I hope you had the time of your life...

9 December 2011

It's over. For months we had looked forward to our trip. Wondering how things would turn out. Whether we would see all the things we hoped to see. Whether we would be able to do all the things we wanted to do.

We didn't. There was so much more that we could have done. There was so much more that we could have seen. Yet we did way more than we ever hoped for. And we saw way more than we ever dreamed of. I think the best possible way to put it would be the words of Greenday's song Good Riddance:

"So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."

This we did. And because of various factors, despite our best attempts of taking photographs for everyone to see, many of the photographs will remain in our minds. And in our hearts.

So, thinking about the two weeks, we thought a summary might be fun:

• Best Food
• Wesmè: The Waffle in Heidelberg, and the Pepperkaker biscuits in Norway
• Frances: The Waffle in Heidelberg, the Niel breakfast in Tromso and the smörgasbord in Sweden. The only thing missing from the breakfast was Niel, but Tertius did quite a good impersonation of him when he made us put our phones away! 
• Nicole: smörgasbord in Sweden, Panini's in Paris
• Tertius: Toasted Panini breads, Pretzels, smörgasbord in Sweden

• Worst Food
• Wesmè: TV Dinner in Sweden - we could not find an open restaurant, so had to settle for this.
  
• Frances: the rice pudding, which the packaging had us believe was something similar to melksnysels,
• Nicole: bacon hotdog in Sweden
• Tertius: oven dinner in Sweden (chicken with potato cubes in some excuse for a sauce.  Siffels!!!)

• Best Drink
• Wesmè: Hot Chocolate - just about everywhere
  
• Frances: The hot chocolate under the Eiffel on our family picnic, Dr Pepper cooldrink, the Ruß'n at the Hofbräuhaus.
• Nicole: Hofbräuhaus original beer in Munich, Merlot from Spain on Lufthansa airlines
• Tertius: The original Hofbräuhaus beer in the big 1 liter glass (cool refreshing beer and a workout all in one) and the Spanish Merlot Nicole and I enjoyed. Mmmmmm...

• Worst Drink
  
• Wesmè:  The single sip of the Glühwein in Germany
  
• Frances: Glühwein and Eggnog in Germany. Why they have to give you 80% pure alcohol only they will know.
• Nicole: Eggnog in Heidelberg
• Tertius: Tony's house (London) complementry coffee (big mug small with sachet of coffee - even an extra one didn't help - YUK!!)

• Best Accommodation
• Wesmè:  The house in Tromso
  
• Frances: The house in Tromso and the hotel on our last night at the Paris airport.
• Nicole: The house in Tromso
• Tertius: The house in Tromso - hands down!

• Worst Accommodation
• Wesmè:  London
  
• Frances: The Appi Hotel in Paris for having the most stairs and smallest bathrooms on the entire trip. I felt like a giant hippo!!
• Nicole: The bed and walking space around it in London
• Tertius: Appi hotel with the smallest shower ... in the world 

• Worst Moment
• Wesmè:  Having to come home
  
• Frances: literally being pushed out of the way by Germans in Munich and realising what an idiot I was for not going to London after school when I saw Camden...
• Nicole: dragging, pulling and lifting luggage up stairs and into trains/busses
• Tertius: getting searched at London airport (probably shouldn't complain - I had most of my clothes on an NO rubber glove was involved )

• Funniest Moment
• Wesmè:  Tertius trying to load the luggage into the car in Tromso, but slipping on the ice so much that he could not move the luggage in the boot.
  
• Frances: Tertius' odd little "Hello" that he used to greet every official, waiter, hotel owner and pretty girl he came across. Tertius' French. Nicole's impersonations of Orlando and Mr Bean.
• Nicole: At the Yotel - toilet flushed so loud that it could wake up people back in Africa, Frances lying on the top bunk bed and almost tipping over, mom pulling the red lever setting off some kind of alarm. In Tromso - Tertius sliding on ice as he tries to load our bags into the car.
• Tertius: while smoking and trying to be funny in front of my sisters in the car, I slipped and fell pretty hard on the ice. Mom knocking people with her HUGE bag without her even knowing it. Nicole's mr Bean impressions (hello every body). Frances, who was always asleep in the back of the car, and the top bunk folding away (closing) as she was rolling on it.

• Best Moment
• Wesmè: The entire trip
  
• Frances: There were so many, it's hard to say. The moment when we all jumped out of the car and stared up at the Northern Lights definitely has to be at the top of the list. But how do you choose a best moment when you made a snow angel, danced in the falling snow, shopped in Camden, basked in the ambience of top designers in Harvey Nichols and Harrods, had a white Christmas, discovered the "I'm a lumberjack" song, danced to the RHCP LIVE, took a family photo in front of the Eiffel Tower with the camera poised awkwardly on a backpack, saw polar bears, wolverines, leopards and wolves. I might not have taken a lot of photos, but I have a lifetime worth of memories I can bore my grandkids with when I am 80 and senile!
• Nicole: discovering the Northern Lights by ourselves, family photos by the Eiffel Tower, our white Christmas, seeing polar bears play in snow like children
• Tertius: driving in snow and ice conditions with screams coming from all sides to stop and seeing our first Northern Lights, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and the BMW museum (petrol head moment with all the racing engines and racing cars)

 

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams
That you've dreamed of
Dreams really do come true

It's a long way to the top...

8 December 2011

This is it. Our last day. *humph*

We do this so often. We promise ourselves that we would take it easy. No rushing. No last minute sprints to catch flights. We plan things carefully. And then.....

So we started off well. Managed to get ourselves to the airport first, checked the bags in even. Now all we needed to do was get ourselves from Terminal 1 to Teminal 2, where we could store our hand luggage, as well as get the train in to Paris. Storing the luggage was the easy one. The train, the one thing that we have actually done before - no go. After some struggle, some grumpy (what else?) frenchman reluctantly explained that all the trains were stopped because of some accident on the line. A bus or taxi it had to be. It took a while to find a bus, but eventually we were on our way for our picnic under the Eiffel tower.

It was drizzling slightly, but we decided to go up into the Eiffel Tower this time. It just feels so very wrong to not do it. I'm glad we did. It remains and engineering marvel, and to see Paris from its summit is spectacular.

And then, one of the four lifts broke down, which seemed to prevent any of the other lifts to continue doing its thing. We were stuck at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Oops.

We eventually managed to get down with enough time to spare to have our picnic. Paninis, waffles and hot chocolate/coffee. And so we sat on a park bench, quietly looking up at this huge giant, remembering the fantastic experiences we have had over the last two weeks. But also looking forward to seeing our loved ones again.

We figured that a taxi back to the airport would just be the easiest. We did not quite take peak hour traffic into account, so this took a bit longer than expected. But we still had lots of time to spare, so needed to just go back to terminal 2, pick up our hand baggage, and take the shuttle to terminal 1. And then..... A bombscare. We were stuck in terminal 2, waiting for them to clear whatever needed to be cleared. It was as if we were meant to stay.

I could see that the children were not quite sure how to feel about our leaving. They were anticipating how the pets would react, whether the men would do something special at the airport. But they would also have loved to stay a while longer. To go back to Tromso, perhaps, for just a little while longer.

And then, the long flight home started...

I was lost in France...

7 Deecember 2011

This is bordering on the ridiculous now. More shopping! There always seems to be something we want to go back for.

Today, the plan is to get to Vezelay, a hilltop town in France. And we have all the confidence in the world that we will get there quite easily. You see, we have GPS co-ordinates, and we have TomTom. So, very blaze, we set about telling TomTom where he needed to take us. He refused. You see, TomTom had not quite bothered to tell us that he was only programmed for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He did not seem to think that, seeing we are giving him a lift to Paris, that, just perhaps, he needed to be sure he was in possession of some.... Well..... French maps, maybe? We remained calm and polite, and used him to get us as near as possible to the french border, stopped at a petrol station, and in our very best matric German, managed to find a french map. By now it was lunchtime, and once we figured just how far we would need to drive with paper-based navigational assistance, we took a vote. It was fairly unanimous. Paris it is.

Impressions of Germany:

Frances:
Highs: Red Hot Chili Peppers and German Beer, Christmas Markets
Lows: Everything else

Nicole:
Highs: Red Hot Chili Pepper concert, Hofbräuhaus
Lows: Turkish people

Tertius:
Highs: The houses in the smaller towns. Hofbräuhaus, German food, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Autobahn!
Lows: Expected a bit more from the cities. Dirt and lack of politeness and friendliness.

It would have been nice for the children to see a hilltop town, and looking at our map, I tried to pick a town that was close to the good road we were on, close to mountains, and seemed to have cultural attractions, or a castle or two. Saverne looked like a good choice, so we took the offramp, and, by sheer coincidence, found its main attraction, Rohan castle. And as luck would have it, the main street through the centre of the old town was right next to the castle. It was not a true hilltop town, but it was still beautiful, with beautiful old buildings lining the cobblestoned street. They clearly do the siesta thing, because all the shops seemed closed, but by the time we got to the end of the street, and turned around to to walk back, they had all woken up, and opened their shops.

We were hoping for any restaurant or cafe with wifi. We ended up having a late lunch at a patisserie. Besides - isn't that just the right place to be eating something exquisite in France? Our quiche was excellent. And Tertius thoroughly enjoyed his chicken pie. Saverne did not disappoint. No internet connection though, so we continued westward.

We decided to try Reims next. Being 130km from Paris, we would try to either find wifi, or beds there. We were rather relieved to have missed the Christmas market in Reims historical city centre, but found a McDonalds, which always means free wifi.

One of things Nicole really wanted to do in Paris, was to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower. French loaf and Champagne. We never got to do this when we were there almost two weeks ago. We decided that this should be the way we should end off our trip. So we would drive to a hotel that I found near the airport, and spend a few more hours in Paris before our return flights tomorrow.

We spent the best part of today on the road. We got lost. We found our way again. We had no idea where we would sleep. We ended finding somewhere to sleep. We saw little french villages. We saw french cities. We had no idea what road signs were trying to tell us. At times we had very little idea where we actually were. We loved it!

Overhead, the moon is beaming

6 December 2011

My children love road trips. I find them a wonderful way to experience the real life in a country. Provided that they are broken down in sizable chunks. This was meant to be our only roadtrip. It was now our third.

We picked up our Renault Scenic near our hotel. It came with our trusted travel buddy, TomTom. So after packing up the car, we first stopped at Karlplatz for some quick shopping, and then went on to the BMW museum.

I opted to sit out at the museum (and yes, pride did have something to do with it), and so I found a quiet spot with free wifi, while the children walked through the museum. Judging by the photo's, it is quite an impressive museum. Tertius particularly loved the racing section, but when I suggested that he should try to get a job there, he was disgusted. If it meant having to live in München? No thanks!

Next stop, Heidelberg. We could not get out of München fast enough. And it also meant that Tertius got to drive on the autobahn. He loved it! And even though he tried hard, he still got overtaken regularly. The Germans definitely like their fast cars. Even when we drove into heavy rain, and at times heavy snow, they did not seem to slow down much.

TomTom was very helpful in getting us to our hotel in Heidelberg. Pity he did not have the same abilities in finding parking, but we eventually managed, and were soon on our way to the Christmas market. In fact, there were about three, according the hotel receptionist.

We are seriously considering opening a store that sells European stuff. There are just so many cool things in the shops here. And we simply love the way that Christmas is clearly such a special tradition. It was great to walk through the streets of Heidelberg's old town, browsing through the odd shop, watching people enjoy the markets, drinking eggnog, eating half-a-meter wurst, the temporary merry-go-round providing thrills for young and old.

After some shopping, we took a detour past the old bridge for a view of Heidelberg's castle, and back to our hotel. For the first time I enjoyed Germany. Like the Italians, they managed to get the lighting and atmosphere in the historical part of town just right, and wandering around at night was just so very pleasant.

I'm not quite sure how we intend to remain under our allowed weight for our return flights. It might be a challenge.

Standing in line to see the show tonight...

5 December 2011

We're on the move again. Our original plans did not include München, but when we stumbled upon a Red Hot Chili Pepper concert there, we decided to take the detour. I don't really consider myself a huge fan, but the children are huge fans, and I do think that the bassist is exceptional, and as I enjoy watching live performances, I figured this would be a treat.

Sweden impressions:

Frances:
Highs: Polar Bears, Smörgåsbord, Snow
Lows: leaving

Nicole:
Highs: Orsa bear park, Swedish countryside
Lows: No restaurants open in Mora at night.

Tertius:
Highs: Polar bears (fondly referred to as icelantic bears), thick snow
Lows: microwave dinner

Planes, trains, stairs. That is pretty much the drill every time we travel from one place to the next. But when you want to experience the good in life, best you be prepared to experience some discomfort as well. Besides, we are now becoming rather good at dragging increasingly heavy luggage around.

We had a fair amount of time to kill before the concert, so took a walk to Karlplatz, and on to Marienplatz. Karlplatz puts up an ice rink in winter, with stalls that sells glühwein and pretzels. The glühwein is served in ceramic mugs, for which you pay a deposit. And so you are free to set off down the shopping street, glühwein and all.

Christmas time is often a good time to visit any country. It's during the festive season when you see the best of their traditions. The shopping street from Karlplatz to Marienplatz was no exception. The street was lined with stalls selling minature furniture and decorations, waffels and pretzels. People stood clustered around glühwein stalls, chatting excitedly. A true happy season.

Marienplatz has the huge Neues Rathaus overlooking Christmas shoppers. It's impressive clock was built in 1908 and consists of 32 lifesized figures that do their dance every day at 11am.
The Altes Rathaus is an equally beautiful building.

From Marienplatz we went past the Müller bäckerei, into Orlandostraße, and of course into the famous Hofbräuhaus. The Hofbräuhaus is quite an impressive bierhalle, despite the fact that it has clearly become extremely commercial. Many German families have permanently reserved tables, with their personal beer mugs locked away in special shelves. When Nicole asked a regular (that closely resembled Einstein), why his mug has a lid on it, his response was "So you don't spit in it!"

We did the obvious. A liter of beer each, and German sausages and roast pork. (but under intense interrogation, I will confess that I only had half a liter). Frances' boss happened to be in town, and joined us for a while. It was good to have someone who could understand the waitresses, and his German friend was able to answer (some of) our inquisitive questions.

Our intentions were to leave in good time to be sure that we had sufficient time to negotiate queues at the concert. We did, but still ended up standing in line for about an hour and a half. The cute Finnish girls in front of us were equally frustrated at all the people that seemed to disregard the queue, and when Tertius went off to investigate,they were quick to follow up on 'Cool Hair's progress. This has been an object of either amusement or adoration in just about every country we have been now. Especially in Scandinavia, where people would stare blatantly at Tertius' hair.

The concert was exceptional. Unlike many bands who use props, pyrotechnics, or other aids to make their concerts spectacular, the Peppers give a spectacular concert simply by the way they deliver the music they clearly love playing. Flea, the bassist, is a true virtuoso. He gets his nickname because of the way he jumps. A bass guitar is not the lightest of instruments, yet he manages to jump, pulling his feet up, repeatedly. Frequently. And when they re-entered the stage for their encore, he walked the width of the stage on his hands. I guess it is only fitting that the band should revolve largely around this bassist. You certainly hear more bass riffs than lead guitar riffs.

The train ride back to our hotel was fascinating. Imagine hundreds of RHCP fans, still high on the music left in their heads, all trying to get the first train back home. Or to the local pub, perhaps. We tried to hold onto each other, to be sure we all got onto the same train. We didn't. You really should just stand still, and let the crowd carry you onto the train. You get squeezed as they try and enter through the doors, and if you are lucky, you get popped out on the inside of the train. Frances wasn't, and got popped out back onto the platform. But by now we are all seasoned travellers, and so all we did was to wait for her on the other end.

It's official. My children are not city children. They loved the things we did in München, but they hated München. Actually, we all wanted to go back to Tromso.

More than a feeling..

4 December 2011

When I started planning this trip, there were three things I hoped to see. In order of importance, these were:
1) Aurora Borealis
2) Polar bears
3) Snow. I wanted to be surrounded by white.

I figured that the last one would be a simple one. When we left Tromso, we came close, but not entirely. But I was also happy to have seen the most unlikely one.

The Orsa bear park is about 30 minutes drive from Mora. It's near the ski centre, which, of course, means altitude. The closer we got to the bear park, the whiter everything turned outside. I was being surrounded by white! It was beautiful!

Winter means that brown bears hibernate. Fortunately, polar bears don't hibernate. The bear park is also home to some snow leopards, wolves, wolverines and lynx. The enclosures are huge, which means that you do quite a bit of walking. We went past the lynx first, but he had just been fed, so was not interested in talking to us. We continued quietly past the sleeping brown bears, and onto the polar bear enclosures. Nothing in sight.
And then we saw them, playing near a pond. These massive creatures are like little kids. They were playing and rolling in the snow. Pretending to fight. What I wouldn't have done to be able to walk up to one and give it a huge bear hug!

The wolverines were very inquisitive. If we turned our backs on them, they would sneak up, sizing us up, only to scatter off out of sight when we turned around. They are a lot cuter than I am sure they prefer to be.

And as for the leopards. One was sitting right next to the wall of a lookout hut, looking up at the window, as if it knew that there was most probably something very edible on the other side. The snow leopard just paced up and down slowly. Authoritively.

By now it was snowing quite heavily, and we had to zip up our jackets quite thoroughly as we made our way back to the exit. This time, as we passed the lynx enclosure, he was up and about. He was convinced that we were the bearers of more food, and paced impatiently, growling at us for not providing food, while his partner peeped at us from behind some snow-covered grass.

The wolf enclosure is the last one as you leave the park, and they were also keeping their eyes on our every move.

We really do prefer the outdoor or country type stuff to what the big city has to offer. Seeing these beautiful predators today was an exceptional treat. I'm very pleased we could see them in snow! It would just have been so wrong to have seen a polar bear in anything but snow.

We stopped in Mora for "varm smörgås". You cannot be in Sweden, and not eat smörgåsbord, afterall. It was really good. We now understood how they used the tubes of flavoured cheese that we saw in the supermarket.

And so, with my list all ticked off, we were on the road again. We needed to get back to Oslo. Nicole took over as navigator and DJ, finding the most amazing radio stations with the greatest rock music, including some great golden oldies. A sign perhaps of what was yet to come? Either way, I enjoyed taking a back seat, letting the young ones find their way through this beautiful country.

I'm happy that my children have seen so much already. And I'm happy that they have become inhabitants of the world. I'm happy that they will be able to find their way through the world, with no boundaries. I'm happy that they will find their way through life.

Should I stay or should I go...

3 December 2011

I remember, as a little girl, how I used to love Christmas. I remember how I used to love looking at the Christmas trees in the windows of the houses, as you drove past them. Is it just me, or have people stopped doing this?

Norwegians maintain their traditions. On the first Saturday of December they put up their Christmas decorations. You don't really see trees in their windows, but in virtually every house, they have 7 candles (or lights that look like candles) in the window, and in most houses, they have a huge star (with a light inside). Norway can be seen as a cold country, but in fact, it's extremely warm. They do not hide behind curtains or blinds. In stead, their beautifully decorated windows allow clear sight into their warm houses. It's almost as if they willingly invite anyone who pass by, to experience the warmth and love inside their homes. As if they have nothing to hide, but lots to give.

We were on the early flight to Oslo. We didn't want to go, but knew that there was a lot more experiences still to come.

Tromso impressions:

Frances:
Highs: Northern Lights, snow, Scandinavian designs, our white Christmas
Lows: leaving

Nicole:
Highs: Northern Lights, snow, friendly Norwegians, our white Christmas, Tromso
Lows: Not being able to play with Huskies

Tertius:
Highs: Northern Lights, snow, rediculously pretty girls, driving in the snow, pelting sisters with snow, Tromso
Lows: driving in the snow (scary!), leaving

In Oslo, we collected our car in heavy snowfall, and set off to the city centre. We wanted to see the Viking Ship Museum. It was an easy drive past the rather impressive opera house near the harbour.

The Viking Ship Museum houses about 3 viking ships, as well as many artefacts that were discovered in some viking graves. These all contained the most beautiful carvings and gave some fascinating insights into viking life.

Our next stop was a 350km drive away. We were heading for Orsa, Sweden, where they have a bear park. Polar bears! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how best to get to Orsa. From Stockholm, it would have been an easy 3 hour train ride. From Oslo, it was a bit more difficult. The countryside between Oslo and Orsa seemed remote, and driving along a lesser remote route meant a huge detour. We had no idea what the roads would be like, or whether they would even be drivable, because of snow, perhaps. Our zoo trip in Tromso gave us a lot more confidence though, so we set off fairly happily. The roads were great, and with our Volvo V50, Tertius was in his seventh heaven (it may have been the tenth, by now!) And the scenery was just beautiful. Well, the bit we could see before dark, that is. The song "I'm a lumberjack.." popped into our minds frequently, with the well-built road lined with pine trees and lakes. Beautiful red farmhouses with decorated windows reminded us that there would be a warm haven to escape to, should we need it.

I'm very proud of Tertius. He has taken to driving on the wrong side of the road, in sometimes rather scary conditions, like an absolute pro. We arrived in Mora safe and sound, and settled into our accommodation, with our rather weird landlord telling us about him being a ghost hunter, and something about the 14th month. He at least assured us that there were no ghosts in our room.

We were now in Sweden. Things were very similar to Norway. Houses were still welcoming us with open windows. Beautiful!

If I lay here, if I just lay here...

2 December 2011

Our last day in Tromso.

I needed to get to the library to get a stable internet connection in order to pay our landlord. So we headed off to the city centre.

You get to see a lot of the real life in any city when you go to the library. Tromso's library offers free internet connection, so I was very happy to just quietly sit there, do what I needed to do, and watch Tromso life pass by at the same time. It seems like the library is where many people also come for their daily newspaper read, and as I sat there, a friendly old man chatted away merrily, convinced that I understood everything he said. He seemed satisfied with my smile as reply to everything he was telling me.

We decided to drive to the Polar Zoo, about 170km from Tromso. We realised that it might take longer than expected, and that we might get there too late, but we figured that the drive would be fun anyway. And we hoped to see some snow perhaps.

No matter where you drive in Troms county, it just remains beautiful. When you take a lot of mountains, and scatter them along the coast, you end up with these beautiful fjords. Most of the roads run along the water edge, but occasionally you have to cut across land, which invariably means driving across some mountain, which means altitude, which means...... Snow!

Our trip to the zoo took about two and a half hours. We got there before closing time, but because it was already dark, the lady at the zoo did not feel that it was worth going in. Besides, it was now snowing rather heavily, and it was, apparently, wet snow.

It took another three hours to get back to Tromso. It involved driving through some heavy snow and rain. For four novice tourists from sunny South Africa, this was a huge adventure. I would have to confess, though, that, at times, it was somewhat hairraising. A quick stop at the Arctic Cathedral for some photo's of the beautiful stained glass windows calmed us down a little.

Back in Tromso we decided that we needed some good food, so stopped in the city centre for some pizzas. Everybody always says that Scandinavia is expensive. It really is. We may not have picked the cheapest restaurant, but we did blink a bit at the prices on the menu. A normal Marguerita pizza was NOK135. You can multiply that with about 1.4 to get to our rands. The food was excellent, though. And after our roadtrip, we felt that we deserved it!

It was with somewhat heavy hearts that we headed back home. It meant that we had to go pack. For some strange reason, Tertius decided to take a slight detour. And there they were. The Northern Lights again. We were not even away from the city lights, it had been raining and snowing, so there was a lot of clouds around, and still, in the one bit of clear sky, that beautiful dance of green light in the sky. As if it Knew just how much we so loved the beauty of it all. As if it just wanted to show off one more time, before we leave the beautiful Arctic region.

We stopped a few times on our way home, jumping out of the car, taking more photos of the Aurora, or just standing quietly, watching the performance, wishing that we could share it with everyone dear to us. It was snowing, and we were looking at the Aurora Borealis. It cannot possibly get any better than this!

After day one in Tromso, after seeing the Aurora, knowing that it would be overcast for the balance of our time here, I had moments where I wondered whether it was not maybe a mistake to stay here for four days. I now know that it wasn't. We hoped to do so much here. Dogsledding, snow mobiles, ice fishing. We did none of that, mostly because there has not been enough snow. But we saw so much. We experienced so much. And we loved every minute of it!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

1 December 2011

I have stopped counting the number of dreams that have come true. Maybe I'm just too scared that I hit some limit....

Getting up and on the go when it is still dark, is near impossible. But our four days here are supposed to be more relaxed, and so we were in no real hurry.

Breakfast consisted of those frozen bagels, with brown cheese, or cheese and salami, although the brown cheese seemed to be the less popular option. And then we set off to go and explore a little. We were told that the Villmarksenter was not very far fom where we were staying, and that we could see some dogs there. Apparently, the snow is late this year, and people here are frustrated for not being able to do what they so love doing. This was evident at the Villmarksenter. There is a shop that was open, and we could see all the dogs, but not a single person in sight. We walked about for a while. The dogs are all tied to their individual wooden cages. A little wooden house, almost. So they can either walk around it a little, or jump up and stand on top of it, which they seem to like to do, or lie inside it. These dogs must surely know. People with cameras must mean sledding. And they all looked like they would do anything to be able to go out sledding. And if we stood around quietly, watching them for a while, they would all start howling.

Next we went back to the city centre, this time to do some real shopping. This was fun, as to be expected. The shops are filled with the cutest Christmas decorations, not to mention the beautiful homeware and handcraft stuff. Because Nisse is actually an elf, you find the cutest little elf figures everywhere. But Tromso city centre is also home to the world's northernmost glass blowing factory and beer brewery.

We were fascinated to watch three ladies in the glass factory create beautiful champagne glasses. Tromso must surely be the city of dance, because even in this little factory, these three ladies were like three well choreographed dancers, dancing through the process of melting glass, adding colour, one adding bits of glass to the next one's creation, while the third one gracefully moves into place to get a mold ready for the next step. I could have watched this for hours, if it was not for a cold beer beckoning...

Olhallen is Tromso's oldest pub, and sells the Mack Brewery's beer. We quite like the beer, and enjoyed some time off our feet in such a cosy pub.

The kids were behaving quite strangely throughout the afternoon though. I was beginning to suspect that the Mack beer was not the only thing brewing. When we eventually got back to our little house, I got to find out what they were up to.

I may have mentioned this before, but I always dreamed of giving them a white Christmas. So they decided that we should have just that. They had been smuggling a small tree, decorations and all, in their suitcases all along. And they had been buying gifts for each other (and me) all afternoon. Wrapping paper took the form of our hats and beanies. And even though all Tertius' plights for snow throughout the afternoon had not quite materialised, we had our White Christmas. In my fifty years, I can say without any doubt that this was the very best Christmas I have ever had.

If ever you dream of doing something special with your children, set about fulfilling that dream.

I so love my children!

På låven sitter nissen!

30 November 2011

Sleep. That is what we needed now. Lots of sleep. Sounds silly to be in such a beautiful place, I know, but we really did need a good down day.

On the 20th of November, the sun bids farewell to Tromso, and stays away until after December. That does not mean that they live in complete darkness though. From about 9am they have dusky daylight that lasts until just after 2pm. This small window shrinks daily until the 22nd of December, when they have a mere 2 hours dusklight.

We lazed around until after noon, when we decided that food might be a good option, so set off to find a grocery store. That was quite entertaining. Some observations:

- fresh vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and greenpeppers are individually clingwrapped
- they have the biggest and shiniest apples! We bought four, and when Nicole ate hers, it was turning brown, simply because she could not eat it fast enough.
- their normal sliced loaves of bread are about one and a half times the size of our loaves
- they have packets of frozen breadrolls, bagels, etc
- brown cheese is apparently quite big here. Asbjorn's wife had told us how they cook the cheese a bit longer, which turns it into a light brown colour. It tastes a bit caramelly.
- they have the best tea "sticks" - a long thin foilish tube filled with tea leaves with little holes. You simply stick this in your cup, and use the top end to stir or remove it with. Really cool!
- vienna balls - little round viennas the size of grapes. We decided that we would use this for spaghetti and vienna balls.

We must have wandered around the store for about an hour, and could not believe that it had turned completely dark outside. And so, even though our brunch was more like a late lunch, it did feel quite strange to have it by candlelight.

We took a late afternoon drive into the city centre, and walked about the streets for a while. Most of the shops were already closed, but we were quite happy to settle for the cheaper version of window shopping. We loved what we saw. Scandinavians are famous for their design skills, and when you combine this with their rich tradition of vikings, trolls and 'Nisse' (their Santa Clause), you can well imagine the beautiful things they have in their shops.

I'm pleased that I opted for selfcatering accommodation in Tromso. It almost gives us the feeling of living here, and so far, we are very happy to be able to 'live' here

And the dreams that you dreamed of...

29 November 2011

I really think that Spock had the right idea. It would have been great to be able to just teleport ourselves from one city to the next.

We spent the bulk of the day travelling from London to Tromso via Oslo. And to top it, we had booked a Northern Light tour for the evening. We figured that if we did this on the first night, we could learn where to look, and go looking for them again later.

Asbjorn, our Northern Lights Tourguide, also booked us a car, so we could drive ourselves to his house. This would be Tertius' first driving experience outside of South Africa, and started with trying to fit four rather large suitcases into a Toyota Auris. This may not sound like such a difficult thing to have to do. Except that the ground was covered with ice, which meant that, hard as Tertius tried to use force to make space for more suitcases, he just kept slipping on the ice.

We found our accommodation quite easily, and after a short breather, we set off to go find Asbjorn, and hopefully some Aurora Borealis. This time we suspect we added some additional detours to the suggested trip, but managed to find our way in the end, including the ferry ride required to get to Lyngseidet.

Nicole spotted it first. A weird movement in the sky. Surely not? Then Frances spotted it on her side of the car. By now, Tertius was freaking out. He had to keep his eyes on the road! What was he missing? It felt like forever before he could stop and we could all get out of the car. And there it was. Waves of green light moving gracefully across the sky. We were looking at the Aurora Borealis. The Northern Lights! It was freezing cold out there next to the road, but I don't think any of us really felt anything at that point. Other than complete awe. It is impossible to explain to anyone just how special it is to be able to see this exquisite dance of nature.

Asbjorn took us to an area where the city lights were not infringing on the arctic darkness. He was hopeful that we would see more 'lights'. We did, although we did not see them as beautiful as the ones we saw on the road. It is quite weird. You can see them building up in the sky. They look a bit like light cloud formations. And if you set your camera to a long exposure, they actually end up showing up green on the photo. We considered ourselves very lucky to have seen such clear green lights earlier though.

We escaped the cold for a while for supper at Asbjorn's house. His wife had made fish soup with bread, followed by coffee with traditional norwegian biscuits. We were very happy to have warmed up a little. By now some clouds were building up, and because you cannot see the Northern Lights when there is cloud cover, we decided to call it a night, and head back home, a two hour drive away.

Today I shared something exceptionally special with my children. I am eternally greatful that I was able to give them this.

Here, There and Everywhere

28 November 2011

Our last day in London, and we have the route planned. Mostly shopping, of course, but one or two touristy things as well. But first, the one thing that clearly runs through all our veins..... Music.

Abbey Road is a rather normal looking road, and even though we are not really what one would call the ultimate Beatles fans, we still do love their music, and so we decided to go and do the walk across this famous zebra crossing. It should come as no surprise that the British have it all sorted. A photographer, armed with camera, and portable printer in his backpack, awaits any unsuspecting tourist. We were slightly unsuspecting, but at least we had enough savvy to rather have him take the photo's with one of our cameras.

After Abbey Road, we went the retail route. Some second-hand CD (and vinyl) stores near Notting Hill. Selfridges, which was just way too overwhelming, altough Frances basked in the presence of great designer ranges like Vivienne Westwood and Robert Cavalli. And, of course, HMV, to hopefully find some rare CD's and DVD's.

After a late lunch at Pizza Hut, we split up. Dangerous, I know, but another department
store with designer labels sounded way too daunting for everyone except Frances, so she set off to Knightsbridge, to find Harvey Nichols, whilst the rest of us decided to go show Tertius the architecture and engineering marvels of the Tower Bridge.

By 5pm, the sun has set off to light up some countries further West, and London looks like it must be about 11pm. This means that we were able to play with some night time shots at the bridge. What fun! But the early nightfall caught us off guard, so trying to take the underground to get across town to where Frances was, meant that we were caught up in peak hour traffic. Quite an experience, actually. There we were thinking that overloaded trains only existed in India and South Africa. The poor train drivers had to frequently request commuters to stop leaning on the doors, as that causes the train to stop. It was becoming blatantly obvious. We were reaching our saturation point. Overcrowded trains and shops with excessive central heating needed to be exchanged for something way more quiet.

We eventually found Frances in Harrods. We needed to forcefully remove her. I have to admit that the food section is seriously impressive. Not sure if I can say the same for the pet section! They even have a pet spa!

Our last stop was Picadilly. Just a quick stop to experience the buzz before we head off to Heathrow.

Because of our early flight to Tromso, we were booked at the Yotel at Heathrow Airport. You book these sleeping pods by the hour, and because it is inside one of the terminals, it theoretically means that you don't have to get up that early when you have an early flight. Every little bit of sleep helps.

London impressions:

Frances:
Highs: The Accomplice, Camden Market and Harrods
Lows: Not being able to live in London

Nicole:
Highs: St James park, The Accomplice,
Lows: not being able to see the changing of the guards

Tertius
Highs: architecture, convenience of the underground, The Accomplice
Lows: not impressed with the british girls

Lift up your heads...

27 November 2011

There are many more shades of blue than there are of red..

We could actually see blue skies! So we figured that we would do the outdoor stuff while the weather seems to be playing along. It was with somewhat exhausted excitement that we set off in search of art, culture, royalism, or anything else that grabbed our interest.

From Trafalgar Square we made our way towards Buckingham Palace with the hope of seeing some guardlike stuff. We ended up spending a lot of time in St James' Park, drinking coffee, looking at all the people, squirrels, birds, ducks.... What a peaceful place to be spending time. The vibrant hustle and bustle of the big city seems non-existant.

There should really be some "be here now to see xxx" boards, we thought. You see all the people fanatically hanging about, hoping to see some form of royal anything, but you are not quite sure what, where or when. We were rather amused by the bobbies on bicycles parading up and down to prevent people from crossing the road at inappropriate times. We did at least see some guards marching past, and were impressed with the marching band playing the theme from Star Wars. I cannot help but wonder which member of the royal family best resembles Darth Vader...

By the time we walked past Westminster Abbey to the Houses of Parliament, we felt a bit touristed out, so decided to head for the Camden Market. Oh boy, was this a big mistake! Not the market, but taking Frances there! She loved it. They all loved it. I think any young person that comes to London, that does not go to Camden Market, misses a big part of the character of London.

And then, it was time for my big evening. Handel's Messiah in the Royal Albert Hall. For months I practised singing each of the choral movements. Let me explain. The Really Big Chorus is a charity organisation that arranges big concerts with mass choirs. So you buy your ticket for the concert as one of the singers, learn your part, and then simply pitch up and sing along. No rehearsals before the time. Just pitch up and sing. Wear red if you are an alto, blue if you are a soprano, and off you go. I have no words to describe the experience. A 50 piece orchestra, an organ, and 3800 singers singing the Hallelujah chorus? Oh WOW! And I was one of those singers! Oh WOW!

Found myself in the city near Picadilly

26 November 2011

Mental note - when booking a hotel, make sure you use Google street view to make very sure what kind of shops or businesses are in the vicinity. I did actually, and did spot one shop that looked slightly suspect. In fact, there were several rather seedy places near our hotel, which meant rather loud music throughout the night, accompanied by rowdy shrieks, depending on how well the resident ladies performed. It's probably a good thing that we were so very tired, so were not really too bothered by this.

We left Paris on the Eurostar train. Quite an amazing experience being able to get from Paris to London in under three hours. Not to mention the fact that part of that journey involves an underground tunnel under the English channel!

I suspect many Londoners just hated their Saturday. The St Pancras train station had to be evacuated for some reason. Of course four rather bewildered South Africans were caught up in all of this. So suddenly, our perfect plan to get ourselves to the hotel, fell flat rather spectacularly. We were still in the process of trying to figure out what bus to take then, when a rather friendly looking dude in a London taxi happened to pass us, indicating that he would happily fit said four bewildered South Africans. It was an added blessing that we did not have to schlepp our suitcases through the underground!

Our only real plan for today was a show that we were booked for. The Accomplice is just such a great experience. You have no idea where the show actually takes place, until a day before, when they send you an email, telling you where to meet them, and to be sure not to be late. You are then given a bunch of clues that you have to solve, in order to solve some mystery. This takes you on a walking tour through some very interesting parts of London. I could go on for some time, but will settle for one word. Awesome! Apart from the fun we had, we saw parts of London that we would not have even given a second thought. So, after the successful completion of Mission Z, we ended up going back to the Green Market for an awesome late lunch.

We all agree. London has a lot more spirit than Paris. Even so, we opted for an early night, with the hope that sore feet will recover a little, a litle washing might get done, travel notes (and blogs) will get done, and some much needed sleep might be achieved.

London Baby!!

He sees angels in the architecture..

25 November 2011

"You're in Paris" . I remember those words so well. It was my first time in Paris. My first time abroad even. And a very grumpy (he was French, afterall!) busdriver stopped in the middle of some narrow street in Paris, and sent us off with those words.

And so, after the usual uncomfortable longhaul, we arrived in Frankfurt, with, what we thought, plenty of time to shower before we set off to Paris. Uhm..... So for the record - it takes 20 minutes from the time you touch down, to the time you eventually come to a halt. Then it takes a further 45 minutes to walk, at a fair pace, I might add, from your arrival gate to your next departure gate. Time to spare? None. So much for hoping to arrive in Paris all refreshed and ready to go.

We managed to find our hotel quite easily, and even though we knew that we were too early to check in, we hoped to at least use the showers. This we were able to do. Contortionistically! The shower was so small, that even that very long word that I just made up, would have no hope of fitting in it! But hey, we were now refreshed and ready to go.

People say that Paris is the city of love. I see it as the city of emotions. Extreme emotions. Miserable French people are really extremely miserable. Those in love really should rather get a room... It is a beautiful city, with beautiful buildings, a beautiful river, beautiful decorations for the festive season, beautiful shops, even some very beautiful people. Yet, it somehow lacks the soulful character that a city like Rome has. People in Paris just somehow look like they are there because that is what is required for their personality.

We did as much as we could do in one day. Notre Dame, a very impressive cathedral, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, although we chose not to go up into the tower, seeing that it was too misty to be able to see anything anyway. And the Louvre. We have had mixed advice as to whether we should go see the Mona Lisa, but It was the one thing Frances really did want to see. Tertius' excitement at the prospect of seeing the famous Mona Lisa surprised us all, until he actually saw it, though. He somehow exected a lot more than "just a painting". Men... Nicole was fascinated by the eyes, and made sure that we all walked the width of the room, watching at how her eyes follow us. Frances ended up preferring the Venus de Milo. It really is worth going to see all the exquisite artwork.

We ended the day off at the Christmas market at the bottom end of the Champs Elysees. Beautifully lit white stalls with fascinating items varying from chocolate covered apples, to fur legwarmers.

I think it is sinking in slowly now. Our trip is a reality. I am loving the experience!

Paris High and Lows:

Frances:
High - Lighting a candle for loved ones in the Notre Dame
Low - size of the shower at the hotel was just ego-busting

Nicole:
High - being able to take a family photo in front of the Eiffel Tower with the camera balancing oddly on a camera bag.
Low - the rude and impolite french and oriental tourists

Tertius:
High - Seeing the eiffel tower
Low - the anticlimax seeing the Mona Lisa - this coming from a petrolhead, it is to be expected that a painting might not necessarily impress that easily.

Wesme:
High - seeing how the reality slowly started clicking in.
Low - Paris seems to have no garbage bins! We searched forever to find somewhere to dispose of some take-away coffee cups, feeling too guilty to just dump it like everyone else seem to do.

We're off you know

24 November 2011

It's amazing how happily we tend to settle into our comfort zones. And how vast we perceive anything outside it.

Preparing for a two week holiday takes way more energy than you could ever bargain for. Time is tight, so you want to try and make sure that you don't waste any time getting lost, or dealing with administrivia, and the like. And so I have spent many months researching, searching, googling, reading. Have I got everything planned down to a T? The answer would have to be...... nope.

So here is what we do have, just so you have some idea of what is in stall....

Firstly, as far as timing goes, this was the best time, considering the busy schedules we all seem to so willingly maintain. Would I choose a different time, if I had the option? Not really. Perhaps a week or so later, to give their winter (and snow!) time to settle in just a little more than it is at this stage. But we deliberately wanted cold, very little sunlight, and hopefully lots of snow. The itinerary then:

Fri. 25 Nov. Paris
Sat. 26 Nov. London
Sun. 27 Nov. London
Mon. 28 Nov. London
Tue. 29 Nov. Tromso
Wed. 30 Nov. Tromso
Thu. 1 Dec. Tromso
Fri. 2 Dec. Tromso
Sat. 3 Dec. Oslo
Sun. 4 Dec. Orsa
Mon. 5 Dec. Munich
Tue. 6 Dec. Heidelberg
Wed. 7 Dec. Vézelay
Thu. 8 Dec. Paris
Fri. 9 Dec. Home

Quite a whirlwind in places. There are, however, some very good reasons that support this seemingly crazy trip. In two weeks, we hope to see the beauty of Paris, the vibrant life in London, Aurora Borealis and snow in Tromso, polar bears in Orsa, the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Munich, a Christmas Market in Heidelburg, and a beautiful hilltop town, Vézelay.

And so the big day arrived. Frantic last-minute stuff needed to get done. And the usual panic set in. My suitcase is too small! Have I forgotten something? What if something goes wrong? Have I forgotten something? What if we get lost somewhere? Have I forgotten something? Seriously!?! This pursued until I forced myself to step back a little, and just think for a little while. Sure, things will be a little different, but hey, Parisians, or Londoners, or Troms.... uhm.... people from Tromso, are really all just normal people like us. They have no superpowers to be able to live where they do. The worst it could possibly get, is a little different to our little comfort zone. So no, we don't quite know how we will find our way from Oslo to Orsa. We have no idea whether we will be able to see everything we should see in Paris. But hey - we'll just wing it, like so many other peole do. In stead of overthinking things, we'll rather just have fun, and experience the difference that is the Northern Hemisphere.

The first of three flights that will ultimately get us to Paris, is almost over. Everyone is still rather reserved (except for one quick inflight photo..) As if we're waiting for Leon Schuster to jump out from behind a bush somewhere. I suspect this might change soon.....

I do admire people who just naturally take things as they come. It requires a little more effort, for me. But I'm working on it.... :-)

Dream a little dream...

I'm not quite sure where It started. This fascination with snow, that is. Being surrounded by white seems like it must bring such peace to the entire being.

For many years I have promised my children that I would take them for a white Christmas. Years have passed. Little brats turned into obnoxious teenagers, turned into beautiful adults and cherished friends. And suddenly the big 50 was upon me. People seem to make a huge thing of turning 50. Murmurs of parties started to find their ways into random conversations. And suddenly I realised that all those years of dreaming and wishing, just wouldn't amount to anything unless I actually took the step.

It took me a while to realise that the only real way of doing this, was to keep it simple and small. This was a dream that I wanted to share with my children, and whilst husbands and partners would add various levels of fun, it would somehow dilute the dream for me. I wanted to give, and share with my children, an experience that I hope will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Memories that brighten even the darkest of days.

Our journey starts on the 24th of November. Over a period of two weeks, we will visit Paris, London, Tromso, Oslo, Orsa, Munchen, Heidelberg and Vézelay. It sounds hectic. It will be. Hectic, and just awesome!

Start watching this space from next week. A dream this big can not be left unshared...