. Pepe introduced me to several friends, and they offered pomada. Fortunately, we didn´t get to meet too many friends, and the portions were small.
After a break to join up with the rest of Pepe´s family, Magdalena, son Eder and daughter Marina, and have a bite to eat, we went back to the town center. One the stage in the plaza, there was entertainment, clowns, dancers, magicians, you name it, all by the same three performers. Then, to the carnival. We didn´t get back to the house until almost midnight. Did we sleep well? I´ll let you figure that out.
Time to close for now. Pepe has graciously let me use his computer with it´s high speed connection, so I´ll try to post a few photos. Hopefully, there will be one or two of the jaleo good enough to post.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Meandering on Monday in Madrid
Yes, It´s now Monday, and I´m in Madrid. At last, I´m experiencing the temperature on the high side of 20C. Lat time I can remember it there was during the heat wave in Stockholm in June. Coolest summer I´ve ever spent, believe me.
I believe the last time I wrote anything I was still on Odense. Since then, I´ve spent a few days in Copenhagen, then flew here to Spain yesterday. Lets see if I can remember what has happened. I do recall arriving in Copenhagen in a rainstorm. Really glad I´d made a reservation, as the hotel was fully booked. Not a pleasant thought, looking for a place to stay in a rainstorm.
Took it fairly easy in Copenhagen this time, as I´d been there at the start of the trip. The one memorable thing was a trip up to Helsingor. There´s a castle there that is really worth visiting. Not so much the inside, but the views of it from the outside. And if you are a theater or literature buff, you´ll appreciate the fact that it was the castle, Elsinore, in Shakespeare´s Hamlet. And I´ve found out that he wasn´t the original author of Hamlet. A Dane named Saxto (I think) wrote about someone named Amelet (sp?) much earlier. And an Englishman named Kyd wrote a similar play a few years before Bill wrote Hamlet. In any case, the trip to Helsingor was worth it.
Other than the trip to Helsingor, I just wandered around Copenhagen, taking in the sights. Walked out to see the Little Mermaid. I´d seen her only from a boat tour the first time. Not nearly as impressive as we´re led to believe. Near her is an Anglican church, one of the few, perhaps only, in Scandinavia. St. Albans, I think. Even looks different. A piece of old England in Denmark. And I found the answer to something that´s been puzzling me ever since I got to Scandinavia. Nearly every church I´ve been in has had a ship model hanging in it somewhere. The docent at St. Albans told me it´s a Scandinavian custom, perhaps Lutheran, as nearly all churches are Lutheran there. It point the way to heaven, or the right path.
My last problem in Scandinavia was, fortunately, quickly resolved. After an afternoon of strolling, and visiting an Art museum I´d missed the first time, I came back to the hotel to relax. Sign outside said Fully Booked, and I said, again, "Glad I´ve got a room." But my card key didn´t work. Seems they´s only billed me for 3 nites when I checked in, rather than the 4 I´d reserved. Minor panic on my part, because of the sign. But again, all ended well. They hadn´t counted my room in the Fully Booked group, so I just paid for another nite, and then my key worked. Sigh of relief.
I´d mentioned the sad state my umbrella was in. It finally gave up the ghost. Counting on good weather in sunny Spain, I unceremoniously deposited it in the trash bin as I left the hotel.
The flight to Madrid was uneventful. There isn´t much information at the airport here to let you know how to get to town, unless you want a cab. Lots of cabs, though. I finally figured out the buses with a bit of help from an attendant, and made it to the central bus station. But the info office was closed, so how do I get from there to where I´m staying? Decided on lunch, and then waited around a while. The sign said something that implied "Be back in a minute". True, after a loooong minute. The fellow there quickly showed me how to navigate the Metro, and all was well.
After settling in the hotel, I took a walk around town. Can you believe I left my camera in the hotel?. That was two days in a row! Hard to believe, if you know me. I really enjoyed the sights, and decided I´d just spend my short time here wandering and taking in the scenery. I´ve been in so many museums that I think I´m temporarily, at least, burned out on them.
Today, I took my camera along, and have been just sauntering along. I´ve come to the conclusion that Madrid is much like Rome. You can turn into any street you choose, and be pleased with your decision. Really a pleasure to take your time and enjoy the atmosphere. You do have to accept the traffic noise, and a lot of people, but i think it´s worth it.
I did stop at the train station this afternoon to check into a ticket for Barcelona. Glad I did. The wait to buy a ticket is a long one. As it was, all the second class tickets were sold out already, so I had to settle for 1st class. Pity. It turned out, due to language problems, that I leave 2.5 hours earlier than I´d planned. The clerk didn´t understand my broken Spanish, and he spoke no English. So I get up a bit earlier on Wednesday.
I became spoiled while in Scandinavia. I started out by always saying "Do you speak English, Please?", but the answer was always "Yes", so I got out of the habit of asking. I´d better start in with the "Habla Usted Ingles por favor?" because the answer in most cases here is "No." If I pay good attention (which I didn´t at the train station) I can get by, but not very well. Pepe, I didn´t study my Spanish like I promised.
Today, I covered most of what looked interesting to the east of my hotel. Tomorrow I´ll head west and see what that reveals. Looks even more interesting than today´s journeys. So now, it´s time to send this, post it on the blog, and head for a good night´s sleep.
I believe the last time I wrote anything I was still on Odense. Since then, I´ve spent a few days in Copenhagen, then flew here to Spain yesterday. Lets see if I can remember what has happened. I do recall arriving in Copenhagen in a rainstorm. Really glad I´d made a reservation, as the hotel was fully booked. Not a pleasant thought, looking for a place to stay in a rainstorm.
Took it fairly easy in Copenhagen this time, as I´d been there at the start of the trip. The one memorable thing was a trip up to Helsingor. There´s a castle there that is really worth visiting. Not so much the inside, but the views of it from the outside. And if you are a theater or literature buff, you´ll appreciate the fact that it was the castle, Elsinore, in Shakespeare´s Hamlet. And I´ve found out that he wasn´t the original author of Hamlet. A Dane named Saxto (I think) wrote about someone named Amelet (sp?) much earlier. And an Englishman named Kyd wrote a similar play a few years before Bill wrote Hamlet. In any case, the trip to Helsingor was worth it.
Other than the trip to Helsingor, I just wandered around Copenhagen, taking in the sights. Walked out to see the Little Mermaid. I´d seen her only from a boat tour the first time. Not nearly as impressive as we´re led to believe. Near her is an Anglican church, one of the few, perhaps only, in Scandinavia. St. Albans, I think. Even looks different. A piece of old England in Denmark. And I found the answer to something that´s been puzzling me ever since I got to Scandinavia. Nearly every church I´ve been in has had a ship model hanging in it somewhere. The docent at St. Albans told me it´s a Scandinavian custom, perhaps Lutheran, as nearly all churches are Lutheran there. It point the way to heaven, or the right path.
My last problem in Scandinavia was, fortunately, quickly resolved. After an afternoon of strolling, and visiting an Art museum I´d missed the first time, I came back to the hotel to relax. Sign outside said Fully Booked, and I said, again, "Glad I´ve got a room." But my card key didn´t work. Seems they´s only billed me for 3 nites when I checked in, rather than the 4 I´d reserved. Minor panic on my part, because of the sign. But again, all ended well. They hadn´t counted my room in the Fully Booked group, so I just paid for another nite, and then my key worked. Sigh of relief.
I´d mentioned the sad state my umbrella was in. It finally gave up the ghost. Counting on good weather in sunny Spain, I unceremoniously deposited it in the trash bin as I left the hotel.
The flight to Madrid was uneventful. There isn´t much information at the airport here to let you know how to get to town, unless you want a cab. Lots of cabs, though. I finally figured out the buses with a bit of help from an attendant, and made it to the central bus station. But the info office was closed, so how do I get from there to where I´m staying? Decided on lunch, and then waited around a while. The sign said something that implied "Be back in a minute". True, after a loooong minute. The fellow there quickly showed me how to navigate the Metro, and all was well.
After settling in the hotel, I took a walk around town. Can you believe I left my camera in the hotel?. That was two days in a row! Hard to believe, if you know me. I really enjoyed the sights, and decided I´d just spend my short time here wandering and taking in the scenery. I´ve been in so many museums that I think I´m temporarily, at least, burned out on them.
Today, I took my camera along, and have been just sauntering along. I´ve come to the conclusion that Madrid is much like Rome. You can turn into any street you choose, and be pleased with your decision. Really a pleasure to take your time and enjoy the atmosphere. You do have to accept the traffic noise, and a lot of people, but i think it´s worth it.
I did stop at the train station this afternoon to check into a ticket for Barcelona. Glad I did. The wait to buy a ticket is a long one. As it was, all the second class tickets were sold out already, so I had to settle for 1st class. Pity. It turned out, due to language problems, that I leave 2.5 hours earlier than I´d planned. The clerk didn´t understand my broken Spanish, and he spoke no English. So I get up a bit earlier on Wednesday.
I became spoiled while in Scandinavia. I started out by always saying "Do you speak English, Please?", but the answer was always "Yes", so I got out of the habit of asking. I´d better start in with the "Habla Usted Ingles por favor?" because the answer in most cases here is "No." If I pay good attention (which I didn´t at the train station) I can get by, but not very well. Pepe, I didn´t study my Spanish like I promised.
Today, I covered most of what looked interesting to the east of my hotel. Tomorrow I´ll head west and see what that reveals. Looks even more interesting than today´s journeys. So now, it´s time to send this, post it on the blog, and head for a good night´s sleep.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Wonderful Copenhagen, or Deja vu all over again
Yep, tomorrow I head back to Copenhagen, where all this Scandinavian stuff started. I'll be there until Sunday, when I head for sunny Spain. Although I think I heard on the little bit of news I've heard that Spain has had some pretty wet weather recently. But I'm sure it will clear up for me. Sure it will.
Last I wrote, I had just arrived in Odense, I believe. It's the home town of Hans Christian Andersen, so how could I not go to the HC Andersen museum? So I did. And thoroughly enjoyed it. They have a really detailed story of his life, and I found it really interesting. Now I'll have to rent the old Danny Kaye (wasn't it him?) movie on his life to see how it compared.
The museum is in the part of town where he lived as a child. In fact, the house he lived in is part of the museum. The museum connects with the house. He wasn't really proud of his very poor upbringing, and never would admit that that was the house, but it seems public records confirmed it. He may have been born there, but they aren't sure about that. If you get here, it's the one attraction you shouldn't miss.
Other than that, I haven't done too much here in Odense. Visited the local churches, and took the usual altar, pulpit, and organ loft photos. I was chased out of one, as they were about to start a service. Another church wasn't open for tourists on Sundays. I found this true in at least one other Danish city, Aalborg or Aarhus, not sure which. Seems strange to lock the church to visitors on Sunday, particularly when it's open the rest of the week. But then, Sunday is a special day.
Speaking of churches, I went to mass for the first time on this trip last Sunday. Sermons in Danish can really get boring. Fortunately, the priest didn't go on quite as long as our local Father Joel does. I noticed that there were a large number of orientals at mass, a much larger percentage than I see in the general population.
One attraction here some might enjoy is a Railroad Museum. Historic steam engines dating back to the 1880's. Not quite as impressive as the one I saw in Lucerne, or the one in Sacramento, CA, but worth it if you are a RR buff. One striking display was in the cab of a diesel locomotive. As you climbed into it, you could hear the sounds you'd expect. Then when you got in the cab, there was a video screen in front of the windows showing the view from a train moving along at perhaps 100K/H. I could almost feel the train sway on the curves.
Highlight of the stay in Odense wasn't in Odense. Yesterday I took the train to see the Egeskov Slott, or castle. It's actually 2.5 KM outside the little town the train stops at, and there's no public transportation to it. There was a bus, but the season for the bus ended the day I arrived in Odense. Nice walk, though, and I'd allowed the time.
The castle really is beautiful. Lovely castle, and surrounded by really well cared for grounds. It certainly rivals the one (Fredricksborg, I think) near Copenhagen I visited earlier on the trip. Lots and lots of photos.
And it has, in addition to the grounds, several activities to keep one from getting bored, if admiring castles isn't your thing. There's an area set aside with swings, and much more, to keep the kiddies entertained. Then they have several museums, old cars, old motorcycles, farm implements, and horse drawn carriages. As the guide book says, it's easy to spend the entire day there.
And now I'm back in Copenhagen. I was welcomed by an unwelcome rain and windstorm. I'm really glad I'd made a hotel reservation, and near the train station. They were fully booked up, and I certainly wouldn't have liked hunting a hotel in that weather. My umbrella, which I think I'd mentioned earlier, is in it's last stages of life. I still have it, but I doubt seriously that it'll last another high wind.
Remember my experience changing my flight reservations? I never got a hard copy confirmation from SpanAir on the three flights with them. They've confirmed over phone, and my agent has seen it on her computer, but I've never had anything more than a verbal confirmation. Since I leave from Copenhagen, I thought I'd try the desk at the terminal here. No way was I going to spend another frustrating hour or so on hold, pouring coins into a pay phone. I walked up to the SAS (the actual carrier) desk, ready to do battle. Told the lady my story, she obligingly looked me up on the computer, found me right away, and even offered to print out my entire itinerary, for all the flights for the rest of the trip. What a pleasant end to an exasperating experience.
Since I have a bit of time on this computer (no one standing in line right now), I though I'd bore you with some random observations about my trip, since it's nearly over.
Lots of pregnant women in all the countries I've visited. Don't know if that's the norm, or a recent population explosion.
An alternate way to get cash is to buy a train ticket, and make a mistake while doing it, like forgetting to tell them you are a senior (not applicable to all) or giving them the wrong start or end for the trip. I've done both. Thinking this would be my tough luck, I nevertheless asked If they could rectify my mistake. Without a blink, they just reach in the cash drawer and gave me a refund. And no 3% international xfer fee.
On occasion, I've been in a hotel that offers CNN. I've noticed that they really have their audience down pat. The commercials are all for travel, investments, rolex watches, and similar items. Who but traveling well-to-do Americans watch CNN Europe? Besides me, that is.
Danish pronunciation is really beyond me. It's the hardest for me to use of any of the Scandinavian countries I've visited. I get a lot of laughs. For example, Skagen is pronounced Skane, like in great dane, and Odense is pronounced OHdaahnsay (that's one of several I've heard) I've coined an acronym for my ability with languages: YALIDU, for "Yet another language I don't understand".
One guide book says the Danes are the happiest people on earth, based on some international survey. I think the survey was skewed. The couple across from me on the train from Aarhus to Odense laughed the entire trip. Those two had to push the average up a bit.
There are enough different breeds of dogs on leashes here to fill a dog show. Not the usual US mix of retrievers, shepherds and poodles by any means.
The long days aren't enough, or else the desire for a tanned body carries over into the winter. I've seen all kinds of establishments with SOL in their name. Found out they are all sun-tan establishments.
I'd mentioned earlier that Denmark wasn't as rocky or tree filled as other Scandinavian countries. Thus the half-timbered houses, and the dominance of brick versus stone as a building material. Even a lot more old streets with brick rather than cobble stones for pavement, and nearly all the older historical buildings are of brick.
I think that's about enough for you to put up with for now. Time to send this. Not sure, but the next edition may come from Madrid or even Barcelona. Hope I can get one more in before I get to Pepe's on Menorca.
Last I wrote, I had just arrived in Odense, I believe. It's the home town of Hans Christian Andersen, so how could I not go to the HC Andersen museum? So I did. And thoroughly enjoyed it. They have a really detailed story of his life, and I found it really interesting. Now I'll have to rent the old Danny Kaye (wasn't it him?) movie on his life to see how it compared.
The museum is in the part of town where he lived as a child. In fact, the house he lived in is part of the museum. The museum connects with the house. He wasn't really proud of his very poor upbringing, and never would admit that that was the house, but it seems public records confirmed it. He may have been born there, but they aren't sure about that. If you get here, it's the one attraction you shouldn't miss.
Other than that, I haven't done too much here in Odense. Visited the local churches, and took the usual altar, pulpit, and organ loft photos. I was chased out of one, as they were about to start a service. Another church wasn't open for tourists on Sundays. I found this true in at least one other Danish city, Aalborg or Aarhus, not sure which. Seems strange to lock the church to visitors on Sunday, particularly when it's open the rest of the week. But then, Sunday is a special day.
Speaking of churches, I went to mass for the first time on this trip last Sunday. Sermons in Danish can really get boring. Fortunately, the priest didn't go on quite as long as our local Father Joel does. I noticed that there were a large number of orientals at mass, a much larger percentage than I see in the general population.
One attraction here some might enjoy is a Railroad Museum. Historic steam engines dating back to the 1880's. Not quite as impressive as the one I saw in Lucerne, or the one in Sacramento, CA, but worth it if you are a RR buff. One striking display was in the cab of a diesel locomotive. As you climbed into it, you could hear the sounds you'd expect. Then when you got in the cab, there was a video screen in front of the windows showing the view from a train moving along at perhaps 100K/H. I could almost feel the train sway on the curves.
Highlight of the stay in Odense wasn't in Odense. Yesterday I took the train to see the Egeskov Slott, or castle. It's actually 2.5 KM outside the little town the train stops at, and there's no public transportation to it. There was a bus, but the season for the bus ended the day I arrived in Odense. Nice walk, though, and I'd allowed the time.
The castle really is beautiful. Lovely castle, and surrounded by really well cared for grounds. It certainly rivals the one (Fredricksborg, I think) near Copenhagen I visited earlier on the trip. Lots and lots of photos.
And it has, in addition to the grounds, several activities to keep one from getting bored, if admiring castles isn't your thing. There's an area set aside with swings, and much more, to keep the kiddies entertained. Then they have several museums, old cars, old motorcycles, farm implements, and horse drawn carriages. As the guide book says, it's easy to spend the entire day there.
And now I'm back in Copenhagen. I was welcomed by an unwelcome rain and windstorm. I'm really glad I'd made a hotel reservation, and near the train station. They were fully booked up, and I certainly wouldn't have liked hunting a hotel in that weather. My umbrella, which I think I'd mentioned earlier, is in it's last stages of life. I still have it, but I doubt seriously that it'll last another high wind.
Remember my experience changing my flight reservations? I never got a hard copy confirmation from SpanAir on the three flights with them. They've confirmed over phone, and my agent has seen it on her computer, but I've never had anything more than a verbal confirmation. Since I leave from Copenhagen, I thought I'd try the desk at the terminal here. No way was I going to spend another frustrating hour or so on hold, pouring coins into a pay phone. I walked up to the SAS (the actual carrier) desk, ready to do battle. Told the lady my story, she obligingly looked me up on the computer, found me right away, and even offered to print out my entire itinerary, for all the flights for the rest of the trip. What a pleasant end to an exasperating experience.
Since I have a bit of time on this computer (no one standing in line right now), I though I'd bore you with some random observations about my trip, since it's nearly over.
Lots of pregnant women in all the countries I've visited. Don't know if that's the norm, or a recent population explosion.
An alternate way to get cash is to buy a train ticket, and make a mistake while doing it, like forgetting to tell them you are a senior (not applicable to all) or giving them the wrong start or end for the trip. I've done both. Thinking this would be my tough luck, I nevertheless asked If they could rectify my mistake. Without a blink, they just reach in the cash drawer and gave me a refund. And no 3% international xfer fee.
On occasion, I've been in a hotel that offers CNN. I've noticed that they really have their audience down pat. The commercials are all for travel, investments, rolex watches, and similar items. Who but traveling well-to-do Americans watch CNN Europe? Besides me, that is.
Danish pronunciation is really beyond me. It's the hardest for me to use of any of the Scandinavian countries I've visited. I get a lot of laughs. For example, Skagen is pronounced Skane, like in great dane, and Odense is pronounced OHdaahnsay (that's one of several I've heard) I've coined an acronym for my ability with languages: YALIDU, for "Yet another language I don't understand".
One guide book says the Danes are the happiest people on earth, based on some international survey. I think the survey was skewed. The couple across from me on the train from Aarhus to Odense laughed the entire trip. Those two had to push the average up a bit.
There are enough different breeds of dogs on leashes here to fill a dog show. Not the usual US mix of retrievers, shepherds and poodles by any means.
The long days aren't enough, or else the desire for a tanned body carries over into the winter. I've seen all kinds of establishments with SOL in their name. Found out they are all sun-tan establishments.
I'd mentioned earlier that Denmark wasn't as rocky or tree filled as other Scandinavian countries. Thus the half-timbered houses, and the dominance of brick versus stone as a building material. Even a lot more old streets with brick rather than cobble stones for pavement, and nearly all the older historical buildings are of brick.
I think that's about enough for you to put up with for now. Time to send this. Not sure, but the next edition may come from Madrid or even Barcelona. Hope I can get one more in before I get to Pepe's on Menorca.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Aalborg, Aarhus, and now Odense
Been here now for a few days now, visited three towns/cities, and still haven't fond any Danish Pastries. Must not be looking very hard, or something. But I have found most of the ice cream stands. By the way, the little town I liked so much is Hirtshals. I think I spelled it wrong. I'm now in Aarhus, or Arhus, depending on what publication I read. Took the train here yesterday. Summer has finally come to Scandinavia, or at least this part. It was so warm yesterday that the train had to slow down. The trip from Aalborg to Aarhus is supposed to take about 1.5 hours. But they announced that they had to run slower and would be 1/2 hour late due to the heat and the possibility of the tracks expanding. And it's still warm and humid today. Not much to say at present, but I figured that since I had time on a computer, I'd start the next e-mail With all the experience I've had loosing e-mails, I've started writing a bit whenever I get the chance, and saving it in the drafts folder. Beats the frustration of typing for an hour, and watching it disappear. How about that! Saving it in Drafts works. Just so I remember to hit Save now and then. Today I wanted to take the town bus tour, but found out they no longer offer one. So I did what I'd planned on doing after the bus tour, which was go to Den Gamle By (Old Town). And now I'm glad the bus tour wasn't available. It gave me two extra hours at DGB. Really nice. They started moving old homes to this area in the early 20Th century, and have 75 historical houses (I read the brochure, didn't count). I really got an eyeful of half-timber construction. Nearly all of them were of that style. Some of them were originally built in the late 1500's. They were taken down at their original location, all over Denmark, and reconstructed here. They provided info on the when and where an nearly all of them. Many had period furnishings and businesses inside them. Normally I pass those up, as they all seem to be ! the same . Somehow these proved to be very interesting, for the most part. One had a clockmaker's shop on the ground floor, a floor full of Grandfather clocks on the second floor, and the workings of some very old town clocks on the third. Some of them even worked. Enough said, I think you get the idea that I had a good time, and am glad I went. It took the entire afternoon, and I could have stayed longer, but closing time approached.Tomorrow I take the train for a day trip to Ribe. It's billed as the oldest Danish town. Said to have a lot of historical buildings and artifacts. We'll see. It will be a challenge, as it's some ways away from here. I'm taking the train, and have to change twice, both ways. That sounds like fun. Trivia for a bit: I'm not a big city boy, so maybe this is already in place in the US, but I haven't seen it. Many of the public parking structures here have big displays on the approach telling how many spaces are available. Good to know, rather than get in line and find out they are full, or nearly so. And if someone could introduce street signs here, it would really be appreciated by tourists such as me. I spend as much time trying to find out what intersection I'm at as I do getting there. Suffice to say they are either well-hidden, or non-existent.The trip to Ribe went well. Nice little town. Had I kept to my original schedule, I would have stayed there two nights. And I think that would have been all right. There was enough to do. But I did see what I wanted to and had an enjoyable day. Lots of old buildings still in use today. Climbed the church tower and got a magnificent view of the town and surrounding area. Remember my comment recently about buildup of residue over the years? Construction started on the church in Ribe in the mid 13Th century. It's base is about 3 feet lower than the streets around it. Interesting, no?
And on the way to Ribe, I had a layover in a town called Bramming. Since I had some time, I walked around a bit. And there I found it! A bakery shop that had the most delicious danish pastry I'd ever eaten!No problem on train connections. But that's because I decided to leave early. When I returned to the train station, I saw on the monitor that the train I was supposed to take seemed to be canceled. Asked a fellow if that was what I though it was, and he said yes. They had canceled it because of the heat. To my good fortune, there was an earlier train, so I was able to take that one. Can't understand why that one wasn't canceled, but I'm not complaining.Talked with the guy on the first part, the trip to Bramming. I had seen numerous power-generating windmills, but only in small numbers, never more than 10 or 12. In some cases only one. I thought perhaps they were for private use, in small communities or such. He said no, that they were privately owned, but sold the power they generate to the utilities. I'm used to wind farms in the 100's, so this seemed strange to me.
The last day in Aarhus was pretty nice, weather wise as well as things accomplished. First went to the Women's Museum, a nice spot with a history of the change in the lives of women over the centuries. The most informative part was a room with a brief history of Women's suffrage in Europe. They had a summary of related activity and major players from most countries. Finland was the first country to give women the right to vote. Surprisingly, at least to me, Switzerland was one of the last. Spain had it early, then lost it during the Franco regime. There was also had an exhibition, accompanied by an audio description of children's lives in Denmark, covering the last 100 years or so.
Also went, briefly, to a WWII museum, primarily on the Danish resistance, and to an archaeological site uncovered while building a bank. The usual exhibits. One thing I've noticed in Scandinavia that I can't recall in museums elsewhere: combs were a common item in all the sites, as well as the usual pottery, tools, etc. The Vikings must have taken pretty good care of those beards.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Steno Museum. No, not stenography. I assume it's the name of some famous Danish scientist, as it was a museum on medicine and science. Wish I'd allotted more time to it, as they had to chase me out at closing time. Easy to see I really enjoyed it, and even learned a few things. And here's a question. Why are the majority of telescopes and related instruments made of brass? I can't believe it's because it looks pretty.
I'm in Odense now, arrived this afternoon. Think I'll send this now, to make sure I don't loose it. The copy in the drafts wasn't quite what I'd left there, so I'm really gun shy.
And on the way to Ribe, I had a layover in a town called Bramming. Since I had some time, I walked around a bit. And there I found it! A bakery shop that had the most delicious danish pastry I'd ever eaten!No problem on train connections. But that's because I decided to leave early. When I returned to the train station, I saw on the monitor that the train I was supposed to take seemed to be canceled. Asked a fellow if that was what I though it was, and he said yes. They had canceled it because of the heat. To my good fortune, there was an earlier train, so I was able to take that one. Can't understand why that one wasn't canceled, but I'm not complaining.Talked with the guy on the first part, the trip to Bramming. I had seen numerous power-generating windmills, but only in small numbers, never more than 10 or 12. In some cases only one. I thought perhaps they were for private use, in small communities or such. He said no, that they were privately owned, but sold the power they generate to the utilities. I'm used to wind farms in the 100's, so this seemed strange to me.
The last day in Aarhus was pretty nice, weather wise as well as things accomplished. First went to the Women's Museum, a nice spot with a history of the change in the lives of women over the centuries. The most informative part was a room with a brief history of Women's suffrage in Europe. They had a summary of related activity and major players from most countries. Finland was the first country to give women the right to vote. Surprisingly, at least to me, Switzerland was one of the last. Spain had it early, then lost it during the Franco regime. There was also had an exhibition, accompanied by an audio description of children's lives in Denmark, covering the last 100 years or so.
Also went, briefly, to a WWII museum, primarily on the Danish resistance, and to an archaeological site uncovered while building a bank. The usual exhibits. One thing I've noticed in Scandinavia that I can't recall in museums elsewhere: combs were a common item in all the sites, as well as the usual pottery, tools, etc. The Vikings must have taken pretty good care of those beards.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Steno Museum. No, not stenography. I assume it's the name of some famous Danish scientist, as it was a museum on medicine and science. Wish I'd allotted more time to it, as they had to chase me out at closing time. Easy to see I really enjoyed it, and even learned a few things. And here's a question. Why are the majority of telescopes and related instruments made of brass? I can't believe it's because it looks pretty.
I'm in Odense now, arrived this afternoon. Think I'll send this now, to make sure I don't loose it. The copy in the drafts wasn't quite what I'd left there, so I'm really gun shy.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sayonara Sweden, Delightful Denmark
Well, I made the trip from Goteborg to Fredrikshaven on the ferry with no problems. Then found the train station, good connection to Aalborg, and found my hotel. The hotel was close to the station, reasonably nice, and no problem with reservations. I think Norway and I had some sort of problem relating to my hotel stays.
I like the town of Aalborg. a nice little downtown section with a lot of really old buildings to give it atmosphere. And for a change these are truly old ones, some dating form the 16Th century. In nearly every other place I've been, there is a qualifier on the order of "reconstructed/rebuilt after the devastating fire of XXXX". For some fortunate reason, it appears that Aalborg managed to miss all the major conflagrations.
It's also the first town of any size that doesn't have any organized bus and/or walking tours of the city. The TI has a really nice booklet written by what appears to be one of the town historians. It serves as an excellent tour guide. Lots of cobbled streets, narrow lanes, and half-timbered houses to see. A 1/2 timbered house is one with large vertical timbers (think RR tie) spaced perhaps 4 ft apart and horizontal timbers about 3 ft. apart, with the gap between timbers filled with soil/bricks/etc. Hope that describes it adequately. They are prevalent in areas with little forest land.
Denmark is notably different than Sweden and Norway. Low rolling hills with lots of farming, as opposed to much more hilly and mountainous terrain in N and S. N and S had a lot more trees and lakes, as well. Leaving Goteborg, I saw a number of small, rocky islands as we headed out. Not so approaching Denmark. The harbor just appears, with no advance indication, other than seeing land on the horizon.
Saturday I went to the local Art Museum. It's pretty much all Danish artists, and most of them 19Th century on. You know what that means. Impressionist and beyond. Can't say I found anything that impressed me tremendously. Other than the building itself. It was designed by Aalto, the same fellow who laid out the town of Rovaniemi in Finland. I liked the building here better. All white walls, light colored marble floors, and lots of diffused natural light from windows in the high walls and ceilings. Really nice lighting for an art museum, and a nice building to be inside.
Near it, on a high hill, is a 105 metre tower, with an elevator to the viewing platform. As I said, on a high, STEEP hill. When I got to the elevator, what do I find? A small sign saying there is s problem with the elevator, and it will be out of order for some time. The view wasn't too bad, but would have been much better from 105 metres higher, unobstructed by trees,
Today, I checked on transportation for several future planned activities. I'm getting pretty good at interpreting the timetables. Fortunately, The numbers are the same, and I can recognize the cities. And I can usually make out which days are Saturday and Sunday. More on the plans when they happen.
Also went to the town museum, which would have been a lot more informative if the descriptions were in English. One thing I learned, there was a really big cigar and pipe tobacco plant here. Seems they got their tobacco from Brazil, Java and Sumatra. There's something that you've always wanted to know, isn't it?
Associated with it, but in a different local, is the remains of a 13Th century church, discovered 3 metres under the ground when they were excavating for a new building. And they continued with the building. Just cleared out the remaining earth around the church's foundation, built a roof over it, then the building. So to see the ruins, you take an elevator down to it. It always amazes me that so much of our history is buried so deep. Just doesn't seem that so much dirt could pile on top of something over the centuries. Turns out that's only about 0.2 in.per year, but where does that come from. Must be a hole somewhere about 3 metres deep, don't you think? Or maybe from outer space, brought by aliens. If so, the world is growing each year by 0.2 inches.
Trivia time. Still don't seem to be able to make eye contact with folks in this part of the world. And in the places I've been recently, I sure haven't come across many Americans, or anyone who speaks English as a primary language, for that matter. Guess I'm somewhat off the beaten path. When I become famous (I've given up on rich) don't build a statue of me. I've seen far too many with pigeons or their residue perched on the heads.
Geography lesson: this part of Denmark, Jutland, is an island for the northern third . I thought there was a river dividing the city of Aalborg, but it turns out it's a fjord that runs from one coast to the other.
On to Monday. Had a really great day today. Several weeks a go, I was told about an abandoned lighthouse on the west coast of Jutland, and decided it if I could find it, I'd go there. It was supposed to be about 8 or 10 K from the nearest bus stop, so it would be an all day adventure. Turns out that's not the case. The bus stops about a 15 minute walk from it. The bus ride there took about 2 hours. Since I'd planned for an entire day, I walked out to the lighthouse, admired the lighthouse, sand dunes, wind and sea, and then went back to the bus stop, and continued north to the little seaport town of Hirtsalls.
Very nice, about 7000 people, and a working fishing port. Think Pismo Beach, if you're from CA, otherwise, think ..... About three to one ratio of fishing boats to pleasure boats in the marina. Also a ferry terminal for ferries to Norway and England. Very pleasant to walk around in. And a nice beach. I wish I'd known that, I'd have brought my bathing suit. As it was, I waded around in the North Sea for about a half hour.
Tomorrow, I head on out for Arhus. I'll be there for about 4 days, with at least one day trip tentatively planned.
I like the town of Aalborg. a nice little downtown section with a lot of really old buildings to give it atmosphere. And for a change these are truly old ones, some dating form the 16Th century. In nearly every other place I've been, there is a qualifier on the order of "reconstructed/rebuilt after the devastating fire of XXXX". For some fortunate reason, it appears that Aalborg managed to miss all the major conflagrations.
It's also the first town of any size that doesn't have any organized bus and/or walking tours of the city. The TI has a really nice booklet written by what appears to be one of the town historians. It serves as an excellent tour guide. Lots of cobbled streets, narrow lanes, and half-timbered houses to see. A 1/2 timbered house is one with large vertical timbers (think RR tie) spaced perhaps 4 ft apart and horizontal timbers about 3 ft. apart, with the gap between timbers filled with soil/bricks/etc. Hope that describes it adequately. They are prevalent in areas with little forest land.
Denmark is notably different than Sweden and Norway. Low rolling hills with lots of farming, as opposed to much more hilly and mountainous terrain in N and S. N and S had a lot more trees and lakes, as well. Leaving Goteborg, I saw a number of small, rocky islands as we headed out. Not so approaching Denmark. The harbor just appears, with no advance indication, other than seeing land on the horizon.
Saturday I went to the local Art Museum. It's pretty much all Danish artists, and most of them 19Th century on. You know what that means. Impressionist and beyond. Can't say I found anything that impressed me tremendously. Other than the building itself. It was designed by Aalto, the same fellow who laid out the town of Rovaniemi in Finland. I liked the building here better. All white walls, light colored marble floors, and lots of diffused natural light from windows in the high walls and ceilings. Really nice lighting for an art museum, and a nice building to be inside.
Near it, on a high hill, is a 105 metre tower, with an elevator to the viewing platform. As I said, on a high, STEEP hill. When I got to the elevator, what do I find? A small sign saying there is s problem with the elevator, and it will be out of order for some time. The view wasn't too bad, but would have been much better from 105 metres higher, unobstructed by trees,
Today, I checked on transportation for several future planned activities. I'm getting pretty good at interpreting the timetables. Fortunately, The numbers are the same, and I can recognize the cities. And I can usually make out which days are Saturday and Sunday. More on the plans when they happen.
Also went to the town museum, which would have been a lot more informative if the descriptions were in English. One thing I learned, there was a really big cigar and pipe tobacco plant here. Seems they got their tobacco from Brazil, Java and Sumatra. There's something that you've always wanted to know, isn't it?
Associated with it, but in a different local, is the remains of a 13Th century church, discovered 3 metres under the ground when they were excavating for a new building. And they continued with the building. Just cleared out the remaining earth around the church's foundation, built a roof over it, then the building. So to see the ruins, you take an elevator down to it. It always amazes me that so much of our history is buried so deep. Just doesn't seem that so much dirt could pile on top of something over the centuries. Turns out that's only about 0.2 in.per year, but where does that come from. Must be a hole somewhere about 3 metres deep, don't you think? Or maybe from outer space, brought by aliens. If so, the world is growing each year by 0.2 inches.
Trivia time. Still don't seem to be able to make eye contact with folks in this part of the world. And in the places I've been recently, I sure haven't come across many Americans, or anyone who speaks English as a primary language, for that matter. Guess I'm somewhat off the beaten path. When I become famous (I've given up on rich) don't build a statue of me. I've seen far too many with pigeons or their residue perched on the heads.
Geography lesson: this part of Denmark, Jutland, is an island for the northern third . I thought there was a river dividing the city of Aalborg, but it turns out it's a fjord that runs from one coast to the other.
On to Monday. Had a really great day today. Several weeks a go, I was told about an abandoned lighthouse on the west coast of Jutland, and decided it if I could find it, I'd go there. It was supposed to be about 8 or 10 K from the nearest bus stop, so it would be an all day adventure. Turns out that's not the case. The bus stops about a 15 minute walk from it. The bus ride there took about 2 hours. Since I'd planned for an entire day, I walked out to the lighthouse, admired the lighthouse, sand dunes, wind and sea, and then went back to the bus stop, and continued north to the little seaport town of Hirtsalls.
Very nice, about 7000 people, and a working fishing port. Think Pismo Beach, if you're from CA, otherwise, think ..... About three to one ratio of fishing boats to pleasure boats in the marina. Also a ferry terminal for ferries to Norway and England. Very pleasant to walk around in. And a nice beach. I wish I'd known that, I'd have brought my bathing suit. As it was, I waded around in the North Sea for about a half hour.
Tomorrow, I head on out for Arhus. I'll be there for about 4 days, with at least one day trip tentatively planned.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Sayonara Sweden, Destination Denmark
In that order. Had a really nice day my last day in Stockholm. I found out that there is a Tall Boats race in the Baltic, and they were all docked in Stockholm that weekend. Well over 100 sailing vessels, from just over 10 metres to well over 100 metres in length. Single mast to full rigged four master's. Along with quite a crown along the waterfront, I had a great time looking at all of them, and of course using up a lot of pixels on my memory stick. Some even allowed the tourist to come on board, but the lines were long, and walking around on a deck is not much better than walking along the quay. Boats were from all over the world. Two Polish boats had crews that were of Polish descent, but almost all were American citizens.
The only problem was a repeat of one I had in Trondheim. I ordered peel and eat shrimp again. Forgot that it takes 1/2 hour to peel, and 2 minutes to eat. Plus, this was a stand on the quay, so they didn't even have a bowl of water to rinse the hands in. Live and learn: eventually.
Remember my good comments about the Nobel Museum in Oslo? there is an even better one in Stockholm. This one included a guided tour in English, making it all the more understandable. Much easier to hear it than to read it, even when the text is in English. I won't bore you with any of the details, except to say they had a very nice temporary exhibit on W. Churchill. It included a lot of his art, which wasn't bad, by my standards. I'm now filled with all kinds of Nobel trivia. For example, who is the only person to have won two Nobel prizes, without sharing at least one of the prizes with someone else?
And now I'm in Linkoping (pronounced Linchopinggg, although every other Swedish K I've heard is pronounced the way a K should be pronounced) for a day or so. Not a great tourist town, just a nice one to relax in and re-charge a bit. There is an Air museum out of town, which I'll attend when I finish with this. I did something out of the ordinary last night. Went to see "Harry Potter och Fenixorden" with Swedish subtitles. Not quite as good as earlier ones, in my opinion. Not as much humor, much more of the dark arts. To each his own.
The aviation museum was excellent. Got there about 12:30, and didn't leave until after 4. For you aviation buffs, I took photos of not only the planes, but the vary detailed description of the plane. In English, I might add. I'm going to put them on a separate CD when I get home, and I'll make copies if anyone is interested. One of you has a birthday in November, so I'll make at least one CD. I talked to an older gentleman who said his father was the first pilot to fly one of the planes I looked at, and had given him a ride in it later on. Said his father logged over 13,000 flights, and flew 47 different aircraft in his career.
Off tomorrow AM for Goteborg, where I have a reservation on a hotel that is a ship tied up to the quay. Should be interesting.
Now in Goteborg, and the ship/hotel is interesting. It was built in 1907, I think, a 4 mast sailing vessel. Hauled a lot of freight in it's day, and now is outfitted as a hotel. Cabin much like a cruise ship, only smaller, with bunk beds. Community showers and such, but that's no different than many of the hotels and hostels. Best breakfast selection I've had so far, as best I can remember. It will be a real transition for me when I get home not to have a sandwich, cucumbers. tomatoes and peppers along with my cereal, toast and coffee for breakfast.
Just arrived yesterday PM, and have walked around a bit, but not investigated any of the attractions. So you'll have to wait with bated breath for that. It has a real big city atmosphere, much like Stockholm or Copenhagen.
Time for random thoughts: One doesn't have to worry about being alone in a dark street late at night here in the summer. There aren't any dark streets, with sunset so late, and sunrise so early. The nights don't get much darker than what I think of as dusk. Although it is beginning to get a bit dark in the wee small hours.
Yet another use for cell phones. While riding the local buses, I've noticed that some people just open their cell phone and show it to the driver, and that seems to be their bus pass. Not sure how that works.
Time to go exploring in Goteborg.
Which I did today. Only after making reservations for my next leg, though, which will be to Fredrikshavn, Denmark, then on to Aalborg, on Friday.
Main visit today was to the Maritime Museum. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do that again on this trip. But this one was real ships that could be boarded and explored. About 8 or thereabouts. Several navy ships, a fire-boat, freighter, tug, salvage vessel, and lightship. All in all, it was really nice. I was about to grouse about not getting down into the engine rooms of the first ones I saw, when I got there on the navy destroyer. Now I'm glad all over again that I wasn't a snipe when in the navy.
Today, I went to the Goteborg City museum, which wasn't all that bad. From pre-history until modern times. Much of it had good English translations. Several areas I thought might be interesting, though, didn't. Ah well, can't have everything. How many American museums are in Swedish? From there, I took in the Goteborg art museum. Not all that bad, either. It concentrated on Scandinavian artists, but had a few from elsewhere. Pretty good selection of impressionists. Also separate wings on photography and modern art. The photography, for the most part, was pretty good. A competition for a scholarship. The modern art, however... Didn't take me long to cover that.
Another place I thought I'd enjoy was the Museum of Culture. Thought it was supposed to be a collection of cultures worldwide, showing how they inter-related. Not so. One floor on trafficking in prostitution, one small exhibit on trans-gender people, one I thought would be an exhibit on global warming turned out to be a commercial for a book, and one very nice exhibit on the Orinoco river rain forests and the people who live there. By the time I got to that one, after the others, I couldn't appreciate it. Too bad, it would have been nice under other circumstances.
And that's it for Sweden. Tomorrow I catch the ferry for Denmark, the last leg of the Scandinavian part of the tour. I'll spend several days in Aalborg. That will be a base for exploring the surrounding area, as Aalborg itself isn't that large or interesting. It says in fine print, who knows?
Anyway, that's it for now. Danish episode to follow.
The only problem was a repeat of one I had in Trondheim. I ordered peel and eat shrimp again. Forgot that it takes 1/2 hour to peel, and 2 minutes to eat. Plus, this was a stand on the quay, so they didn't even have a bowl of water to rinse the hands in. Live and learn: eventually.
Remember my good comments about the Nobel Museum in Oslo? there is an even better one in Stockholm. This one included a guided tour in English, making it all the more understandable. Much easier to hear it than to read it, even when the text is in English. I won't bore you with any of the details, except to say they had a very nice temporary exhibit on W. Churchill. It included a lot of his art, which wasn't bad, by my standards. I'm now filled with all kinds of Nobel trivia. For example, who is the only person to have won two Nobel prizes, without sharing at least one of the prizes with someone else?
And now I'm in Linkoping (pronounced Linchopinggg, although every other Swedish K I've heard is pronounced the way a K should be pronounced) for a day or so. Not a great tourist town, just a nice one to relax in and re-charge a bit. There is an Air museum out of town, which I'll attend when I finish with this. I did something out of the ordinary last night. Went to see "Harry Potter och Fenixorden" with Swedish subtitles. Not quite as good as earlier ones, in my opinion. Not as much humor, much more of the dark arts. To each his own.
The aviation museum was excellent. Got there about 12:30, and didn't leave until after 4. For you aviation buffs, I took photos of not only the planes, but the vary detailed description of the plane. In English, I might add. I'm going to put them on a separate CD when I get home, and I'll make copies if anyone is interested. One of you has a birthday in November, so I'll make at least one CD. I talked to an older gentleman who said his father was the first pilot to fly one of the planes I looked at, and had given him a ride in it later on. Said his father logged over 13,000 flights, and flew 47 different aircraft in his career.
Off tomorrow AM for Goteborg, where I have a reservation on a hotel that is a ship tied up to the quay. Should be interesting.
Now in Goteborg, and the ship/hotel is interesting. It was built in 1907, I think, a 4 mast sailing vessel. Hauled a lot of freight in it's day, and now is outfitted as a hotel. Cabin much like a cruise ship, only smaller, with bunk beds. Community showers and such, but that's no different than many of the hotels and hostels. Best breakfast selection I've had so far, as best I can remember. It will be a real transition for me when I get home not to have a sandwich, cucumbers. tomatoes and peppers along with my cereal, toast and coffee for breakfast.
Just arrived yesterday PM, and have walked around a bit, but not investigated any of the attractions. So you'll have to wait with bated breath for that. It has a real big city atmosphere, much like Stockholm or Copenhagen.
Time for random thoughts: One doesn't have to worry about being alone in a dark street late at night here in the summer. There aren't any dark streets, with sunset so late, and sunrise so early. The nights don't get much darker than what I think of as dusk. Although it is beginning to get a bit dark in the wee small hours.
Yet another use for cell phones. While riding the local buses, I've noticed that some people just open their cell phone and show it to the driver, and that seems to be their bus pass. Not sure how that works.
Time to go exploring in Goteborg.
Which I did today. Only after making reservations for my next leg, though, which will be to Fredrikshavn, Denmark, then on to Aalborg, on Friday.
Main visit today was to the Maritime Museum. Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do that again on this trip. But this one was real ships that could be boarded and explored. About 8 or thereabouts. Several navy ships, a fire-boat, freighter, tug, salvage vessel, and lightship. All in all, it was really nice. I was about to grouse about not getting down into the engine rooms of the first ones I saw, when I got there on the navy destroyer. Now I'm glad all over again that I wasn't a snipe when in the navy.
Today, I went to the Goteborg City museum, which wasn't all that bad. From pre-history until modern times. Much of it had good English translations. Several areas I thought might be interesting, though, didn't. Ah well, can't have everything. How many American museums are in Swedish? From there, I took in the Goteborg art museum. Not all that bad, either. It concentrated on Scandinavian artists, but had a few from elsewhere. Pretty good selection of impressionists. Also separate wings on photography and modern art. The photography, for the most part, was pretty good. A competition for a scholarship. The modern art, however... Didn't take me long to cover that.
Another place I thought I'd enjoy was the Museum of Culture. Thought it was supposed to be a collection of cultures worldwide, showing how they inter-related. Not so. One floor on trafficking in prostitution, one small exhibit on trans-gender people, one I thought would be an exhibit on global warming turned out to be a commercial for a book, and one very nice exhibit on the Orinoco river rain forests and the people who live there. By the time I got to that one, after the others, I couldn't appreciate it. Too bad, it would have been nice under other circumstances.
And that's it for Sweden. Tomorrow I catch the ferry for Denmark, the last leg of the Scandinavian part of the tour. I'll spend several days in Aalborg. That will be a base for exploring the surrounding area, as Aalborg itself isn't that large or interesting. It says in fine print, who knows?
Anyway, that's it for now. Danish episode to follow.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Orebro, Stockholm and Upsalla, oh my!
Last I checked, I was in Oslo, heading for Orebro, Sweden. And now, here I am in Stockholm. I did spend 2 days in Orebro. Left Oslo in the rain, and the bus tried to outrun it all the way. Unsuccessfully. I did get one morning with some sunshine, but not near enough. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my stay in Orebro. Not as much as I'd hoped I would, but still a pleasure.
The guide books say that Orebro is a picture postcard city. I can see why, with a castle on an island in the middle of a river. Then there's the really big town park, filled with grass, trees and flowers. After that, there isn't too much to talk about, though.
The castle tour is interesting, mainly because of the stories the guide, dressed in period costume, tells. There are many paintings of Scandinavian royalty, and he had stories about most of them. Some were probably very true, and historically accurate. But some, the more entertaining ones, stretched the imagination more than a bit. But who am I to comment on the accuracy of the guides pitch?
Aside from the park, which I spent a good bit of time in, sauntering along at my leisure, another item on the city's list of sights that interested me was called the sculpture walk, or something similar. Decided a walk wouldn't hurt, and there wasn't much else to do. It was about 1 or 2 K from town, through a semi-residential district. Nice area. Then I got to the sculpture walk, nearly another K. Walked the entire length and back, and took photos of all the sculptures I saw. All four of them. And none particularly impressed me, with one possible exception. At least it was a nice area to walk in.
I did visit the town museum, a mix of history and art. Nothing really impressive. One art exhibit was supposedly the 7 stages of life. And no, I don't remember what they were. But the stage on childhood made an interesting point. There is a UN resolution, rule, position, (I'm not sure of the correct term) on children's rights. One of them is the right to not be physically or sexually exploited. The point made was that we live in a world that this has to be stated. Enough editorializing.
There was a hand's on exhibit for children which I participated in. It was on the Runic alphabet, the early Scandinavian means of communicating, primarily on big rocks, rune stones, as memorials. The exhibit had magnetic backed runic characters which could be used to spell things out on a large board. I'm sure most were kyds names and such. This kyd spelled out "Tehachapi". I'll bet there are some confused folk trying to make that one out.
Orebro is really a nice tourist town, but mainly for Swedish tourists. It's the first place I've been to with almost no English in the town brochures, museums, places of interest in general. Even the posted menus were all in Swedish. I had to ask for an English menu. Usually, they have both languages on the menus, or an English menu posted side by side with the local language.
On that subject, I've stopped condemning myself for not knowing the languages. I do have a little bit of condemnation for the US as a whole for not encouraging more foreign language in our schools. They start in the third grade here teaching English. But on the other hand, what language should we teach? English is the second language nearly everywhere I've been. Some English people I met a while back attribute that to the American GI's after WWII being all over western Europe. Good point. More editorializing.
From Orebro I headed for Stockholm. The original plan was to pass through, and go on to Upsalla for a couple of days. But Upsalla is only an hour away, and buses run hourly. So I decided to stay in Stockholm. That way I can stay in the same room for the entire time in this area.
I did go to Upsalla today. Rainy, but that's OK. I will need a new umbrella by the time I get home. This one is getting a lot of use, and is close to retirement, as is my suitcase, and possibly backpack. On to Upsalla.
One of it's main attractions is a site just out of town where there are three huge burial mounds. Interesting museum about the history of the mounds, and walking the area around the mounds. They were excavated sometime in the 19Th century, if I remember correctly. They were on a ridge, and the dead kings were cremated with important possessions to take to the next world, then the entire site was covered with earth. They estimate it took 100 workers three months to complete the process. You can imagine the size. Not a great pyramid, but still impressive.
Also went to the town art museum and castle, combined. Neither impressed me too much.
The 18Th century botanist, Carl Von Linne, or Linnaeus, taught at Upsalla University. There is a museum about his life in his original house. Guests even had to wear plastic booties because the floor and carpets are original. He's the botanist that developed the scientific naming method still in use. He also is noted for something I'm impressed with. When Celsius developed the Celsius scale, he set 100 as freezing and 0 as boiling points for water. Linne was the one responsible for reversing it. I like that.
Yesterday was one of the worst I've had in a long time. I tried to change my return reservations, successfully, eventually. But what a time! If you ever try it, be advised, the airline ticket counters at the airport won't help. I took the 45 minute (one-way) bus ride to the airport to find this out. They'll tell you they are just an agent, and to call the airline. (at least BA and Spanair here did). And no toll free numbers. One even gave me the wrong phone number, and Spanair's web site didn't have their local office's number, only their agent, who couldn't or wouldn't do anything. So find a quiet place with a pay phone, get a WHOLE bunch of coins and get with it. I spent well over an hour on the phone. Admittedly, I had more than just a return flight to change, but what a hassle. Nuf of the bellyaching.
Tomorrow I'll wind up my visit in Stockholm, and then on Monday head for Linkoping, then Goteborg later in the week. And now it's time for dinner.
The guide books say that Orebro is a picture postcard city. I can see why, with a castle on an island in the middle of a river. Then there's the really big town park, filled with grass, trees and flowers. After that, there isn't too much to talk about, though.
The castle tour is interesting, mainly because of the stories the guide, dressed in period costume, tells. There are many paintings of Scandinavian royalty, and he had stories about most of them. Some were probably very true, and historically accurate. But some, the more entertaining ones, stretched the imagination more than a bit. But who am I to comment on the accuracy of the guides pitch?
Aside from the park, which I spent a good bit of time in, sauntering along at my leisure, another item on the city's list of sights that interested me was called the sculpture walk, or something similar. Decided a walk wouldn't hurt, and there wasn't much else to do. It was about 1 or 2 K from town, through a semi-residential district. Nice area. Then I got to the sculpture walk, nearly another K. Walked the entire length and back, and took photos of all the sculptures I saw. All four of them. And none particularly impressed me, with one possible exception. At least it was a nice area to walk in.
I did visit the town museum, a mix of history and art. Nothing really impressive. One art exhibit was supposedly the 7 stages of life. And no, I don't remember what they were. But the stage on childhood made an interesting point. There is a UN resolution, rule, position, (I'm not sure of the correct term) on children's rights. One of them is the right to not be physically or sexually exploited. The point made was that we live in a world that this has to be stated. Enough editorializing.
There was a hand's on exhibit for children which I participated in. It was on the Runic alphabet, the early Scandinavian means of communicating, primarily on big rocks, rune stones, as memorials. The exhibit had magnetic backed runic characters which could be used to spell things out on a large board. I'm sure most were kyds names and such. This kyd spelled out "Tehachapi". I'll bet there are some confused folk trying to make that one out.
Orebro is really a nice tourist town, but mainly for Swedish tourists. It's the first place I've been to with almost no English in the town brochures, museums, places of interest in general. Even the posted menus were all in Swedish. I had to ask for an English menu. Usually, they have both languages on the menus, or an English menu posted side by side with the local language.
On that subject, I've stopped condemning myself for not knowing the languages. I do have a little bit of condemnation for the US as a whole for not encouraging more foreign language in our schools. They start in the third grade here teaching English. But on the other hand, what language should we teach? English is the second language nearly everywhere I've been. Some English people I met a while back attribute that to the American GI's after WWII being all over western Europe. Good point. More editorializing.
From Orebro I headed for Stockholm. The original plan was to pass through, and go on to Upsalla for a couple of days. But Upsalla is only an hour away, and buses run hourly. So I decided to stay in Stockholm. That way I can stay in the same room for the entire time in this area.
I did go to Upsalla today. Rainy, but that's OK. I will need a new umbrella by the time I get home. This one is getting a lot of use, and is close to retirement, as is my suitcase, and possibly backpack. On to Upsalla.
One of it's main attractions is a site just out of town where there are three huge burial mounds. Interesting museum about the history of the mounds, and walking the area around the mounds. They were excavated sometime in the 19Th century, if I remember correctly. They were on a ridge, and the dead kings were cremated with important possessions to take to the next world, then the entire site was covered with earth. They estimate it took 100 workers three months to complete the process. You can imagine the size. Not a great pyramid, but still impressive.
Also went to the town art museum and castle, combined. Neither impressed me too much.
The 18Th century botanist, Carl Von Linne, or Linnaeus, taught at Upsalla University. There is a museum about his life in his original house. Guests even had to wear plastic booties because the floor and carpets are original. He's the botanist that developed the scientific naming method still in use. He also is noted for something I'm impressed with. When Celsius developed the Celsius scale, he set 100 as freezing and 0 as boiling points for water. Linne was the one responsible for reversing it. I like that.
Yesterday was one of the worst I've had in a long time. I tried to change my return reservations, successfully, eventually. But what a time! If you ever try it, be advised, the airline ticket counters at the airport won't help. I took the 45 minute (one-way) bus ride to the airport to find this out. They'll tell you they are just an agent, and to call the airline. (at least BA and Spanair here did). And no toll free numbers. One even gave me the wrong phone number, and Spanair's web site didn't have their local office's number, only their agent, who couldn't or wouldn't do anything. So find a quiet place with a pay phone, get a WHOLE bunch of coins and get with it. I spent well over an hour on the phone. Admittedly, I had more than just a return flight to change, but what a hassle. Nuf of the bellyaching.
Tomorrow I'll wind up my visit in Stockholm, and then on Monday head for Linkoping, then Goteborg later in the week. And now it's time for dinner.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Back thru Bergen, then on to Oslo
Am I going backwards? It sure looks that way, doesn't it? But there is a method in my madness. From Stavanger, I took the boat back to Bergen, then hopped on the train for a return to Oslo. My initial plan was quite different, but for several reasons, most important of which was the desire to take that train ride, I adjusted the plan. So now I'm back in Oslo, and will leave here on either Monday or Tuesday for Orebro, Sweden.
Back to Stavanger. Told you about the Oil museum, and again, I was impressed with it. The next day, I decided it was tome to get some culture, so I took in the Rogland Art museum. A nice walk from the town center alongside a lake, and with trees and such buffering the noise form the cars. The museum itself isn't all that big. It mainly promotes one of Norway's artists, raised near Stavanger, Lars Hertervig. His work was mostly landscapes and seascapes, but a few portraits. Not bad, but who am I to say.
A number of other Norwegian artists were on display as well. Some impressed me more than others. Photos were allowed, no flash, so I took some of those that struck me for one or another reason. Also one American "artist", somebody? San Francisco. Not much of his work impressed me. The kind of stuff you'd swear was done in elementary school, or discarded from the hobbyist's wood-shop. Nuff said.
From there, I tried one I didn't think I'd think much of. To my surprise, I enjoyed it, and learned something. Can you believe I enjoyed a museum on how sardines were canned in the early 20TH century? Believe it or not, I found it very interesting. Maybe because at one time, for a very few months, when much younger, I worked in a can manufacturing plant. Did any of you know that Sardines aren't officially from Norway? They are native to the Mediterranean. The ones in a can from Norway are in reality brisling, a close relative of the sardine. Aren't you glad to find that out?
And then on to the museum that I didn't enjoy. Has to be at least one. I guess I've been to to many Maritime museums on this trip. Ship model after ship model after ship model. It was supposed to be about Stavanger's history and connections with the sea, but didn't touch on that aspect very much at all.
After dinner, with time to kill, I went into a bookstore. They showed me to the English language section, in the basement. So I spent time browsing for something light to read. After some time, I finally chose a James Patterson mystery, against my better judgment. Right. Anyway, when I went up to pay, they were in the process of locking up. They forgot all about me down in the basement. If I'd stayed down a few minutes more, I wouldn't have been able to get out until midnight, when they had a Harry Potter sale starting.
Then the highlight of the day. I'd been chasing a concert around all of Norway, it seemed. It was in Trondheim, Alesund, Oslo and Berger but always either before I arrived or right after I left. Finally caught up with it in Stavanger. A Berlin string orchestra, with a two plus hour performance of several noted classical composers, including Norway's own favorite, Eduard Greig. Have to say I enjoyed that.
Getting late, so it's time to put this in the drafts folder for a while.
On to Bergen and Oslo. The next AM, I caught the ferry back to Bergen, then the train to Oslo. I'd decided that the scenic ride was worth watching from the south side of the train, so made a reservation that I was told was on the southern exposure. Wrong! Seat was on the same side as the first trip. But after the train started, I found an unoccupied seat on the other side, and settled in. All was well until I decided I was hungry, and went to the dining car for a hot dog.
I asked a couple if I could share their table. Turns out they were Canadian, but live in Houston. They are here on business, and had taken a weekend excursion. On the good side, it was an interesting conversation. I need to speak English for long periods every now and then, so I don't forget how. On the bad side, I missed all the great scenery I'd taken the train to see in the first place. A very good friend recently said something about still having a lot left to do when you pass on. So I'll add another trip from Oslo to Bergen to my list. I've got a whale of a lot still to do, so I hope that means I'll be here for a long time.
So now I'm in Oslo. Today was a get organized day. Hotel reservation in Orebro, bus ticket to Orebro, do the laundry, etc. Did it all,and still had time left over. So I decided on more culture. Glad I did. I went to the Oslo National Gallery. What a great art museum! It's primarily for Norwegian artists of renown, highlighting Edvard Munch and J. C. Dahl. I preferred Dahl, lots of landscapes and such. Really enjoyable. Munch was an impressionist, and in the same league as some of the notable ones, Gauguin, Manet, Picasso, Manet and the likes.
In a case of locking the barn door after the horse is stolen, two of Munch's most notable paintings, The Scream and Madonna, were stolen from here a few years back, then, fortunately, recovered. Now only those two are on the wall with sheets of Plexiglas bolted over them separating them from the public. Amazingly, much of the artwork is hung on the walls with no separation between the painting and the viewer. They do have alarms if someone touches them. Yes, I did. Security politely asked me not to do that again.
There is one room with Gaugin, Picasso, Degas, Mamet, Renoir, all the names you've heard before. Those are separated from the audience only by a rope strung several feet in front of them. Within easy reach if one wanted to. Another room has noted European artists from the 15Th century on through the early 18Th. I really did feel somewhat in awe of what I saw today. Not sure if it was because I recognized the names and was impressed, or if it was truly the art I was looking at. But whatever it was, it made for a very pleasant experience.
So now it's on to Orebro, Sweden tomorrow AM. We'll see what Sweden has to offer on this pass.
Back to Stavanger. Told you about the Oil museum, and again, I was impressed with it. The next day, I decided it was tome to get some culture, so I took in the Rogland Art museum. A nice walk from the town center alongside a lake, and with trees and such buffering the noise form the cars. The museum itself isn't all that big. It mainly promotes one of Norway's artists, raised near Stavanger, Lars Hertervig. His work was mostly landscapes and seascapes, but a few portraits. Not bad, but who am I to say.
A number of other Norwegian artists were on display as well. Some impressed me more than others. Photos were allowed, no flash, so I took some of those that struck me for one or another reason. Also one American "artist", somebody? San Francisco. Not much of his work impressed me. The kind of stuff you'd swear was done in elementary school, or discarded from the hobbyist's wood-shop. Nuff said.
From there, I tried one I didn't think I'd think much of. To my surprise, I enjoyed it, and learned something. Can you believe I enjoyed a museum on how sardines were canned in the early 20TH century? Believe it or not, I found it very interesting. Maybe because at one time, for a very few months, when much younger, I worked in a can manufacturing plant. Did any of you know that Sardines aren't officially from Norway? They are native to the Mediterranean. The ones in a can from Norway are in reality brisling, a close relative of the sardine. Aren't you glad to find that out?
And then on to the museum that I didn't enjoy. Has to be at least one. I guess I've been to to many Maritime museums on this trip. Ship model after ship model after ship model. It was supposed to be about Stavanger's history and connections with the sea, but didn't touch on that aspect very much at all.
After dinner, with time to kill, I went into a bookstore. They showed me to the English language section, in the basement. So I spent time browsing for something light to read. After some time, I finally chose a James Patterson mystery, against my better judgment. Right. Anyway, when I went up to pay, they were in the process of locking up. They forgot all about me down in the basement. If I'd stayed down a few minutes more, I wouldn't have been able to get out until midnight, when they had a Harry Potter sale starting.
Then the highlight of the day. I'd been chasing a concert around all of Norway, it seemed. It was in Trondheim, Alesund, Oslo and Berger but always either before I arrived or right after I left. Finally caught up with it in Stavanger. A Berlin string orchestra, with a two plus hour performance of several noted classical composers, including Norway's own favorite, Eduard Greig. Have to say I enjoyed that.
Getting late, so it's time to put this in the drafts folder for a while.
On to Bergen and Oslo. The next AM, I caught the ferry back to Bergen, then the train to Oslo. I'd decided that the scenic ride was worth watching from the south side of the train, so made a reservation that I was told was on the southern exposure. Wrong! Seat was on the same side as the first trip. But after the train started, I found an unoccupied seat on the other side, and settled in. All was well until I decided I was hungry, and went to the dining car for a hot dog.
I asked a couple if I could share their table. Turns out they were Canadian, but live in Houston. They are here on business, and had taken a weekend excursion. On the good side, it was an interesting conversation. I need to speak English for long periods every now and then, so I don't forget how. On the bad side, I missed all the great scenery I'd taken the train to see in the first place. A very good friend recently said something about still having a lot left to do when you pass on. So I'll add another trip from Oslo to Bergen to my list. I've got a whale of a lot still to do, so I hope that means I'll be here for a long time.
So now I'm in Oslo. Today was a get organized day. Hotel reservation in Orebro, bus ticket to Orebro, do the laundry, etc. Did it all,and still had time left over. So I decided on more culture. Glad I did. I went to the Oslo National Gallery. What a great art museum! It's primarily for Norwegian artists of renown, highlighting Edvard Munch and J. C. Dahl. I preferred Dahl, lots of landscapes and such. Really enjoyable. Munch was an impressionist, and in the same league as some of the notable ones, Gauguin, Manet, Picasso, Manet and the likes.
In a case of locking the barn door after the horse is stolen, two of Munch's most notable paintings, The Scream and Madonna, were stolen from here a few years back, then, fortunately, recovered. Now only those two are on the wall with sheets of Plexiglas bolted over them separating them from the public. Amazingly, much of the artwork is hung on the walls with no separation between the painting and the viewer. They do have alarms if someone touches them. Yes, I did. Security politely asked me not to do that again.
There is one room with Gaugin, Picasso, Degas, Mamet, Renoir, all the names you've heard before. Those are separated from the audience only by a rope strung several feet in front of them. Within easy reach if one wanted to. Another room has noted European artists from the 15Th century on through the early 18Th. I really did feel somewhat in awe of what I saw today. Not sure if it was because I recognized the names and was impressed, or if it was truly the art I was looking at. But whatever it was, it made for a very pleasant experience.
So now it's on to Orebro, Sweden tomorrow AM. We'll see what Sweden has to offer on this pass.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Been to Bergen, and Beyond
Yep, I'm now in Stavanger, after a 4+ hour boat ride from Bergen this morning. And that boat really moves. Stavanger and Bergen are 185 K apart. That's an average of 40 K/h. And we stopped to drop off and pick up passengers at least 5 times. Really moves.
The train ride to Bergen was really nice. Not quite as spectacular as I'd been led to believe, but that's because my seat was on the north side of the train, and the majority of scenic stuff was on the south side. But then, you've all heard the story of the grass being greener..... Anyway, I'll find out. I take it back to Oslo on Saturday. More on that later.
Bergen was pretty nice. Would have been nicer if it had had some abnormal weather. One source says it rains there 275 days a year. The other says the sun shines 60. That leaves 30 at question. I think drizzle will be correct for the missing 30. I can predict the weather accurately. If it's raining, it will stop soon. If it's not raining, it will start soon. Except when you plan on leaving. Then the sun comes out to wish you a fond farewell.
I took several nice tours while in Bergen. One of the Bryggen area, the area the Hanseatic League merchants lived and worked in. All the buildings in this area are replicas (on the outside) of the period when the Hanseatic League dominated trade throughout northern Europe. The tour included 3 separate buildings, a nice museum, a building that was their common room, and another that was their sleeping area. None too attractive to me. Glad I'm in the 21st Century. Our guide did a really good job. The League stayed completely separate from the Norwegian community, which wasn't appreciated too much by the Norwegians, but the League was pretty powerful.
Also visited King Hakon's Hall, really Hakon's castle, and Rosenkrantz' Tower. Hakon's from around 1200 and the tower from around 1500, I think. Both damaged and reconstructed several times. And it's easy to see which parts are original, and which are the newer sections. Interesting to see the differences, both in style and constructions methods. The last time they were destroyed was in 1944 when a freighter (one story says German, another says Dutch) loaded with ammunition blew up in the harbor adjacent to them, and pretty much destroyed them, and a good part of the town. They initially thought it was sabotage, as it happened on Hitler's birthday. but eventually ruled that out.
I think the highlight of the trip to Bergen was the trip up to Mt. Floyen (302 M high) on the Funicular. The clouds below cleared enough to allow a good view of the city and harbor. Really a spectacular view. Second to that, might just be walking around the old section around Bryggen. Wooden buildings, cobbled streets, narrow passages, real old world look and feel.
Bergen so far is the winner for meeting fellow Americans. Met a couple from CO on the way up the Funicular, two young ladies from MN on the way down, a couple from a town about 10 miles from where my Dad was born in MN while I was on Hakon's Hall tour, and then at dinner last night, met a couple from Grass Valley, CA, where my daughter Lynda once lived. And she's right next door in Nevada City now. This guy was a real talker. Says he grew up in Sunnyvale, CA, and that Jobs and Wozniak built the first Apple in his garage. Claims he was bosom buddies with both. One wonders.
Today, as I said, I took the boat to Stavanger. I'll be here until Saturday morning, when I do some step retracing. Boat back to Stavanger, then the train to Oslo. This time I'll have a seat on the south side, so we'll see about that green grass.
Stavanger is the Houston or Dallas of Norway, the oil capital. It's the 4Th biggest city, and that's primarily because of North Sea oil. There is a really good Oil Museum here. They go all the way from describing how oil was created to current day practices for getting it out, and some next generation exploration ideas. I found it very interesting. Of course, most of the examples were of Norwegian/North Sea oil platforms, etc.
That's about it for my recent escapades. Now you can suffer through some of my musings.
I've noticed that a lot of people here in Scandinavia use walking aids of some form or another. Can't believe they are more accident prone, or more susceptible to arthritis, etc. But I can't think of an explanation, either.
On the way here from Bergen, I realized just how many Norwegians live on islands, at least in this part of Norway. And I didn't see many power lines running out from the mainland as we traveled by. There were too many large communities to do without. I just wondered how they get power, water, all those necessities to so many islands. Probably very easily, but not apparent to me.
Looking back over recent days, I've really had an international diet. Pizza, Fajitas, Japanese, Indian and a few McD's since I left Alesund. Did mix that in with some good local fish and shrimp dinners.
I've figured out why everything is so expensive here. It's because they have to pay for all those bridges and tunnels to get to all the islands and through the mountains. I've never seen so many bridges and tunnels in such a small area before.
You've suffered enough. I'll close for now.
The train ride to Bergen was really nice. Not quite as spectacular as I'd been led to believe, but that's because my seat was on the north side of the train, and the majority of scenic stuff was on the south side. But then, you've all heard the story of the grass being greener..... Anyway, I'll find out. I take it back to Oslo on Saturday. More on that later.
Bergen was pretty nice. Would have been nicer if it had had some abnormal weather. One source says it rains there 275 days a year. The other says the sun shines 60. That leaves 30 at question. I think drizzle will be correct for the missing 30. I can predict the weather accurately. If it's raining, it will stop soon. If it's not raining, it will start soon. Except when you plan on leaving. Then the sun comes out to wish you a fond farewell.
I took several nice tours while in Bergen. One of the Bryggen area, the area the Hanseatic League merchants lived and worked in. All the buildings in this area are replicas (on the outside) of the period when the Hanseatic League dominated trade throughout northern Europe. The tour included 3 separate buildings, a nice museum, a building that was their common room, and another that was their sleeping area. None too attractive to me. Glad I'm in the 21st Century. Our guide did a really good job. The League stayed completely separate from the Norwegian community, which wasn't appreciated too much by the Norwegians, but the League was pretty powerful.
Also visited King Hakon's Hall, really Hakon's castle, and Rosenkrantz' Tower. Hakon's from around 1200 and the tower from around 1500, I think. Both damaged and reconstructed several times. And it's easy to see which parts are original, and which are the newer sections. Interesting to see the differences, both in style and constructions methods. The last time they were destroyed was in 1944 when a freighter (one story says German, another says Dutch) loaded with ammunition blew up in the harbor adjacent to them, and pretty much destroyed them, and a good part of the town. They initially thought it was sabotage, as it happened on Hitler's birthday. but eventually ruled that out.
I think the highlight of the trip to Bergen was the trip up to Mt. Floyen (302 M high) on the Funicular. The clouds below cleared enough to allow a good view of the city and harbor. Really a spectacular view. Second to that, might just be walking around the old section around Bryggen. Wooden buildings, cobbled streets, narrow passages, real old world look and feel.
Bergen so far is the winner for meeting fellow Americans. Met a couple from CO on the way up the Funicular, two young ladies from MN on the way down, a couple from a town about 10 miles from where my Dad was born in MN while I was on Hakon's Hall tour, and then at dinner last night, met a couple from Grass Valley, CA, where my daughter Lynda once lived. And she's right next door in Nevada City now. This guy was a real talker. Says he grew up in Sunnyvale, CA, and that Jobs and Wozniak built the first Apple in his garage. Claims he was bosom buddies with both. One wonders.
Today, as I said, I took the boat to Stavanger. I'll be here until Saturday morning, when I do some step retracing. Boat back to Stavanger, then the train to Oslo. This time I'll have a seat on the south side, so we'll see about that green grass.
Stavanger is the Houston or Dallas of Norway, the oil capital. It's the 4Th biggest city, and that's primarily because of North Sea oil. There is a really good Oil Museum here. They go all the way from describing how oil was created to current day practices for getting it out, and some next generation exploration ideas. I found it very interesting. Of course, most of the examples were of Norwegian/North Sea oil platforms, etc.
That's about it for my recent escapades. Now you can suffer through some of my musings.
I've noticed that a lot of people here in Scandinavia use walking aids of some form or another. Can't believe they are more accident prone, or more susceptible to arthritis, etc. But I can't think of an explanation, either.
On the way here from Bergen, I realized just how many Norwegians live on islands, at least in this part of Norway. And I didn't see many power lines running out from the mainland as we traveled by. There were too many large communities to do without. I just wondered how they get power, water, all those necessities to so many islands. Probably very easily, but not apparent to me.
Looking back over recent days, I've really had an international diet. Pizza, Fajitas, Japanese, Indian and a few McD's since I left Alesund. Did mix that in with some good local fish and shrimp dinners.
I've figured out why everything is so expensive here. It's because they have to pay for all those bridges and tunnels to get to all the islands and through the mountains. I've never seen so many bridges and tunnels in such a small area before.
You've suffered enough. I'll close for now.
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