TravelStream™ news feed for member friiskiwi on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/friiskiwi en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:26:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1214470440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1214470440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1214470440/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:26:29 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Singapore, Singapore

Woke up an other hot and humid day, I actually like it. had a good nights sleep, with a little help. Peter and Graeme were off to Malaysia to play golf, so I had promised Charlotte we'd go to the Zoo. Oh,that's a long way our taxi driver said, a little worried I asked for an approximate price, He told me about 20.00 came to 17.20. considering we paid 18.00 for our 9 minute ride to the airport at home, I thought it was a pretty good deal. We didn't have to pay to get in as Lisa and Graeme had a family card. The zoo is very big, but beautifully laid out. Very green, lovely winding paths with overhanging trees. Lots of water too to give a cooler feeling. Lots of clean toilets, good when you are with a 3 year old.We probably walked for a couple of hours before Charlotte told me she was getting tired. So we found a place for lunch, and then some more walking and use of the Zoo Trams. Got home just before 3 pm, and I had no trouble convincing her to lie down for a rest. Both our taxi drivers were very chatty.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1220045100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1220045100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1220045100/tpod.html Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:26:41 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

27th August Changi Airport,   Almost final leg of our trip. It really has been a great trip. Peter has been very uncomplaining considering the trouble his knee has given him. He is actually looking forward to the operation, or rather getting a good knee again. I'm pleased to say I have stayed healthy for the whole trip, odd little stomach upsets, but nothing lasting. Occasionally I felt like I was getting a cold, but I then took my Vitamin C powder and always came right.   Woke up just before 1 am and decided I really needed a good night sleep, as I wasn't about to get one tonight. So I took a sleeping pill. Woke once at 4am and then not again till 7am. Just sorry I didn't get up in time to have breakfast with Lisa.   Graeme had a golf lesson in the morning and got back just before 11am. He gave us a lift to town. We just wanted to have a look around some shops, and then meet  Lisa for lunch. We decided to go to Bugis Street as we hadn't been there before, at least not in the last 20+ years. I found a nice shirt for Peter and he found a watch, he thought about it for a long time but at $5.00 it was still cheaper than replacing the batteries in one of the old ones. I also bought 2 belts for $10.00.   We crossed the road to Bugis Junction, rather more upmarket, with lots of lovely shops. Then made our way to the Metro. Their system was a bit different, you pay an extra dollar on your fair, and when you have finished your die, pop the ticket back into a machine and get your refund. We only needed to go to stops and then a long walk underground to Lisa's building. Just as well we could walk underground, because when we got there we found it was raining very heavy. It had eased off a little by the time Lisa came down, and we didn't have far to go. Still managed to get wet, especially Lisa's shoes and the bottom of her slacks. Peter and I were wearing shorts and sandals, so it wasn't so bad.   We decided on an outside  table, figuring with the air conditioning it would be far too cold inside. It was a lovely Italian restaurant so we all had pasta. It was a little damp, but quite warm.   Peter and I caught a taxi back and did our packing, and all to soon it was time to go to the airport.   28th August, Christchurch airport   Almost home, the flight wasn't too bad, did get some sleep, but got a very sore neck. Only watched one movie, and read the rest of the letters in the first bundle. Am now up to 1964, married and in England.   We had the aisle and the middle seat this time, reasonable good leg space. Had hoped the window seat would be empty but no such luck. Air hostess had said they weren't very full, but the plane looked pretty full to us. Weather in Christchurch is 5 degrees and sunny, lets hope it's a little warmer in Nelson.   Friday 29th  Nelson Home again, it feels good, springs on the way, Camellias, Magnolias, Cherries and Daffodils are starting to flower. Our bodies may have arrived, but our minds still need to catch up. To those of you who have enjoyed my ramblings, Thank you. Vibeke    
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219824540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219824540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219824540/tpod.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:10:45 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Singapore, Singapore

25th August  Monday     Got up early, and staggered down to my 7am tennis coaching. It would not normally be a problem, I don't feel jet lagged, but have real trouble sleeping. Wake up after a couple of hours and then really don't sleep again until about 5.30. I know that I do get some sleep, but I seem to look at the clock about every ½ hours. Still I seem to be O.K. during the day. John, my coach a young Singaporean was very good. Very encouraging and explained well. Trying to change my back hand to a double handed. I can see the reason so I will work on it. The lesson was so goo that I booked an other for tomorrow, 9am. Had a lovely long swim after the tennis, hopefully that will cut down on sore limbs. Peter and Graeme have gone to Malaysia for golf and  Charlotte has a full day in School.   Once I had recovered I caught a taxi into town and just walked around looking ins shops. Not looking at clothes at all, their sizes are very small, and I have not denied myself anything on this trip. I remembered that Tangs stock Bodum so had a look for the salt grinder we want. They did have the re-chargeable pepper one, but not the salt one. The assisted thought that they don't have the salt ones in Singapore. She did look it up in the catalogue, so I got the name 'ASO' and the product number.   I continued down Orchard road, very busy, nice that it has stopped raining. Also very noisy. I went into Lucky Plaza and found a cooling pad for my laptop. A little dearer than I had planned, but also smaller.. I got him down from 45 to 39, no doubt I will find it somewhere else for 25. Still it works, my laptop is keeping cooler and hasn't crashed since I got it.   I had a look at a large bookshop in Centre mall, checked to see if the had the latest of Steve Caplins books, Art and Design in Photoshop. No luck but then I think It's only just out in UK. I can get it from Amazon UK now   for 18 pounds or Amazon USA in October for $40.00us. So for now I settled for a Photoshop Creative to read on the plane.   I was looking for somewhere for a light lunch and finally settled for a Starbucks where you could sit outside and watch the people.   Had a short rest when I got home before getting Charlotte from the bus. She was as usual full of life and talk.   I was cooking dinner tonight. Showing Tess how to do roast pork with cracking and red cabbage. The cracking wasn't a great success. I don't think the pork had enough fat. So we stuck it under a high grill and burnt it. The pork was however lovely and moist. And if Tess makes it again, she will not feel too bad if her crackling doesn't work either.   My washing problems continue. I gave my pink shorts to Tess after tennis, remembering to remove any tissues, and pointing out they would need to be washed separate or they would turn everything pink. A few hours later I remembered my watch was in the pocket. Surprisingly my $29.00 watch survived.   With the Olympics over, Lisa and I sat down and watch some programs of our choice.   26th August Tuesday.   After my tennis yesterday I thought I would have a good nights sleep, wrong. So I didn't get up till 7am and felt quite groggy. Very happy that my tennis wasn't till 9am. Didn't feel sore, but rather stiff.   My tennis lesson was great. Learnt more and got to do quite a bit of running around. Got a blister on my thumb. Had a wonderful long swim afterwards, well perhaps not so much swimming as just floating around in the water. Sun had come out while I played tennis so sat in one of the chairs and dried off.   Did some work and then had a ½ hour lie down before Charlotte came back just after 12. We had promised to take her to Jarong Bird park Graeme said we could take the car. Peter was pretty sure he could find the way there, as they go past it when they got to Malaysia to play golf. He was a bit worried about finding the way back, but I assured him that it would not be a problem as we could use my GPS. Have got a routable map of Singapore in it.   Halfway there the heavens opened up, traffic slowed to a crawl. We where hoping it was one of the normal Singapore downpours that come and go pretty quickly,  not the weekend rain continued. By the time we got to the Bird park it had stopped, still overcast, but of course warm. We decided to take the umbrella for insurance and for Peter to use as a walking stick.   We started off with a look at the penguins, lots of them and a great display. Then on to the train which circles the park up high on a monorail. There are only 3 stops, we got off on the 2nd one, walked to the waterfall, through a rain forest, lots of lobely blue and gold water starlings around. We watched a feeding of them. You could buy a little container with small live worms and hold it up to them. The idea was that they would perch on your hand. A few did, but I think they were too shy and overfeed.   Walked down to the little lake and looked at the Pelicans and white swans. Then the hundred of parrots. Charlotte of course walked 10 steps for every one of ours. We stopped at the lily pond and we could here lots of frogs, but disappointingly didn't see any. Took the train again, and then sat down with an ice-cream. Had a look at the flamingos, a very deep orangey pink variety from Caribbean. Some Very large strange looking birds, like a Shoebill. We then set of for the Birds of Pray Show.   Got seats right at the front.   The parks blurb: ·   Be wowed by cruising Turkey Vultures, whooshing by your ear ·   Watch the ONLY trained tree-climbing Himalayan Griffon Vulture in the world display its skills ·   Feed Brahminy Kites the Chinese way --- with chopsticks! ·   See how an eagle balances itself in the face of a strong wind. ·   Brace yourself for a spectacular sight of 20 different birds of prey ~ kites, vultures, storks, eagles, hawks all congregating at the arena at the same time.   It was actually quite amazing, especially how close the birds swooped over you. Both Peter and charlotte could feel the feathers as they flew past, I had 2 practically crash on top of my head. So close that the man in charge asked if I was O.K. My only thought was, I wish I had got a photo of that. Charlotte  did move a little closer to me after that.   Time to head home, with a last look at the Penguins. Traffic was better than expected, so the trip home was easy.   Tess had made my favourite Sweet and Sour Pork for dinner. We met Lisa in town after dinner. Went to the Long Bar at Raffels lovely atmosphere, it's the bar there the floors are covered in Peanut shells. Nice peanuts too, quite small and a white skin. Peter, Lisa and I started with a Singapore sling, what else would you have at Raffles. Much fancier that the ones we get on the plane. They are quite sweet so we followed with a G&T.      
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219679700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219679700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219679700/tpod.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:11:32 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Singapore, Singapore

23rd August - Saturday Singapore   We had a pretty quiet day relaxing at home. Lisa, Graeme and Charlotte had a dental appointment in the morning. It poured down most of the day. Unusual for Singapore, the do get a lot of rain, but it usually doesn't last long. Even Charlotte was asking why it kept raining. Lisa, Charlotte and I did some grocery shopping in the afternoon. Found a fun place for kids to paint some pictures, which were then baked into a plastic stick-on. I had had a good nights sleep (thanks to a little pill) so I felt good, Peter was feeling pretty jet lagged.   24th Sunday Lisa and I managed to get a game of tennis in the morning. We went into town around noon to meet up with some of their friends for lunch, Yum Chao. We had a little walk through Chinatown, got to the restaurant just as it started raining. Had a lovely long lunch with far too much food and plenty of wine. It was still raining quite heavy when we left.   After our big lunch we decided to safe the roast pork dinner we had planned for an other day. Graeme bought Pizzas, which was all we needed.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219396500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219396500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219396500/tpod.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:45:07 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Fredericia, Jutland, Denmark

17th August - 21st.   Sunday Today we were having a Danish lunch. Lots of different things, pickled herring, liver pate with bacon, roast pork with cracking, fish balls, fish fillets, shrimp, chicken carry salads, salami and lots more and of course all kind of delicious chesses. I try to make Danish lunches at home, but they are never as good as the ones we get in Denmark, and Marianne always makes it look so easy. Søren had already done some shopping and Marianne and I went and got the finally bits in the morning.   We picked our sister Birgit up at the train station. Later our brother Peter arrived with mor. He was on call, but was hoping he wouldn't be called. He is the pathologist for Southern Denmark.  Unfortunately he was called and had to leave early for a 3 hour drive. The rest of us had a very nice lunch, ate far too much as usual. It was lovely seeing Birgit again and catching up with her news. I think mor enjoyed being there, but a times it's hard to tell. We had planned to take a photo of the 4 siblings but Peter  (brother) left before we had a chance. Peter (husband) took one of the 3 of us leaving a space for Peter, after all he would be back the next day. With Photoshop it should not be a problem insert him.   Later in the afternoon I took some photos of Marianne and Søren, and Marianne took some of Peter and me. I had taken some of Claus and his brother Peter   for her earlier in the day. In the evening some friends of Marianne's came round, we had skipped dinner and so had some wine and cheese when they came. It was a very pleasant end to a good day.   Monday 18th. A pretty quiet day. While far was alive I sent lots of photos to them. He had put them all in albums (with dates). After he died, mor said they were mine but she would like to keep them for the time being. Now was the time to bring them home. We had bought a big box at the post office and the albums just about fitted in them, a bit of spare space for some clothes and books I didn't need. I had expected it to take at least 6 weeks, but the form from the Post Office said 5 - 7 working days, so Søren said the would post them next week. Couldn't risk that they actually arrived while we were still away. Far had also kept all my letters, but I wanted to take them in my luggage. Marianne photocopied some years (65-71) some years ago and sent them to me. I thought they were the earliest ones, but I now found they dated right back to when I learnt to write. Quite amazing to get your whole life back like that. I'm really looking forward to reading them and getting them on the computer for my girls. The early ones were of course written in Swedish. Peter (brother) arrived late after noon stayed for dinner and we then drove with him back Fredericia a 2 hour drive. Up till about 10 years ago when they built a bridge you had to take a ferry across '"Store Baelt", which from memory took a couple of hours. Had a drink and a chat with Julia when we got there and then off to bed.   Peter had taken the day off so we could spend it together. We started with a walk in the forest. Only a 10 minutes walk from there house, but with Peters   sore knee we drove there. We took his dog Fluffy with us, we then did a tour around the area. Starting off by having an ice-cream down by the water. Great strawberry icecream and very generous too. We asked and were charged for 2 scopes but got at least 4 in each. Only problem was that there wee quite a lot of wasps around that were keen to share our ice creams. Next we headed into Frederica to buy a computer for Sebastian. Peter wanted my advice. Hopefully I gave the right advice. We ended up with a nice grunty machine. Fluffy is a very obedient dog. Peter has a hatchback, he leaves the dog in the back with the hatch open and it stays there.   We then drove around town. Frederica is a lovely old town (pop. 40000) , with most of it's rampart still in tact. It was founded in 150 by Frederic III. It was built with defence in mind, so all the streets are very straight to ease troop movement. There are many lovely old houses in the centre of town.   We then had a look at a mini copy of the town anno 1890. All the houses are scale models of house. Some houses still stand. It's a work in progress with about 1 new house added each week.   We drove across Lille Baelts broen to Fyn and Middlefart, where we had a nice lunch by the waters edge having a view of both the old and new Lille Baelts bro.   We had a lovely dinner, Peter and I went for a short walk after dinner. We had originally planned to drive with Peter to Odense (where he works) on Tuesday morning and take the train from there, but he had to be in court in Svendborg at 9.30. So we decided it would be much easier for us to take a taxi to the railway station in Frederica.   Tuesday 21st.   We had a nice slow start to the morning, taxi arrived as booked at 9.30. It wasn't far to the station and it only cost 71 D.Kr which was less than we paid for a taxi to the airport at home (9minutes). The train was very comfortable so the 1 ½ past pretty quick. We were going to visit Peters cousin Jane and her husband Niels. I had woken with a headache that slowly worked itself into a migraine. Niels picked us up at the station in Slagelse about 45 minutes from their home. By the time we got there my migraine was pretty bad. And for once I didn't have any migraine tablets, Neurofen did nothing. Jane had put on a lovely lunch, but I have to admit I didn't eat much. Still it was lovely seeing them again and their daughter Emilie.   Marianne arrived around 2pm and had coffee with us. She was in high school with Niels and has of course always know Jane as Jane's mother was not only Peter's aunt but also my godmother.   We got back to Marianne's just after 5pm. She went to do some shopping while Peter and I packed. An other nice dinner, with both the boys. It has been great to see them again. Claus was in France too, but Peter was working, so it was lovely that he came around so often.   It will be sad to leave Denmark, our time was much to short, we had planned to spend much more time there, but by the time all the other plans had been laid we had run out of time.  I so wish we lived closer to Marianne and Søren. The good news is that they are coming to visit us in January. We will really have to do something special to match their hospitality.                
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219390860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219390860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1219390860/tpod.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:42:36 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Singapore, Singapore

21 August Copenhagen to Singapore   Had a lovely breakfast with Søren and Marianne, Søren had been to the baker for fresh bread. They do have such wonderful bread, good thing I don't live there the whole time.   Søren drove us to the airport. I had my receipts stamped so I could get my refund once we had checked in. check in was pretty painless. Got my refund and promptly spent it on some nice Danish food to take to Lisa. We also got a couple of bottles of Akvavit to take back to NZ.   Flight left at 11.30 and got into Singapore at 5.30am, so while we flew through the night in our minds it was still 23.30 when we arrived in Singapore. So it was hardly surprising I didn't sleep on the plane. However I felt reasonably comfortable, watched 3 movies and read about 10 years of old letters. My dad had saved all the letter I had ever written, right from when I first learned to write. The first few years were not all that interesting, but once I got to the teenage years they were a lot of fun, brought back lots of memories. I'm quite looking forward to reading the rest and sharing them with my girls.   Despite the early arrival Graeme was at the airport to meet us. Especially admirable since he hadn't got to bed till 2.30am. I do have some wonderful son-in-laws. Charlotte was sitting just inside the front door waiting for us. Se was very happy to see us.   Lisa had to go to work, Peter and I had a few hours sleep in the morning while Charlotte was in school. Much needed. That pretty well kept us going for the rest of the day apart form a few cat naps watching the Olympics.   Lisa was back from work early and we had a lovely Tom Yum soup for diner. A hot noddle seafood soup.   We all had an early evening.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218989160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218989160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218989160/tpod.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:07:17 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Copenhagen, Denmark

Friday the 15th August Had a great nights sleep and woke up to a beautiful morning. Peter and Søren were going to play golf. Marianne and I were planning a trip to town, possibly Tivoli. First I needed to take some photos of her for her CV and Facebook. We took quite a few. Wonderful to be able to download them straight away and see how we were doing.   Eventually we headed into town. We parked by the new Theatre opposite the Opera. They were building the theatre last time we were here. We walked through the foyer and then along Nyhavn across Kongesn Nytorg, where they had an antique market. Walked along Størget and had a good look at Illum Boglihus. Marianne found some of her knives at ½ price. I found lots of things I would have liked, but restrained myself. Looked for a rechargeable salt grinder to match our pepper one, but they didn't have any.   We stopped for lunch in Nyhavnen, Marianne had smoked salmon and I had a big plates of Danish shrimps. Had to peel them myself, which reminded me of the old days. Really lovely. My grandmother always use to buy them. Had a bit of a problem when it came to pay. I thought the waiter had a problem with my Danish, but it turned out he didn't speak Danish at all, and asked me to talk in English.   After lunch we drove to a farm further out than their place. It's owned by an old Friend of Marianne's. She was there to pick up some mince from a newly slaughtered beast. They also a couple of brand new calves.   By the time we got home we had to get a move on. Friend of ours Paul and Gilla were coming for dinner. We thought they were coming at 6pm, but just as we got ready, Søren told us he had said 6.30pm to them, so we had a bit of a breather. Their son Peter came home with a friend while we were preparing dinner. They wanted some cooking advice, and ended up leaving with all the ingredients too. Great seeing them but a rather noisy time.   Paul and Gilla both looked well and we had a wonderful evening. Søren cooked pork fillets stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon on the BBQ. Marianne had a divine cake for dinner. A very crisp base and top, filled with a mixture of Mascarpone and cream cheese. We sat around talking till very late. Olympics not going to well for Danes or New Zealand, well at least Denmark has 2 bronze, one of them in swimming by Lotte Friis, so I will lay claim to that one.   Saturday 16th August A beautiful morning. Clear blue skies, and lots of plans that came to nothing. We all played around with Facebook and I helped Søren move his emails etc from his old laptop to his new one. After a quick lunch we headed off for some shopping and to visit mor. She is in a home now. Her sight and memory isn't too good, but her hearing seems fine. She seemed to remember me, and was certainly happy that we came to visit.   Home to prepare an other meal. Peter's cousin Helene was coming with husband Poul and son Malte. Helene is the cousin Peter has had most contact with. She visited us in New Zealand about 20 years ago, and we have always seen here when we have visited Denmark. It was lovely to see them again, we had a very pleasant evening, started with drinks outside and then moved inside for a wonderful Rib roast that Søren had done on the BBQ. Marianne had done her wonderful herb loaf again. It pretty quick to make, so I will have to get the recipe.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218893280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218893280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/friiskiwi/1/1218893280/tpod.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:29:28 -0400 Nelson New Zealand to.. Singapore-Paris-Riviera-Toulouse-Vienna- St.Petersburg-Stockholm-Copenhagen-Singapore and back to Nelson

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Copenhagen, Zealand, Denmark

12 August 2008, Tuesday, Copenhagen We were all up early and got away before our 7am deadline. We had allowed ourselves plenty of time. Jan-Erik drove us to the rail station. No traffic to speak of, lovely morning with clear blue skies. Bought our pensioner tickets, ½ price so it cost 220.00kr for the 2 of us instead of each. As luck would have it I had exactly 220.00 Swedish kroner. We got straight on the train, which left as soon as we had boarded. Arland was such a lovely change from the airport in St. Petersburg. Spacious, modern and not a lot of people. We had a bit of a walk, but plenty of time. I logged onto the net while we were waiting at the gate, caught up with emails and a few other things.   I know there are a lot of lakes in Sweden but I was still amazed at the landscape below the plane. Large and small lakes of all shapes, really beautiful. Coming into land in Copenhagen was fascinating. The plane had a camera underneath so you could see the landscape and then the tarmac as we were touching down.   Søren was waiting for us as we came through customs (which was a walk through). Claus was parking the car. Søren was off on a flight to London, but would be back for diner. It was a bit drizzly and grey but nice and warm. It does make you feel old when the boys you remember as toddlers playing with toy cars, pick you up and drive you home.   We hadn't seen Marianne's and Søren's new house. It's close to their old one, and they bought it soon after we were here 5 years ago. It was a lovely house, with a small lake at the end of the garden. The house is very light and modern, on 5 levels. The did quite a bit of work on it both inside and out before they moved in. The have a lovely bird feeder outside the kitchen window, with lots of interesting birds, and the cutest little squirrel. Marianne came home and joined us for lunch, a lovely Danish lunch. We spent the afternoon catching up, and of course had a beautiful dinner. Their son Peter called around in the evening to see us. It was great seeing him again, he looked great. He is working as a bricklayer apprentice and really enjoying it.   Wednesday 13th. August Marianne had to work part of the day. Peter and I had a very quiet day, as we were both feeling very tired. Weather was very changeable, sunny one minute showers the next. My good friend Winnie was in Copenhagen from the States. She had been on a cruise to St. Petersburg and Moscow. We picked her up around 4pm from her cousins place. She had really enjoyed her cruise. Seems you are better off on an organised tour. We hadn't seen Winnie for years, were trying to figure out if it was 5 years ago, here in Denmark or the trip before. Surprise surprise, we had an other amazing diner.   Søren had a deer fillet on the bone. I was wondering how it would be, as it was from a wild deer. I expected it too be tough and gamey.  How wrong I was. Søren did it one the BBQ. It was absolutely perfect, slightly rare, and very tender. Winnie stayed the night.   Thursday 14th August An other quiet morning sitting around talking. We had talked of going to town for lunch when Søren came back from his yearly checkup, but the weather was really too changeable. So after we dropped Winnie off we came back home for lunch. Marianne and I went to Lyngby for some shopping. I wanted to get some extra knives and forks for my set. Didn't have enough when we had Peter's birthday, also some of them are getting a bit tired. Not surprising as we got the first bits 45 years ago. They were about $30.00nz each so I was only going to buy 4 of each, until I remembered that I could get the moms(GST) back, so I bought 5 of each. Peter got quite excited at first thinking I had bought some spoons like the ones Marianne has, and was wondering why I would buy something I already had. The weather really cleared up late afternoon and Marianne and I had a lovely long walk, 6km through the lovely forest  at the back of their property. Around some small lakes, through a beach forest and through fields. We also walked past their old house. The road looked a little different, as before the gardens were all open to the road, now many had tall hedges hiding them from the road. Søren had to go too work that evening, and we decided to have something light, so made a pasta with Chanterelles , ham and lots of cream and of course a little wine.....
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Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

9th - 12th August, Stockholm   Peter and I had a quiet morning, feeling rather tired after St. Petersburg, I caught up on emails and some work. Anders picked us up around midday   to take us to Anna-Karin's place. Anna-Karin and Kalle live in Nasbypark, not far from where I sued to live. The forecast was for rain, but it was nice and sunny when we got there. They have a lovely big house, with plenty of space for the 4 children. Leo was at our but the 3 girls were there, all very blond and Swedish. Kale made a lovely lunch and we were able to sit outside by the pool and eat. A week earlier the pool had been really warm (solar heated) but with the rain they had had lately it had cooled right down. Didn't seem to worry the kids too much. Hilary (6) was practising her swimming. Sonia 3, thought about it, and Ylva 1 year old was very keen to get into the pool, so we had to keep an eye on her. We were fascinated by their lawnmower, and automatic thing that just crawled around the grass and cut it. Gerda also used to live close by, and remember the house being built in the 70th. A lot of talk about it as it was quite different from the usual house, and the section was so small. Now with all the infill housing, the section is big in comparison with what is being built on now.   We came home early evening, and it started raining, we had discussed if we should go out, or just buy some food. It was well after 8pm before I got up enough energy to even go an buy some. Not to strenuous actually, as there was a large supermarket across the street. I picked ups some bits and pieces that we could pick on with a glass of wine.   It was a shame it was raining, because this was the day when all the 'old boys' brought their fancy cars out (from the 50th and 60th) and cruised up and down the street the whole day and half the night. Peter really enjoyed seeing the cars of his youth.   Sunday the 10th.   Gerda and Jan-Erik came back late morning, and we pretty soon left to drive to Waxholmen to visit Anders and Britta. When we last did that, (about 5 years ago) we had a wonderful long lunch on their jetty. We had hoped for a repeat of that day, but the weather was not in our favour. It wasn't raining, but it was pretty grey, cold and windy. Still sitting in their house with a wonderful view of the archipelago and the ferries and cruise shops coming and going between Stockholm and Helsinki was not exactly a hardship.   We started off with afternoon coffee, sitting outside, with lots of beautiful home baking. A tour of the house and some wine, and soon it was time for a beautiful meal. We started with new potatoes, sild, cheese and of course akvavit. Britta makes a lovely dish, with different kinds of sild. To follow that a enormous baked salmon and white asparagus with a hollandaise sauce. Despite the fact that we could hardly move, we managed to finish off with some ice-cream and fresh strawberries and raspberries.   We sat around and talked for awhile when we got back, but went to bed fairly early. Gerda and jan-Erik had had a long day, first driving from Darlanda and then to Waxholmen, and they both had to be at work early on Monday.   11th August Monday   We started the day slowly, must be getting old, but eventually we headed into town. Not very far really as they live so near the centre of town that you can easily walk. We took the underground to Gamla Stan, and then walked around for a few hours. We got caught in a shower, but otherwise we were fine. We first walked through the old town, then along Drottning Gatan to Hotorget, down Kungsgatan to Stureplan, all the streets I remember from my youth. We caught the underground to Kungstradgarden, where we had lunch. After lunch we walked to Sergel Torg and caught the underground home. We just got home before it started to pour down. Gerda and jan-Erik came home soon after. We had bought some fresh Chanterelle the previous day which we were planning to have for dinner with a pork fillet. We had a lovely dinner, and were quite sad that we have to leave already then next day.
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St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

080808  August 8th St. Petersburg to Stockholm     Had a good nights sleep, but only because I took a sleeping pill at around 11pm. Also a large does of vitamin C. felt a little like I had a cold coming on. Probably from getting cold on the bus. When it wasn't windy, you really suffered from the fumes from the cars, when the wind came up it was freezing. Woke up to a grey day, not exactly raining but drizzling. Not enough to stop us for going out on our last day. Thought we would walk to the Russian state Museum. A nice walk, seemed a bit warmer, probably because there was no wind. We walked past the church on spilt blood. It is such an amazing looking church, with all it's spires and domes. Walked through the park to the museum, followed the sings for entry. Could see no sign of an entrance. We asked a girl standing down some stairs by what looked like a cellar door. Yes we could get in there. Had to walk quite some way to get to the ticket office. The state museum is for Russian art displayed in chronological order. Not to crowded. We started off with Icons from around 1100. and continued up through the ages, there were some lovely works. None of the artist known to us. Then we came to a dead end. They are doing renovations (as everywhere else in St. Petersburg) so we had to go back the same way we came. Did find some other rooms we could go through, but again, we eventually had to retrace our steps. A little annoying. Weather hadn't changed. We walked back to the hotel, needed to check out at noon. So we left our bags in the foyer, taking only my backpack with the computer and passports, and of course the camera.   Did a bit more walking, but the weather really wasn't inductive to it. Peter said If we could find an internet café (with food) we could go there. I know there are lots around, but they don't seem to be well advertised. We found one that said WIFI, but when we queried it, they said no. I had been told KFC had WIFI. so we went there. They even had an ATM for paying for it. Before trying to figure out how to pay, I wanted to be sure I could get a connection. Some networks did show up, but nothing useful. So we just had some lunch. Better luck at the airport. We were told that our van was booked for 14.13, will be interesting to see what time it turns up. We asked if we could keep the keys when we left, and she came back with a string of Russian. Unsure what it meant, we decided to keep the keys. The really like their music here, haven't been in any place to eat yet, where they haven't had some music playing, often western.   We need to get back to the hotel soon, but it looks even wetter now. Haven't done any shopping, Not even window shopping. They don't seem to be into large beautiful window displays, the few shop windows you see look pretty drab and tired. Some of the top names are a little better, but only in that they don't look old and Dusty.   Getting out of Russia was not easy, we had been told to book a taxi for 3 hours before our departure time. Seemed a long time, but it wasn't. 50 minutes to the airport. As soon as we got into the airport, we had to join a line to get through security. Took us about 50 minutes to get to the head of the line. All the luggage through the xray. Didn't have to remove the computer from the bag, or were queried on all my USB sticks etc. Peter had to remove belt and shoes. Everybody was patted down after going through the xray.   No wait at the SAS counter, next it was time to line up for passport control, wasn't too painful. Once through there we had a quick look around the duty free and then lined up for yet an other security check. Shoes, belts and jackets off, but computers stayed in the bag, an other pat down and onto the bus to take us to the plane. 3 hours from hotel to plane, and not time to sit and relax.  The flight was only 1 hour 15 and with the time difference we arrived before we left.   Final thoughts on St. Petersburg, I'm very glad we went, but won't be going back again. It was just not a comfortable place. The lack of English got to us, never really worried us in China or Cambodia. People in St. Petersburg just weren't very friendly or happy.   Anders (Gerda and Jan-Erik's son) picked us up at the airport. I had forgotten how far out it was, as the last few times we have come to Stockholm we have flown into Bromma. He took us back to Gerda's place (they are away). Anders and his partner Helena made us a lovely dinner. Weather was a bit grey and cool. There were lots of things going on in Stockholm, but we were both too tired to go anywhere.
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