http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/celind/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from celind en-us Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:02:10 +0000 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:02:10 +0000 Itrsquos a good day. Saturday. The skies are blue the air is warm. Festival time. Getting to Megaland in Landgraaf takes longer than planned. Traffic lack of proper directions a completely illogical parking system and funny logistics to the actual festival ground gets us in the gates right in the middle of The Killersrsquo performance. Little do I care. Sure theyrsquove got a few good s http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Limburg/blog-453954.html The conditions are simple Chile beats Colombia and theyrsquore qualified for the World Cup soccer. If not they get more chances later on. Chilean people know this. But the Chileans donrsquot want to wait. Itrsquos Saturday they want to party.We arrive early at the Irishstyled pub to get a good seat. A wise decision. We do get a table with a good view of the massive big screen. People w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-453740.html Finding a place to eat in a new city can be a tricky thing. With a couple of strongminded fellow travelers even more so. Reims may not have gained its fame for the abundance of restaurants but like every French settlement with a population greater than two there are a few establishments to choose from. Finally we agree on trying one on what appears to be a rather major and popular square.The w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Champagne-Ardenne/Reims/blog-432449.html Irsquom not a religious man but that doesnrsquot mean I donrsquot respect religion. And it certainly doesnrsquot mean I canrsquot appreciate the sometimes magnificent architecture that comes with places of worship. To be truthful I have often stated that ldquoif yoursquove seen one cathedral yoursquove seen them allrdquo. This is obviously not true they are all unique in vario http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Vatican-City/Vatican-City/blog-432448.html All over the world theyrsquore referred to as Irish pubs. Here theyrsquore just pubs. Dublin is all about the pubs. Sure itrsquos got its cultural and historical scene as well but at the end of the day literally you end up in a pub. And when in the pub why not mingle with the locals. The Irish are friendly and funloving. And some of them completely incomprehensible. The table next t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/Dublin/blog-432446.html Cruising through the clouds in an airplane is pretty cool. Doing it by car is even cooler. A visit to the mountain town of Ronda allows you to do this. Going back towards the coast on the mountain roads at dusk the view with the mountaintops and the clouds below is a magnificent sight. The idea that you have to descend through the white stuff to get to the bottom is quite exciting.But first we ha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Ronda/blog-383987.html A fast ferry ride away from Helsinki is Tallinn. Capital of Estonia. The city has two faces. Move away from the city center and you see concrete blocks of houses old Soviet style. Stay in the old town and you find yourself in a medieval city. I prefer the latter so frolic around on the cobble stoned streets along the old city wall. On the top of a hill stands the Alexandr Nevsky cathedral. Itr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-382540.html Financial crisis recession bad times. Reality in 2009. But it wasnrsquot always like that. Only a couple of years ago companies had money to spend on their employees. And they did. Gather the troops from across Europe in on the beach for an allday event. Put them in a luxury hotel. Let them wake up to boring meetings in the morning. Let them play the teambuilding game in the afternoon. Let th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/South-Holland/Noordwijk/blog-382538.html Stadio Olimpico Rome. This modern day Colosseum where the gladiators are substituted by football mercenaries where the battle for life and death is swapped for a fight to kick the ball behind enemy lines and where the reward for victory is no longer your precious life but fame glory and obscene amounts of Euro.This day AS Roma is hosting Siena. A small group of dedicated opponent fans occup http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-382190.html I love the sun. I love skiing. I love beer. Combine the three and yoursquoll soon find yourself sitting in a chair in the French Alps in the ski slope with a beer in your hand roasting in the sun. Skiing is great in fact skiing in ldquoTrois Valleesrdquo is pretty much as good as it gets in Europe. But the feet hurt like hell from the rental boots. And the beer is German white beer in pro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Rh-ne-Alpes/Val-Thorens/blog-348284.html Rugby is a rather fascinating sport. A number of big guys without padding trying to beat the shit out of each other with the excuse of transporting a ball past the opponentrsquos goal line. Sometimes running sometimes passing sometimes kicking the ball. But more often stuck in a huddle that is moving with the speed of ketchup. Sometimes the huddle breaks up only to reform a few meters away t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-347887.html Mention the Basque country in northern Spain and many will think of ETA maybe bombs liberation movements and strange language. Fewer will think of the beautiful scenery the great food and the extremely friendly and hospitable people. A shame. But itrsquos not without reason the area is associated with violence. For years and decades groups from this region have fought for independence fro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-347886.html All my life Irsquove been fascinated by whales. Not sure what is the attraction of these majestic mammals but I suspect my interest begun way back in the days at the Natural History Museum in their Blue Zone gallery. For a 6year old a room full of naturalsized whale models can be quite exciting.Now when people have realized that whale safaris are a rather lucrative business luckily they a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Iceland/North/Husavik/blog-305207.html Late June in 2004 I left my home country Sweden and moved to the Netherlands for work. Found a job just outside of Utrecht decided to live in the city of Utrecht. Found myself an apartment in the city on the Internet decided to take it unseen. Had never been to Utrecht before so an interesting adventure. By coincidence I happened to arrive the same day that Holland was to play Portugal in the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Province-of-Utrecht/Utrecht/blog-305205.html A bum. A beggar. Lives on the street. Not any street though but Princes Street in Edinburgh. Sits outside a store in rags with some text on a piece of cardboard telling his story in a few lines. Basically the reason why we should give him money. Hersquos in his 20rsquos. No visible signs of physical or mental defects. A cell phone rings. In todayrsquos day and age everyone has a cell pho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-275917.html There is no doubt that he's Italian. At first sight he could be an important business man with his nice suit and greasy hair. Turns out he is not. He's on vacation from his job as a truck driver. He has visited his girlfriend in Denmark over the Christmas holidays. A girlfriend who lives in Sweden due to bad politics in Denmark... Wonder if he got that right...But again wonder what is the la http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-275481.html The guy has a theory. rdquoThere are no fiordsrdquo. Even though the cruise ship gracefully sails up the fiord leading to Oslo the Swedish guy is convinced. He tries to convince some American tourists to accept his statement. Itrsquos all just a conspiracy. Maybe by the Norwegian government in order to attract tourists. Maybe itrsquos just an illusion. Many of the passengers are spending http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Ostlandet/Oslo/blog-275479.html Amy is going home to see her family. She is curious about Sweden even though she has no clue about its whereabouts. Central America maybe Doesnrsquot matter...The meal includes a small dessert. I consume the dessert before the meal. She asks if that is a custom in Sweden. No itrsquos just me. Whatever. rdquoHouston we have a problemrdquo. Houston is down there when I ask her if wersqu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Houston/blog-275477.html The bus between Mobile AL and New Orleans LA isnrsquot full not even close. Shersquos sitting in the back of the bus mixing her soda with vodka. Alcohol is prohibited on Greyhound buses and she has to hide it. She hasnrsquot seen her child in many years the father took it away. She is an exotic dancer. She is going to New Orleans to visit her mother not to try her luck like many other http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alabama/Mobile/blog-275476.html At first sight the guy seems rather normal. After having released a few incomprehensible murmurs this perception is radically altered. Before having even landed his butt on the seat he has initiated the deadend conversation. Conversations with the trainplanebus neighbor can be quite interesting and kill some serious time. This guy is a one of those oneway streeters. To his defense could be m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-275475.html