ClareJ76
Clare Joined: December 28th 2008
Logged in: January 9th 2011
Logged in: January 9th 2011
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Travel Blog Posts
Maria Magdalena Kyrka, Sodermalm
Despite Christmas being over 3 weeks away, December started with two Christmas parties! First was the work bash on 4th which was an Oscars themed evening. Good fun, and I tried my first herring from the Julbord (it was OK, but not my favourite!), but I did feel a bit like I needed to be a responsible adult... at least until the staff went home and Sara and I went elsewhere The very next night, we had the Meetup Christmas party at the Liffey... I wasn’t feeling in much of a party mood but it would have been awful to miss it! For various reasons (mainly that Bhavik dropped the ball), Simon and I ended up having to find a venue for the do with only a week to go. Thankfully we managed to sweet-talk the ... read more
Icebar Stockholm
Back in Sweden and I was starting to wonder what possessed me in agreeing to stay until the end of March... I’d just had a great 3 weeks in Canada (bar the broken toe) and another one in London (bar the second broken toe) catching up with friends and family and generally appreciating just how easy it is to function in a country where you understand everything that goes on! It’s not that I sit here and constantly think about how difficult it is, but being out of Sweden made me realise that it’s really tiring not understanding 80% of what happens around you and why. Over the last 6 months or so it has got better as I’ve picked up more vocabulary, but being back in England was such a relief! It also didn’t help ... read more
Fort York in the sunshine
At last, a beautiful sunny day! My last day in Canada and the day of my trip to see the legendary Niagara Falls - I couldn’t have asked for better weather. I decided to go with a tour package as the public transport options to the area aren’t brilliant and I did have a plane to catch that evening! Because I’m lazy, I organised the tour through the hotel and ended up with CU Tours. Possibly not the cheapest, but it seemed to cover the major sights. We were picked up by our minibus bright and early and off we went. Our driver/guide gave a running commentary as we went - half of which I ignored as I was just watching the world go by! But there were some interesting snippets (which I clearly can’t remember ... read more
The view from my hotel room. Doesn't suck.
Thursday morning dawned grey and drizzly and chaos reigned in the Kemp household. Gordon had the unenviable task of getting 3 excitable kids and 2 tired WWOOFers ready to leave the house and take the trip down to Toronto to respectively catch a flight to Halifax to see their mother, and be let loose into the wilds of the big city. Even so, he managed to surprise us with a last breakfast of apple waffles! The man really is Supermom. The ride down to Toronto was interesting for me - chatting with Gordon, listening to his eclectic and sometimes interesting music selection and watching the scenery from the front seat. Ro meanwhile had to contend with an “interesting” conversation with a 7 year old. Sorry Ro! Gordon kindly dropped us at the GO Transit stop nearest ... read more
A far less energetic way of splitting logs
Before I left Sweden/UK, I was telling people about WWOOFing and how we were planning a stay on a hippie commune and on a ranch... Well, Ro fitted in the commune before I got to Canada (fortuitously as it turns out - not sure I would have been prepared for the public nudity involved in showering in the middle of the lawn) and ranches seem to be rather too popular. I tried to get us on to one for this, my last farming week, but Linda Proudfoot regretted to inform me that although we sounded “adorable” (have I suddenly turned into a fluffy bunny on the phone?!) she had no room at the inn. So Gordon got us instead. Lucky Gordon. Gordon is an artist and farmer who runs The Art Farm in Duntroon, Ontario. He ... read more
On the road from Thunder Bay
When I agreed to take the two and a half hour flight northwest from Toronto to Winnipeg to meet Ro and then the 5 hour bus ride further north again, I didn’t quite connect that with the reality of having to get back to Toronto. Overland. Circumstance and some planning meant that we split that return journey into 3 parts. But we’d done the shorter legs and were now left with the mammoth 26 hour trip from Thunder Bay to Collingwood, Ontario to meet our next host. Over the course of the last couple of journeys on the Greyhound, Ro has taught me that there are four categories of traveller on the service: 1. Tourists 2. Students 3. Native people 4. Crazies We normally fit into category 1, although given the drugs I’m taking (which could ... read more
Riding Mountain National Park as we left Grandview on the Greyhound
The bus out of Grandview was much fuller than the one we got on the way out there - the perils of travelling straight after Thanksgiving I guess. So Ro and I sat cramped for 5 and a half hours with our hand luggage on the floor under our feet. I’m not entirely sure why the “express” service between Grandview and Winnipeg took longer than our slow service on the way north, but I am learning not to question the Greyhound way... At least the sun was shining and we could stare out of the window at the endless prairie skies, and view Riding Mountain National Park in daylight! Still didn’t see any wildlife unfortunately. To make our pick-up most convenient to Chris, we wanted to be let off the bus at Headingley rather than Winnipeg ... read more
Moving cows in the pouring rain
During her trip, Ro is spending a week at each farm she visits, and about a month in each province. We figured that we could just about fit 2 provinces and 3 farms into my trip, Poplar Glen being the first farm, in Manitoba (Ontario will be next). I guess I was a little apprehensive about this whole WWOOFing thing - you turn up at a lonely bus stop, are picked up by a total stranger and taken to their farm, whereupon you live in their house and eat their food for a week. But I have to say, it’s amazing how quickly you settle into their daily lives! Each day, regardless of the weather, the chores need to be done - in the morning feed and water the kittens and cats in the barn, feed, ... read more
Patches makes herself at home on my bed
Not content with a 17 hour marathon journey yesterday, and clearly missing Winnipeg airport already, Chris, Ro and I headed back there shortly before 9am on Tuesday in search of a Greyhound. A very friendly and helpful man behind the counter relieved Ro and myself of $52 apiece, in exchange for a 5 hour road trip to Grandview, Manitoba. Five hours sounds like a long time, but when you have years of catching up to do, the time passes very quickly! Undoubtedly we entertained/irritated the entire bus for most of the journey with our various stories. But we were happy and no-one actually complained. Besides, Mimmi the elderly lady sitting opposite us was far more irritating with her extremely loud mobile phone conversations for the first hour... half were French-accented Canadian and half were weirdly-accented French. ... read more
Ontario
Having arrived from Stockholm on Friday evening I thought I had plenty of time to organise myself for my long-awaited holiday. Not so. I turned up at the Heythorp Street Hotel late on Friday evening, where Sarah had very kindly agreed to put me up at short notice. We spent several hours gossiping before I headed to my own spare room for a kip - a strange feeling but a very comfy bed Saturday was spent rather pleasantly with brunch on the South Bank with Emma, Rosie, Steve, Nat and several thousand children, followed by a desperately needed pampering at the hands of Heath the hairdresser, “T.com on a Saturday” drinks in Covent Garden with the usual suspects (plus a 10-week old first appearance by Ewan who was extremely laid back about the whole thing) and ... read more
