Barcelona1 Hotel 0

We arrived to a warm, cloudy Barcelona and, much to our surprise, successfully negotiated the Airport shuttle into the city. We were very proud of our achievement and then the city started to fight back!

Our hotel is fairly central, about a mile back form the beach and walking distance to most of the Gaudi masterpieces. More about our hotel later…. we’ve stayed in better, the debate is whether we’ve stayed in worse!

A late breakfast fortified us in Cafe Emma and then we were off to the Aquarium.  Matt looked at everything on offer in Barcelona and chose the aquarium!  We walked through Las Ramblas while holding tightly to our belongings. tales of pickpockets ringing in our ears and then the rain started.  The decision was made, we would definitely go and visit some fish!

The marina is a vibrant area with a shopping centre, plenty of restaurants and lots of big expensive boats.

The aquarium was warm and dry and kept us entertained for a couple of hours. Matthew learned that fish come in different colours(!) and Kim learned how to tell the difference between a male and female shark.

The sun had appeared when we left so we headed for the beach and walked along the front before taking the cable car back across the harbour to Montjuic.

Three very weary Brays ended up back in Emma’s Cafe for dinner before adjourning to The English Tavern to watch the football. We were the only English in there and gave up when Man City went 2-0 down. The highlight for Matt was table football and beating Kim 2-0.

Now on to the hotel which appears to be tucked into a couple of floors of a serviced apartment block. We found reception on the second floor which is simply a man behind a desk. Our room is big enough for three beds but not if you want to walk between then or have more than one of us taking up floor space at any one time. And then there is the smell of cigarettes, a real reminder that smoking is still seen as more acceptable in large parts of Europe.  We were tired and forgave the room these issues until we woken by the guys next door coming back. It must be tissue paper for walls, they weren’t being noisy but it was like they were in the room with us. Either a new hotel or new room for us, we think.

According to Kim’s phone, we walked 10 miles. John is disbelieving but Kim trusts Apple implicitly.

Thirteen, fourteen and……homeward bound

An early start to miss the breakfast queues at The Edinburgh Larder and success! We were the first people in there. It’s not often we’re ahead of the rush so a small moment of smug satisfaction.

We debated what to do. Kim was feeling festivalled out while John had just got started.  Feeling fortified by breakfast we headed back to the venue of last nights final show to watch Three Men in a Boot present ‘A Sketchy History’. In post-apocalyptic Britain, ruled by Chanceller Sturgeon, they re-wrote history from the dawn of man. in less than an hour. We learned about the early story of Neanderthals and the Victoria Sponge as well as Trump’s involvement in building the Great Wall of China, Hadrians’s Wall and the Berlin Wall.
With 15 minutes between shows it was a stressful walk down the Royal Mile. Suitcases, huge crowds and lots of Street Performers really don’t mix.
Next stop was The City Art Center for Canvas No. 9…..a satire about modern art.  
We arrived late for the show staged on the top floor. It was already in full flow when we came barrelling out of the lift right into the middle of it. We had officially performed in our own Fringe spectacular!

 

Canvas No. 9 was a satire on art critics and modern art and only lasted 25 minutes. It’s fairly amazing how engaging the short performance was from a small theatre group from Leicester.

Free Fringe to too much Fringe…

We ventured out for dinner and found a lovely traditional Scottish restaurant called Howies and debated what to do to keep us awake until our final show at 11. Booking a show that late had seemed a good idea yesterday!

We thought we’d head for the 99 Comedy Club and take a chance that we could get into the free stand up show. We’d heard queues for Free Fringe could be enormous and the quality of shows poor – we were feeling brave.  We went up two flights of stairs and found ourselves in a cavern-like room with a granite ceiling, not something you see every day…. We saw three comedians who are quite famous, if only we could remember their names!! It was well worth a donation,

 

Our final show tonight was Adrian Gray and his 007 conspiracy theory! Hmm, not sure if we saw a talented young actor or someone with delusions of his own ability. As with all Conspiracy theories the plot was weak and we never did see 007 covered in Cheese. Of course we completely convinced by his theory that Unilever has more than one lever…….it didn’t get better than that!

From book loving to jazz….

We hit John’s magic 10 shows by 5pm so as Team GB are doing so well in the Olympics he feels we should do the same and he’s now moved the goalposts and we’re busily planning more……as long as they’re free!

 

The morning started with breakfast at The Edinburgh Larder and, despite it being only 9am, we had to queue for a table.  It was well worth it, ingredients are organic and the cafe is recognised for ‘slow food’, the cooked breakfast was fanatastic so back there tomorrow.
After breakfast it was a walk up to Edinburgh Castle. The Castle is amazing and it was interesting to see it up close after learning a smidgen of its history on yesterday’s tour. It seems a shame that the event seating created in the  Castle approach obscures the impact. We thought it might be temporary for the Tattoo although it looked fairly permanent up close.
Writers Museum

 

Our first ‘show’ was The Book Lovers Tour, starting outside the Writers Museum, tucked round the back of The Royal Mile (which was heaving at 11am). We set off at a brisk pace to the Southside where tourists don’t go unless lost. Most literary figures were clustered around the Medical School and University. We saw the birthplace of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, learned about the rivalry between Walter Scott and Mark Twain. Apparently Mark Twain blamed Scott for the American Civil War.
We wandered past the famous cafe where JK Rowling went to write the early chapters of Harry Potter.

 

Interestingly, we had stopped there for a cuppa yesterday and completely missed the plaque.
The next show felt like miles to walk but did provide our first glimpse of Arthur’s Seat. I’m not sure how we’d missed it before, it towers over the city! We definitely need to come back and be tourists rather than festival goers, there’s so much we haven’t got time to see. We’re here for the Festival so that’s what we’ll do!!
Our second show of the day was in yet another church hall and was a satirical comedy written by Tom Basden titled ‘Holes’ about four people stranded, on a desert island, after a plane crash. Cleverly done with very few props and quite entertaining.
A very brisk walk back to the Old Town for John Hunt at The Jazz Bar. John has been waiting for this all week, and it didn’t disappoint. John Hunt was fantastic, the cellar venue was packed and the only missing ingredient was the fug of cigarette smoke.

 

Our next booked show isn’t until 11pm tonight so John’s dozing in the apartment while I try and find something for us to do to keep us awake until then. The Edfringe app is brilliant at helping us to plan and get us to the venues.
Apologies for rubbish pictures, it seems rude to take them during performances in the venues and we keep forgetting to do ‘scenic’ which is a shame because the city is stunning.

From Knowing EU to Mark Watson….

Our first evening show was called ‘Knowing EU’ a political comedy on the Referendum result. We were treated to a Powepoint show, from an Aussie EU funding expert, educating us on EU facts interspersed with very bad jokes designed to insult every nationality in the EU. To be fair, he warned us about the jokes…..

With 4 hours to spare, we sat in the courtyard outside the Surgeons Hall venue and booked two more shows at the same venue…..it seems very lazy but neither of us fancied the long walk back to the new town.
Next show was ‘Biscuits (still) included’ and they were…. Chocolate chip cookies!   A one woman show from a comedian/writer/poet and a nice gentle way to spend an hour. John’s view: ‘The Fringe at its best’.
This was followed by Kim’s choice – ‘The Cucumber Crime’ a very hammy farce. John declined to comment on it but farcical predictability always makes Kim giggle.
For our final show of the day it was back to The Pleasance Courtyard to see Mark Watson in a show titled ‘I’m not Here’ loosely based on travelling to Australia with an invalid passport. He was fantastic and we both laughed from start to finish. We’d definitely see him again and he’s been the highlight of our trip, so far.

 

Old Town Tour, Arthur Smith and bubble wrap

Our day started with an early breakfast at The Thistle Stop Cafe. We are suckers for a bad pun! John tried porridge which wasn’t a good idea, it was made with water. Kim of course went for a traditional cooked breakfast including Haggis. We had booked a 10am walking tour and met our guide, Gareth the Welshman, at the foot of the castle in glorious sunshine and had a whistlestop tour of the history of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

 

Although, let’s be clear, the Old Town in places in newer than the new town which isn’t that new!  Confused we were…….in fact we still are.

We learned about George Heriot who was jeweller and money lender to Queen Anne – a clever business model to sell her the jewels then lend her money against them. He left the money to found the magnificent George Heriot school to educate orphans and the poor. Now it’s one of the top fee paying schools in the UK. A far cry from its roots. We also heard the story of James Barry – you’ll have to look that one up, it’s fascinating.
The tour ended in Princes Street Gardens, the boundary between old and new. Apparently covenants going back to 1750 mean that building on the south side of Princes Street is forbidden. The wealthy of 18th century Edinburgh New Town didn’t want their view across the valley spoiled. Bad news for Waverley Station that wants to build a couple of retail floors above the platforms. It’ll be interesting to see how long Edinburgh is able to hold onto its Unesco Heritage Site status. Will historic importance or financial greed win?
There are posters and adverts everywhere, the choice is overwhelmingly. There’s also a sense of guilt when you’re handed a flyer for a show, by someone desperately trying to promote it, and you have no intention of going.

 

Just time for tea and cake at the National Gallery before heading off to Arthur Smith and mindlessness. Arthur Smith in a skin tight body suit is an image that we stay with us!

 

We spent an hour learning the art of mindlessness. All you need is to breathe, put your pants on the right way and burst bubble wrap. You just have to love a show that gives you bubble wrap to pop – even Matt would have loved that one!
Three ‘shows’ down, only another seven to go to meet John’s challenge. There is a chance we’ll be counting the Queen’s coach and free fireworks in the tally.

Festival goers! Us? Who’d have thought it!

John has a view that one should arrive in Edinburch by train, reality is that it’s a lot cheaper to fly so Easy Jet it was. We arrived in a beautifully sunny Edinburgh yesterday. A fantastic journey from the airport on the top of a double decker bus but not as good as the train.

We’re staying in a small apartment right on The Royal Mile. It’s down a dark alley with a winding granite staircase. There are lovely high ceilings and big sash windows. Absolutely stunning if you could see further than two foot out of any window! The joys of Old Town living!

 

Pulling the suitcase up the hills to find the apartment wore John out but no time for a snooze, we were straight out to our first show. A Capella group in a converted Church in the new town. The walk there had been lovely, through grand residential streets with views of the Forth. The group, All The Kings Men, were Very clever and full of energy but we were both glad the show was only an hour. We decided A Capella was ok for about 3 songs!
We found ourselves in a small basement restaurant called Belted for dinner, which is recommended if only for the cow on wheels outside! Home grown burgers were on offer with a selection of beers and great friendly service to a backdrop of the Olympics.
We ummed and Ahmed what to do next. John says we need to do at least 10 shows before we come home. One down, 9 to go! Does it count if you walk past venues, Kim wondered?
There are buskers everywhere and The Royal Mile is full of street artists. We saw some clever juggling as well as listening to a very clever guitarist singing satires on American politics.

 

Our evening ended with us joining the crowd at the end of Lawnmarket, waiting for the Tattoo to finish. Not only did we get to see the Queen’s coach, we also had a great (free!) view of the fireworks. Apparently the whole Tattoo leaves past Lawnmarket but we were too tired to stay any longer.

 

Norwegian roads vs Norwegian airports..

We drove 1700km through three sets of roadworks and only waited in a traffic jam for 20 minutes by a fjord.

Our flight was 30 minutes late leaving Trondheim and now we’re delayed by an hour at Stavanger. Stavanger’s a nice enough airport but it would be lovely to see Heathrow.
Perhaps Norway’s so focused on making the roads work that there’s no energy left for airports……….alternatively it could be the weather
Of course, the third option could be the delay is at Heathrow because the UK’s having a sombre day!

The vote is cast and we’re outcasts…..

So we woke up to news that the likes of Boris and Nigel had won the day. The public face of the Leave campaign doesn’t make me proud to be British. Having said that, the Remain campaign wasn’t up to much either.
 
It’s been a hot topic in the dining room this morning and Norway’s not even in the EU. We’ve discovered Americans and Germans have very strong views and neither of us felt ready to join in the debate.
 
There’s no doubt that change is needed but it’s still a sad day. Let’s hope it drives a positive change that improves our public services and standard of living for those that need it most rather than turn us into a nation of insular, inward looking xenophobes.
 
Matt’s talking about emigrating to Australia, we hope to get home before he’s gone.
 
John challenged me to write this in French. The best I can manage, without the help of Google translate is:
Nous sommes tres triste

Kristiansund to Trondheim

Last night was spent standing on a hill, watching the Tahiti Festival on Innlandet, the most historic of Kristiansund’s islands. Apparently it is known locally as Tahiti although no-one knows why. The festival venue holds about 500 people and money raised helps to restore historic waterfront buildings. It’s a big event in the town….the CC Cowboys were well received by the locals but the warm up act covering Bob Seger songs was better.

 

Breakfast, this morning, was spent watching a training session for new recruits struggling to park a lifeboat next to a ladder.  A new first for us was a lesson in how to make fresh Norwegian waffles.

 

Today’s drive had nothing of the drama of the last three, valleys and fjords became wider and it no longer felt like Trolls, which appear every 100 years, might be watching your every move. Apparently, the trolls are due a come back any day now because no-one has seen them in the last 100 years……In fact, the journey felt a little dull despite sunshine and spectacular scenery.

 

We stopped for lunch in a pretty little town called Orkanger and Kim was in lunch heaven – the cafe was attached to a knitting shop. Luckily she couldn’t read Norwegian knitting patterns otherwise we’d be bringing back bags of wool.
The roads became significantly busier as we approached Trondheim which reminded us that we’re tackling the M25 tomorrow.
Trondheim is very pretty with lots of beautiful, historic waterfront buildings. Many have been restored and turned into apartments with great views, although they don’t appear to have much in the way of foundations!

 

The afternoon was spent wandering through the old town before finding ourselves on top of a car park, watching the biggest cruise ship we’ve seen leave port. We also had a great view of the railway and noticed all of the trains are equipped with snowploughs – we truly lived life on the edge today!
 
Having travelled so far north we realise that we are quite close to the Arctic Circle, Narvik is appearing on signposts and it’s very tempting to try and get there as this evening the sun sets at 23:40 and rises again at 3:03. Probably best left for another day. 
It has taken us 4 days to get from Bergen to Trondheim, you can do it by bus in 14 hours. I wonder why we didn’t think of that.

Geiranger to Kristiansund

 

Kim’s turn to drive today and it started scarily with an 11% incline and nine hairpin bends. Luckily we were ahead of most of the coaches but it was still a busy tourist route.

We had a couple of car ferries today the first, about a third of the way along our 130 mile route (you just wouldn’t believe how long it takes to get anywhere in Norway!).  We’re not sure why you would choose a cruise on a ship the size of a small housing estate when you can choose a car ferry!

 

We had a short stop at a beautiful place with a stunning waterfall but this is the picture we have….

 

John made a new friend, Martin from Czech Republic, who is very keen for the UK to remain in the EU. He spends 5 months working in Norway during the summer and comes back again in December for another month selling Christmas trees. Kim was rather jealous of his lifestyle although he does spend his summer living a very tatty caravan!
Next stop, Trollsteigen. Another route similar to the glaciers we have already seen but without the snow. Mountains loomed up around us, waterfalls cascading, rivers running by the side of the road, more hairpin bends, ridiculously steep inclines and descents. This was another truly terrifying route to drive for a Brit that only really potters to Bedford or Luton. Photos really don’t do justice to the drama!

 

The scenery opened out when we left Trollsteigen and, rather than being grateful that the driving became easier, the scenery started to seem a little dull!
Our last treat before arriving in Kristiansund was the Atlantershavsvegen, a route comprising 9 bridges that links a number of islands to the mainland. A stunning drive over the bridge to nowhere..

 

 

We finally arrived in Kristiansund and will save our impressions of the area until tomorrow, other than to say we’ve earned a beer and there is a music festival next to our hotel tonight…. A little different to our wooden hut!

An early start…

Breakfast wasn’t included in our deal for the little wooden hut so we decided to make an early start.

We drove into Geiranger and treated ourselves to locally made cinnamon buns in Ole Cafe – there wasn’t really anything else on offer! Breakfast was fine, but the Americans who arrived shortly after us were not going to be satisfied with a measly bun and wandered off in a huff.
Now to take on today’s challenge of the Trollsteigen and Atlanterhavswegen

An evening in Geiranger

We survived our very long walk into Geiranger for a leisurely dinner – it cost a fortune but it was lovely to eat in a ‘proper’ restaurant. We stuck with drinking local beer (£8/33cl), you need to re-mortgage to drink wine!

 

The meal was lovely, Kim had deer with celeriac, John stayed with the veggie option of quinoa with avocado. Dessert was a shared apple and hazelnut cheesecake. The walk back to our Campinghytter was just right. As we settled down to read on our verandah, we were entertained by the huge cruise ship leaving. Who needs TV when you can watch a ship the size of an 8 storey apartment block sail up a narrow fjord.
Here’s a photo especially for Matt and any chocolate lovers…
Geiranger has its own chocolate maker who drives a Tesla (Teslas are very popular over here and had we’d known the Hertz rent them, we may have upgraded). The logo on the back encourages us to ‘Save the planet, it’s the only one with chocolate’. Even more reason to buy a Tesla……

Sogndal to Geiranger

We woke to sunshine and Sogndal looked a lot prettier. In fact John has chosen his next home. 

Our first stop was the bottom of Boyabreen glacier, the highlight was the cows. According to John, a lot of snot comes out of a cows nose when it sneezes! We’re also experts on H&S for glaciers…..
 

 

 

We had a lovely drive along Nordfjord before grinding to a halt in roadworks. Signs warned of a 30 minute delay which would drive you bonkers in England. Drivers got out of cars and and stood patiently, taking in the scenery.  We’d never seen such a good natured queue and it probably sums up Norwegians. They seem to be very calm and relaxed. We do wonder if that changes in the winter when they don’t see much daylight. Is that when their inner Viking surfaces?
We drove through Olden and encountered our first cruise ship, it completely dwarfed the town which was heaving with passengers desperate to buy souvenirs We kept driving until we found somewhere quieter!

 

We stopped for lunch in Stryn
Next stop, the Gamle Strynefjellsveg. Another amazing drive over a glacier. The poor hire car is really being put through its paces. We were stunned to find a ski lift and small cafe right in the middle of glacier full if enthusiastic snowboarders
Finally we arrived at our little wooden hut in Geiranger. Despite our worst fears, we have our own bathroom and fantastic views. The downsides are we have to make our own beds, clean before we leave and it’s a good 40 minute walk from the town.

 

Bergen to Sogndal

Kim’s turn to drive and the rain has kept us company all day!

Our route took us out along Osterfjord and followed fjord after fjord for 150 miles. The scenery is stunning and we’re not bored of it yet. The roads are lovely to drive, it’s a shame about the tunnels. There are hundreds of them, ranging in length from fat bridges to the longest in the world! Some are dark, narrow and terrifying when driving a hire car with the steering wheel on the wrong side.
 
We stopped for lunch at the old Railway station in Voss which is gearing up for its annual extreme sports festival, it looked like it could very pretty when not covered in grey cloud.
 
For the last half of our drive, Aurland to Laerdal, we had a choice……… longest tunnel in the world or the snow road across the top of the glacier which only opens in the summer. 25km in a tunnel or 48km over the mountain? Snow route it was! The climb up the mountain was terrifying – single track road, hairpin bends and sheer drops off the edge. We stopped halfway up for Kim to have a break, stop shaking and man up. 

After a few deep breaths we were on our way and it was spectacular when reached the top. The temperature plummeted to 4 degrees and we drove for miles through snowdrifts higher than the car, past frozen lakes. We ventured out of the car long enough to practise our selfie skills (more work needed, we think)

 

Feeling rather smug having arrived safely back at fjord level, we decided that we couldn’t miss out on the longest road tunnel in the world and chose to do the 50km round trip it would take to drive through the tunnel and back again. The tunnel has been designed with special rest areas and they are very special…

 

We finally arrived in Sogndal and found in a little cafe  overlooking the fjord for dinner. Homemade fish soup and carrot soup washed down by a selection of 3 (out of 40) local beers on offer and a game of chess. A lovely way to end the day.

 

Tomorrow night we’re staying in a wooden hut with communal showers and toilets so we shall make the most of our hotel tonight.

 

Breakfast in Bergen

We finally called it a day at 11:30 last night and it was still light! There is something very appealing about a country that has warm sunshine after 10pm.

This morning, a leisurely breakfast called to us (Kim mainly) before our 5-6 hour drive to Sogndal

Kim was in breakfast heaven – fresh fruit, cheese, fish, more cheese, salad and unlimited tea!

 

Discovery of the day was that pickled herring in mustard trumped pickled herring in tomato. John’s face was a picture, he doesn’t do fish. Diane does so, perhaps Kim should have bought her mum along!
John really pushed the boat out with muesli and a boiled egg, his biggest surprise was when his egg turned out to be soft-boiled rather than hard

John’s new friends…

As you know John has a habit of striking up conversations with complete strangers. Last night he did it again and was invited in to the home of his new friends Geir and Judit Tangerud. Geir used to have two jobs so he could afford his hobbies, of cars and motorcycles, now he has just the one job helping drug addicts get rehabilitated, the cars have gone but he still has his bikes.

First was Geir’s Rowbike, no pedals you just pull on the lever rowing style, downsides and their are many is it looked very unstable and very hard work

 

Next up was Geir’s Pedersen bike, the frame is a work of art and the idea is to provide a very upright riding position. In the winter Geir fits it with studded tyres for riding in the snow,
Finally we have Judit’s, ladies version of the Pedersen, you would never know from looking at it.

 

John was only meant to take a photo of the pots!!

A long way down

The funicular up to Mount Floyen was fantastic and the views from the top spectacular.

 

In a moment of madness we chose the 45 min walk back down to the centre……. It was a long way down. At one point we were rather scared by the warning signs….

 

We zig zagged and then zig zagged some more, our legs were aching and suddenly we were back in the city centre, approaching it from a beautiful residential area. John has made new friends after we stopped to admire the display of plants.

 

Dinner was in the Fish  Market, eating at a trestle table and drinking a very expensive beer. It’s 10:30 pm and the sun is just about thinking of setting, the evening has been the best part of the day.

 

 

Bergen….

….is really rather lovely although, so far we have only seen the inside of a pub and been on a 4 hour ferry trip round Osterfjord. So much for plans to do culture!

 

We spent vast sums on a spur of the moment trip, fleeces were in the car and, as we headed up to the sun deck on the ferry, we wondered if we’d done the right thing. It was blooming chilly and got chillier as the ferry picked up speed and headed out of the harbour.  The sun made guest appearances from behind clouds, and when it did, it was beautiful. The scenery was stunning, the commentary entertaining.

 

Apparently Edvard Grieg was a local lad and key moments of the trip were accompanied by rousing blasts of his music (Peer Gynt suite for anyone interested!), very dramatic as we sailed through narrow shady gorges and passed waterfalls.

 

Not content with showcasing Greig, the captain pulled up close by a waterfall so that could drink pure mountain water and the romantics could pick flowers from the cliff side – full marks for skillful boat control. We were treated to a blast of Jailhouse Rock as we rounded a prison island, shortly followed by the captain encouraging a passing steam ship to acknowledge his boat by blasting its whistle, purely for the fun of seeing the steamship slow to a halt until it could build up steam again!
Now checked into our hotel to defrost before heading out for dinner and the funicular up to Mount Floyen.