My Birthday

We spent half of my birthday on Railay lazing around the pool, and half in Krabi Town, which doesnt appear to be too geared toward tourism.

After arriving in Krabi via longboat we checked into our hotel and found out that we could use the pool of another hotel just around the corner. We dropped our bags off and went for a dip.

For dinner we went to the hotel that had the pool and ate on their rooftop patio.

The patio also had 2 for 1 cocktails, and Andrew and I tried a few, which were surprisingly delicious.

I'm trying, as always, to celebrate my birthday for as many days as possible, and since Alberta is 14 hours behind Thailand, I will be celebrating my birthday again on December 22 (because it is really December 21 in Canada).

Parks In Oslo

We had an unanticipated stop in Karlstad, Sweden before making it to Oslo September 22. Karlstad was a small city, but beautiful. We enjoyed our couple of hours here and spent them in a city park, and then in a Subway (because it was too cold out and because they had hot food free wifi).

September 23 we spent the day in the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Totally beautiful.

Here are our favourite statues in the park:

 Another view from the park.

The rest of the afternoon we spent in the off leash dog park area. We saw 10 dogs to 4 owners and it was great to watch all the dogs interacting. 

September 24 we went for a walk in Bygdoy Park.

It was really rainy so we didn't spend too long outside.

To get some shelter we went into the Viking Boat Museum. Andrew went walking around in the museum, but I had a seat instead. Here are some Viking ships.

Since it has been cold out and because we were staying in a beautiful apartment we had some lazy mornings. Andrew started to affectionately call me Pat in the morning, because I was curled up on the couch in my pjs with the laptop in front of me and watching TV, reminiscent of mom on a weekend morning.

So finally we made it into city center and as in all European cities there was a large pedestrian area in the middle of city center, which we walked.

It was cold out... really cold out.

 This is how I describe my outfit: Incognito, blending in with local fashion. Maybe I'm delusional.

Next we went to the opera house, a very modern building on the waterfront.

Walking on the roof.

Inside.

The opera house was so beautiful, it almost made us want to go to an opera. Almost.

  Then we went to the harbour.

We had a great time in Oslo, but are now off to Bergen for a few days.

Copenhagen: Jazz, Amusement Parks & Free-Town

We arrived in Copenhagen September 11. We went for an evening stroll and found a live jazz band on a floating stage. We had planned on walking further but they were too good, so we sat on a bench across the canal and enjoyed the music for quite a while.

September 12 we went to see the city. We found a small canal lined with colourful buildings, which Andrew fell in love with.

Next we walked to the palace of the royal family and then to a popular city park. In the park there was a small church beside a famous fountain. It was beautiful.

September 13 was a big day for us because we went to the amusement park called Tivoli Gardens (the second oldest amusement park in the world; the oldest one is nearby in a suburb of Copenhagen). Not only does this park have beautiful grounds,

but it has crazy rides. There is a roller coaster, a 'drop of doom' type ride,

and something we hadn't seen before, an airplane ride.

The plane rotates around backwards or forwards,  spins you in 3 different directions, and speeds up to 100km an hour (subjecting us to 5Gs we're told).

Unfortunately Andrew and I are babies because we weren't feeling good after multiple back-to-back rides. We decided it was best to take it easy, so we went on a kid ride, the boats.

We went back at night to go on the rides again and because the park was lit up, and our nausea had subsided.

We went for another boat ride too.

September 14 we went to Free-Town Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood/commune in which the cannabis trade is tolerated. There were signs up everywhere that asked for no pictures to be taken, which is unfortunate because it was a very interesting area, to say the least. There were small carts selling varieties of hash, picnic tables with many people playing backgammon, and many run down houses.

After, we went back to the canal that Andrew liked for a few more pictures.

On to Gothenburg Sweden.

Stilts In Arhus

We made it to Arhus, Denmark on September 9. We walked around the city and then made it to the open-air museum. The museum had 75 half-timbered houses brought to Arhus from all over Denmark.

Just as we were about to leave we found stilts! We couldn't resist so we tried them out. 

Surprisingly I did kind of get the hang of it, but it took a while. Andrew and I had a race and Andrew's strategy paid off. He took huge steps and then would fall and keep going, instead of my strategy, which was taking small steps, and not falling off as often. Here is a look at Andrew goofing off.

September 10 we took it easy. We are both sick with colds and it was really rainy so our outing consisted of going to sit by the bay and walking by the canals. Even though it was grey, the scenery was still beautiful.

... especially sick bicky (I don't know how to spell that made up word... any ideas Dad?) Andrew.

Here is a picture of the city of Arhus.

Afterwards we went to get groceries. We thought we would treat ourselves and get some aged cheese, we even looked up what 'aged' was in Danish; we thought we were so smart. When we got back home and were ready to feast, I opened the cheese and the air became polluted by the most awful smell. It smelled like sweaty feet, worse than blue cheese! The smell was so bad we couldn't eat it, actually I wouldn't even try it.

Now we are going to Copenhagen for a few days and we will not be experimenting with cheese!

Hamburg By Night

We got into Hamburg late in the afternoon September 8. We went walking by the canals downtown and saw city hall.

As we walked pass a Puma store I realized that I look like the mannequins... always wearing workout gear. That's alright, they look great, especially the one wearing runners and carrying an extra pair just in case.

Andrew and I. We love being able to wear jackets and hoodies again.

This is the old warehouse district, the city renovated all of the old warehouses into office buildings, museums, etc.

The buildings in Hamburg were amazing. Every building was different and unique. The city is very different than most we have seen in Europe because the architecture is so modern.

The famous fish market... it's empty, but what do we expect at 10pm?

We ended up in a seedy neighbourhood on our way back but that area even had crazy buildings like this one.

We were catching the S-bahn and we ended up going up 'Reeperbahn', a street in a district that is known for being Europe's largest red light district. It is much different than Amsterdam because the girls aren't behind glass doors but rather leaning on buildings. Also, the girls are modestly dressed. Because it was cool out they were all wearing pants and a jacket, so if it weren't for the plastic thigh high heels I wouldn't have been able to tell who was a prostitute and who wasn't. This area is well-known for its police presence. In this picture is a police station and then right across the street are hundreds of prostitutes.

We loved Hamburg and wished we had more time but now it is on to Arhus, Denmark.