The best day in Paris EVER!

I suppose some people would say "Paris, again?" but maybe no one I know.  That's right this is my fourth stay in Paris (but yes, I'm counting the two days before and two days after when I went to Greece as two separate visits).  I love Paris, it's one of the few areas that I have been to that I have thought, yup, I could live here.  It has a coming home feel.

But this is my first time in Paris with someone else.  No more going to Musee Rodin three times in one week... Well at least I don't think I can.  Time will tell.

We have some loose plans because it was my birthday... Musee Rodin and a lunch in the cafe in the Rodin garden..  The Musee Rodin is easily my favorite museum and really, my favourite place in Paris.  So we headed straight there after arriving, checking in (and me taking a hour nap... I was so tired and didn't sleep on the plane).

From there we wondered around in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. We thought we may go up with the stairs were closed and the line for the elevators was insanely long so instead we thought we would climb the Arc de Triomphe stairs not realizing it's doesn't look that far on the map but is actually quite far in real life... So we figured we would take the elevator instead... Until it was out of service when we got there... So... After a bit of debate we decided to walk up the stairs to the top... Just in time for the sunset.  It was beautiful up there and we got some amazing photos of the city just as the sun was setting.

It really the most perfect day ever. 

Happy Birthday Day!

Another awesome birthday in Copenhagen... I pretty sure this is my third birthday here! And it delivered!

I woke up in the morning to a traditional Danish birthday as Anna had decorated the room with Danish flags (awesome!)  She got me this awesome mini squeeze bottle of Sriracha! It's totally going to be attached to my purse at all time starting as soon as I get back to Canada!

It was a cloudy and rainy day which made it perfect for some museum visits.  They recently opened a new aquarium here - Den Blå Planet so I took the bus out to see it... it's right next to the airport so it really is a buuuuuus ride out there.  It was totally worth it.  They had three sections - Danish lakes and rivers, tropical lakes and rivers, and the ocean.  

I though the ocean would be the neatest part but I really liked the Danish lakes and rivers.  Also because it's so new all the interactive points worked so you can learn how a fish listens, feels and sees.  Very neat.  They also have sea otters which you could get up close to and see.

They had build a rainforest above the lakes and rivers section which make it very neat to see all the plant and birds as well as go below and see all the fish that rely on what happens above.  Plus they had piranhas... cool! 

The ocean part was not as cool as I expected... I think I'm officially aquarium spoiled... especially after the Lisbon aquarium and the new Toronto aquarium.  The Copenhagen one just ended up looking a bit sparse in comparison.

After heading back to town I headed to the NY Carlsberg Glyptoteket which is an art gallery based on the personal Carlsberg collection (yes, the owner of the beer company).  Lots of great danish pieces but they had a whole room of Rodin (AWESOME!) as well as a few Degas and one Van Gogh.  And it was free because it was my birthday!  Kidding!  It was free because it was Tuesday!

From there I went to the Danish National Museum for a few of Denmark starting from it's existence... I got the the Bronze age (3200 - 600 BC) and kinda skimmed the rest.  There was a LOT of history in this gigantic three floor museum! 

Anna and I then made our way to Tiin Tiin for dinner - a one michelin star Thai restaurant!  It was so delicious!!  Here are a few highlight pics!

A great way to start my 37th year!

Home Sweet Copenhagen

Back again!  So what do you do on your third trip to Copenhagen, on Monday when most museums are closed, and it's going to POUR rain tomorrow?  Walking tour!!

Well... after a quick spin down the pedestrian street to do shopping (I bought some more dish clothes... they really are the best!)  I headed down by the water and stopped by Nyhavn then up along the Winter Castle (just in time for the changing of the guard) and then down to the Citadel and the Little Mermaid. 

I then doubled back and visited the Resenborg castle.  I hadn't been before, and it was really amazing castle.  It was a great royal museum and I got to see the crown jewels of Denmark.

I then strolled back to the hotel stopping for a organic hotdog from a street vendor and a lemon and mint san pellegrino (delicious!)

We opted for a take out Vietnamese dinner and walked back to the hotel room to enjoy it.  Super Yummy!  It should be interesting to see how it compares to tomorrow night's dinner! 

Lovely Arendal

I have some blog catch up to do... I opted to have a bath in the hotel instead of writing a post... it's not often you get a bath tub in Europe so it's so hard to say no!

I also left out some great moments from the day before... so her's a large recap on our time in Arendal! 

The train was super easy to make our way from Oslo to Arendal and we even got to go on an older train for the last 30 minutes.  The while trip had that lovely rock motion that I bravely fought off with Gravol!  

When we arrived Anna's friend was there to meet us and she took us back to your place right on the water.  It was a beautifully sunny and absolutely gorgeous day!  It wasn't long before her husband (and her daughter) showed up with a fresh catch of mackerel.  He had recently become a commercial fisherman and is starting a business catching different types of fish and lobster. 

We had an amazing meal of fresh fish and zucchini salad.  After lunch we made apple cider form local apples that they had recently picked.  They then ferment the apple to make hard cider.  We got to try some from the last batch at dinner.  I had a lot of fun cranking and throwing in apples.  

We had a great homemade pizza dinner and then later after dark some local fruit cobbler by their waterfront and fire pit.

The next morning we got up and headed our to one of the close islands by boat to hang by the beach and have a picnic.  It was cool out but didn't stop one of us (not me) from going swimming.  She said it was brisk but refreshing.  Lunch was a great collection of Norwegian foods like Jarlsberg cheese, cheese in squeeze tubes (we had blue and jalapeño), crackers, chips, as well as homemade guacamole and salsa.  Super yummy. 

We then walked around the island a bit before we headed back to the boat and back to her friend's place to finish packing up and head to the bus stop to catch the "Fly Bus" to the closest airport.  The whole time it was sunny and a gorgeous day.  

 

We then flew our way to Copenhagen and my last stop before I head home to Canada. 

Beautiful day in Arendal

IWe got up early to take the train to Arendal (just like Frozen!) and met up with Anna's friends from Halifax that now live in Norway. 

Arendal is spectacularly beautiful and we had a great afternoon of hanging out, having great food and great talks.  

We even took some time to press some local apples to make cider!  DELICIOUS! 

Finally feeling better too! 

A Sunny Day in Oslo

The plan for the day was to hit all the art museums!  And there are so many here!  Like four modern / contemporary ones!  Sadly my stomach did not want to cooperate... I've spent most of the day feeling ill.

But I wanted to see what I could do, I slept in a bit and then headed to the National Gallery which was basically next door to my hotel.  It was an amazing gallery and the tour book I bought allowed me to see the highlights in no time.  Including one of Munch's Scream paintings!

And then the sun came out and I decided I wanted to send some time outside instead of inside.  So I headed to Vigeland Park which is a sculpture garden.  I loved Gustav Vigeland's work so I took in his museum at the corner of the park. 

At that point I was done... and really feeling awful.  I headed back to my hotel to take a bit of a nap.  

Anna came by after her conference was over and we went to the grocery store for OJ and crackers... dinner for sick champions. 

I'm hoping to get some extra sleep tonight because we have a super early start as we head out on the train to Arendal.  Hopefully we can make the 7 minute train transfer! 

Its raining and Oslo is still awesome!

So I'm pretty sure Oslo took it as a challenge to show me just how rainy their city could be.  Knowing going into the day it was going to be a rainy one I planned to binge on museums.  

Oh and rain it did... it POURED... that heavy rain that when you use an umbrella it doesn't really stop the rain... it more like changes it from torrential downpour to a constant mist.  Even when I came out of a museum and it was only a light rain it opened up again for a real downpour.

I do, however, have to hand it to Oslo, in spite of the rain, this city is epic awesome!  The transit system alone was amazing! 

So what did I do with my day?

I started out by realizing that "take away" is notably cheaper than sitting and eating.  This started my "take away" day... with breakfast and the realization that when it's pouring rain it's next to impossible to hold an umbrella and coffee while trying to eat yogurt with a spoon.  So I started out my day a bit water logged.

I took the bus to the Kon-Tiki museum and the Tram Museum.  Both were quite awesome but you got to go into the Tram ship in the Tram museum which was super neat.  Although it did found the Tram museum smell a bit like old motors... ick!

I then jumped on the next bus and headed to the Holocaust Center which was mostly in Norwegian but they did lend me a tablet that had English translation.  I loved the location and the super green garden behind the centre (obviously so green because of all this rain!!) 

Then back with the bus to visit the Viking Museum and see some of the amazing Viking ships they had found buried in the fields.  They used to bury special people in these amazing ships with horses, carts, other people... almost Egyptian style with all the items they may need in their afterlife.

Back to the bus and I headed to the Norwegian Resistance Museum that provided details on all the efforts the Norwegians took to resist the occupation of the Germans during World War II.  It was interesting museum right next to the Akershus Castle (which is only open on weekends).

I then grabbed a a very late lunch hot dog and ate it in the pouring rain before I headed into the Nobel Peace centre.  This one was probably my favourite.  It was amazing to see all the award winners and why they won but also the focus on Martin Luther King Jr. and Malala Yousafzai was very interesting.  I also got some great shots of the City Hall and the surrounding sculptures.  Which looked so much more amazing in the rain.

I also stopped to take a look around the Royal Castle... but at this point I was tired... and tired of being soaked.

I headed back to the hotel to try off and figure out what to have for dinner.  I was craving Chinese food and believe it or not there is a fancy Chinese restaurant an 8 minute walk from my hotel and they had take away!  Score!  I had this really tasty and spicy szechuan dish with a glass a wine from the hotel (this hotel is a really great deal!)

Tomorrow... I'm going to binge on art!