Garda sailing pics Europe » Italy » Lake Garda By Moving edgeways April 16th 2007More Garda photos... [View Full Entry]

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Garda Photos Europe » Italy » Lake Garda By Moving edgeways April 6th 2007Some Garda photos the day prior to the Europe Meeting there. Stunning as I remember it from previous holidays. Racing writeup at: www.timl.livesaildie.com/ [View Full Entry]

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Malta Photos Europe » Malta » Valletta By Moving edgeways April 6th 2007Work provided a few days off in Malta. Valetta harbour (or harbours plural....) is stunning as is the Baroque old town with its neat grid system. Its a peculiar place with the mix of beauty and chaos of Italy but plenty of British influences too (it seems to be where old right-hand drive cars go to di [View Full Entry]

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Well, I seem to heave survived my first few weeks with no major disasters - on a french course at present but its all coming along very slowly. Will hopefully improve as the year goes on. Anyway a few pics below of where I'm living and some sailing pics from various days training.... [View Full Entry]

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The train to Oslo was uneventful - the flat farmland, forests and quiet hidden lakes of the Swedish interior gliding past the window. However arriving in Oslo I was targeted by Norweigan customs which was a novel experience. After 20 questions about what I was doing, where had I come from, did I have any friends in Norway etc. it was back to the office so they could search my dirty washing for contraband. It made for an entertaining interlude, meant I could get somebody to bring me free drinks and got to tell them all about my holidays, though they [View Full Entry]

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Even having seen so many pictures of the this island city before it still doesn't prepare you for the stunning view as the train emerges out of the tunnel and crosses the series of bridges that make up the city centre. Sparkling water overlooked by palaces, chuches and graceful old buildings, some high on cliffs others on completely flat islands. Other island with just spires and domes peping out from the treetops. It beats any of the other cities I've seen and is finally a Scandinavian city that feels like a real capital - something of a contentious issue as Stockholm [View Full Entry]

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Well that one didn't quite go to plan, all the trains to Stockholm were booked solid so the 16km across the Oresund to Malmo was all that was covered today. So Malmo - pleasant in an underwhelming sort of way. Quite a large town (city?) that originally grew up as part of Denmark, it's more recent history was based around heavy industry and while there are some nice little streets and buildings of various styles all the way back to the 16th century they struggle to make up for a bland and in places brutal town. In fact in many ways [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Copenhagen it looked like I might be going back across the Oresund bridge into Sweden - a not too helpful tourist office (which generally seems to be the case) insisted there were no beds left in Copenhagen but they could get me somewhere either in Sweden or 40 minutes further into Denmark, well thanks.... I didn't believe the city could be so full on a rainy week in May and eventually found a room in a bit of a basic but central hostel through the 'Use-It' office - a tourist info service directed at backpackers, and very helpful they [View Full Entry]

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Oslo is very nice, really it is, it's just it isn't that special as capital cities go and is undoubtedly overshadowed by Bergen. It feels much like many medium size central European cities - some attractive parts and ornate buildings but they are only a scattering amongst far a more utilitarian majority. And then there's the Radhus (townhall) which makes it look like the Soviets had a hand in the architecture - so brutal and ugly it's impressive. On the plus side Oslo has a pretty island filled harbour and a very relaxed air for a capital city, where else could [View Full Entry]

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Well, I can't say categorically that it's the most spectacular rail journey in the world but it's certainly well up there. An incredible route - the engineering and sheer hard graft to carve the route through such an inhospitable environment is almost unimaginable. For much of the route there is only a single line clinging precariously to the mountainside, trains only able to pass at stations. If I have one regret it's that I didn't do the trip in the opposite direction as the high point comes much closer to the Bergen end and the gentler country towards Oslo suffers by [View Full Entry]

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