Two Wednesdays ago a group of us rented a transporter (a large VW van) and drove off to Norway for a week. We did two nights in Oslo including the 17th of May which is Norway's national day followed by 2 nights in Bergen (Norway's second-largest city) and a 2 day hike near Hardangervidda, the largest plateau in Europe located several hours southeast of Bergen. We camped in a fjord the last night before hiking back to the vehicle and driving the 12 hours back to Lund.
Parade through the streets of Oslo on May 17th, the Norwegian national day.
More in Oslo
Chillin in Oslo (Ivan, Phillip, me)
On the way to Bergen
Cool dog that came to greet us when we stopped on the road
Chris taking a break from driving
Cabin we stayed at located a couple of hours outside of Bergen
Alleyway in Bergen
More Bergen
Overlooking Bergen from one of the highest points in the city
More Bergen
Creepy statue
The work of a street artist in Bergen - awesome
Before setting off on our hike
Getting the camping supplies from the transporter
Hiking near a waterfall
The Norwegian sky at 10pm
Salute to our awesome fire that, despite much work, refused to burn
The crew sheltered from the rain
Friday, May 25, 2007
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Tandem
So this past Friday and Saturday I went on the university's tandem bicycle race from Goteborg to Lund. Ten nations and a couple of faculties sent teams and each team drove in a bus from Lund to Goteborg where the race started at 9pm in the main square of Goteborg. No two people were on the tandem bicycles for more than 30-45min and the buses followed the riders, stopping to switch riders or party in vacated parking lots. We arrived back in Lund around 3pm on Saturday where all the teams gathered in the main campus of the university and stormed the fountain.
All in all it was about 18+ hours of drinking and partying - definitely the craziest party I've been to yet here in Sweden!
Andy and I made some t-shirts for the event
On the bus to Goteborg...
On the streets of Goteborg
The Goteborg nation international crew (from left: Dave M, Andy, Peter, me)
The scene at Goteborg's centre square prior to the start of the race
More internationals (Andy, me, Giselle, Dave)
Passed out on the bus
The party at the fountain back in Lund
Taking a dip in the fountain
All in all it was about 18+ hours of drinking and partying - definitely the craziest party I've been to yet here in Sweden!
Andy and I made some t-shirts for the event
On the bus to Goteborg...
On the streets of Goteborg
The Goteborg nation international crew (from left: Dave M, Andy, Peter, me)
The scene at Goteborg's centre square prior to the start of the race
More internationals (Andy, me, Giselle, Dave)
Passed out on the bus
The party at the fountain back in Lund
Taking a dip in the fountain
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Siste April
This past Monday was the Siste April (Last of April) celebration in Sweden, celebrating the coming of spring. Here in Lund myself and most of the student population headed to the City Park at 9:00am where we sat, mingled with others and drank until 3:00pm at which time the students headed to one of various "champagne parties" being held in the city. At these parties students basically bought bottles of cheap champagne then sprayed it on each other while listening to live music in a courtyard.
Afterwards, I headed to Dennis' res where myself and the Dutch crew had a barbeque before heading out to a nation for the rest of the evening then an afterparty back in our corridor in res. Needless to say it was a long, but fun day!
Ivan getting fired up for the festivities
The scene in the park
Ewout, Ivan, myself and Hanneke at the park
Dennis after having a couple drinks...
Gigantic waterpipe
Blurry picture of Ivan, myself and Suwei at the nation - apparently I have a gold tooth...
Afterwards, I headed to Dennis' res where myself and the Dutch crew had a barbeque before heading out to a nation for the rest of the evening then an afterparty back in our corridor in res. Needless to say it was a long, but fun day!
Ivan getting fired up for the festivities
The scene in the park
Ewout, Ivan, myself and Hanneke at the park
Dennis after having a couple drinks...
Gigantic waterpipe
Blurry picture of Ivan, myself and Suwei at the nation - apparently I have a gold tooth...
London
Hey everyone,
Last Saturday I returned from a trip to London where I stayed from the 25th to 28th visiting Shehz, Kariim and Ryan Hindle, buddies from my engineering program at UW who had recently graduated and were kicking off their backpacking trip of Western Europe. We stayed in a hostel called Picadilly Backpackers, located right in the heart of downtown London just outside Picadilly Circus (and also, as we discovered, a couple minutes outside of Soho, the gay area of London).
To quickly summarize our trip, we did the traditional tourist thing visiting London's main tourist attractions: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, London Tower and the Tower Bridge. We also went to the British Museum which contains the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt as well as half of the sculptures from the Parthenon in Greece. Other notable destinations were Trafalgar Square where a large number of Liverpool FC fans had gathered to cheer on their team including one older man who ended up swimming naked in the fountain at the centre of the square and Harrod's, a ridiculously-priced luxury department store in Knightsbridge.
The few impressions I had of London are outlined below:
1) Obesity and crooked teeth are much more prevalent in England than Scandinavia
2) Prices in London are VERY high - for items such as food in restaurants or drinks in clubs, don't be surprised if it costs the same as in Canada but in pounds -- so 2.2 times as expensive as home. That being said, we did manage to find an excellent Italian food restaurant called Pollo close to our hostel that prepared authentic Italian food for a relatively cheap price.
3) Travelling on the Tube is quick and easy but can be expensive. The best thing to do is buy an Oyster card right when you get into London. There is a 3 pound service charge when purchasing the card but after that you may top it up with as much money as you like and use it in place of tickets, thus saving you from having to queue to get tickets. The Oyster card also gives you a discounted rate for fares -- purchasing tickets on a trip-by-trip basis on the other hand can cost you between 4.60-6.10 pounds for a single trip -- ouch.
4) Crowdedness - the streets of London are packed with people, especially areas like Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus.
5) Happy Hour - most restaurants and bars, at least ones in the Picadilly and Soho areas, offer discounted prices on beer and appetizers between the hours of 5-7pm on weekday nights. Accordiningly, these places fill up quickly with young businesspeople looking to wind down after their day in the office.
Picadilly Circus
British phonebooths - typical tourist picture
Doubledecker bus with the London Eye in the background
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Supporters of Liverpool FC gathered in Trafalgar Square
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Marching band leaving Buckingham Palace after the changing of the guard
Inside the fortified area of the London Tower
Tower Bridge
Shehz, Kariim and Ryan posing for the camera
St Paul's cathedral
Looking out over London from the top of St Paul's cathedral (108m above the ground)
Egyptian artifact inside the British History Museum
The crowd on the sidewalks of Oxford St
Last Saturday I returned from a trip to London where I stayed from the 25th to 28th visiting Shehz, Kariim and Ryan Hindle, buddies from my engineering program at UW who had recently graduated and were kicking off their backpacking trip of Western Europe. We stayed in a hostel called Picadilly Backpackers, located right in the heart of downtown London just outside Picadilly Circus (and also, as we discovered, a couple minutes outside of Soho, the gay area of London).
To quickly summarize our trip, we did the traditional tourist thing visiting London's main tourist attractions: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, London Tower and the Tower Bridge. We also went to the British Museum which contains the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt as well as half of the sculptures from the Parthenon in Greece. Other notable destinations were Trafalgar Square where a large number of Liverpool FC fans had gathered to cheer on their team including one older man who ended up swimming naked in the fountain at the centre of the square and Harrod's, a ridiculously-priced luxury department store in Knightsbridge.
The few impressions I had of London are outlined below:
1) Obesity and crooked teeth are much more prevalent in England than Scandinavia
2) Prices in London are VERY high - for items such as food in restaurants or drinks in clubs, don't be surprised if it costs the same as in Canada but in pounds -- so 2.2 times as expensive as home. That being said, we did manage to find an excellent Italian food restaurant called Pollo close to our hostel that prepared authentic Italian food for a relatively cheap price.
3) Travelling on the Tube is quick and easy but can be expensive. The best thing to do is buy an Oyster card right when you get into London. There is a 3 pound service charge when purchasing the card but after that you may top it up with as much money as you like and use it in place of tickets, thus saving you from having to queue to get tickets. The Oyster card also gives you a discounted rate for fares -- purchasing tickets on a trip-by-trip basis on the other hand can cost you between 4.60-6.10 pounds for a single trip -- ouch.
4) Crowdedness - the streets of London are packed with people, especially areas like Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus.
5) Happy Hour - most restaurants and bars, at least ones in the Picadilly and Soho areas, offer discounted prices on beer and appetizers between the hours of 5-7pm on weekday nights. Accordiningly, these places fill up quickly with young businesspeople looking to wind down after their day in the office.
Picadilly Circus
British phonebooths - typical tourist picture
Doubledecker bus with the London Eye in the background
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Supporters of Liverpool FC gathered in Trafalgar Square
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Marching band leaving Buckingham Palace after the changing of the guard
Inside the fortified area of the London Tower
Tower Bridge
Shehz, Kariim and Ryan posing for the camera
St Paul's cathedral
Looking out over London from the top of St Paul's cathedral (108m above the ground)
Egyptian artifact inside the British History Museum
The crowd on the sidewalks of Oxford St
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