Super Shoes!

I have recently jumped aboard the Sketcher's Shape-up bandwagon! Since I walk a hour (each way) to work, I realized that I do a lot of walking. And since I go through shoes like most people go through bars of soap, I decided it was time to invest in a proper pair of shoes. One the the girls here at work has a pair and is in amazing shape with a tight perky backside (nevermind the fact that I am over a decade older then her) but I was convinced that if I get these shoes, then my dariair will look just like hers! I wore them all over Scandinavia and whenever I am not a work, I have them on. They definitely have gotten better looking since the first MBT's came out, and do work different muscles brilliantly, but they still are not that cute looking. They do their job and I am well on my way to toning up to get back my early twenties shape! So far so good!

Scandinaivia: Part Deux

It is that time of year again for me to go on our big holiday of the summer! With our time in Europe drawing to a close, I checked the 'Must See' list and Scandinavia was still not crossed off. I found a great travel agency that booked all of our hotels and transportation between the three remaining capitols: Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway. Ben's hopes were not set that high as he knew nothing of these places and I knew I could blow his socks off!

First stop on the tour was Helsinki. One of the main sights on this stop was to see Alver Aalto's work. He did a great library down in Mount Angel and we wanted to see more of his work in his home country. It was a bit overcast and misty, but was comfortable enough for being so far up north. Our hotel was central enough that we could get to everything we wanted to see. First day was all city centre stuff, Presidential palace, Rock Church, most of Aalto's more functional work, the seaportside market, the large bustling market hall and taking a walking tour around the scenic residential quarter. We walked through botanical gardens and lounged on the steps of city hall. We had worked up quite an appetite so we had a big dinner of various fish and reindeer. No Dasher this year for Santa, because we ate him! The next day we took a tour boat out to the zoo early in the day. There are so many little islands that constantly have little boats going out to them. The zoo was great, but I love zoos! The animals were all up and about since it was a bit rainy and not that cold. The lion was pacing right in front of the thick glass, nothing like looking a full grown male lion in the eye with only 2 inches of glass between us! Exciting stuff! I got to see a few different wild cats that I had never seen before and a European Lynx chowing down on a full rabbit, ethically euthanized of course. I had never had seen that before, glad they did not throw him a slab of beef, since rabbit is what he really would eat, guts, fur, eyeballs and all. We took a walk around one of the many lakes since Finland is know as the land of a thousand lakes and I believe it. We caught the last few of the Aalto buildings before the sun disappeared around 10 at night.

The last day in Finland we did a quick walk around the central park and a few of the museums before we boarded our cruise ship! We left Helsinki just before dinner time, so on board we had a great seafood dinner, walked around the large cruise ship, watched an acrobatic performance, listened to one of the worst Drag performances ever and take some great pics of the islands. We watched a movie on the laptop and tucked into our respective bunks for a bit of shut eye. By the time we got up the next morning, we had time for a quick shower, another fabulous breakfast and we were off the boat by 9am to have a whole extra day in Stockholm then previously thought! And the other great thing was, our old friend the sun was there to greet us! A quick note of all our hotels, they were amazing. Comfortable, clean, free Wifi, free buffet breakfast that was fabulous and were always centrally located right next to the ports/train stations for easy getting around.

The first day we set out in Stockholm to see the old city centre, with the winding medieval streets and Royal Palace. We had lunch sitting outside in the sun, took a nap on the seaport side on a bench, wandered over to the Nobel Peace prize place and of course dinner at Hard Rock Cafe to get that ever collectible shotglass. I even dragged Ben over to a chocolatier that claimed to have the world's best hot chocolate. It was pretty good and we even picked up some chocolate to snack on for the rest of the trip. Stockholm was beautiful, the women were stunning, the men were attractive, it was one of the cleanest cities I have ever been in and of course the fact that it was sunny and hot helped immensely! We strolled through one of the many large parks that sits on its own little island, since Stockholm is made up of many different islands. We went up a telecommunications tower to look out over the city at the 30th storey. Ben was surprised since when you walk in, it does not look very welcoming and looks a bit utilitarian. It was one of my many tricks up my sleeve! The other surprise, was the Absolut Ice Bar, where the entire bar, seats, tables, walls, and even your glasses are made of ice. We had to wear thick jackets and gloves they provided and of course got a free drink. It was a bit kitsch, but still interesting!

We also went to several museums over the few days, and we have collectively decided that the museums of Sweden are WEIRD! No real way to describe how surreal they are, and just all out strange unless you see them yourselves. We were a bit disappointed in the viking museum and even more so in the Norse museum since it wall all about how Swedish interiors. Our last day in the city was during a bank holiday so mostly everything was closed. We strolled around the city and just had a great time visiting the Östermalmshallen Food Court where it is a huge market for food, the Kungsträdgården was in full bloom with Cherry Blossoms to get some great photos, and got to see a fancy changing of the guard at the castle. We never did get to go into the Royal Palace, but once you have seen the British crown jewels, nothing else will really compare.

For the last leg of the trip, we took a 6 hour train ride to Oslo. The closer we got to Norway, the cloudier the weather, until finally it was lashing rain! LASHING! We stopped for one of the most expensive crappy meals we ever had, €45/$55 for a small nacho, a sandwich and two tap waters. Needless to say, Norway was just as expensive as we were warned. The next morning we ate as much as we could with breakfast and headed out umbrella in hand. We took a walk around the Royal Palace, up the main streets, through town into the Vigeland Sculpture Park. A Norwegian sculpture had over 200 pieces of his work there, and we walked all over the huge park getting up close and personal to it. We stopped for lunch on the waterfront, and that is when the torrential downpours began. We walked up through the Akershus Fortress and old Castle, taking refuge in some of the old outbuildings and finally crossing the drawbridge back into the modern parts of town. Since I was tired, my feet hurt, was all wet, we headed back to the hotel to wait it out. Luckily by dinner time, it had cleared up a bit and we got to walk all over the Opera house. This was a great architectural marvel. It was loosely based on an iceberg/glacier idea. The white marble snaked up the building that the pedestrians could walk all the up the side of it, up to the roof with the main performance area popping up as glass in the middle. We got to walk inside to see the ramps of the entrances spiral upwards similar to Guggenheim, but in wood, not plaster. I was glad Ben talked me into going to see this. We had a great dinner and tucked in for an early night since we had to catch the train at 5am to get home. Although I wish we had another day to properly see the fjords and other things outside of the city centre, with how much it cost, maybe it was not such a bad thing to give it a miss.

With being so far up north the summer nights are long. The sun comes up before 4am and sets well after 10pm. We got to the train station, after paying a small fortune, we caught the direct train out to the airport. We checked in, got through security, found our gate and just waited until we were ready to board. So far, so good. But within minutes of us getting ready to board, our flight was canceled due to the ash funny-business.

We got all our luggage, headed back out to the main airport area and began queueing to talk to an airport representative. We were told we had three options: 1) cancel the trip and get a full refund, no. 2) Wait a two more days and get on the next flight to Dublin and hope that the ash does not delay that one too, nope. 3) Get a flight somewhere else. So I asked if they flied to London, and yes, we could get one of the last flights heading into there in a few hours. So England bound we now were. I knew before hand, that if I could get to London, I could always get home on the ferry, so there was a Plan B if you will. We landed in London and found out our options there 1) take a £250 flight into Dublin per person ($700 total) or 2) take the train/ferry the next day for £32 each ($80 total). But the cheaper transportation option meant stay a night in London. Now, even though I had a Plan B, I still was not prepared with maps and hotels, so in desperation I rang my friends Irish mobile number that I had hoping that she still had it since she was now living in London. Not only did she have it on, she was home and she came to collect us and stay with her for the night. She did say the last time I saw her that if I was ever in London, I could come and stay, so I just took her up on it. Her boyfriend made us an amazing dinner, and three bottles of wine later, we were all caught up on our gossip, happenings in life and general complaints about our office. Early the next morning Ben and I took three different train rides through England and Wales over to catch the ferry, which took about 1 1/hours to take us into Dublin city. I had always wanted to take the ferry, but not necessarily under these circumstances. We made it home a day late, very stinky, but very happy. Scandinavia may be expensive, but well worth the trip. Next time Arctic Circle and try and find Santa!!

Strange Anomaly #55

Now every town/county/country has its own planning requirements for architecture. But one strange one I came across recently in order to get planning permission was a Bat survey. Although they are not endangered here, I had to find a bat specialist, of which there are many, have him sonically try and find bats in the existing structures we want to have removed and survey the rest of the site to see if there were only ‘ a solitary bat such as an immature female, a male or a non-breeding female up to several hundred pregnant or lactating females’ and take into ‘consideration of the impact of demolition on the feeding and commuting behaviour of the surrounding bat fauna.’