Entries about history

Norway was incredibly expensive, and I guess it was very much how foreigners, particularly from Eastern Europe must feel when they come to Britain. However saying that, there were lots of good things like WiFi absolutely everywhere - from getting on the plane at Gatwick until we returned several days later at the other end I was essentially connected the whole time! Despite being Norway's second biggest city, Bergen was still remarkably small, taking very little time to walk round and explore. Hence our visit of just two and a half days was more than enough. Arriving in the afternoon and staying close to the centre of the city, the first evening was spent walking around the immediate vicinity, seeing the main shopping area and the city squares.

The following day we took the funicular to the top of the mountain that overlooks the whole city and bays nearby, before walking down and seeing the rest of the city, including the castle and it's most famous attraction - Bryggen, the old Hanseatic port buildings.

On our final full day we took a 3.5 hour cruise up the nearby fjords, into the heart of Norway, witnessing scale of the country's valleys. It was only when we travelled deep into the cruise that we had our first rainy day, which considering the rate of 75% for the city, was pretty good going.

Despite the city being small, and our 4 day trip being very expensive and short, it was worth it, and I would highly recommend it, as the scenery was stunning!

The day trip turned into a weekend for me, as I left work straight to London, staying at Matt's on Friday night before the early start on Saturday. Leaving at 5:30am we blasted out the #choons as we made our way down to Dover. As the weekend was the first day of the summer holidays it was absolutely packed, and we ended up spending the whole journey across the channel in the restaurant queuing for breakfast.

After this energy boost, we got back in the car, entertaining the other passengers with our singing and dancing as we entered the French roads, making our way over to the Belgian border, and our first city of the day - Ypres. Being Kevin I had sussed out the sights, prices, and car parking arrangements for us all, and we headed straight to the centre of town before the Market closed down. After this we headed over to the Menin Gate, the commemorative arch to Commonwealth soldiers without graves during the First World War.

Whilst there, and going up the stairs to the elevated gardens we found Tony Robinson from Time Team doing filming for a TV show! So we stayed around for a while to watch him fluff his lines before heading back down for a photo shot of us by the arch, before heading back round the City Moat, and back into the centre for Waffles and finally to visit a Commonwealth cemetery, which was immaculate.

Leaving Ypres, we headed to the south to a restored trench system known as "Bayernwald". After racing to the local village to get tickets before closing we entered the site, and had a wander inside them to get a feel for how soldiers had to spend their time, including seeing some of the dugouts where soldiers would have slept.

After the morning of history in Belgium, we headed back into France, towards Dunkirk for a bit of beach relaxation. Whilst the weather wasn't the sunniest, it was still a warm day and the beach in Dunkirk was lovely and sandy.

After a few games we hired a quadracycle and caused carnage along the promenade, screaming, shouting, driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, and getting clothing caught in the thing!

The last thing before heading home was a 'lovely' French meal, where we were reacquainted with the stinky cheese of 6 months ago. All I can say is that the food wasn't great.....

Whilst Tangier wasn't the most interesting city in Morocco, it did still have a souq, and a lot of Arabic features, as well as the novelty of being Africa, - therefore ticking off my 5th continent of the 7, as well as adding a little more action to my holiday.

Medina

Old City Gate

Arriving at the ferry port terminal in Tangier, I spent 5 or so hours looking around the Medina of the city before making my way over to the more modern part of the city and the beach side area. After buying a souvenir, I then took the return ferry back over to Spain, and made my way over to Gibraltar (though actually staying over the border in Spain, where it was so much cheaper) for the final full day of the holiday.

Flying up in the morning I spent the afternoon of the first day on the North Island seeing Auckland - starting with the port area, before making my way over to the Domain, where the Auckland War Memorial Museum was located, and then over to Mount Eden - a dormant volcano that has the highest point in, and gives the best free 360˚ view of Auckland - one thing I really noticed being how much hillier Auckland was compared to Christchurch!

Auckland War Memorial Museum

Sky Tower

The following morning I took a coach over to Rotorua - home to the most geothermal and Māori activity accessible. Arriving in blissful sunshine I checked into my hotel, where I was told by a German that I had "ze smallest room in Rotorua", which was in fact no larger than a walk-in wardrobe...not that it mattered, as I was there just one night and it was perfectly comfortable!

After treating myself to another piercing to mark the halfway mark of my trip, I went off to explore the local area and seeing my first open hot springs that were only 212˚C, and getting lovely whiffs of Sulphur, I eventually ended up at the supermarket where I decided to cook my own food - in the end I opted for Schnitzel and pasta, whilst wearing a Berlin T-Shirt and surrounded by Germans...just like old times!

The following day I went off to Te Puia - the home of the Māori Geothermal activity in Rotorua, where I got to experience Geysers, Mudpools, Māori culture, and see a Kiwi bird - ticking off nearly all of my checklist for the country, and well worth the entrance fee.

I then took an afternoon coach back to Auckland, and spent my last night in the city before flying off to destination number 8 - Fiji!

The territory was handed back over to China in 1999 and unlike Hong Kong is very very small (around half the size of San Marino, compared to HK's half the size of Luxembourg), and actually makes more money in gambling than Las Vegas.

Luckily the weather in Macau was much nicer, although it did make the first half of the hour long ferry journey pretty bumpy. I then spent about 5 hours walking around the territory, starting with the newer developed areas where some of the casinos are, before walking around some of the more Chinese areas and seeing Senado Square.

I then finished my tour of the city with it's landmark - the ruins of St. Paul's - a former cathedral that was mostly destroyed by a fire after a typhoon in 1835, with only the front façade remaining. It was here that the bizarre moment of my trip occurred, when after being asked by a group of what looked like Chinese to take a group photo for them, I was asked if they could take a photo with me...