Tromso, Hanover, Dublin, Cork and a little bit of York

Goodness, since my last post so much has happened, and unfortunately not all good.

Tromso was amazing, although the whole 24hrs of daylight really weired me out!
On our first day in Tromso we really didn't have all that much to do. the strangest part of 24hrs in sun is that the whole town decides that all the events will be at night time, so we were basically waiting around till 11:30pm to do anything. That night we took the chair lift up to the mountains where snow still lay on the grounds even in summer. Afterwards we saw the best choir in Norway in the Arctic Cathedral. They were actually fantastic, I really did love it, although, their conductor was just a tad crazy. I'm actually very glad he went into the profession of conducting because otherwise we may have a drug lord in our midst. I shall describe him to you. He was about 40 years old, wearing a suit with the top three buttons undone to reveal a hairy chest and cuffs rolled up, he wore a giant medallion and very blingy rings. His head was shaven and his beard was formed into a point at the base of his chin. To top it all off, he conducted the whole performance with one hand in his pocket and looked as if he was getting off to the music. Maybe it was a good thing he was so passionate about the music, but even I (who hates it when people comment/talk/laugh during concerts) could not help but release a few giggles every now and then.

On the Sunday during the day I went for a nap. I vaguely remember hearing my uncle start swearing, thinking it was just a dream I didn't wake till 3 hrs later. When I finally woke, I was told that our trip midnight sun sea kayaking was actually last night! I freaked, we both thought that it was Sunday night, and so didn't think to check! Luckily he had called up and rebooked. The main reason we came to Tromso was to kayak in the midnight sun, it would have been so disappointing if we didn't get to in the end.
The experience really lived up to all expectations. The man who was instructing us was fantastic and had been all over the world on expeditions, had even lost 5 fingers to frost bite from climbing mountains in -58 degree weather!! We kayaked about 1/4 of the way around the island and due to the rough sea and the fact that there was a family with us who had a 5yr old girl attempting to paddle in the double boat with her mum, the instructor decided it would be better to turn back and go the other way around the island.

By Monday, we were both rather happy to leave Norway, the expense of it all and the lack of darkness were both getting to us! We travelled to Hanover, Germany and went to visit my great uncles war grave. It was sad seeing thousands of troops' graves all lined up in what was an immaculate garden! Apart from the war graves and a half blown up cathedral, Hanover proved to be the most untouristy place I've been to....I should have realised this the moment that no one spoke a word of English. Even when you clicked the English button on the screens to get your train ticket, they stayed in German.

Ireland was next and we took two day tours, one to Blarney Castle and the other to the Ring of Kerry. Both of these day were POURING with rain! It never even rained like this in Scotland, so I don't understand how it was so bad in Ireland!!! They were both good tours, let down by the fact that they were a 3hr train trip from Dublin (where we were staying) and the weather.
Yesterday was possibly my most unfavourable day of our trip so far. My utter hate for public transport is now in full swing, as our 8:45am ferry was cancelled and the next one left 6hrs later at 2:30. Deciding that it was the only option, we waited in the ferry terminal the whole day, finally got on the ferry and then took 3 connecting trains to arrived in york....at 11pm.

I finally got to book things for my trip to Canada in less then a week and then got to bed. Yesterday has now resulted us to waking up, consuming massive amounts of food for breakfast, and going back to bed.

There are only 4days left of my trip with my Uncle. It's been so great to travel with him (although I won't miss his snoring...) and I can't believe how fast everything has flown!!
There's only one things left to say....BRING ON CANADA!! :D

Travels to Norway

Sadly, Glasgow has come and gone. My times there shall not be forgotten, but most certainly missed. I still can't get over how fast everything went.
Between my departure from Scotland and now, I have travelled quite far! I stayed with Nat for a few days, getting myself sorted for my trip with my Uncle :D On the 5th June, we jetsetted to Oslo, Norway. The first day was quite slow, just having a look around the place, figuring out what we wanted to do and getting to grips with our location and the city. The main difference between Oslo and basically anywhere else I have been, is the population. There may be approx 5million people living there, but it's as if they never go outside. I was so shocked by the lack of people walking around on the streets. We also came to realise how expensive everything was going to be, one meal costs around 18GBP...so about 32AUD (SOOOOO MUCH MONEY!!)
We went to a traditional Norwegian restaurant for dinner on our first night to find Reindeer and Whale on the menu. Unable to eat Moby Dick, I chose 'Norwegian meat' instead (later to find out that it was 2 massive patties of beef with ridiculous amounts of onion... weird) Uncle David on the other hand opted for Rudolph...poor Santa is now missing a reindeer :(

Our second day in Oslo called for a ferry trip in and around the Smaller Islands of Oslo. We stopped off at the largest one (which still only took 20mins to walk through to the other end) and trekked around the Islands Coast. It was such a lovely and sunny day, I even got sun burnt, which is way crazy in Norway!!

On our last day in Oslo, we went to the Science and Technology Museum, Viking Museum, Folk Museum, bike rode, walked, bused, trained and trammed around Oslo and to top the day off, flew in a helicopter :D It was such an amazing day. we were so lucky with all the weather, as it stayed sunny the whole time we were there!

Today we flew to Tromso, north of Oslo. It was a frantic rush to the aeroplane as we were running extremely late, but we made it...mainly due to the Indians that were yelling and throwing bags at each other trying to get on the plane which caused a 15minute hold up...
Tromso is for colder, reaching highs of only 9 degrees, and with the ability to see snow capped mountains on the other side of the lake in front of the town (the lake being only 1km wide) I certainly know where the cold winds are coming from!!
The sun doesn't set here funnily enough. In Oslo, the sun set at 10:30 and rose at 4am, but tonight we look forward to the light shining through our window all night long.
In just 2 days time we are going midnight sun sea kayaking. I'm so excited!!! I am so lucky to be able to experience such thing whilst I am away. I makes it even better having my Uncle here to enjoy the times with me!

Only 2 days left in Norway and then off to Hanover in Germany!