Day 4 We woke to the most magnificent day in Svalbard. 10 degrees, sun shining, no breeze. Our ship was anchored in a harbour surrounded by white capped mountains. We were to go out on a shore excursion this morning to see a trapper’s hut and, hopefully, some wildlife. We donned all of the one … Continue reading Arctic Cruise Part 2: Polar Plunge
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Arctic Cruise Part 1
Day 1 We arrived at the Oslo airport for our flight to Svalbard with plenty of time to spare. I had some tax to claim back from the tax refund counter and found that the counter was waaaaaaay at the other end of the terminal. It took me almost 10 minutes to walk there, only … Continue reading Arctic Cruise Part 1
The President in Oslo
We left Bergen early and after a long drive in the pouring rain arrived in the tiny town that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics: Lillehammer. I mentioned in my last blog about how efficient the Scandinavians are, Lillehammer perfectly illustrated this. Lillehammer is a tiny town of only 24,000 people. They had no infrastructure in … Continue reading The President in Oslo
Norwegian Wood
After a short flight from Stockholm, we landed in Bergen, Norway. Talk about upping the ante. Every place we have been so far has been more beautiful than the last. Bergen is gorgeous. Rows of ancient, coloured, wooden houses line the various harbours, leaning this way and that as if holding each other up and … Continue reading Norwegian Wood
Let’s go fika
We arrived in Stockholm just after lunch and checked into our hotel in the old town. Stockholm is very picturesque. The old town is built on a small island where brightly coloured houses line the narrow, cobblestoned streets. You could be walking on a street in a little town in Tuscany. We wandered around enjoying … Continue reading Let’s go fika
A Date With the Danish
In 2019, we planned to travel to Scandinavia as part of a six month long trip to Europe. We’d booked everything months in advance, including 3 months in Italy. Just before we left, we learned about the Schengen zone. Apparently, 27 countries across Europe have an agreement that allows tourists from other countries, including Australia … Continue reading A Date With the Danish
An awesome ending in Athens
We sadly said goodbye to the beautiful Santorini as we boarded the ferry for our next stop, Syros. We had decided to stay on Syros since it is not as touristy as Mykonos. On the ferry trip over, they had television screens everywhere showing us a TV show from Scotland about a veterinarian practice. We … Continue reading An awesome ending in Athens
Soaking up the Sun in Santorini
We took the fast ferry from Crete and landed in Santorini around 10:00am, disembarking to find our driver waiting for us. We crawled up the switchback road behind an endless line of traffic. The corners were so tight that many vehicles had to wait to give way to the multitude of tourist buses. We drove … Continue reading Soaking up the Sun in Santorini
Our Party Grows in Crete
We left Switzerland, the land of ice and snow, where temperatures averaged between the low teens in the cities and zero degrees during our various trips up the mountains. We landed in Chania, Crete in 40 degree heat. The view from our room in Chania We checked into our hotel, which is a restored, ancient … Continue reading Our Party Grows in Crete
Gentlemen in Geneva
We caught the early train to Geneva, because the journey from Zermatt was 4.5 hours long. Zermatt was mostly Italian speaking, being right on the border of Italy. As we travelled North-west, the main language changed to German and then closer to Geneva suddenly changed to French. This country is a melting pot of culture, … Continue reading Gentlemen in Geneva
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