Santa

This is going to be a short post… I met Santa!  As we all know Santa lives in the North Pole.  He lives in an area called Lapland and since it is not quite his busy time yet he makes time for people to come and visit him. It was so cool going into meet and talk to him.  Santa is everything you would expect and even more.  He was kind and chatty and I didn’t want to say goodbye to him.  I was such a fangirl, Santa is the best.

Norway - May the Norse be with you

I have just spent 10 amazing days visiting my 55^th Country; Norway. What a beautiful country, the landscape was just breathtaking.  I started in the capital of Oslo where I visited a few museums including the Viking Boat Museum with Viking Long boats.  The detail they used to make some of the carvings was so clever.  The Vikings were very skilled craftsman and navigators.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like for people who lived in the places they invaded, looking out and seeing the convoy of Vikings heading towards to you.

Oslo

I liked the beautiful gardens of the Royal Palace in Olso and the fact the royal family seemed pretty normal marrying people who were not from royal families around; marrying for love not for power.  That whole idea of marrying for power has long been left in the past.  The other fascinating thing in Oslo was the Vigeland Sculpture Park where there are lots of unusual statues including one of a man with babies all over him and he is fighting them off.

Gierangerfjord

We headed up the country for and saw some of the most beautiful scenery including a road called trolls pass (well actually Trollstigen) that was a steep climb up a mountain with 11 hair pin turns… rather challenging for a car let alone a coach.  There were also a few crazy people riding their bikes up it. The view from the top was out of this world, you could see right down into the valley and far beyond. That day we were heading to Grienger Fjord which was also completely spectacular, this day was one of my highlights in all of Norway.  The Video is of parts of the drive that day that I recorded with my GoPro.

There is also a small town in Norway called Hell where we stopped for a quick photo.  Its not really as bad as it sounds because the word hell actually means 'luck' in Norwegian.  

Reindeer Carving

Every day in Norway the scenery was spectacular and we had many stops to take photos and check out different things.  One day we stopped at a small reserve where there were ancient rock paintings the clearest was of a reindeer. We also stopped at a polar park where we heard the arctic wolves howling and saw the really cute arctic fox.  My highlight there was the big brown bears, so clever and cuddly however would not like to come up against one in the woods because of their sheer size and huge paws with the longest sharpest claws I have ever seen.

Arctic Circle

Further up Norway is the Arctic Circle centre just as you head into the Arctic Circle.  When you think about the Arctic you generally think of freezing cold conditions, snow, polar bears and winter.  However the south part of the Arctic circle the day I visited was about 28 degrees with very little snow; not Arctic at all and definitely no polar bears.  What we did see a lot of was Reindeer which are surprisingly a lot smaller than I expected but very cool with furry antlers.  During the summer months they are left to roam free and in the winter they are herded by the Sami people that live in the north of Norway.  I was also on a serious mission to spot moose and had my whole bus looking for them too but alas I saw no moose.  We did have a moose sighting but it was called out as reindeer and by the time everyone decided it was a moose it was too late for me to see one. 

Nordkapp

My last destination was Nordkapp which simple means ‘North Cape’ and is the northern most point of Continental Europe.  We were hoping to see the midnight sun which is literally seeing the sun at Mid night as it doesn’t set for a period of time over the summer months at all.  In fact the whole time in Norway it was light at night, the sun had gone down but it was still very light.  We quickly got use to sleeping when it was light outside.  In the evenings it was hard to judge what time it was and we were constantly so surprised by the how late it was.  Sadly for us when we got to Nordkapp we didn’t see the midnight sun as it was too cloudy but it was still amazing to experience Nordkapp.

Norway really blew me away with its sheer size, beauty and wild life.

*sorry the music stops half way through, I tried to publish it again and it stopped in another place.

Denmark - the home of a great surname!

I started in Denmark heading to the capital city of Copenhagen, home of the best ice creams (outside New Zealand and Italy) and Lego.  In my opinion the best thing about Denmark is that everyone can spell my surname ANDERSEN correctly and the ANDERSON version is not common here; finally a country who can spell.  There was a statue of the amazing fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen in the town square and I drove passed a big lake that was his inspiration for the book the ugly duckling  I also visited the statue of the Little Mermaid sitting in harbour all alone.  His version is not quite as happy for Ariel as the Disney one. Copenhagen is such an easy city to get around and everyone rides their bikes as it is very flat. In fact Denmark is very flat with with the highest mountain in the country being only 170m high.  The colourful buildings of Nyhavn where the old harbour was is full with tourists and the smell of having just finished walking around the Mount... Copenhagen Cones, although in Copenhagen I think they are probably just called boring old waffle cones. I went and checked out the Lego store with amazing creations such as the Sydney opera house and a dragon running through the shop. I couldn't resist the smells of the waffle cones and 

treated myself to a delicious waffle cone ice cream for brunch, it was so delicious!

The Danes are very good recyclers and when you buy a drink you get charged a plastic rental fess (easiest way to explain it) and they have a machine that you pop your cup into when you finish and get your money back.  

Outside Christianborg Palace (their parliament) there is a rather upsetting statue of a polar bear at the end of a spear and it is there to draw attention to global warming and our choices that are affecting the animals such as polar bears. It’s quite sad and startling to look at.

Tivoli is the place to check out at night, the world’s second oldest amusement park with rides, side shows and little theatres performing ballets and jazz concerts.  The place had an amazing buzz to it.  I went crazy going on all the rides and decided it was a good idea to go on the giant drop until I was half way up and realised I didn't really want to do it after all. By then it was a bit late and all that was left to do was to scream at the top of my lungs.  At the end of the night they finished with a light display over the lake and dancing fountains. What a magical way to end a fantastic day. 

ANZAC Day. 2016

Thought this was a fitting place to start my blog.  On the night of the 24th April I camped out at ANZAC Cove with a lot of other New Zealand and Australians.  We slept under the stars and rain waiting for the dawn to arrive.  It was a miserable night and we had plastic rubbish bags over our sleeping bags and ponchos on trying to protect ourselves from the weather.  I even managed to make it onto the news! 

http://www.newshub.co.nz/world/sleeping-bags-out-for-gallipoli-dawn-service-2016042514#axzz4DjSJG2sr

 When the dawn finally came a beautiful service was held in memory of the men who fought and lost their lives there in the dawn of 25th April 1915.  It was such a special experience to be part of.  We then walked over 6km up the hills to the of the Gallipoli Cliffs, on the way we passed many memorials as well as trenches.  You could get a feel of how close the two sides were to each other seeing both sides trenches.

At Chunik Bair a beautiful ceremony for New Zealand's lost soldiers was held at 11 am.  We a long walk up there in the heat but truly made you appreciate what those soldiers went through with supplies on their backs too.  There was a moving haka, this was the first time one had ever been allowed to be performed there.

What touched me the most about the whole experience was the fact the Turkish have allowed huge memorial sites for countries that invaded their lands to exist.  The Turkish were just doing what anyone would do, fighting to protect their homeland and freedom.

I think that the quote below is quite remarkable from one of the greatest leaders of the Turks - Ataturk.