lighthouses
views from high places
clouds
water (as in lakes, rivers, bays, oceans, waterfalls...)
irony
seeing things from a different angle
architecture
arches and courtyards
laughing out loud to myself, to the amusement of those around me
chocolate
sleeping
Monday, September 11, 2006
peace in oslo
i went to the nobel peace center in oslo yesterday, and they had a display of photographs of religious actions and life from judaism, christianity, and islam. i cried seeing the images of humanity that don't know the Father as i know Him. and i just felt an overwhelming sense of love and compassion that God has for all of them- jews, muslims and christians alike. it's been a while since i remembered that, and i was thankful for the reminder of how "real" other people are. i was then thinking about how to best respond, both now and in the future. it seems that love is the only option, and that means loving well those who are around me. and as i felt the grace to serve others in little things, to honor those who don't "deserve" or haven't "earned" my respect, but just to love them. of course, at the same time, i had the greatest instances of selfishness and rudeness, so i can see it is a fight i will have to keep taking to the Cross. hmmm, i seem to be rambling, but i guess i'm just saying that loving people is hard, but God is good.
so now i am in denmark. i sat next to a guy on the train yesterday who was very friendly and talkative, so i enjoyed conversing with him for the 2-3 hours of our trip. and i am very glad to be in a cheaper city! copenhagen seems, so far, to be a mix of paris and gothenborg. laid back, pretty architecture, and lots of bikes! i plan to rent a bike this afternoon and just ride around a bit, explore the longest pedestrian mall in the world, and get some good food. the exchange rate is about the same (about 6 kronar to the dollar), but a hamburger here is 10dkk, not 15. woohoo!
the hostel i'm staying in is very nice, i'm on the 10th floor with views of the city. so far i'm the only one in my room, but perhaps others will join me tonite.
thank you to everyone who has left me comments or emailed me. i'm so glad to know you're reading this! i'm also delighted to read about what you are up to and to hear from you. it may take a few days to read your emails, but i do read them and i love them!
so now i am in denmark. i sat next to a guy on the train yesterday who was very friendly and talkative, so i enjoyed conversing with him for the 2-3 hours of our trip. and i am very glad to be in a cheaper city! copenhagen seems, so far, to be a mix of paris and gothenborg. laid back, pretty architecture, and lots of bikes! i plan to rent a bike this afternoon and just ride around a bit, explore the longest pedestrian mall in the world, and get some good food. the exchange rate is about the same (about 6 kronar to the dollar), but a hamburger here is 10dkk, not 15. woohoo!
the hostel i'm staying in is very nice, i'm on the 10th floor with views of the city. so far i'm the only one in my room, but perhaps others will join me tonite.
thank you to everyone who has left me comments or emailed me. i'm so glad to know you're reading this! i'm also delighted to read about what you are up to and to hear from you. it may take a few days to read your emails, but i do read them and i love them!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
frustrations in oslo
ok, so i'm in oslo again. i didn't want to be here now. it's the most expensive city in the world, and i'd like to leave. the whole travelling on a eurail pass, staying at hostels is a bit more frustrating than i thought it would be. the trains i want to take are either not actually running or fully booked. the hostels i want are also fully booked.
i had planned to take the train this morning to stockholm, but i couldn't find anywhere to stay, so i'm staying where i am in oslo. which is really a pretty good deal - i'm staying at a woman's apt here in the city. good stuff.
i also ran into a guy i met a few days ago in voss, so i was able to tour around the city with him today which alleviated some of my lonesomeness. oslo is really a great city, if it weren't so expensive!! it's a little over 6NOK to the US dollar, and a plain hamburger at mcdonalds is 15NOK, and that is by far the cheapest lunch i'll ever find. most "cheap" restauarants run at least 75NOK a dinner. thankfully, i am able to cook at the apt i'm staying in, so i made pasta last nite. nice and cheap.
today i went to the sculpture park, which was pretty cool. and i also just took the tram around town to see the different neighborhoods. i also went over to the castle, which was closed, but that's ok, cos i didn't want to pay 60NOK to see it anyway.
yesterday i went to the munch museum, which was good. (think: the scream) it was all his stuff that he left in his will to the city of oslo when he died. i was able to catch a 50min english movie on his life, which really helped explain his work. the paintings were pretty good, too.
i also broke down and bought a book to read while waiting for trains and while on trains. i'm excited to just sit and relax tonite, i wore out my feet and legs the past few days.
on a personal note, i'm feeling pretty lonely. i was glad to share a room at this apt with a polish girl that speaks english well, and i was really excited to see my friend from voss. i didn't have any plans to go to the castle, but since he was going, i decided it would be better to hang out with him than mope around by myself, doing my own thing. i was frustrated enough to cry this morning, as i wanted to take the train tomorrow to stockholm and had already booked a hostel there (the third time i've booked a hostel i couldn't make it to, but i really don't have an option, cos then i'm stuck on the other side - not having a place to stay, which is probably worse). so... i'm thankful for the blessings (great weather, friends, being here at all), but i'm a little down overall.
i plan to go to copenhagen tomorrow, stay there tomorrow night and the next, take the overnight train to amsterdam, stay there 2 nights, and then go to bruges for 2 nights. at that point, i'll have to do more planning, but it's looking like germany. kinda depends on my friends in germany, and what they're doing.
i had planned to take the train this morning to stockholm, but i couldn't find anywhere to stay, so i'm staying where i am in oslo. which is really a pretty good deal - i'm staying at a woman's apt here in the city. good stuff.
i also ran into a guy i met a few days ago in voss, so i was able to tour around the city with him today which alleviated some of my lonesomeness. oslo is really a great city, if it weren't so expensive!! it's a little over 6NOK to the US dollar, and a plain hamburger at mcdonalds is 15NOK, and that is by far the cheapest lunch i'll ever find. most "cheap" restauarants run at least 75NOK a dinner. thankfully, i am able to cook at the apt i'm staying in, so i made pasta last nite. nice and cheap.
today i went to the sculpture park, which was pretty cool. and i also just took the tram around town to see the different neighborhoods. i also went over to the castle, which was closed, but that's ok, cos i didn't want to pay 60NOK to see it anyway.
yesterday i went to the munch museum, which was good. (think: the scream) it was all his stuff that he left in his will to the city of oslo when he died. i was able to catch a 50min english movie on his life, which really helped explain his work. the paintings were pretty good, too.
i also broke down and bought a book to read while waiting for trains and while on trains. i'm excited to just sit and relax tonite, i wore out my feet and legs the past few days.
on a personal note, i'm feeling pretty lonely. i was glad to share a room at this apt with a polish girl that speaks english well, and i was really excited to see my friend from voss. i didn't have any plans to go to the castle, but since he was going, i decided it would be better to hang out with him than mope around by myself, doing my own thing. i was frustrated enough to cry this morning, as i wanted to take the train tomorrow to stockholm and had already booked a hostel there (the third time i've booked a hostel i couldn't make it to, but i really don't have an option, cos then i'm stuck on the other side - not having a place to stay, which is probably worse). so... i'm thankful for the blessings (great weather, friends, being here at all), but i'm a little down overall.
i plan to go to copenhagen tomorrow, stay there tomorrow night and the next, take the overnight train to amsterdam, stay there 2 nights, and then go to bruges for 2 nights. at that point, i'll have to do more planning, but it's looking like germany. kinda depends on my friends in germany, and what they're doing.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
voss, flåm and bergen, norway
oh, geez, this place is AMAZING!!!! if it were further south, i'd move here. it's a bit chilly, about as cold as i ever like it to get, so thankfully i am wearing a shortsleeve shirt, longsleeve shirt, midweight fleece, and a rain-windbreaker. but today is mostly sunny, which is a huge blessing!! it rained yesterday, which made the trail i was on to see a waterfall a little slippery, adn i fell. but the waterfall was awesome, and i made it back in one piece, with just a few scrapes and bruises.
i went kayaking on the fjords tuesday. thankfully, another good weatther day, and not too cold. it was AWESOME!! we put into nærøysfjord and went up about halfway to a little farm place for lunch. we made a fire and cooked the best pork chops i've ever had (sorry mom) and fed the sheep GORP (raisins and peanuts). it was really spectacular and i took over 150 pictures. woohoo!!
yesterday i took the bus to gudvangen, near where we kayaked the day before and i took the 2 hr ferry up that fjord and down the next. we landed in flåm, and i walked around town and up to the waterfall. when i started hiking is when it started raining. i didn't like flåm much, there wasn't anything to do but shop in the now closed stores or hike, which i'd had my fill of. so i took the next train up the mountain to myrdal. THAT was amazing. the trainride, that is. it goes up over 850m in 20k, and had spectacular views as it criss-crossed the valley. unfortunately, i didn't check the train schedule close enough and had to wait in the rain and fog at myrdal for the train. but it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of tasmania. i was the only one there, too, so i could put on my ipod and sing aloud along with it. i did make it back to my hostel in voss ok and made a nice warm cup of tomato soup.
today i took the train into bergen, on the west coast. i walked around town, saw the beautiful churches and headed for the torget, the fish market. it reminded me of the fish market in sydney, but that's just because that's the only other fish market i've ever been to. this city is amazing. i think if you crossed seattle with colorado, this is what you'd get. sweetness. well, i walked thru the old wooden buildings part of town up to the fort on the hillside and watched a big ship load up. then i took the train-thingy up the hill to hike around the mountains a bit before heading back down to catch my overnight train to oslo.
i went kayaking on the fjords tuesday. thankfully, another good weatther day, and not too cold. it was AWESOME!! we put into nærøysfjord and went up about halfway to a little farm place for lunch. we made a fire and cooked the best pork chops i've ever had (sorry mom) and fed the sheep GORP (raisins and peanuts). it was really spectacular and i took over 150 pictures. woohoo!!
yesterday i took the bus to gudvangen, near where we kayaked the day before and i took the 2 hr ferry up that fjord and down the next. we landed in flåm, and i walked around town and up to the waterfall. when i started hiking is when it started raining. i didn't like flåm much, there wasn't anything to do but shop in the now closed stores or hike, which i'd had my fill of. so i took the next train up the mountain to myrdal. THAT was amazing. the trainride, that is. it goes up over 850m in 20k, and had spectacular views as it criss-crossed the valley. unfortunately, i didn't check the train schedule close enough and had to wait in the rain and fog at myrdal for the train. but it was beautiful and reminded me a lot of tasmania. i was the only one there, too, so i could put on my ipod and sing aloud along with it. i did make it back to my hostel in voss ok and made a nice warm cup of tomato soup.
today i took the train into bergen, on the west coast. i walked around town, saw the beautiful churches and headed for the torget, the fish market. it reminded me of the fish market in sydney, but that's just because that's the only other fish market i've ever been to. this city is amazing. i think if you crossed seattle with colorado, this is what you'd get. sweetness. well, i walked thru the old wooden buildings part of town up to the fort on the hillside and watched a big ship load up. then i took the train-thingy up the hill to hike around the mountains a bit before heading back down to catch my overnight train to oslo.
Monday, September 04, 2006
paris, hamburg, goteborg and oslo
ok, so i made it to paris safely wed. unfortunately, my bag did not. it actually arrived thurs, then spent 3 days taking a tour of paris, just like i did. i did get it back saturday, soaking wet and smelling terrible, but at least it was in my possession!!
my first day, i was pretty jet lagged and out of it, so i made my way to zahra's house, the sister of my dad's cousin's husband. got it? anyway, they are an awesome family that i was very please to stay with for 3 nights. we went out to dinner the first night with other family that had come into town for the evening. the next day i set out for the sights: eiffel tower, champs elysee, arc de triomphe, and musee orsay. the next day i set out again and saw: the louvre, notre dame cathedral and towers, musee rodin, and a market area. and i had an incredible crepe. by far, my favorite thing was the view of the city from the notre dame towers. it brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. i definitely had a full 2 days and was exhausted enough to prove it.
saturday, i set out for the airport to try to track down my bag. it had been sent out for delivery, so i had to sit around all day and wait for the delivery truck to come back. then i got an overnight train to hamburg to copenhagen, but the overnight train was an hour late and i missed my connecting train to copenhagen. so i found a place to shower (now that i have my shampoo and soap and a sopping wet towel that dried a little on the train overnight), then found a laundromat and washed and dried all the wet stuff. so even tho i didn't want to be in hamburg, it was a lovely place. it was nice and quiet on a sunday morning, cool and overcast. it started to rain as i did laundry, so i rode the tram back to the main train station to get an afternoon train to copenhagen. and i had a great big pretzel, too.
the train to copenhagen was good, if long. i sat next to a bolivian guy who spoke pretty good english and across from a ukrainian woman and her 6 yr old son who really got on my nerves by the end of the trip. he was cute tho, it just reinforced the idea that i don't want kids anytime soon. so i made it to goteborg, a suprisingly big and convenient city in southwestern sweeden. it was quite an evening... in my guidebook, all the hostels had receptions that close by 9pm, my train didn't get in until 10:20. i saw 2 girls with backpacks on heading out of the trainstation, so i asked them if they had a place to stay and could i tag along. they were german and found on the internet a "mini-hotel" that stayed open until 11. so it took asking a bunch of people and getting a free ride from a cabbie to find the place, but we did. it was a little sketchy, but worked just fine. the german girls had been camping in norway for a week, they were just glad to have a bed!!
the only problem was the tram we took cost 20kr, and i didn't have any sweedish money at all. (my original plan was to take the afternoon train from copenhagen to oslo and stay the night there, so i didn't intend to have any sweedish kronar at all!) so one of my new friends paid for me to get to the hostel, but i would still need 20kr to get back to the train station in the morning for my 6:45 train to oslo. so i asked one of the guys hanging out in the lounge, and he took me to an atm. well then, i had 100kr, but no change to pay the girl back. so i asked another guy and he went around to all his friends at the mini-hotel, and none had change for 100kr. so we went out again, in search of a store or restaurant that could give me change. he was an older somalian guy named mohammed who lived there at the mini-hotel and promised to treat me as his daughter. he was really funny and i enjoyed talking to him as we walked around town. we found a bar that gave me change, and then he was hungry, so we stopped at burger king. i was really tired and knew i had to get up early, but this guy was entertaining enough to keep me distracted from my exhaustion. so that's how i ended up eating burger king at midnight in sweeden with a somali guy.
so i caught the train this morning to oslo and i'll catch the train in an hour or so to voss, where i'll stay 2 nights. tomorrow: kayaking on the fjords!! in hindsight, i planned the kayaking way too soon after arriving, but hindsight is 20\20, right? so here i am... the plan for now is to spend the next day (wed) on the "norway in a nutshell" trip and head for bergen. thursday night i'll overnight back to oslo where i'lls tay the night friday, then train to stockholm and spend sunday and monday nights there. monday night i'll overnight it to copenhagen, and the next night overnight it to amsterdam. i sat down for 2 hrs after arriving here in oslo to decide this stuff. so we'll see how much it changes as i go!!
thanks for reading, if you got this far. i am checking email, but i am a bit overwhelmed by the 26 in my inbox, so we'll see how i do about responding. i'm also uploading pics to kodakgallery.com at the moment, so depending on how long that takes is how long i'll spend on emails. thanks, y'all!!!
my first day, i was pretty jet lagged and out of it, so i made my way to zahra's house, the sister of my dad's cousin's husband. got it? anyway, they are an awesome family that i was very please to stay with for 3 nights. we went out to dinner the first night with other family that had come into town for the evening. the next day i set out for the sights: eiffel tower, champs elysee, arc de triomphe, and musee orsay. the next day i set out again and saw: the louvre, notre dame cathedral and towers, musee rodin, and a market area. and i had an incredible crepe. by far, my favorite thing was the view of the city from the notre dame towers. it brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. i definitely had a full 2 days and was exhausted enough to prove it.
saturday, i set out for the airport to try to track down my bag. it had been sent out for delivery, so i had to sit around all day and wait for the delivery truck to come back. then i got an overnight train to hamburg to copenhagen, but the overnight train was an hour late and i missed my connecting train to copenhagen. so i found a place to shower (now that i have my shampoo and soap and a sopping wet towel that dried a little on the train overnight), then found a laundromat and washed and dried all the wet stuff. so even tho i didn't want to be in hamburg, it was a lovely place. it was nice and quiet on a sunday morning, cool and overcast. it started to rain as i did laundry, so i rode the tram back to the main train station to get an afternoon train to copenhagen. and i had a great big pretzel, too.
the train to copenhagen was good, if long. i sat next to a bolivian guy who spoke pretty good english and across from a ukrainian woman and her 6 yr old son who really got on my nerves by the end of the trip. he was cute tho, it just reinforced the idea that i don't want kids anytime soon. so i made it to goteborg, a suprisingly big and convenient city in southwestern sweeden. it was quite an evening... in my guidebook, all the hostels had receptions that close by 9pm, my train didn't get in until 10:20. i saw 2 girls with backpacks on heading out of the trainstation, so i asked them if they had a place to stay and could i tag along. they were german and found on the internet a "mini-hotel" that stayed open until 11. so it took asking a bunch of people and getting a free ride from a cabbie to find the place, but we did. it was a little sketchy, but worked just fine. the german girls had been camping in norway for a week, they were just glad to have a bed!!
the only problem was the tram we took cost 20kr, and i didn't have any sweedish money at all. (my original plan was to take the afternoon train from copenhagen to oslo and stay the night there, so i didn't intend to have any sweedish kronar at all!) so one of my new friends paid for me to get to the hostel, but i would still need 20kr to get back to the train station in the morning for my 6:45 train to oslo. so i asked one of the guys hanging out in the lounge, and he took me to an atm. well then, i had 100kr, but no change to pay the girl back. so i asked another guy and he went around to all his friends at the mini-hotel, and none had change for 100kr. so we went out again, in search of a store or restaurant that could give me change. he was an older somalian guy named mohammed who lived there at the mini-hotel and promised to treat me as his daughter. he was really funny and i enjoyed talking to him as we walked around town. we found a bar that gave me change, and then he was hungry, so we stopped at burger king. i was really tired and knew i had to get up early, but this guy was entertaining enough to keep me distracted from my exhaustion. so that's how i ended up eating burger king at midnight in sweeden with a somali guy.
so i caught the train this morning to oslo and i'll catch the train in an hour or so to voss, where i'll stay 2 nights. tomorrow: kayaking on the fjords!! in hindsight, i planned the kayaking way too soon after arriving, but hindsight is 20\20, right? so here i am... the plan for now is to spend the next day (wed) on the "norway in a nutshell" trip and head for bergen. thursday night i'll overnight back to oslo where i'lls tay the night friday, then train to stockholm and spend sunday and monday nights there. monday night i'll overnight it to copenhagen, and the next night overnight it to amsterdam. i sat down for 2 hrs after arriving here in oslo to decide this stuff. so we'll see how much it changes as i go!!
thanks for reading, if you got this far. i am checking email, but i am a bit overwhelmed by the 26 in my inbox, so we'll see how i do about responding. i'm also uploading pics to kodakgallery.com at the moment, so depending on how long that takes is how long i'll spend on emails. thanks, y'all!!!
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