Traveling to Olso

We had hoped to squeeze in the Nobel Prize Museum but as it turns out it didn't open until 11am and we had to be at the airport for 11:20am.

So instead we slept in a bit and then made out way back to the main square of old town to grab one last cinnamon and cardamom bun.  The bun has a really pretty lattic design and is so delicious.  We then made out way to the airport and splurged on the ultra fast (non-stop) train to the airport.  It was relaxing and lightening fast.

We arrived at Oslo around 3:00 and seeing as we liked the lightening fast train in Stockholm so much we took the Oslo one into town.

I got an Oslo pass at the airport which included all subways, ferries, and pretty much every museum in Oslo.  I did have enough time to squeeze in one museum before Anna and I were going to meet up from dinner but instead I decided to plan out the next two days in my super tiny room.  It's so tiny but at the same time kinda cozy!

Anna and I met up at my hotel at 5:30 and we headed down to the water where the Oslo Opera house was.  We stopped for some super delicious pizza that had pumpkin cream instead of tomato sauce.  It was surprisingly delicious and I can't wait to try it out when I'm home.  Perhaps with some turkey sausage... Yum!

From there was walked the rest of the way to the Opera to watch Don Giovanni.  The opera house looks beautiful although with all the wood and the orange seats it felt a bit 70's retro even though it was recently built (in 2008).  The opera had some really great parts and was staged with more modern clothing which certainly made it much more interesting to watch.  It kinda had a Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet feel to it.  

First full day in Oslo tomorrow! 

Am I allergic to Reindeer?

Today was food tour day!  I love a great food tours and what better way to learn the city than a 4 hour walking tour with frequent stops for food?!

How about one where you don't find out you are allergic to reindeer?  I could have also been the moose, hard to tell.  I'm fine (really Mom, I am fine) because of some quick thinking from Anna and our tour guide running for some Benadryl.  It also meant we were no longer going for the reindeer dinner we had planned later that night.

The tour was great, we tried:

• Swedish cheese, Cured meats and breakfast beer, 
• Swedish meatballs with potatoes and lingonberry sauce, 
• Fish plate with smoked salmon, picked herring, and shrimp salad, 
• Jams & chocolates, 
• Swedish peppermint candy, and 
• Last stop was Fika which is really coffee and pastry, in this case a cinnamon bun.  

My favourite was probably the Swedish meatballs, so tasty and the lingonberry sauce was INSANELY good.... I don't know what they sell at IKEA because it didn't taste like that!  SPOILER ALERT - Anna and I are thinking about putting lingonberry inside this year's Christmas chocolates.  

Besides, obviously, not being a fan of the cured meats, the pastry wasn't as good as the one I had for breakfast so that stop was a bit of disappointment... but the coffee gave us the shot of energy to continue on a mission to see as many museums as possible in the time period remaining before they closed.

We took the ferry to the island and saw the Vasa museum and the amazing ship.  We opted for the free english tour and was subjected to the slowest talking tour guide ever that took the time to explain what cousins where, you know, just in case all the English speakers in the audience didn't understand the very detailed explanation of what an uncle's son is.  Luckily it didn't take away from the ship and the rest of the museum we mostly sped through after we bailed on the tour.

From there we went to the Spirit museum which was a weirdly trippy museum full of odd English translations.  They even had a hangover room where you could experience the sounds and feeling of a hangover without having one (which totally begs the question, Why?!)  The neat part was that we bought a sampler kit which enabled to sample candy and liquors as we went through different parts of the museum.  It was worth the extra $15 because the museum would just be weird otherwise.  Although this is the first time I've ever drank in the museum so maybe the whole experience was just weird?

From there we planned to visit the ABBA museum but for $30 each it was a bit excessive for a couple of low grade ABBA fans.  So what do you do instead?  Take pictures of yourselves as the girls in ABBA.  It's like you visited and have an extra $30 in your pocket. 

We then hopped on the ferry again and visited the Modern Art Museum.  They had some great installations and some awesome Picassos too! 

We then grabbed the ferry back to the nearest port to our hotel, grabbed a fast crepe dinner and we're back at the hotel. 

 

Sunny Stockholm

So I arrived alive in Stockholm... hardcore jetlagged because it was difficult to rest when you change planes in Reykjavik... it kinda cuts short the usual across the Atlantic flight into two weirdly lengthy legs.   But I do need to hand it to the Iceland airport, super efficient... I think it took less than 20 minutes for me to go though security, clear customs and then get to my connection gate!

I then made my way to downtown Stockholm via the very reasonably priced city trains and metro to meet Anna at the nearest metro station to the hotel.  By that time it was lunch time and the last time I ate was in Toronto.  We dropped off the luggage at the hostel and made out way to a local bakery for some fresh sandwiches.  Really fresh and tasty!  They even had these neat chocolate coconut balls that were really delicious.  

From there we started a walking tour in my travel book.  We were at the end point of the tour so we decided to do it backwards for extra fun... All in all I think we did pretty good.  We saw quite a few churches (from the outside, we both reminisced about our day trip to Toledo where we really learned the true meaning behind Holy Toledo!) 

We stopped halfway through at the "Bloodbath" square where we warmed up with some coffee (very delicious mochaccinos!)  We read about the square where 80 of the Swedish nobility were killed by the ruling Danish monarch leaving one sole heir who later conquered back Stockholm and regained his crown.

We also took some time to see the outside of the Royal Castle and walked along the water, seeing the locks.  We also made a stop at a tiny islet, Riddarholmen, where they had many of their courthouses and a beautiful (from the outside) church.  We could see City Hall (which we may visit tomorrow) from the water.

For dinner we decided on the little place next door that had charcuterie.... It was delicious... and honestly, we were a bit thankful that our waiter had forgotten the rest of our order after the very large charcuterie and grilled provolone. 

I'm so beat and ready to get on Scandi time! 

Rainy Adventure Begins!

So it looks like rain for the trip... In almost every place, everyday!  And apparently Ottawa is helping me get ready for my rainy vacation by raining it up for the last two days!

But who knows, just like the sun that has just showed up in Ottawa, the sun may make an appearance but even if it doesn't the museums and amazing smorgasbords should make it an amazing vaca! 

So what's the plan? 

• I leave tonight to travel though Reykjavik, Iceland to arrive in Stockholm at noon.  
• Spend a day exploring Stockholm including a food tour!
• Travel by train to Oslo
• Museum fest in Oslo including seeing The Scream!
• Train travel to Arendal, Norway for catching up with friends
• Flight to Copenhagen to re-visit some favorites! Smørrebørd and flødeboller!  Plus the extremely delicious sour gummy candy! 
• Birthday dinner with my BFF at Kiin Kiin Thai restaurant!
• Travel back home! 

Should be and awesome, rainy, and whirlwind vacation!

Last Day in Istanbul!

What a wonderful last day!! Just fabulous!

It started with a late wake up... well that was the plan at least. I was up at 6:30 am and read until the 9am alarm. Almost finished my second book!

Once Feni and I were done breakfast we headed to the post office... she needed to send some closes to Italy. It was so cheap to send her 10 kg package for $50 for 15 day delivery! Crazy!!

We then met up with two of our tour-mates who had an extra day and we headed down for a Bosphorus cruise. It was a perfect storm for sea sickness... We arrived 20 minutes early to ensure we got seat on the right side to be able to see everything, there were boats coming and going so the waves were up and down and back and forth, and we were stoppped near three fish bread restaurants (think nasty fish smell). Talk about Bleck! I'm so glad I stuck it out because there were completely spectacular views but the biggest surprise was how close the Istanbul Modern museum was the port. From the map it looks so far...

So as soon as we landed, we split up because I was the only one keen to visit the contemporary art museum. It was so amazing... great art. This is one of my fav pieces.

From there I hunted all over the neighbourhood for a Turkish bath that did not suck. TripAdvisor was pretty harsh on all the ones in my neighbourhood... So I ended up going to the one in the hotel. It was nice to be super clean and shake off all the sunscreen. That was followed by a rest back in the room before we all met up at 8pm for an amazing dinner.

An American tourist we met in a souvenir shop recommended this place that you must have a reservation... he recommended you show up, act really nice, and react sadly when they say everything is reserved and sometimes they will squeeze people in.

We headed now and ask after a table while they all had reserved signs. She said no they were all reserved... Feni said I made the saddest face. At that time the chef and owner walked by... he explained that they don't have any of the Turkish food listed on the menu on the outside. We said, that's great we will eat what you have.

OMG! It was SO SO SO delicious. We decided to try everything. We appetizer we shared two different dishes, asparagus, smoked salmon, cheese and dill and the large scallops. We ordered each a main and when they came, we divided in four portions, we ate one and then switched. We ordered the cherry duck, orange sea bass, lemon salmon, and the amazing-est dish, octopus risotto! For dessert, we shared two desserts... we had the signature dessert of frozen cheesecake and coconut ice with chocolate and strawberries! Delicious!!

Now off to bed and starting the long trek home tomorrow!

 

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Gallipoli and Final Push to Istanbul

Today was a chilly and rainy day and very much inline with the somber places we visited today.

We went to the Gallipoli peninsula and visited the memorials to the soldiers, Australian, New Zealand, and Ottoman Empire. Being Canadian we don't hear much of this battle as just a few Newfoundlanders were involved. We learned about the entire campaign an how tough and trying it really was... plus how poorly organized and planned the Allied campaigns were. This picture is ANZAC or where the Australians and New Zealanders landed. Where they wanted to be was about two miles down the road where it was a sandy beach and not the short beach, open field, dense forest and then treacherous hills.

Hearing the stories of how hopeless the campaign was, how stuck everyone was and the thousands and thousands of young men who lost their lives there before the Allies retreated.

It was very interesting to hear from Mete the Turkish perspective about how they won this battle (although they had lost the war) and how this battle was the unofficial start of Turkey's War for Independence.

What as most impressive (and also made me sob) was the letter that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of the Republic of Turkey wrote to Australia and New Zealand that had been made into a huge plaque at one of the many cemeteries. Every year, on ANZAC Day, they have a large memorial service and next year will be the 100 year anniversary of the campaign.

From the last cemetery, we started the last drive back to Istanbul. It's great to be back in a big city! With the few hours we had before dinner, my roommate and I did a little shopping. I stocked up on Turkish Delight, even the yummy chocolate Turkish Delight (that I'm sure is for tourists!) We got some great shots of the New Mosque (in a place when new is 200 years old!)

We had one final dinner with the group tonight and Mete took us to a awesome Turkish restaurant. So good that many of us thing we will be back tomorrow for dinner!

One last day tomorrow in Istanbul before I start the long trek home!

 

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Birthday Flat Tire, Troy, and Cheesecake

We were up and out the door at 9:30 on our way to visit Troy and a car drove by honking to the same wheel that had caused us to stop previously. The drive stopped and got our and obviously thought he could drive us to the service station. No more than a kilometer late BAM blow out, the wheel was totally shredded. Off to the side of the road we went.

 

Remembering the last time I grabbed by book on the way out... which made for 2 hours of leisurely, side of the road reading while there was a series of debacles... the tire iron was too big, the spare tire was flat. In the end, they had to buy a new tire and then drive it back. By this time it was noon so we drove a bit down the road and stopped for lunch.

 

After lunch we were off for the 2.5 hour trek to Troy. I have to admit the van rides are starting to wear on me. While the travel time is getting smaller the rides seem to get longer and longer. At least we now only have on trek, the trek back to Istanbul.

 

Troy was fun! You need a lot of imagination to imagine what was once there, now it's some strategically place rubble. It was neat to see Athena's temple and some of the very very old structures. The photo below is a close up shot of one of the ceiling tiles.

 

From there we headed to Çanakkale were our hotel is (only 30 minute drive!) and we were given only a hour of free time. I took advantage of the time to just relax, read a bit of my book and get ready for birthday dinner! On the way there we came across the Trojan Horse that was used in the move Troy!

 

Dinner was great, Mete took us to another fabulous restaurant. I had a whole bunch of stuff but I got birthday cake at the end! Yeah Birthday Cheesecake!

 

Heading to bed soon as it will be a super early morning (7:45 start!!)

 

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