60th and Above

Hey readers,

So I am now in my 3rd semester at Royal Roads and loving it!  We have been tasked with starting an online venture, please support my business!

60th and Above is an online business that facilitates sales of art between northern Canadian artists and international buyers. The sales are facilitated via an online auction style, allowing for the highest possible selling price. The format structure of the initiative allows artists to collect fifty percent of the profit from the sold artwork while the remaining fifty percent would be donated to the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation http://acyf.ca/, amongst others. This venture provides the opportunity to be able to sell art on an international scale while providing global recognition to northern Canadian art and artists across the territories. If you are a northern artist and are interested in selling your work and receiving recognition or would like to donate a piece of art to benefit a northern charity, please contact info@60thandabove.ca or check out www.60thandabove.ca.

Leandra Grenier-Green

Travel Day(s)

We woke up at around 6, went to the main house for breakfast, said my goodbyes then Jan drove me to the Sogndal airport.  After having to throw away a tin of mackeral that I had tried to sneak through in my carry on luggage, my flight leaves bound for Oslo.  The view from the plane was phenomenal but the flight attendent was only speaking in Norwegian so I didnt understand why were were stopped at another small airport where I had to get out and get on another plane to continue on to Oslo.

Once in Oslo, I had 3 hours to wait for my plane to leave so I listened to some music and people watched.  The main airport in Oslo is an excellent place to look for attractive people, somehow the Norwegians there are so good looking!  Anyways, I finally went to check in and was told that I had to go online to apply for some short term visa because I was entering the states.  I thought this was the most ridiculous thing since I was really only going to be in New York for 3 hours in between flights.  So I log on, do some research and it turned out that because I am Canadian, I dont have to apply or pay for anything but this whole process took a long time and all because the guy at the counter didn't know what he was talking about.  After getting mad at him, he felt bad and upgraded my seats to First Class for both of my flights with Icelandair!

I didnt both bringing anything with me on the flights because Icelandair has an excellent entertainment system, everyone gets their own screen and there is lots of media to choose from.  One I got to Reykjavic, I ate some snacks I had brought and after a minor altrication with an American woman in the bathroom, I boarded the plane bound for New York City.  I sat next to a good looking New Yorker and watch the movie Titanic and Decsendents.  We got served first (love First Class!) and had tons of room, I could almost lie down to watch my TV  :)

One I get to New York I meet this friendly man headed for Germany and grabbed a coffee together because I had tons of time to kill. Then when I went to check in and had to wait an hour in line.  While waiting, I met a nice American girl who had been travelling in Europe and was heading home.  When I finally get to the counter, I am told that my flight to Montreal is cancelled!  After being told this after a day of travelling and of no sleep, I was almost about to cry and the woman at the counter was rude which didn't help matters.  They were able to reschedule me for a flight in the morning, which meant that my only option was to find a hotel to sleep in for the night.  My cell phone did not work since it was outside of Europe, the airport didn't have internet and I had no American change for a pay phone so that I could call home and tell my mom to let my grandma know that I wouldnt be arriving when I was supposed to.  As I was about to head out to the taxi stand I saw the American girl I had met before who had that same distressed look as me.  Turns out her flight was also cancelled and rescheduled until the morning.  We decided to split a taxi and share a hotel room to save some $$.  It was nice to have someone with me and when we got to the hotel we decided to order some NY pizza and watch Sex and the City since it was to late and we were to tired and out of the way to go out and explore real New York.  After about 30 hours of not sleeping I was looking forward to sleeping on the memory foam mattress in the hotel but that did not happen because this girl snored like an elephant the whole night.

Finally, morning comes and I catch a cab to another further airport to get on the plane and finally make it back to Canada.  My cab driver was really friendly and taught me a bit about New York.  I got to the airport an hour before I meant to because I hadn't set my watch properly with the time change but atleast I didnt set it an hour to late.  After waiting in a long line I get checked in and go to the gate.  We get loaded into the plane and then wait there for another hour before the plane leaves.

After all of this, I finally make it to Montreal!   I get my luggage and hop in a cab and make it to my Grandmas house expecting to see only her but who is waiting for me at the door?!  My brother!!  He had flown all the way here from Edmonton to see me before he heads to the Yukon for the summer for work.  I was so happy to see him because I thought I wasnt going to see him until Chrismas with the way his work and my school schedules work out.  So now the two of us are spending the next 6 days here visiting our Quebecois family.

So... what is next?!

After my time with grandparents in Montreal, I arrive back to Edmonton June 5th.  I will spend the summer there working as a lifeguard at the Glendale golf and country club again, like I did last year.

I came to Norway to further my interest in Arctic studies.  Although this will forever be an interest, it is no longer my career focus.  I have instead applied and received conditional acceptance into Royal Road University's Bachelor of Commerce program with a major in Entrepreneurial Management.  This means, that given the completion of the conditions of entry (maintaining an A grade average and completing an online summer course in Financial Accounting with a final grade of 75%), I will be moving to Victoria in the fall.  This program will combine my 3rd and 4th year together into an intensive 12-month program, resulting in a full bachelor degree, which is bound to be more useful than my current BA in Northern Studies.

Although sad to leave Norway, I am looking forward to this new part of my life!

Last day in Norway

My last day in Norway!  I headed to the main house for breakfast and ended up staying for 4 hours chatting and meeting neighbours as they came by.  Afterward, I went with the Latvians and their Norwegian friend to the nearby lake for a boat ride in a rowboat.  We rowed across to the other side and lounged around there, soaking up the sun.

Later after a swim in the nearby fjord and had dinner, we got driven up to the family's summer house.  It is this charming little cabin about an hour drive up the mountain from the main property.  To get there we sat in the forks/bucket of the tractor, such a cool experience.  The cabin itself over looked a giant lake and other mountains.  The dogs we were with had so much fun running around, the air was so fresh.  After having a few drinks there, we came back down to the main house.  The guys had to go take care of milking the cows and the woman of the house really wanted to take me for a drive.  We drove to some neighbouring towns, this woman seemed to know everyone and everything about them.  Then we drove up to giant cliff where the basejumpers jump off in that famous Norwegian tourism video.  Then she took me to check out an epic waterfall nearby.  Then I got back home, packed all my stuff and went to sleep.

This morning I woke up at 6 and am sitting at the airport in Sogndal.  I fly from here to Oslo.  Then from Oslo I fly to Reykjavic, then from Reykjavic I fly to New York where I catch a flight to Montreal.  In total, this will take about 30 hours in which I will take 4 plans to four different countries.  Then I get to my grandmas house in Montreal where I stay until June 5th.  My adventure is almost over!

Sogndal, day 2

 This morning I woke up and headed over to the main house for a nice breakfast.  To get there I have to walk near a field of sheep and another of blossoming apple trees. The weather is still phenomenal, +26 degrees!  After breakfast I was shown the farm and got to cuddle a lamb that was only 2 weeks old; it was the cutest thing!  Then I helped feed the cows and they kept licking me with their loooong sandpaper-like tongues!

After lunch I met some neighbors, a young Latvian couple, who invited us over for coffee.  I played with their cute puggle dog named Charlie.  Then we rounded up the farmer's son and the 5 of us got into the car for a little road trip.  We drove around the mountains through some long tunnels, near green lakes and through lush forested highway.  It was really cool because it was HOT out and we were all wearing summer clothes even though there is still snow not far away on the mountains.  We got to our destination, a glacier called Jostedalsbreen in a national park.  The glacier itself was spectacular to look at but around it were water falls from the melting ice trickling down into the lake in front of the glacier.  Looking at it wasn't enough so we ignored the "do not enter" signs and climbed up to the foot of the glacier.  This involved us having to take off our shoes and trekking through the frigid water and on glacial snow, brrr.  Once we stopped being able to feel our poor feet, we trekked back to the car for some beers and cake.

We left the glacier and drove around to take in some more scenery.  There are many tunnels here in Norway.  It seems that when there is a mountain, they take some dynamite and blow through it whereas in Canada we build our highways on top of the mountains.  We drove through a little town and kept seeing bookcases filled with books.  The attraction of this town is just that, you can take any book you want for 10NOK and add your own to the collection.  Really cool, it was just strange seeing full book cases amongst an outdoor backdrop of mountains.

After dinner (fresh deer with cranberry sauce) we headed to a neighboring town for a house party.  I met lots of really cool Norwegians and tasted some freshly house made apple cider, mmm.  The house had a view of the fjord and mountains, perfect!

Sogndal

I am spending my last three days in Norway, on a farm near Sogndal, Sogn og Fjordane.  After a lovely 5-hour ferry ride from Bergen, I was picked up by my friend, Jan who is working on this farm.  He and I met and spent a few weeks together in New Zealand in 2010. 

On the ferry

The surrounding area is phenomenal and the farm itself is lovely.  I am staying with a girl from Whales who has written her Masters thesis on Arctic climate change adaptation so we will have had lots to talk about.  For dinner that first night, we headed to the main house for a lovely dinner hosted by the farmer and his lovely wife.  They had guests from Oslo visiting so I met lots of interesting Norwegians including some lawyers, professor and a childrens doctor.  After dinner we had coffee and a Norwegian specialty cake (kransekake), which was perfect because it was the only food left on my list of Norsk food to try while Im here.

Bergen - Sogndal

Last night in Bergen and I am chilling with a guy from Syria and another from Algeria.  They communicate in their similar language, and the Syrian knows English and the Algerian knows French.  The three of us talking is a jumble of languages.  We are speaking different languages to one another, I am fortunate to know both French and English because otherwise we really couldnt have communicated nor could I have translate for the Indian girl who showed up later.

I am currently on the ferry headed from Bergen to Sogndal where I will meet up with a Slovakian friend, Jan, whom I met in New Zealand two years ago.  The ferry ride so far is stunning and fortunately enough, there is free Internet!  I was just on skype with my dad and was able to show him the view that I was seeing as we sailed through the jumble of fjords and islands... so cool!

Bergen

I have to say that Bergen is the most beautiful city I have ever visited.  Everywhere you look there is something beautiful wthether it is one of the 7 surrounding mountains, picturesque buildings or an old fisherman coming in from his latest catch.  The weather today was something like +26 degrees out and I regret not having brought any summer clothes.

This morning I walked around the big fish market and then around the quays to check out the big boats.  Later, I climbed up a mountain near the downtown called Fløyen.  There was a funicular option but I opted out and spent a good hour hiking up the mountain (320m) only to see a truely phenomenal view of the city and the surrounding mountains and fjords.  The view was unbeleivable and got even better as I hiked around further at the top (found 3 geocaches).  I think Ill regret not having worn sunscreen because I can feel a sunburn coming on but its all worth it.  This took a better part of the day so now I am sitting in a park watching people walk by and two pigeons fighting over an old sandwich, as I eat my salad and chocolate.  Tonight Ill check out a Jazz Festival which is a part of the Bergen International Festival.

Bus and Bergen

This morning was my final goodbyes as Rebecca, Aya and Audun brought me to the bus stop.  Again, it hasnt sunk in that I will not be seeing these great people for a while.  As I write this, I am sitting on the bus that is going through some more gorgeous scenery and is lined with really cute houses and farms.  I am on this bus for 7 hours, headed to Bergen in western Norway.  I am sitting at the back next to the toilet and the intense heat is making this a very stinky ride  : (

This bus ride has absolutely phenomenal views.  It went from rolling hills covered in forests, to a 25km snow desert to a stretch of road with tons of powerful waterfalls streaming down the mountains into a large river which followed the road for a while.  This is the greatest stretch of road Ive ever driven on, I would easily pay $100 just to see this same drive again.  Everywhere I looked was stunning but I seemed to be the only person that noticed.  Everyone one else was reading books or on their phones where as I was wide-eyed staring out the windows.

I rolled into Bergen at 9pm and found my way to my hostel.  I got in and quickly had a shower.... 8 hours on a bus without air conditioning warrants a quick shower.  Then I met one of my roommates who is an American computer programmer from San Diego.  He was really great, we went for a nice walk and had a picnic near a water fountain.

Telemark

After a 1.5 hour plane ride and a 3 hour bus ride we got to the region of Telemark in Southern Norway.  The scenery here is absolutely gorgeous and in an entirely different way then Northern Norway.  It seems like Canadian wilderness, lots of trees and similar vegetation to our boreal forests; the nature here reminds me of northern Ontario.  Audun picked us up and we head over to an old wooden church.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  I dont remember the specifics but it was built around the viking times and is one of the oldest of its kind in all of Norway.  After lunch and taking in some more scenery we drove to his farm near Seljord, Telemark.

I had never really spent time on a farm before aside from a few hours here and there picking fruit or veggies.  I wasnt really sure what to expect but was pleasantly suprised.  The farm itself is nestled in a valley and at the foot of a treed mountain.  His parents spoke decent english that they had learned and not really used since they were in school so the communication was a bit rough at times but they were such wonderful proud people.  We had told Audun that we wanted to be put to work on this farm to soak in a true Norsk farming experience.  We ended up cleaning cow "drit" (shit), feeding cows hay, pellets and old bread loaves.  We picked up eggs from the chickens, pet the horses and went on a tour of the farm and its equipment.  He gave us some old farm clothes so we looked like true farm girls despite the three of us being from the city.  Later that evening, we went for a walk around the property and ended up climbing a nice tall tree.

The weather in Telemark was so shocking compared to previously having been in Arctic Norway... the sun was shining bright and the weather was around +25 degrees out, in May!  I didnt bring much summer clothes so I was very hot but it got me ready for the summer.  The next morning we went for a nice hike up on their private mountain behind their house.  The nature smelled and felt like I was back in Canada and the view was phenomenal.  He told us how the used to heard goats and cows up the mountain which I had a hard time imagining because it was so steep.  After lunch, we were put to work again.  We had to cut down a bunch of bushes so that the cows had a place to graze we had axes, clippers, saws and an electric saw.  It was lots of work and it was HOT but it felt nice to work hard.  Dinner was pancakes with fried pork and jam, an interesting but tasty combination.  Dinner is at 4 then later on at around 9 it is time for supper which is bread with almost any topping or spread imaginable, which is the same as for breakfast.  I constantly felt hungry from all the work we were doing.

The cows had been in the stable all winter and were put out in the fields for the first time this year.  I thought they would be happy but after about an hour they wanted to go back inside the stable.  It takes a while to habituate them.  The calves have to be taught about the electric fences so they were brought out into a small "practice" pen with a small shock to learn not to go near the fence.  Then they are brought to a bigger "intermediate" course and finally they "graduate" to the big fields with the adults.  It was a really neat process to be a part of.  To ensure that they were herded to the proper place we stood along the path waving our hands if they go to close to us to encourage them to go the proper direction. 

The next day we went into the town of Seljord for a hike.  It was an 838m climb which I thought would be easy as pie but I guess we were all out of shape because it was more difficult then expected and the excruciating heat did not help.  It was worth it when we got to the top and saw the view of other mountains, the town and the huge lake that is fabled to have a sea monster in it (only seen by tourists and old people); their own Lochness or Ogopogo!  After this we treated ourselves to icecream and headed to the lake to see if we could spot the sea worm.  Unfortunately, we could not spot it but we did find a geocache.  We then went home and made dinner and cake for his family who had been such great hosts.  I am so happy to have had the experience of being on this real Norwegian farm.  I got sent off with a jar of home made "prim" which is a spead I fell in love with since I first got to Norway.  It is made of their traditional Norsk brown cheese, "brunost" and has a bit of a caramelly taste, mmmm.

Bye Bye Harstad

After an unbeleivable 5 months with some truely amazing people, my time in Harstad has come to an end.  This experience is no doubt at the top of my list of proud and exciting things I have accomplished and had the honour to live out in my life.  I am so happy to know that there are great people around the world and glad that I had the chance to meet the people I did and learn about their home countries from them. I have travelled before and loved all of the countries (20+ and counting) that I have visted but never have I felt the way I do now about Norway.  I always thought that Id visit a country once, then never return and instead see other new countries but I am happy to say that Norway has found a special place in my heart and I will without a doubt return someday.

My last night in Harstad was a good one.  We had planned to go make a bonfire and roast some marshmellows but it was to cold and rainy so we instead sat inside, watched a fire burning on YouTube and attempted to roast marshmellows on candles (not a good idea).  Alot of people showed up to say their goodbyes and we later went for a walk at my favourite spot near the ocean at Trondennes.  After the walk, people who hadnt made it to the outing kept popping by to say goodbye.  It was strange to say goodbye to these people who I have been with more or less every day for five months but it seemed surreal and 4 days later, it still hasnt sunk in.  I have done my best to convince these friends to come visit Canada someday.  I know that some of them will and I know that Ill never seem some of them again, either way, I am so thankful to have met these people.

The next morning I woke up at 3:30am to catch and early bus to the airport with my dear roommate Rebecca (Danish) and friend Aya (Russia) where we were going to stay with our friend Audun (Norwegian) on his family farm for a few days.  It was so early in the morning but still, so many people unexpectedly got up to say goodbye again, make us coffee or just stayed up all night to be able to say goodbye in the morning.  The two girls are coming back to Harstad after our time in Southern Norway, but for me, these were final goodbyes.  Franzi (German) and Remi (Norwegian) walked us all the way to the bus (good thing because I was carrying all of my belongings that I had accumulated since Janurary) and we waved goodbye to them from the bus.  It was strange that it was the last time for me to see these mountains that had awed me every day for 5 months.

Russ - stange Norsk tradition

In Norway, high school graduates participate in a tradition called "Russ".  Basically, everyone who is about to graduate has to participate in this 3 week long event.  They all wear a pair of pants; the color is dependent on their stream at school... most are red for academic; they are not supposed to take off these pants for the entire 3 weeks!  These three weeks are officially from the first of May (although some started earlier) until the Norwegian national day (May 17) and consist of mostly drinking and partying.  There is a list of about 100 tasks printed in the local news papers every year and the Russ students are supposed to complete as many as possible.  When they complete a task they are given an item, a knot (?) or just the pride of having accomplished this task.  I have been told that during the Russ period I am almost guaranteed to see at least one of them streaking (the ONLY time they are allowed to remove their pants) through a grocery store or downtown... I haven't seen it yet.  All the Russ students have "russekorte" which are mock business cards with their picture, contact info and some crude/funny joke/comment on it which they must give out when someone asks.

 Anyways, this is a very accepted tradition and it is expected that everyone participate.  I have been told from Norwegian friends that this is VERY fun to participate in but not fun to have happen around you.   oh... and the best part?  Right AFTER this 3 week period of drinking, wearing the same pants and not much sleep is when they all write their graduation exams!  Crazy Norwegians!

Im a comin' home

For those of you who have been asking me whether or not I actually study while Im here, no worries because that is what I have been doing this past week.  I had my first final exam on Thursday and it went well.  My last exam is on the 15th; afterward will be a collection of my celebrating the national holiday, kayaking, travelling to southern Norway to stay with a friend on his farm in Telmark, then another friend in Sogndal and then visit the city of Bergen.  May 29 will be my last day in Europe as I fly back to Canada but not home.  I will go to Montreal to visit my family there for a few days then I head back to Edmonton June 5th.  I am so not ready for this to be over but I am looking forward to the new chapter in my life  :)

Lofoten Islands

Monday was an early rising kind of day, at 6:45am I hopped on a bus with 15 friends and we drove 3 hours south to Lofoten Islands.  These are island within the Arctic archipelago, which are quite unique because, although being above the Arctic Circle, they experience a surprisingly mild climate.  The region is stunningly beautiful!  One of my friend, Remi, is from there and prepared a wonderful 3 days for us, he was such a good tour guide!

The first day included a nice little hike that took us up to see an amazing view of the fjord, mountains and the small islands.  It was indescribably beautiful!   Remi had lent us all a flag from our respective countries so we got some epic pictures of us with them at the top.

After that we went to the small village of Henningsvaer (population 600).  It was such a nice little place and it is famous for its fishing.  We saw fields of stockfish drying on wooden frames... quite the (stinky) experience!  Then we headed back to our house for a yummy BBQ.

The next morning we were tired from the hike the day before so we instead drove around all the islands.  Every community has a unique piece of artwork dedicated to them by international artists.  We saw two of them; one was a large mirror pointed toward the beautiful mountains to display the gorgeous  nature and the other was a face that, depending on which way you looked at it, faced the mountains or the ocean.

We made it to a beautiful big white sand beach.  If I was just looking at the sand and the ocean I could have sworn I was in Mexico.  However, that feeling was ruined when I dipped my feet into the cold Arctic waters and saw the snow on the mountains.  Those of us who were brave enough waded out to our hips to sit on a big rock island.  The Bulgarian stripped down and went for an actual swim!  The water was SO cold and the view was SO amazing! We ended our time there with a bonfire on the beach to warm off our poor legs.

After the beach some of us who weren't to tired went to explore a cave.  It was thanks to Remi that we knew about this place because apparently it is just known by locals.  We had to crawl in through this tiny hole in a rock face and squeeze our way through a narrow passage.  If I was just an inch more around I would not have fit.  It was truly incredible and definitely the best part of the trip for me.  When we looked up, there were ginormous boulders just resting on almost nothing, it was a bit scary but we were assured that they had been there and not moved for years.

The next morning we slept in, cleaned up the house we had rented and piled into the bus again.  It was raining and no one really seemed motivated to do much so we drove home.  I felt like sleeping but the view was so gorgeous there was no way I could take my eyes off the nature and mountains.  On our way back to Harstad we stopped in a very interesting town.  I don't remember the name but the town had decided at one point to paint all the buildings bright blue.  Halfway through some people decided it was a silly idea so they kept their houses/buildings their original colour.  Now, the town looks ridiculous as alot of the buildings are bright blue and the rest are normal looking.  We stopped here for a walk around and to taste some burgers some of us had been craving, mmm.

Home, sweet Harstad

When I got back to Harstad, I was contacted by an international company, Cartus.  They are a cross-cultural training company based out of the USA.  There is a Norwegian family here in Harstad that is moving to Saint Johns, Canada for two years and they were desperately searching for a Canadian to do some presentations for the parents and their 2 children, 7 and 9.  They are paying me and I have to do 3 presentations for them.  I think it will be fun and will finally be a productive use for my Canadian pride that I have developed since traveling.

Saturday night the international students had a prom as a farewell thing.  We all got dressed up and had a nice dinner prepared for us.  It was really nice to see everyone looking their finest.  We surprised other guests with a random flash mob dance which was interesting, Im not really sure how it turned out but it was video taped so Im sure it will end up on Facebook at some point.

Thank yous...

I am really so lucky to have such wonderful friends who have taken such good care of me on this trip.  Its quite possible that none of them even read this blog but here goes a little shout out spiel…

A big thank you to Jan-Philip who endured my craziness for the first part of this trip in Ireland and Scotland.  He is a wonderful travel partner and so easy to get along with.  Thanks for putting up with my feeble attempts at speaking German and being so good with the day-to-day planning.

Thanks to Nikki and her family for letting me into their home in Northumberland.  It was really refreshing to be away from hostels and eat some delicious home cooked meals.  The castles and the beaches were amazing, such a nice area.

I am so happy to have met and gotten to know my English relatives; biggest thanks to Eric, Frila and Gwen.   They took such good care of me and showed me some English customs.  I feel like my little family isn’t so little anymore, and that is great.

Thanks to Bryce, Devin and Cam who booked a room for me and came out to check out what kind of nightlife London has to offer. It was so nice to see some people from back home.

Allison was such a wonderful guide and really went out of her way to show me London.  I am so happy that we could meet again now that we are older; thanks for lunch, helping me figure out my train route and taking me to see everything we did.

Hakan and his family are wonderful to let me, some wayward traveller, into their home and shower me with kindness and yummy food.  I’m so glad he and I have kept in touch throughout the years.

Anybody is welcome to visit me in Canada and the favors will be returned!

Bye bye UK

I got back from the UK a week ago but have been swamped with work to have the time to write about my last few days in London.

Me in front of Canada gate near Buckingham palace

I had a wonderful time and was so lucky to have stayed with Hakan and his family. His mom is the most wonderful woman and made sure I was fed properly and felt at home.

Me in front of Buckingham palace

I tried to squeeze all the sights into the two days.  Using the "tube"/underground train, it is incredibly easy to get around anywhere.  I saw Buckingham palace, the parliament buildings, Big Ben, the London Museum, the London Eye, Saint Pauls cathedral, the London Tower, the London Tower Bridge, the London Bridge, Butlers warf, Sommerset house, the British Museum, Notting Hill area for some vintage shipping etc.

Big Ben

Hakan took me out for a drink and we ended up sneaking to the top floor of the pub which was empty, to watch the sunset over downtown London, so nice!  On our way back to his place we took the train instead of the underground but we ended up on the wrong train and instead ended up at the airport!

Me on the London Gate bridge

My last morning I took a bus to get to a tram to get to a train to get to the airport where I got on a plane to get to another airport to take a bus to get to a plane to get to Harstad where I took a last bus and then walked home.  It was quite the journey but the plane had wifi which was nice.

a taste of London

I am finally in London, the end of my trip.  Walking from the train station to my hostel, I walked by great London landmarks like Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Trafalgar square (where and awesome Sublime cover band was playing), saw where the Prime Minister lives etc... all things that I have seen in movies or only ever heard of.

I met up with Devin, Bryce and Cam who are friends from high school who are starting a Euro backpacking trip.  We went out for some drinks and checked out the Soho district.  It was so nice to be with people from back home and speak normal English the whole night.

Today I spent the day with a friend from elementary school, Allison; she is studying in London to become a ballet teacher.  I hadn’t really spent time with her since we were in grade 4 so it was nice to catch up.  She was such a great tour guide and host.  I stored my stuff at her place and then we walked around.  She lives right in central London so everything worth seeing was really close.  We walked through Hyde park, saw a really impressive looking statue of Prince Albert, natural history museum, Victoria and Albert art gallery, checked out this crazy chique department store (I forget the name) and ate some yummy Japanese food.  She was such a help figuring out the train systems (which I think I have finally mastered), I’m so glad we could get together.

The transportation system here is so amazing!  It is quick and easy to get anywhere around London and even in the entirety of England.  All you need is a day pass and you are good to go on the “Tube” (underground trains), busses (yep, those red double decker busses), trams and some regular rail.  I’ve seen a similar system in Montreal with their metro system and Toronto (and I can imagine Vancouver as well with their skytrain), but many other cities in Canada are severely lacking in accessible and efficient public transportation.

Tonight I am staying at my friend Hakan’s place just outside of London.  He is a friend I met when I was travelling in New Zealand in 2010.  He is currently in Spain but gets back in the morning but still offered to let me stay here with his parents.  They are wonderful; they are Turkish and the mom is currently cooking up a Turkish dinner for me : )

I have two full days left then I head back to Norway early Wednesday.  Before I go back Ill check out Buckingham palace, Big Ben etc… and I have to start taking pictures because I have none in London so far!

English Family

So, to sum up the past week since I last wrote, I love England!  I am so lucky to have wonderful friends and family who have taken such good care of me while I am here, making my experience the best possible.

I arrived to my English relatives home Wednesday evening.  I stayed with a lovely old lady named Gwen, she is my grandpa’s cousin and therefore my third cousin.  I met her children, their children and heard all about my own family and its intense history of which I had very little knowledge about before arriving.  She had tons of photos and newspaper clippings that were all interesting for me.  She even somehow had pictures of my brother and I from when we were little.  I feel as though I have a new grandmother!

I was fed very well and had a hot cup of tea in my hand at all times.  I have never really been one for tea but when in England, do as the English do, eh?  For breakfast one morning I was given hard-boiled eggs in little egg cups… I was really confused as to how to eat it so I just peeled the whole things and ate it with a spoon.   Turns out I was only supposed to peel half of it and eat it out of the shell out of the little egg cup.  They found it so amusing that I had never used an egg cup before that they bought me some later as a souvenir.

Along with the tea and egg cups, something else English that I like and experienced at both Nikki’s place and now here, is having hot water bottles to heat up the bed.  You just fill up the water bottles with boiling water and put them under the sheets at the foot of the bed so that you have a cozy bed to get into and it lasts all night.  I’m sure we have these in Canada but I have never used them but used them at the two English houses I’ve stayed in so far.

Gwen’s son’s new Filipino wife, the latest addition to the family before me, was my tour guide.  She explained to me all the dynamics of the family that she had learned and took me to the nearest city, Rochester.  There, we checked out a castle, beautiful chapel, museum and did some shopping.

The town where the family is based out of is a small town in the region of Kent and is particularly proud of their influence on Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations.  We visited a small cute church where some of the original movie was filmed… there was a small room inside with walls completely plastered in seashells.  The man that ran the church was so dedicated to it and has spent the past 30-some year taking care of it with his wife that recently passed away.

I was originally only planning on spending a night or two there then head to finish up my trip in London but had such a nice time that I spent a third night.  I feel that I really experienced true England with this family.  Rather then just hostel hopping and interacting with other travellers; I was immersed in the authentic culture, which can be near impossible when travelling.