Friday off, OU essay in the post and I’m all set to head off to the Isle of Wight with Richard, Kirsty, Phil and three people I haven’t met before, Matt John, and Asanga.[thumb:979:i][thumb:977:i]
Tag Archives: Holidays
Back To England
Last day of the holiday today and we head back this afternoon. It’s been great to be away for a week with good friends seeing somewhere new. I’ve been so immersed in being out here that I’ve forgotten about work. Great holiday on that point.
Norway is quite unlike any other city I’ve visited in England. It’s relatively small compared to English Cities, constrained by the mountains that surround it so it can’t sprawl for ever and dominated by the atmosphere of the city centre but yet doesn’t feel crowded like so many English cities. Perhaps it’s that there isn’t the volume of traffic going from A to B that dominates English cities?
Penguins Galore
Had a happy half an hour trying to take pictures of penguins at the Bergan Aquarium using my digital camera. I’ve been surprised at how nippy penguins are. I can imagine that they could give a shark a run for their money if they were being chased.[thumb:942:r]
Sea Kayaking
Spent today kyaking on the Norweigan Fjords. Clean blue water, clear sky, very little in the way of breeze. Great weather. Also took the opportunity to have take a swim in the sea. Don’t know if I’ll have another chance out here so best to make the best of the opportunity.
Bergan
Spent today touring Bergan and seeing what was there. I was amazed at the number of cyclists we saw giving that Norway is mountainous. We found that the bus network has been excellent in getting us around from Montana and over to various places.
The old wooden building on the quayside remind me of Rye. Rye not being so bustley or touristy but similar with it’s slatted wooden buildings.
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After walking around for a while and after playing Tantrix and Hearts late into the evening Geoffrey and Jeremy needed a well earned nap lying on the grass.
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The First Proper Day in Norway
I woke up to find, I’m on holiday in Norway. First proper day here and we’ve been climbing the hills behind the Montana Youth Hostel where we’re staying. [thumb:899:l]
The view is great and you can see the whole of Bergan. Climbing up through the treeline the pine trees give way briefly to deciduous trees before becoming being replaced by grass.
For the trip I made up some tour t-shirts so we tool the opportunity to pose at the top of Ulrich and take a photograph for posterity wearing them before they were wrecked.
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Coming down was exciting. We decided not to via the route that we came up with it’s aid of steps and hand rails but to instead to follow down a stream to the Black Lake. Exciting and I managed to skid mark my shorts.
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Norway – It’s not Kenya
It’s the start of a weeks holiday. this time to Bergan, Norway with three school friends, Alex, Geoffrey and Jeremy. Have been surprised to come across the QE2 up in Bergan. Something that’s so familiar to my time in Southampton and to go on holiday and find it was unexpected.
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What really seems to stand out here is that Bergan is relatively flat and then the mountains are really steep. Very different to Kent with its rolling hills.
The weather had been a bit gloomy but has cheered up quite a bit. The weather is best described as nice. Not too hot, not too cold. I’m guessing just perfect for walking in.
Porthkerris Diving
I’ve had a fantastic weekend diving down in Cornwall out of Porthkerris. A bit of an epic seven hour journey to get there but worth it for the four dives that I had.
The highlight of the weekend has to be when we returned from the last dive spotting a basking shark in the bay. All of us madly were putting our fins, masks and snorkels back on hoping to get in the water with it. I was not disappointed and managed to see it gliding through the water. The size of it was incredibly impressing.
Where Have I been?
Well I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. First I was off down to the Isles of Scilly for a great week of diving in some gloriously sunny weather. I was lucky enough to get in 12 dives, a couple of very good wall dives, several on wrecks including the last to go down in 1997. Managed a great swim through underneath the bow of this ship. We even managed a couple of dives with
Last week I was out in Amsterdam with work but managed to take in a few of the sights and sounds and avoiding getting run down by a cyclist. I managed to take in the a canal boat tour and dinner, a visit to a windmill, Van Gogh museum which currently has on an exhbition of Caravaggio and Rembrant painting, the Rijksmuseum home to more painting by Rembrant indcluding the Nightwatch, Rembrant’s House, Anne Frank’s House, the Foam Gallery, Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography and De Oude Kerk which had on the World Press Photographer 2006 exhibition. On top of this I managed to wander round the city passing through the red light district.
Amsterdam is a very different city to other’s I have visited. It’s canal’s and flat terrain have created a very varied city with a compact centre that is small and easily crossed on foot and easily enough that people are willing to cycle rather than having to own a car. I can imagine that Amsterdam is a very difficult city to learn Dutch in as the Dutch speak English very well. I came across several conversations as I wandered around where a foreigner was speaking to someone Dutch in English.
Had a interesting time taking in my surroundings and was pleasently surprised to someone to explore a couple of the sights and sounds with. Strangely enough an Australian lass working near Munich on a placement as part of her studies.