Portugal

This year for Christmas I got a cheap package holiday to the south coast of Portugal. It was the low season and it was pretty quiet. It was an ok trip, but I was a bit ill, so that put a damper on things.

A good bit of my time was spent either asleep or huddled around the mini-fan heater in my rented apartment. The sickness itself really wasn't that bad; the worst part was the amount of snot that kept coming out of my face. I didn't even realize I was sick until I dropped my bag off in my room and was about to go out, but decided to lie down for a minute before going. When I was finally ready to leave my room, I had slept for 15 hours and snotted my way through a roll of toilet paper. Pretty gross, I know.

I made it out the second day for a couple of hours, but being awake was still not what I wanted to be. I had a bit of a headache and was either freezing cold or only slightly cold but sweating. I made it to a town called Silves for about an hour and a half. The town was considered the Moorish capital of Portugal and a major city between 6-800 years ago. To me, it just seemed depressing. Looking at the town, it seemed that about 20% of the properties were nice, 20% were for sale, 20% looked average, 20% of the properties were abandoned, and 20% looked like they were abandoned, but weren't.

The town itself couldn't have had a population of more than 5000, and all of that was on a single hill. Maybe I didn't read up enough on the history, but nothing I saw really struck me as a shining example of Moorish architecture and culture.

On Saturday morning I woke up and felt much better. In case you wanted to keep track, I had slept 30 of my 40 hours in Portugal thus far. Not a great way to see a new place, but on the bright side, I had the most amazing and vivid dreams. I think not having the option of a DVD collection and internet connection to fall back on allowed me to get a lot more rest than I normally would. Not that watching YouTube clips of Hot Rod is a bad thing, but at times I think entertainment is better (or more 'entertaining') than sleep, when usually, it is not.

I spent a few hours Saturday at the beach in Albuferia and then made a trip to Faro. The beach was nice. It was raining when I first got there, but it cleared up pretty quickly and while it was never quite sunny, it was a pleasant day. Another plus was that the beach was pretty deserted. I saw a few people here and there, but for the most part, it was just me watching the seagulls eat some pretty disgusting things coming out of the storm drains. Well, that, and walking along cliffs and rocks. I also realized how much of a love/hate relationship I have with the water. Being wet and cold are my least favorite things, but I love being next to the water. If I could figure out a way to stay warm and dry while swimming, I may become aquaman. Until then, I'll be happy to make trips to the seaside as often as I can, but will stop shy of getting in.

Faro was a cool old town. At least the old town was. Portugal has decriminalized drug useage, and it looked like there were some locals getting their Christmas fix right outside the tourist/historical area. A bit sketchy, but once inside the bubble of tourist generated revenue, there were a lot more police and no visible signs of drug use.

After and hour or so walking around looking at the old buildings, stray cats, and cobblestone streets, I headed back to the hotel.

The trip ended on a mostly empty plane followed by a long drive home from Newcastle. All in all not the most exciting trip, but I'm glad I got a chance to see a small part of Portugal.

Hopa Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year came a few days early so that we could travel to Greece with some friends. Thanks to Randy and Sarah for hosting.

Since I don't really have much to say about Greece (besides the fact that it was a good trip, the museums openly admit that Greece peaked around 450 BC, and we found the most amazing restaurant that we went back to a couple of times. Feta cheese and house wine make for a good night), I will just add picture captions...

Cats and the smell of urine were omnipresent in Athens. The cats were mostly all friendly, though.

This is an example of something they found when digging to put in a subway tunnel. You can't swing a dead cat by the tail in Athens without hitting history. Cool for tourists, but probably pretty annoying for anyone trying to lay a buildings foundation (it automatically becomes a protected historic site).

There were a lot of theaters in Athens. No plays that we saw, though...

The protests over austerity measures were still going when we got there, but with riot police on every corner, the protesters were pretty tame.

I think the sanitation workers may have been on strike.

Acropolis around sunset.

Parthenon

Temple of Zeus with the Acropolis in the background and a cat making its presence known.

Huge junk shop with a ton of cool stuff. Unfortunately, the owner wouldn't haggle and I didn't have any bag space to spare.

Acropolis in the late afternoon.

All in all, a good trip. Now it is December already. The time flies.

Scandinavia

Scandinavia in late October is cold, as you might imagine, but overall we were very lucky with the weather. The weather hovered right around freezing for our time there, but with minimal wind, it wasn't unpleasant.

Toompa, above Old town, Tallinn

To start the trip, I flew to Helsinki and tried catching a night ferry across the Baltic Sea to Estonia. Unfortunately, my flight was well over an hour late due to the strikes happening in France, so I ended up getting a later start in Estonia than I had planned.

I made it to Estonia just after noon on Thursday. The capital city Tallinn, has two historic sections: Toompa, located on a cliff and the favorite haunt of the German and Scandinavian professionals, tradesmen, and settlers back in the day; and, separately, Old Town, which is between the harbor and Toompa. Old Town is where the local Estonians lived and worked.

Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia

Both areas were really interesting, but I especially liked Old Town. It looks pretty much what you think the towns in fairy tales look like, including their cylindrical towers with conical roofs. Old Town looks much as it did in 1540, when it was decreed that all new buildings be made of stone in order to prevent fire. Wandering the cobblestone streets made for a good day and a half.

City Wall, Tallinn

Estonia will be joining the European Union on 1 January 2011, which they seem to be happy about, but their recent past was pretty rough. They were basically abused by both the Nazis and Communists beginning in the 1930s, which is something I didn't know before my trip there. In the city museum there was an old curator who told me quite a bit about life during the Cold War when Estonia was a Soviet satellite.

Although much of what he spoke about was tragic, he also told me of how Estonia played an interesting role in the final downfall of the Soviet Union. The people decided that they had had enough abuse and began a "singing revolution." Beginning in 1987, Estonians began gathering around the country to sing folk songs (which the Soviets made illegal) and call for independence. After years of progressively larger protests, the Russians tried to stop the revolution and sent in tanks, but the people blocked their paths by putting boulders in the roads leading into the city. The Soviets were unable stop the revolution and it showed how weak the Soviet Union had become. Estonia declared its independence and the Soviet Union collapsed a few months later. While there were much larger issues at play and the Estonians were only a small part, singing is certainly a pretty unique contribution to the dissolution of a failed system.

After two days in Estonia, I took the boat back to Finland in order to meet Kate in Helsinki, which was a nice city. We rented a small apartment for the weekend (full kitchen!) and did a lot of walking around and visiting museums. Finland was interesting in that it became part of Sweden due to war, then in 1809 a Grand Duchy of Russia due to war, and achieved independence in 1917. They were able to maintain independence throughout both world wars.

Looking across the harbor in Helsinki

5,000 year old stone axes, Helsinki.

After Helsinki, we flew to Norway to visit our friend Lewis in Oslo (I met him in New Zealand in 2009. We went car camping). We had planned to rent a car and do some car camping near the fjords. As it turns out, Norway is painfully expensive. Quite possibly the most expensive place on earth. The quote I got to rent a car for two days was about $450. That was for a two door economy car. Basically, if I needed to rent a car for two weeks in Norway, it would literally be cheaper to buy a used car and take a ferry across the North Sea.

Lewis

I feel a bit bad of talking so much about money, but I couldn't get over the prices. Would you like a cup of tea at a cafe? That'll run you $7. How about a tiny frozen pizza from the grocery store? Yeah, $11. A small jar of store brand spaghetti sauce? On sale for $5! (woot). Do you like cheese? Then I hope you like shelling out $20-50 for a pound of it.

Seeing the sites was painful as well. Lewis was kind enough to track down two bike cards for us (more on that later), but to even go to something as simple as the universities geological museum (it rocks.), it was $14 per person. Yes, we spent that much to see rocks. Well, $14 total. The guy at the front desk felt bad that Norway was so expensive and he gave us a 50% discount.

Stave church in Oslo. One of the oldest wooden structures in the world.

While in Oslo, since we didn't end up leaving, we did a lot of hanging out and riding bikes around the city. One thing both Oslo and Stockholm had was a system where you could get a bicycle from a stand, ride it anywhere in the city, and drop it off at another stand. It was all swipe card and electronic locks. It made seeing the city a lot of fun. The cities are also made to handle bike traffic, so you aren't as worried about getting smoked by an errant truck. At any rate, we used those bikes a lot and really enjoyed how convenient they were.

Riding bikes to the palace, Oslo

After 4 days in Oslo, we spent our last day and a half in Stockholm. I have to say, I had the most fun in Oslo, but I think Stockholm was the most beautiful city. It had a lot of great architecture and a really cool layout. With limited budgets, we did a lot of walking around and went to one museum for an afternoon. The museum, called Skansen (the worlds first open air museum), had a lot of neat displays and had historical actors in the town, which was set in the 1830s. We watched some glass blowing (nice and warm in that shop...) and made our way through the displays of traditional housing and other exhibits.

Quiet street in Stockholm. The metal bars on the wall show the age of the building. The ones on the orange building show that it was built in 1740.

The view from our boat cabin in Stockholm

Fast fact: Sweden has a big tobacco culture and almost everyone had city gardens back in the day to grow their own.

Fast fact: Sweden used to control the whole of Scandinavia.

Fast fact: the Stockholm Archipelago is made up of over 24,000 islands.

Seasonal houses in Scandinavia were built on stilts because of the deep winter snow and to keep animals out.

Stockholm

On Friday, we returned to the UK. On the walk home from the train station, we stopped by the grocery store and stocked up on the things that we had been missing out on, including multiple types of cheese, fine meats, and delicious milk. All in all, it was a really good trip and we had a fun time seeing the cities, but I'm ready to get back to prices that are more inline with my salary.

On the bright side, I did get to reminisce about the good old days and revisit some meals and recipes that I hadn't enjoyed since college. All the same, I think I am all set on sauceless, butterless spaghetti and hot dogs for a while.

Blood!, Gorham Scar, and Herring

European rules basketball is a bit more physical than American style. I've gotten used to it playing over the last year or so, but that doesn't prevent the random injury. In February, it was the broken wrist, last week, I got hit in the face with a fist/elbow while trying to take a charge. I ended up bleeding all over the court and getting five stitches. In case you were wondering, no whistle on the play. In fact, the refs ran past my as the ball made its way down to the other end of the court.





This weekend we went with a few friends to Gordale Scar. We went last year around this time, and it is still one of my favorite hikes. Great scenery. I found out that the scar was a cave at one point, but that the roof collapsed, making the scar. That would have been an amazingly large cave. The pictures don't do the place justice. It is immense.


The stitches came out today, which is good because tomorrow I leave for Scandinavia. I am flying into Helsinki, but I am going to try to catch the last ferry to Tallinn, Estonia tomorrow night. From there, I will come back to Finland on Friday to meet Kate and we will fly to Oslo on Sunday. Our friend Lewis (see the NZ post from April/May 2009) lives in Norway and we plan on seeing some fjords with him (more car camping?). After that, a day and a half in Stockholm and back to the UK. Unfortunately, we won't have too much time to see anything but the cities, but it should be a fun trip. I'm looking forward to eating cold, raw fish for breakfast. I love fish any time of the day. No joke.

1... 2... 3... Floor

Minus the trim work, the hallway in my flat has been updated. My goal is to get rid of all linoleum before next spring. All that is left is the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen tiles are on order and I have purchased all of the necessary tools to install them. I'm curious to see what my skill level with an angle grinder is, considering each poorly cut or broken tile will cost me about $10.

1. Start of the project: old linoleum still in place. It wasn't bad, but linoleum sticks to your feet, is cold in the winter, and just doesn't have the same homey feel as real wood.

2. Linoleum gone. Uneven concrete below. This was taken after a lot of de-humidifying and bleaching of some weird white water/mold stains.

3. Making slow progress. The uneveness of the floor led to some weird configurations and stacking of the underlayer / moisture barrier. There is still a bit of downhill and uphill in the floor, but people in England tend to not be as concerned with the details. I think it comes with having houses that are hundreds of years old (and seem to have been built before right angles were invented).

4. Finished (sort of). The trim work is always delicate work, which I'm not so good at. Plus, I need to extend the TV cable. It doesn't have enough length in it to tuck along the sides and it seems that just cutting it would be a cruel trick for anyone who lives here and decides to have a TV hooked up in one of the bedrooms. I still don't have my TV hooked up in the living room, but the cables don't fit into my American TV's jacks and I don't really care about watching TV as long as I have a steady supply of TV-on-DVD available to me.

WI/MI/MN

In mid-September Kate and I were able to make a trip back to Wisconsin for a week. Kate headed to her parents house the first couple of days and I headed up to the UP for the more-or-less annual cabin trip with the guys.

The cabin trip was a good time, as it always is. The weather was perfect and the timings worked out perfectly for getting to/from. We were all able to travel up in one car (a 2008 Honda Pilot with 36,000 miles on it, no less), which makes it more fun for everyone, especially Adam.

We did the same thing we always do at the cabin: a lot of relaxing with some work sprinkled in for good measure. This year, we made some improvements to the railings (well, I didn't, but everyone else did) on the trail to the water and put in a new porch. I ended up sleeping quite a bit, but considering I was awake for about 28 hours straight on my way to the cabin, that is understandable.

After the cabin, Kate and I made our way to Dan and Jenny's wedding in Minnesota. It was a nice wedding and it was really good to catch up with friends and relive some of the good times from Hawaii as well as to meet some new people.

Following the wedding, it was a painful flight back to the UK and a week of strange sleep patterns. Hopefully tonight we will be to bed earlier. We made the mistake of sleeping until noon on Saturday, so any progress we had made in getting back to a normal sleep schedule was potentially lost. With that said, it felt really good to sleep that long.

I (heart) Scotland

Things have been very busy recently. Nothing too exciting, but just time consuming. We were gladly able to get away to Scotland this weekend with some friends. I don't know what it is, but every time I go there, I am so impressed with the place. It's a beautiful place to visit and now that we know of a nice place only 3 hours from home, perhaps we will make it up there more often for weekend camping trips. Farmer Jim (the guy who reluctantly agreed to let us sleep in his field) probably wouldn't like that, but we'd figure something out.

The point of the weekend was to do as little as possible. It seems that whenever we travel, we never stop moving. For this trip, we only moved the cars once, and that was to go further down the hill to get out of the wind.

It was a simple weekend. We slept in tents, ate food off the grill (way easier than the campfire), and walked around the hills and beaches. On the drive back down, we stopped off at Holy Island, which is only accessible during low tide, to see the castle and town. I also bought some mead, which is awesome. It tastes like you are drinking slightly alcoholic honey water, but it is 30 proof, so it works its magic pretty quickly.

I have the day off tomorrow, but if all goes well I will get my car to the shop for its required yearly testing and then install a new floor in the hallway. In the near future, I will be putting in some tile in the kitchen and bathroom. I've never used an angle grinder before, so hopefully it goes well. The tile I got for the kitchen are about $11 each, so accidents will be costly.

In just over a week, I will be on a plane for the cabin trip and a wedding. I'm looking forward to it.