Europe 2023

  Whether it was the size of the ship, the conditions, or a mixture of both, the trip here into Oslo overnight was very pleasant (could it have anything to do with its 7 bars? 😆 ) and this morning we sailed into town in glorious sunshine.   Due to a late check-in time, and the need to do some travel and domestic tasks, we didn’t actually get up to much today. We did have a bit of a walk around town and the waterfront, and then went for a wander down to a suburb called ‘Barcode’.  This is actually its real name and called so because of the many black and white buildings alongside each other which gives the impression of its name.  Being a relatively new suburb as well it’s also home to some interesting street art. 

  Travel Day A bit of a slow start today as we didn’t have to be at the ferry until shortly after lunch.   After brekky at a local coffee shop we had a slow walk into and around town and some local parks before paying a visit to the ‘Little Mermaid’.  Wow, what a difference from the last time we were here, the place was just swarming with tourists.  We were previously here in a ‘pre-selfie’ era (in the early 2000’s and pre smartphone) and we were the only ones here.  Once at the ferry we were both surprised how big it was.  With a capacity for 2000 passengers, it has 7 bars and restaurants, a night club, a duty-free shop with the floor space of about 1/2 the size of your local supermarket, and a couple of swimming pools, it’s huge.  I think I was actually expecting something like the Dover-Calais ferry (but with nicer food obviously!)

Travel Day An early…ish start to what was a big day for train travel.   Brussels - Cologne (Germany) Cologne - Hamburg (Germany) Hamburg - Copenhagen (Denmark) It was a lonnnngggg(!) day with our departure in Brussels at 08:30, and finally arriving in Copenhagen at just gone 10:00 at night.  Still, apart from some near misses in Cologne and Hamburg, and having to sit on the floor for most of the journey in Denmark, we’re safely here in Copenhagen ready for the ferry ride tomorrow.

  Off ‘Museuming’(!) today and to the ‘3 in 1’ the ‘Museum of Fine Arts’.   The three different museums housed here are the ‘Fin de Siècle’ (End of the Century), the ‘Magritte’ (the Belgian surrealist), and the ‘Musée Oldmasters’ (not surprisingly home to a number of old masters! 😊 ).   The ‘F de S’ covers a number of artistic movements from the late 1800’s, such as Impressionism and Art Nouveau, while being represented by artists including the likes of Gauguin, Seurat, van Gogh, and Rodin.  There’s some great artwork here and it’s also been really well curated.  The ‘Magritte’.  As one of the founding fathers of the Surrealism movement Magritte is celebrated as one of Brussels' finest artists and it was interesting to see how his style had changed over the years.  In the ‘Old Masters’ we saw works by such noted artists as Hieronymus Bosch, Rubens, van Dyck, Steen, and a large collection Bruegel. The latter, I have to admit, is up there among my favourite artists.  There were

Travel Day   Off to Brussels, Belgium today, via the Eurostar. Train really is an easy way to travel to mainland Europe, and, if you book ahead, it’s also cheaper than flying as well.  Arriving in the centre of Brussels, only 12 minutes walk from our accommodation, also adds to the ease of travel as well.  Being honest though I don’t know that I’d want to stay any closer to the station than where we are now as it’s not the most salubrious of areas around there! 😳😊 We managed to leave our bags with the keyholder of our accommodation (we’re staying above a nice little beer café called ’Bar Santana’ which sounded promising 🎶🪘😊 ) and then took off for a walk around town.  Our first stop was to the UNESCO World Heritage site the ‘Grand Place’ (in French, or ‘Grote Markt’ in Dutch) which really is a beautiful square surrounded by some magnificent Baroque and Gothic buildings. It would be worth visiting Brussels just to see this alone (unfortunately though we couldn’t get high enoug

  Today started off as a visit down memory lane as we took ourselves off for a trip across the river (i.e the ‘Thames’) to ‘Sarf London’ and more specifically Battersea, the suburb where I grew up.   It was interesting wandering around Clapham Junction, one of my old stomping grounds, to see how much has changed over the years, some good and some not so!   One of the positives though was an old ‘watering hole’ I used to frequent, ‘The Falcon’, and very much improved over the years 😁 🍻 .   Another added attraction was a new Pie, Mash, and Eel shop which was delicious.   It’s ‘only’ been there 12 years now and I had no idea!   I really must get back more often.   Our next stop was a bus ride to Battersea Power Station, very recently opened as an affluent residential and business centre, which, after 39 years of neglect, looks like a great success.  Not knowing much about the new place before we got there we had a bit of luck in sighting what we thought was an observation window on one

  Off to London today for the first part of our Norwegian sojourn.   On arrival we managed to off-load our backpacks at the YHA at St Pancras before taking off to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. With its huge selection of ‘Masters’ this really is a fantastic art gallery to visit and definitely worth a trip if you’re ever in the area.   As an added bonus, and along with most other museums in town as well, it’s absolutely free! Off to Covent Garden this afternoon but not before visiting ’Half-tix’ in Leicester Square to see what tickets were available.  We decided on ‘Phantom of the Opera’ for tomorrow night and, although musicals aren’t really my thing, with so many shows on locally, you have to give it a go.  CG was pretty cool, and busy, and they’ve done a great job with the bunting in preparation for the King’s coronation in a couple of weeks. 

Following on from Jane-o (JEM from now on) welcome to our occasional blog/ diary capturing our next few months in the UK and Europe.  Plans at the moment include trips to Norway, France, and the ‘The Balkan’s’, and some hiking here in the dear old blighty up in the Cotswolds.  With a very good friend of ours (Danny) in the process of moving to Latvia( 🤔 !) we may even get a chance to spend a few days over there, we’ll keep you posted.  For these first couple of weeks it’s been great catching up with Dad.  JEM came over a week after me and although we’ve not done anything ‘touristy’ we’ve been doing a fair bit of walking/ hiking along the coast.   Yesterday however we had a trip up to London to catch up with Danny and then JEM’s brother Chris.  Danny we met up with at Greenwich, and, after a walk through the Royal Park, we took off for a real cockney lunch of Pie & Mash.  This East/ South East London delicacy consists of minced beef pie, lumpy mashed potatoes, and liquor (parsle

  Welcome back blog followers. We have expanded from the solo reader (John, Paul’s dad) to many others who wanted to keep up with our adventures.  I have decided to take charge and start the blog this year but will be swiftly handing it over once we depart the ‘old dart’. Paul arrived first and I followed the next week - some unkindly said so I could clean the house!! Our starting point is Worthing, UK where we catch up with John who welcomes us and tolerates our coming and going in addition to being great company. We solve the problems of the world many times over, eat well and play a little cards. There are also mandatory shopping expeditions and many long walks around the streets appreciating the lovely spring flowers but mostly along the front admiring the coastal views. So welcome to the ‘Spring/Summer Lifestyle Choice’ by Paul & Jane-0.