Get up and go for breakfast and get ready to take the airport shuttle at 9.17 am. We arrived at the a’port at 9.30 and we’re able to get our boarding passes and our assigned seats. Good thing that I had printed those papers as they were both needed at the ticket counter. The first one was our ability to show that the Vietnamese Government had invited us and the other was for a list of the invitees that included ours. Of course the visa application form also had to be shown.

Now comes the hard part about flying, We had to kill a couple of hrs before security and boarding. For this, my computer comes in handy. Good thing that the entire Van a’port has a hotspot for the wi-fi. Security was flawless and this is the first time in all our flying adventures that we did NOT check in our luggage. Just like everyone else we decided to take it on board.

Finally we boarded and at 12.40 pm the pilots put the petal to the metal as we were off to our newest adventure. Now it is a 12 hr non-stop flight (good thing as it is only water below us) to Shanghai, China. We have a 5 hr lay-over here before we proceed on a 4 hr flight to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

As always, the flight was a bit late leaving and by the time we arrived in Ho Chi Minh we were an hr late. Eventually we were able to obtain our visas at the airport by the police and had obtained a taxi to take us to our hotel. That was all competed by 3 am. Fortunately for us is that there had been a time change of one hr in our favour. Nothing like suffering a bit of jet-lag. We got to bed at 3AM and by 7.20 we were already eating our breakfast.

Now we had the entire day ahead of us. As always Lenora had the places ready to be seen, so the hoofing begins. The most interesting place we went to was the War Museum. This was as disturbing as was the “Killing Fields” in Cambodia and The “Death Museum” in Kanchanabury in Thailand (the bridge over the River Kwaii” Each one of these places is as disturbing as the other. It’s amazing what man can do to each other. The Vietnam war was another war that the U.S.A. got into without the permission of the world bodies. In this war the American G.I.s did a world of notrocities to the people of Vietnam.

Today, our Monday, we are a day ahead of you in Canada, we booked a few tours. These we’ll mention later. The biggest problem was that when we used the ATM, it ate our card, without giving us any money. It took a few hrs from 11 AM to 3PM to get our card back, but we do have it.

As we walked back to our hotel, My foot got caught on a low chain on the sidewalk, thereby giving Gerry a faceplant in front of a few Vietnamese. Mostly a few cuts and bruises and a hurt pride. Tonight though coming home from the night market my right wrist is quite sore so I must have sprained it when I fell. We’ll see how we make out in the morning.

Tuesday, Dec 06
My right wrist is really acting up this morning as I expected, it is difficult to move my fingers, but am sure that I did not break anything.

We now waited for our bus to take us to a rather unique temple. Roughly 120 km east north east of Ho chi minh. The religion is only found in this part of the country. As different as the temple was it also looked a bit gaudy. The followers come to pray here 4 x a day, starting at 6 Am, noon, 6 Pm and again at midnight. Their ceremony is rather odd as we watched the noon ceremony. Then it was time for lunch.

After lunch it was on to the tunnels at Cu Chi, approximately 75km north of Ho chi minh. These are the famous or infamous tunnels of the Viet-cong soldiers. It’s what defeated the Americans during the war. Many explanations were given as to how the tunnels were build, the sizes (24×36”) and the total length (250 km) Many different booby-traps were also hidden throughout this area. Most of the traps were huge spikes. They are too numerous to describe. After a break we were taken inside a section of the tunnels that at some were 15 meters deep. It almost was a bit nauseating going down that deep hunched over and trying to take the odd picture. Here as well we were given a lecture on the war from the Vietnamese point of view instead that of the Americans. It is amazing how the story changes when you hear the other side telling you how it was. The same held true in Cambodia as well as in Cuba. Then slowly it was time to head back to Ho chi minh. Our day was from 6am to 7.00 pm and after dinner we still wanted to take in the night market.

Wed, Dec 07

Another early morning, as we waited in the lobby for our 7.45 bus to arrive. Today we are headed for some exploration of the Mekong Delta. After a 1 ½ bus ride we arrived at the river. Here we were herded into a long boat to take us to some of the islands in the river. At the first island, called Unicorn, all the inhabitants do is to make coconut candy. We were treated to some honey tea as well as other treats. After we had inspected the factory as to how that the coconut candy was made it was time to move on again. This time on to Ben Tre island.

There was this eccentric Vietnamese person that was from a rich family. He travelled the world back in the very early 30ts. Eventually he made it back to Vietnam and to this particular island on the Mekong River. Here he started a new religion, called what else, Coconut religion. It never got recognized or accepted by the government but it has survived till today. He build a hideous temple there and he and his followers ate nothing but coconuts and coconut milk to survive. He did last into his early 90s

Once again as we left the Mekong Delta for home, our thoughts were already turning to tomorrow morning, but before we leave this area of Vietnam.
Earlier, it was known as Saigon, today it is Ho chi minh, after one of the fathers of this country. Some observations are as follows;

The city is old and has struggled for centuries with war, the most recently one, being the Vietnam war in the 1970s.The city is old and many places need a good cleaning up. The city itself is rather clean. The people are very courteous and friendly. Costs are rather low as well unless you want to go to the ritzy places of which there are numerous. The food is really inexpensive. The newer homes that are being built are some 20 ft wide only, three or four stories high as well as maybe a 70 to 80 ft. long. I don’t know if this is all for a single family or whether it is shared by others. The older ones are falling apart.

Ho chi minh has a population around 6 million and I swear that there are 4 1/2 million scooters on the road at the same time. From a dead stop at a light they proceed, 12 to 20 abreast to 100 or so deep. When the lights change the buses, trucks and cars are turning left and right, while the bikes intertwine amongst, without making accidents. It looks like ballet.

Night time is when the city really comes alive as the pseudo restaurants appear on the sidewalks and the Night Markets are set up. Then 3 million or so people (I think) and start searching for deals for clothing, flowers, cafes, jewelry etc.

We did enjoy ourselves here and we leave tomorrow for a city called Mui Ne four hrs north of here and well let you all know what happens next.

Gerry and Lenora in Viet

At the border we were given the go ahead after a quick check through our unit. On to Omak so that we could fill up the fridge and continue to Moses Lake. That would be our first night. Sat. June 4. We were both quite tired yesterday so we did not get up till 8 am, but by 9 am we were on our way. Our goal was to make it to Twin Falls Idaho for the night but it was an 8 hr drive. At 7.30 pm including a one hr time change. The weather was great and the entire day was uneventful. If it wasn’t for gas stations we would not have stopped at all. At our arrival we walked around a bit we had something to eat at a Wendy’s sat in our 5th and did what we had to do and finally called it a day at 10 pm.

Sunday, June 5. Up at 6.30 am. This was planned for 6, but what the heck. We left Twin Fall Idaho for Cedar City, Utah. We arrived here at 6.30 pm. It was a long day for driving. The wind was so strong that it really cut into our mileage. This did give us a good chance to stop more often at the gas stations. One service attendant was even so nice that he found a number of items wrong with the nuts and bolts on shackles between the wheels of the 5th. But that is another story.

Other than that it was an uneventful day, although we are where we were planning to be. Tomorrow the exploration will start. Monday, June 6th. We took our time this morning as the day would be short (driving that is) We drove from Cedar City to Springdale in just over an hour and a half. There, we booked in to the Quality Inn R.V. Park for 3 days. We arrived at 10am and set up. At 12 noon had some lunch then we waited for the shuttle bus to arrive (as no-one is allowed to drive their own vehicle in the park unless it is to traverse), to take us on a long tour through the absolutely fascinating Zion National Park. The shuttle bus comes by every 7 minutes and it is like a hop on hop off bus.

We got off at 3 different stops so we could do a hike. By the way, the wind is still howling as it has been for the last couple of days. We spent most of the day here admiring all the different rock formations. And there were many.

Evidently the mountains here are all sandstone, hence the awesome features and colours. Tonight we also met many of the neighbours in the park and had some great conversations as to what to do and to get most out of your time.

Tuesday, June 7th. Today Lenora and I took off in the truck on a jaunt of our own to do some exploring of our own. We made sure that we had our maps, water, enough gas and most of all we were glad that we did not have a GPS to lead us astray. We drove a number of miles and saw many new rock formations as well as spectacular views. Since it was a hot day, in the 30s C. we enjoyed ourselves in the pool here at the campsite. We also decided to rest up for tomorrow’s “Angel Landing” hike. This hike takes around 4 hrs and has an elevation change of 1478 ft. but the rewards are supposed to be spectacular. We will report on that in tomorrow’s addition.

Wed., June 8th. Time to get up early as we want to tackle the Angels Landing hike. It is so named as access to the top of the mountain has only been available since the Great Depression. It was so steep that only an “Angel” could fly up there and land. After a quick breakfast we took the shuttle to the appropriate stop, looked at the mountain and said “do we really want to do this or do we? Well let’s go.

The first section was not to bad, a zigzag trail up the mountain for 45 min. Then there were about 12 or 13 short but steep switchbacks called Walter’s Wiggle and then we ended up at the Scout Lookout. It was one hr since we started. We rested here for a bit, then continued onto the top. Here there were many areas that had chains to keep you safe and to help the climb. There were areas that might have been 4/6 ft wide with a 1000ft drop-off on either side but it was upward and onward till we reached the top. All along the way there were other people doing the same thing.

Finally at around 11.30 am we reached the top at 1478 ft above the valley. We awed at the view all around in 360 degrees for a minimum of 15 min then decided it was time to go back to the valley floor. Finally, we were back to where we started, on the valley floor. This hike had taken us 4 hrs to do. Once we took the shuttle home to our adobe and settled in for a few cold ones. We talked a fair amount with the other guests in the RV Park, then headed (walked) into the town of Springdale for a great dish of Mexican Food.

Late Friday night, February 4th, we arrived at Kuwait City. First item on the agenda was to find where to obtain our visas. Once found we realized that we needed Kuwaiti currency to pay for the visas. I noticed an exchange and quickly and quickly headed for it. In the meantime, Al was able to exchange some money with an American that he had been talking to. Once the visas were obtained it was time to pick up our luggage. We had to do a little searching as it had been moved to a secure area as we were not there when the belt stopped turning. That accomplished it was time for a taxi to bring us to the Ibis Sharq Hotel. Once again there was a bit of a hassle. When that was finally figured out, we were finally able to go to bed around midnight.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

I really had a good sleep for a change. Al woke me up at 8 am by knocking on my door. I guess it was time for breakfast. Then we had to get a plan, where do we go today? The lady behind the front desk was very helpful and suggested a few choices. I also had looked up what to do and where to go on Google Earth. We opted out to see the Kuwait Towers.

At one time these towers had been the pride of Kuwait. Then came the invasion and destruction by the Iraqis and things changed. These towers were restored by the Kuwaitis, but by looking them over, they are not the pride that they once were. It took us around an hr to walk here (had Lenora been here it might have taken ½ hr). then it was time to explore other parts the city. Another 3 hr walk took care of that in a hurry.We returned to the hotel for a rest.

The weather has been unacceptably cool the last few days and it has been hazy as well. After a couple of hrs we decided to walk to the TJIF Restaurant. That too was a fair distance. This had to be one of the largest restaurants I’ve been in. I asked one of the waitresses how many employees were on this shift. She wasn’t sure but knew it was over 50. It seems the customers were all Kuwaitis and the employees were mostly Pilipino, Indian Egyptian etc etc.

On the way home, Al suggested that we take a taxi. We told the taxi driver what hotel to go to but he had no idea. Heck we could almost see it. I could yell and scream at him and call him names and all he would do is say “hotel”. This driver reminded me of an episode on the Amazing Race. The one team had taken a taxi to go to the next point but the driver had no idea as to where it was. Instead he just keeps driving totally clueless. I stead of stopping and phoning, since all of them have mobile phones, they just drive. I now know how that couple felt, it cost them the race. You talk about a dummy.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Today we would walk south along the Bay. It was a clear day although rather windy and with the wind coming from the Arabian Sea it was cool. We walked for approximately 4 hrs getting to where I thought we ought to get to. This was a leisurely walk mind you. We stopped at numerous places of interest along the way and at the end of the walk were rewarded with an antique car show. The cars were the latest Bugatti’s Massaretti’s Ferrari’s and Rolls Royce’s. As well as some of the oldest cars such as the ’21 Ford Model C, 1913 Peugeot Model Phaeton 139 A. Every car was in show room condition. On top of that, every car driven by the last six or seven rulers of the countries of the UAE were also there. Then it was time to take the taxi back home. An hr or 2 later I went for a walk, as Albert wanted to have a snooze, to find a small store so we could have a snack as soon as I got back. I was even able to buy 2 bottles of 0/0 % beer, what a treat that was. problems. Then we watched a few shows and went to bed.

Monday, February 07, 2011

This is the morning we were dreading as it meant an end to our adventure. Al got up rather early so I too got up.  As always I got the coffee perking and got ready to check the e-mail. Between a coffee, breakfast, going for a walk and taking a last few photos it got to be 10am. We headed down, checked out and called a taxi. We went through security, waited around, another security, waiting around and passport control we finally got into the waiting hall to wait for our departure. Unless something out of the ordinary happens this will be the last blog that I will send you as tomorrow we will be home again. Thank you for bearing with us, reading and commenting. I find this so much easier than to send and reply to individuals. Once home we’ll reply to you individually if I get a message of course. So Long

BAHRAIN                    Tuesday, February 1^st, 2011

We departed from the Doha international Airport, just after lunch. As it turns out, Gulf Air is the Bahrainian National Airline and we are flying with them again, now for the 3^rd time.

Fortunately, there was no lost luggage this time or lost passports.

The cost of the visa upon arrival was also was painless, we just had to hand over some money. We whipped past the passport control, past the customs and landed in the arrival room right in front of an ATM. What luck. After obtaining some of the local currency (Dinars) we proceeded outside to the taxi terminal. Here we haggled a bit over the price, but it is set.

The drive from the airport to the Al Jaberiya hotel took about 15 minutes.

What I observed immediately was the absence of tall building. Just in the financial district were there a few sky scrapers. The streets also were not as clean as they were in the other countries.

Our hotel was fine and not in a bad location. Al and I went out on a familiarization walk then attended to some business. He would go and get some laundry done and I would work on the blog and photos. At 7 pm we went out for dinner. After that we stayed in for the night

Wednesday, Feb 2^nd.

After having a couple of cups of coffee in the room we went out for breakfast, as it is not included in this restaurant. Once done we went back to the room, took out the map and made our walking plans for the day.

This would include walking to the Old Palace. Once there we were told twice that photos could not be taken, so that was a waste. Now to carry on to the gardens to admire the beautiful flowers, most of which had not yet been planted. Oh well just the walk was worth the time of the day. Then I noticed a mosque (surprise!!) and wanted to take a picture of it, only to be persuaded to go into the DQ instead and have an ice cream to cool off, why not.

Next, on to some towers of in to the distance, As we approached the waterfront there was this huge statue with a pearl on the very top. Believe it or not, it was called the Pearl Monument. Now it was time to take a picture. First we had to run to get into the centre of the round about that was surrounded by four lanes of traffic and pedestrians are frowned upon. With a hop, skip and bounce we were set and I got the photos. Now to get off this round about.

We carried on walking along the waterfront to once again witness the derelict boats and finally on to the financial district. Now we saw the sky scrapers we had seen yesterday as well as a fair amount of new construction.

At this point we crossed the 8 lane hgwy, using an overpass and carried on to the diplomatic area of Manama, Bahrain.

But I am getting ahead of myself. We walked passed two towers mirrored of themselves with a fair space between them. In this space were three huge wind turbines so the towers could power themselves, what an idea.

As we walked passed a number of embassies I noticed that there was a Canadian on as well. Let’s see if we are getting our monies worth re; the building we are paying for. As I walked up the stairs this guy in a green suit comes out of this little house and he has a rifle in his hands. Mmmm I say, what is this all about? He tells me not to take a photo (today was not a good day to take photos) as this is the Saudi Embassy. I agree and carried on up the stairs to take a photo. He says NO, and I say, I only want to photograph the Canadian Embassy. He tells me that from where I was standing I would have a part of the Saudi Arabia one in the photo and that is not allowed. I agreed and finally walked around that building to photograph ours. Here too, two security personel came out to tell me no, but after I told them that I owned part of it, with the proper I.D. they allowed me three pictures.

Now to head back to the hotel. We had left at 10 am and now it was getting on to 3pm. Al being the old man that he is (much younger than me) said he required his afternoon snooze, so I obliged. After our fiesta we had a bite to eat at the nearest Gyro stand, walked the street a bit, then headed back to the hotel with a couple of 0/0 alcohol beer for our evening entertainment on the Arabic only, T.V.

I got back onto Google Earth and started to plan tomorrow. How close can we get to Saudi Arabia without crossing the border??

Thursday, Feb 3^rd

The best place to get to the Saudi-Bahrain border would be the King Fahd causeway. First conceived in 1968 it was finally started in 1982. The joint project was completed in 1986, at a cost of $ 1.2 Billion.

One of the major contractors was Ballast Nedam, a Dutch based company.

The causeway is 25 km long and 23 mtrs wide. On average it carries 45,000 cars on weekdays and 60,000 vehicles on weekends.

Now pay close attention to the following. This has been told to us by a number of Bahrainians and we have both seen and heard the results.

The liquor laws in Bahrain are much more relaxed (although still almost non-existent) than those of the Saudis, as they are not allowed any liquor at all (the Muslims that is) So on their weekends they drive to Bahrain, their sin city, and have a great weekend. This includes all the liquor they can consume and all the women they can handle or try to handle. This business has really increased since the opening of the causeway. The weekend in this area consists of Thurs. and Frid. Therefore on Wed. evening we didn’t sleep much due to all the noise and commotion in our hotel. This morning as well as we walked the streets, almost every vehicle we saw was either Kuwaitin or from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I kid you not. Bussiness must be great, praise Allah.

I digress. At 10am on Thursday morning the driver that I hired the night before is waiting for us. I told him we wanted him for 3 hrs and where we would like t go. We drive down the freeway (8 lanes) till we get to the causeway (4 lanes) and continue to drive as far as we are allowed to go without crossing the border.

Somewhere at the centre of the causeway is the border. Here they created what looks like a figure 8 piece of land, one part is Saudi Arabia the other is Bahrain. This is where you clear customs. Both sides have an observation tower that are identical, so not to discriminate and both sides have a Mc Donald’s believe it or not.

After leaving here we carried on to the King’s camelry, for the sake of a better word. It is nice to have more money than you know what to do with. Beautiful open air bldgs with sun roofs to keep the camels cool. There were a minimum of a couple of 100 camels here. I guess he likes camels for racing and breeding.

Then we carried on to the largest mosque in the country. It is capable of holding just over 7000 worshippers. That’s just peanuts, as the one we visited in Abu Dhabi held over 17,000. In this mosque you required a guide to show you around. We got a bald headed Frenchman around 40 yrs of age (did I show prejudice). We got many statistics from him and eventually I asked him a question that did not get answered when we visited a mosque in Penang, Malaysia. Lenora and I were interrupted there.

The question was, why do you kill in the name of Mohammed? Out comes the defense and all the scriptures that you can think of to justify their beliefs. I told him that these scriptures were thousands of years old and maybe are not accurate. After all, we didn’t have pencil or paper so everything we know today had to be told by someone and eventually be written.

I guess we were both set in our beliefs and since we were the guests in his Holy place I decided to bid him farewell as our taxi was waiting. Boy oh boy, religion can be what ever you want it to be as long as you believe, that’s called faith.

Back to the hote

We left Oman without any problems but unknowingly they were breeding in the future The flight from Oman to Doha, Qatar is rather odd. It’s only 15 min away, but first you fly to Manama, Bahrain, hang around for an hr, then board another plane for Doha. That flight is 45 min. So the overall time takes over 3hrs. A new visa had to be purchased here before being able to enter the country. The lady in the black outfit asked for my credit card, put it in the machine, tried it 3 times but it was refused. Bring out another credit card tried it and it didn’t work. Finally she looked at me and said your cards are refused. She called over a man and told him of the problem. He took the cards to another machine and there was no problem. Final conclusion, Her credit card reader was busted. Next came our luggage. Mine was there almost immediately. While waiting for mine I took out my black folder to check out the name of the hotel we had reserved etc. My black folder also contained the passport, visas, flight tickets etc. Just then Al called that his luggage had arrived. Together with our luggage we walked out side to get a cab and within 10 min we were at our hotel. First things first. Our room had been rented out to another, so for tonight one of us could sleep on a bed, the other on a mattress on the floor in what would be the kitchen. I refused that room and demanded something else and better. He would try. Now he wanted my passport to make a copy. You know it, I couldn’t find the black folder. Some how I had forgotten it at the airport. I asked Al to look after the luggage while the hotelier was told to get us a room and I grabbed a taxi and high-tailed it back to the airport Breaking a few security laws I walked in back to where I had waited for the luggage but was now stopped by security. A few explanations and heartbeats later the security guard took me into the back to a couple of official looking chaps and my brown folder was back into my possession. I took the taxi back to the hotel and now still had to deal with our room issue as nothing had been done while I was away. I asked the clerk to wake the manager up, which he reluctantly. I gave him a piece of my mind and the next thing I know, we are being transported to another of their hotels. It is now midnight. Now we were in a superior hotel & room. Personally I didn’t like this one much better and there were around 10 complaints that were legit that I found in about ten minutes. After breakfast I spoke to the manager, took him up to the room and showed him the problems. This time they found us two rooms, with king size beds and internet, for the same prizs of course. Time to go out for a walk now and see some of the sights. A few hrs later we returned only to find a bowl of fruit and a Bluetooth media player, compliments of the management. Sunday, January 30th This morning soon after breakfast we walked to an area close to the hotel to do a little sightseeing. We found the souk and explored it a bit then carried on to the Islam Cultural centre. It is amazing that when you read about their religion how peaceful it is. Nowhere does it say to kill, only to spread love. Have no fear, I am not about to be converted but I do enjoy learning the other cultures. Al and I continued down the road to see where the boat races had been in the bay and inspected some of the old wooden ships. From here we could see the huge and tall bldgs of Qatar. I think it must be in competition with Dubai. The shoreline has many interesting designs and each one is taller than the other. There is still a fair amount of oil here but the natural gas is feeding the economy. Qatar ships 10 million liquefied ltrs of gas on a daily basis and has enough for the next 70 years. Therefore there is no such thing as personal income tax, no sales tax, etc etc. for that matter every country so far is the same. If it was not for the foreigners the countries could not survive as there would be a shortage of people. Each country thus far has people from the Philippines, Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Most of them work for $ 5/10 per day but that is at least twice if not three times a day more than what they would have earned at home. Even the stewardess on the plane was from Romania. All of them work in the service industry. Sometimes I get the feeling that we are in India. In the evening we met up with the sun of a lady that Lenora hikes with. He has been here for 3 yrs. He took us back to the souq and showed us what it is like at night time. It reminded me a lot of the Medina in Marrakesh, Morocco. A million little businesses, narrow little alleyways and a hundred thousand people milling around looking for something or anything, then finally sit down at a restaurant, outdoors of course, to have something to eat. Thank God for French fries. We took a taxi to a place called The Pearl. Here you can purchase and rent condos. It really is an adult community but you must fit in. We walked around the waterfront of the Pearl and stood in awe of the mode of transport these people have. Many, many yachts, some as large as 135 ft. hundreds of sailboats, cars like Rolls Royce, Masaraties, Jaguars, etc,etc . Then on to the Villagio by taxi. Sorry Lenora, we are not walking as much as when you and I go but then there is no other form of transportation, so a taxi it is. The Villagio is a shopping mall that was built for the Asia Cup in 2006. the moment you walk in you are in Italy. All the stores have Italian fronts the lagoon is filled with the gondolas, the ceilings are painted to look like the sky. Even though you are inside, it feels like the outside. There is even a full sized skating rink inside as well as a carnival with all the rides including the roller coaster. After admiring a few more buildings, watching where the new stadium for the World Cup in 2022 will be build, we headed back to the hotel. That evening glen picked us up for dinner with another couple from Canada. This time to a Turkish place. Afterwards we said our good byes and once back at the hotel started to pack as in the morning we would be leaving for Bahrain.

A hotel has been reserved and maps have been printed frrom Google Earth, just to make sure that the taxi drivers don’t take advantage of us tourists to9 get from the airport to the hotel.

Monday, January 17

Albert picked me up at 10 am this morning for our drive to Vancouver. The drive was uneventful as the roads were dry. We stopped in Princeton for an early lunch then carried on. At around 4 pm we arrived at the King George Aviation airport. Arnold was waiting there for us, so the three of us continued on to richmond, where we has a room reserved at the La Quinta hotel. After settling in the three us us went out for dinner at the Mongolian Grill. Then Arnold returned home and we wet back to the hotel as it was too wet to go for a walk. It was too late any way and we were afraid to walk to far as everything in the area is written in Chinese.

At 8.30 pm Albert realised that he had forgotten his camera in the car. So a quick call to Arnold to see if there was a way to get it back to the hotel, now we wait and see if Arnold can get it back to the hotel.

Tuesday, January 18th

We had a good sleep last night, a quick breakfast and a shuttle ride to the airport was completed without any hassle. While going through the security check, my brand new watch strap got stuck somehow on the sleeve of my jacket. That little incident broke the strap so now I have a pocket watch instead.
Our 11 ½ hour flight to Beijing went off without any problems other than arriving late in Beijing. There was to have been an hour lay-over here. Instead, we had some of the airport security personnel push us through the long line-ups as our flight to Dubai was waiting. It took less then 10 minutes to go from one plane to the other including the screening. We ran from one area, then down the stairs, through the screening onto a golf card and were rushed through the airport to our plane. The driver of the golf card even wanted us to pay him for the ride. We sort of told him to get it from the airport authority instead.
Once seated, we got ourselves ready for the 9 hour flight to Dubai. You know, 20 hours flying with no break does get a bit tiring.
Watching our flight path on the monitor, it seemed that we will be flying directly over Kabul, Afghanistan. Then over the northern border of Pakistan’ then eventually veering south to meet the northern shores of the UAE. Now to sit back and wait to see what type of a surprise our arrival in Dubai might bring if any.
First through their passport control, no problem, except that it was midnight. This mend that Al got through on the 19th of January and I on the 20th. The visas we bought worked great.
Next to pick up our luggage, so as we waited and watched the carousal go round and round we realized that there might be a problem. Alas, due to the rapid change that we made in Beijing, our luggage stayed there. Finally we had to make a report and hope for the best. The best they could due is hand us $50.00 each which we accepted of course, but the bad news was is that China Air comes in only every second day at around midnight. This means no luggage until Sat. morning. Oh well.

The Wednesday that was, does not really exist as we passed the International dateline while on board. There fore we will wake-up on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates or UAE on Thursday.

Thursday, January 20th

We awoke at 8 AM after only 4 hrs of sleep after a 20 hrs flight, but felt surprisingly refreshed.
By 9 we were ready for the town having just finished our breakfast. First thing to do is reconnoiter. We decided that the Metro would be the best way to go. By the way, the Metro, the only one in all of the Middle East was opened on the 9th second of the 9th minute of the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month in the year of 2009. Lenora and I usually buy a ticket on the Metro and saw no reason it couldn’t be done again. Our first ride brought us to the highest building in the world, the BURJ KHALIFA, over 828 meters high. We spend some time looking at it and wondering why, but came up with a similar answer that you get from a mountaineer when you ask them why they climb a mountain. Then we spend some time in one of the largest malls in the world, the BURJ DUBAI. It has over 1200 stores.
After that it was back to the hotel (3pm) for a rest and to decide our next move for tonight.

Friday, January 21, 2011,

The weather looked threatening this morning. Who ever it was that said it doesn’t rain in the dessert obviously has never been in the dessert. Again we took the Metro today only today we visited the Palm Island Jumeirah. We couldn’t take the Metro until after 1PM as today was Holy Day. Once at the bottom of the Palm tree we had to hire a taxi to get us the rest of the way, all the way up the trunk of the Palm to the very top. My gosh, is that palm tree ever large The island is 5miles by 5 miles. What a feat in engineering that must have been and it still is not 100% done. If you want to see opulence then you have to come here, this is really something else. Billions have been spent here, as well as in many of the other structures. On the way back we first took the mono-rail to get off the island, then a taxi and again the metro. I took many pictures for those of you that want to see them but they won’t be ready for a bit.
Having a quick look at the islands that form the world, I can see why they have not yet sold but a few. The bare islands depending on what part of the world you want to purchase, the cost goes from 10 million for the smallest to over 100 million and this is for the bare land, you still have to build your mansion.

Saturday, January 22

As soon as possible after we finished breakfast we walked to a travel agent to book our future flights to Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait before returning to Dubai. This has to be accomplished in the next two days.
From there we walked to the City Centre shopping mall to purchase tickets for the “Hop On, Hop Off” bus. This would be our goal for the day.
Just so you know and a few of you have asked, no, not everyone wears the traditional clothing. For that matter it doesn’t even reach 10% and that goes for both male and female. Today due to the influence of the western culture as well as tourism and other influences most people dress as you and me. I would think that 95 + % also speak fluent English although Arabic is their first language. In other words the country is bi-lingual which puts Canadians to shame. Almost like Europe where everyone speaks two, three or four languages.
For those of you that thought that Dubai was dry (liquor) that also is not true. Liquor is only sold in the hotel bars, or hotel rooms but not in the corner convenience store as it is in the rest of the world, except Canada, not that that is necessarily bad.
To get back to today. We hopped on the bus and headed for the beach area which is considered the new Dubai. This is of course where we eventually saw the 7 star Burj Al Arab Hotel. The smallest room here to rent is about 700 sq meters and the largest is just over 700 sq meters. Here you can pay up to $ 14,000 a night, close to the amount that Al and myself are paying. The bus carried on to the Palm Island again so we did not Hop Off.
By the way, Palm Island or Palm Jumeirah has 30 five star hotels and receives close to 20,000 visitors a day. Some consider it the 8th wonder of the world.
From here we carried on to the Mall of the Emirates. It has 450 stores and over 70 restaurants. This also is where the only Ski Hill is located, the only one in the Arabian world. There is a total of 23,000 sq meters of snow here for your pleasure 24/7.
Ahh, to us guys it was just another mall so we did not Hop Off. Next came the Burj Dubai Mall, the largest in the world with over 1200 stores. Yes we did Hop Off here, not to go shopping of course but to buy some lunch and purchase a ticket for Tuesday to go up the Burj Khalifa Tower. We’ll inform you of that later. I will say that it has the fastest elevator in the world, 18 meters/second, so it won’t take long to get to the 124th floor observation deck.
After this we Hopped On and carried on to the old part old Dubai around the Dubai Creek. Here there are numerous gold markets (souks) and ships that still ply their trade as they did for hundreds of years in their wooden boats. That filled our day.
When we arrived at the City Centre Mall, we Hopped Off for the last time and walked back to the travel agent to see what had been accomplished. To our surprised she had it all completed. Then back to the Versailles hotel.

Sunday, January 23

Today would be a slow day. We had to make sure that our future flights had all been booked and that that a few more hotels were reserved in the other countries.
We had a leisurely breakfast, at 10 AM walked to the travel agent then on foot explored the Dubai Creek duty free port. What a busy place this is, you talk about organized confusion. A few hrs later, Al and I took one of the small boats that serve as water taxis across the creek, which is an ancient tradition. Eventually we made it back to the hotel. Later that evening we went out for dinner and watched a bit of a carnival. At present there is a shopping festival in Dubai from Jan 20th to Feb 20th. That is the reason there are so few hotel vacancies.
Just as a matter of interest, no-one pays income tax. No sales taxes or any other tax.

Monday, January 24th

We got up rather early as we knew the day was going to be long. Al and I had purchased a ticked for a day to join a small group for a ride to Abu Dhabi. The bus picked us up at 8.30AM and we were on our way. Speed limit is between 100/120 K/H on a 4-6 lane highway in either direction. Arriving in Abu Dhabi I was treated to see one of the most beautiful mosques that I had ever seen. The carpet inside is one piece, but it took just over two yrs to complete by a total of 1200 women working on it daily. The exterior is exquisite. No matter what a religion one is, or is not, you just have to admire the architecture and work that went into it. The mosque was built between 1996-2007.
The Sheik paid for this place of worship out of his own pocket. Talking about the sheik, the royal family has a total of 1455 servants. The plates for his cars are numbered 1-200, his private airport is very near by and so are his private jets. There are three palaces next to each other covering a massive area.
We stopped at a museum, as well at a enormous hotel where ordering a breakfast starts at $ 100.00 and up. By the way, the hotel is full. After having lunch at a mall we continued seeing a bit more, then it was time to head back to Dubai.
On our return to our hotel, we quickly checked out, only to be told that they now had room for us but the next place we had reserved had already been paid for.
So we moved to the area called The Old Gold Souk. This is the area along the Dubai Creek where Dubai was first stated, and it shows. We had one H of a time finding the hotel between the busy alleys and the throngs of people in these places, including many’ many tourists. We were now in the Muslim quarters.
Yes, after a few questions from the right (?) people we were able to find a pub. On the way to the pub, a very nearby Minaret opened the loud speakers and out came a the songs to call the faithful to prayers. Albert almost fell off the sidewalk after hearing that. He asked what it was, and I told him that it was his wake-up call, and left it at that.

With breakfast out of the way we decided to take the citybus instead of the Metro or a taxi.
We left the hotel with over 2 1/2 hrs to spare, thinking we could kill the extra time at the mall before our 11.30 Am reservation to go up the worlds highest building. Due to a convention in the city there was so much traffic that we got to the Burj Khalifa tower with only minutes to spare.
Then up we went in the world’s fastest elevator (18 mtrs in one second. This was a real thrill. When the doors were opened we were treated to this awesome view..
Al and I stayed up here for approximate one hr as the wind had finally taken over

Tuesday, January 25th

While I was writing this blog this morning, there was this horrible sound and it was only 4.30 Am.
The sound was extremely loud and as Albert woke up and asked what it was I told him it was his wake-up call. Yes the first of five daily calls to pray started at 4.30AM. Al tried to go back to sleep, while I continued blogging with the chanting going on almost next door.
Today will be a do nothing day. Late in the afternoon we have to get to the airport for our departure to Muscat, Oman
We stayed in our room rather late to work the “net” Then it was off to the Gold Souk to see if any purchases should be made. Alas, when one sees so much gold, it turn ugly. There for it now was time to do some people watching and walk around our favourite areas before we picked up our bags.
At 3.30 we rolled our bags onto the city bus and headed too the airport.
No trouble at all anywhere, so we’re able to get stamped leaving the country. Security here was also much more relaxed so I had no problem with it.
Since there was a bit of time to spare, we browsed through the duty free store. Between the two of us we found the hard liquor section, but as almost always seems to be the case, things were not that much less.
I asked one of the attendants if liquor was allowed to be imported (learned that lesson in Russia last year) and the answer was yes. I then asked if it was allowed into Qatar and the answer was NO. That would mean that the two of us would have to drink the entire bottle in 2 days, so we declined. Heck, had we bought that bottle we probably would have seen the inside of our hotel for the next 2 days instead of the country.
The flight from Dubai to Muscat, Oman took only ½ hr and I’ll report from there when we leave

Two weeks later we took off in our 5th wheel for two weeks to have a look at the Grand Coulee Dam and surrounding areas in Washington State. I will include a few photos of this area.

Now plans are in the works for myself and a friend of mine, named Albert Millership, to visit the Middle East. Hopefully we will be able to visit Dubai, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Our tickets have already been bought and now the waiting game starts.

Everything was moving along fine until Canada and the U.A.E. got into a gefuffle. Now a Canadian citizen needs a visa in the passport for the UAE before arrival. This presently puts into a time squeeze since the requirements to obtain such a visa have yet to be posted on their official website.

Today is the 8th of December and the U.A.E. still has not posted the requirements for the application for visas. Now we are wondering whether or not the info needed will get here in time. We have our tickets but the dates may have to be changed if this takes much longer. It won’t be to easy to send our passports to the U.A.E. embassy in  Ottawa on the 2nd of January and have them back by the 15th or 16th as our flight is on the 18th. Now we just sit and wait, we’ll keep you informed.

The UAE Embassy finally (Dec. 20th) came up with a few requirements as to the procedure for obtaining the much sought after visa. They have given two companies in the UAE the right to issue the visas with a cost of $150.00 US.  The hotels in the UAE are also allowed to issue the visas if you booked a room there. I tried to go that route but they (the hotels) knew nothing about it, I guess it;s too new. On the 23rd of Dec. I e-mailed all that was required to the company in Dubai including the cash and now have to hope that there are no complications.

On the 27th of Dec. the UAE Embassy in Ottawa finally issued word that the visas would be available through them as well but for the cost of $250.00 Can. I sure hope that this doesn’t create another problem. Oh well sit back and wait and if there is no word by the 2nd of January I will have to phone Dubai.

5.30 am the alarm sounded to wake us up. Yup it’s another traveling day. On to Oslo, Norway. I quickly made us a coffee or two as we got ready to pack. This only takes a few moments. Checked the emails, answered a few and turned the computer off.

It was now 6.15 am. It only takes ten min to walk to the train station from the hotel and the train does not leave until 6.59.

Due to construction on our way to Oslo we cannot go straight north after leaving Denmark.

We crossed the water north of Copenhagen at Helsingor. Here you enter a tunnel till halfway across, then continue across a bridge to Hassleholm, Sweden. Both Lenora and I were looking forward to this, having seen its construction on Mega Builders on the Discovery Channel. As it turned out, there was nothing to see. What a disappointment.

The construction on the rail line diverts us almost to Stockholm (Katrineholm) before heading west again to Karlstad and then on to Oslo. Normal time would have been around 8 hrs but now will be closer to 11 hrs, oh Forrest Gump.

We have just arrived at Katrineholm exactly on time and after having waited the half hr we also left on time. Trying to find our seats was another question. Evidently, an extra car was added and you just have to find a vacant one, so much for reservations that you pay for.

Two hrs later we arrived in Karlstad in this car that was so hot you almost had trouble breathing.  and we were on this car for 3 hrs. Then from there we had two more hours to go but this time in a modern train. It even had free wifi on board.

We arrived in Oslo at 7 pm. First order of business was to find an ATM and Lenora would look after that. Personally I walked to the ticket office of the train to see to the trip we were planning to Stavanger on the west coast only that was not to be.

Next order of business was dinner. We saw a great little restaurant in the train station so we had a quesadilla there, good food.

Then we bought a couple of tickets for the tram and headed to our hotel. This time we chose the Best Western.

As we walked in the receptionist welcomed us and asked for a credit card deposit for the minibar and other charges that may occur, normal procedure.

As I reached for my wallet I realized it was not there, somebody had already removed it from my pocket.

Oh well, there goes another 1000 Norwegian Kroner’s but also 2 credit cards a debit card and my drivers license.

We spend the next 2 hrs calling Canada to cancel all cards. Good thing Lenora still has hers. It was late into the night but we did manage to get a few hrs of sleep. I guess there is a first time for everything. After visiting almost 70 countries, it had to happen sooner or later.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

While having breakfast this morning we happen to sit with an older couple from Rotterdam. As were talking our woes were brought forth. When they left I could almost hear them say “dumb Canadian” I am sure that they must have talked about us during the day. Well so be it, Forrest Gump (sxxt happens

Lenora and I walked to the waterfront where we caught a ferry to an area called Bygdøy. This is where most naval museums are. The biggest attraction for us was to see Thor Heyerdahl’s  museum.  He is Norway’s greatest anthropologist.  www.kon-tiki.no In case you haven’t heard much about him you can find it here. We also visited the Viking Museum, a very interesting place

Finally when we came out of that museum it was raining cats and dogs, so we took a bus back to our hotel, it was 5 pm anyway.

On our arrival there the receptionist called us over and said that the people we had had breakfast with wanted to talk to us again, but they were not in yet. I left them our room #.

According to her (the receptionist) the Dutch couple wanted to tell us that they too had their wallet lifted. Evidently it is a real problem at the train station with a number of eastern Europeans hanging around all day in little groups doing their thing.(They get all the blame)

They see people arrive at the station, phone or text a partner as to who has a wallet and where it is located.  The rest is all team work.

Friday, July 23^rd; 2010

We had to get up at 5 am this morning, have a shower and head for the train station. Our walk takes us there in a half hr. Then at precisely 6.31 am our train departs for a 5 hr ride inland towards Myrdal and upwards to an altitude of 1228 meters. At Myrdal we change trains and go back down to sea level to the town of Flam. This is only a distance of 22 Km and is done in 1hr, during which you see a gorgeous valley and a number of waterfalls.

Once there (in Flam) we run like H to the tourist booth and buy a ticket on the boat, (we have 10 min).We embark on the boat for a 2 hr trip on two awesome fjords,

At the end of the boat trip we get ready to run like H again as we now have to get on a bus and buy our ticket there. The run was not needed as there were ample buses waiting.

Once we depart the bus takes us on a 1 hr trip back up to a higher altitude but first makes a side trip. He drives up an old mining road to a point with a fantastic view. From here we descend zig zagging through 13 switch backs to get back to the highway, what a sight.

At the end of the bus trip we arrive in the ski town of Voss. Here we wait for the train (10 min) that takes us on a 5½ hr train ride back to Oslo.

We arrive back at 10.30 pm. It was a long day folks. The trip is called Norway in a Nutshell.

Back jn Oslo we quickly buy something to eat in the train station, but now always looking around at everyone, although I have nothing left to steal. We get back to our room at 11.30 pm.

Boy, what a day that was. You can read more on this beautiful journey at   www.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

We meet up with the Dutch couple from Rotterdam at breakfast and talk about our misfortunes.

As it turns out, they too were relieved of their wallet, also at the railway tram area, just like we were. Since we had talked to them two days earlier they immediately cancelled every credit card as we had done. Even his hotel room card was in his wallet. Fortunately the card has no name on it or the thieves could have returned to the hotel and relieve them of anything valuable.

We carried on around 10 am and walked to the most famous park in Norway, called “Vigeland Sculpture Park” named after the artist that created all this. It is extremely beautiful. If interested just click on the blue URL

http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/arch/769/Vigeland/walk1.html

This kept us busy for quite awhile. Slowly we walked back to the hotel and hung around for an hr or two.

At 5 pm we went out for dinner (Chinese this time) and from there to an area very popular with the locals as well as the tourists. It is called Akers Brygge. It is along the waterfront with oodles of restaurants, ice cream parlors and everything else that can give it a party atmosphere.

By 8.30 pm it was time to head home (¾ hr walk) but since it was still such a nice evening we stopped off at a little bar in the neighbourhood for a beer, then we were going to call it a night.

While there we met a couple from New Mexico and before we knew it, it was 11.30 so we gave them our wishes for a good night.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Being Sunday today and Norway being very conservative we were not in a hurry to get ready.

We had a late breakfast and at 10.30 am we began our hike to the Opera house, Norway’s largest venue.

It has a set of huge sloping roofs that come right down to the ground. Evidently more people have walked on top of the opera house than have been inside. This might be an indication of the cultural awareness of the Norwegian populace. It was great but personally I still prefer the Sydney opera House.

If you want some images of this place click on the blue URL.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0geuo0RLk1MyTQADI1XNyoA?ei=UTF-8&p=new%20norwegian%20opera%20house&rs=0&fr2=tab-web&fr=moz35

After the opera house we walked to the Akerhus Slott. This is the medieval castle and later a fortification.

After being there for an hr or so it started to sprinkle, so we decided to slowly make our way through the centre of the city to our hotel. By the time we got there it was raining pretty heavy. We had a quick and late lunch at the nearby pub, went back to our room and stayed there for the rest of the evening.

This was the first real rain that we have had in the last six weeks. It didn’t really matter as tomorrow is our last day here and it will be a short one due to our departure time. More on that later, now it is time to say good night.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Coffee is brewing and we are ready to face our last day in Norway as well as the last day of our adventure in Europe, Scandinavia and Russia.

As we look outside we notice that it was still raining albeit not as heavy as last night. This made our options for our last day much easier.

We checked out at 11.45 and walked our luggage to the train station. Once there we stored our luggage and then tried to find the transportation to the airport. The slow train left every hr on the hr and we were able to use our euro-rail pass.

Now we walked back into the town centre to check out a few places we had not been able to get to on earlier days.

Then it was lunch time. We chose to go to the hard rock café for our last lunch in Oslo.

By the time that our lunch was done at 4.15 pm we walked to the Parliament bldgs where at 4.30 pm I had a meeting with the fellow that owns www.globitude.com the website where I have so many of our photographs for everyone to enjoy. As soon as we are home, I will put some of the photos of this trip on there as well but that could take awhile..

After our meeting Lenora and I walked back to the train station to catch the train to the airport and a shuttle from there to take us to our last hotel.

We checked in at 8 pm , had a drink, made arrangements for a 4 am wake-up call and hit the sack.

The shuttle will be here at 4.45 am to take us back to the airport where we have a 7 am departure for Frankfurt and then on to Calgary.

The shuttle was here on time as were we. Without a problem we were processed and ready to board our 7 am flight.

Lenora had a quick look at the boarding passes and noticed that our flight didn’t leave till 10.00 am.

Ok, Now what. The lady saw our reservation, tried to rectify it but could not. She send us to Lufthansa information. There we were told that Lufthansa had double booked us and then cancelled the earlier one. The fellow there eventually got us on the 7 pm flight out of Oslo but told us we would have to deal with it in Frankfurt.

This of course did not help the way I was feeling right about now. Regardless, there was nothing she could do and said that it was the travel agent’s fault. So I guess when I get home I will have to deal with it then. In the meantime we have an extra 4 hrs to kill here in Frankfurt.

This Norway part of our adventure started off wrong in Oslo and is ending on a similar note. We are getting home though, but first to Calgary for a few days as I have to arrange for a temporary driver’s license to be couriered to Calgary

It is in Calgary where we will finish this blog for this adventure.

Gerry  Lenora

Our train was to depart from Prague at 8.31 am, so we awoke at 6.30, finished our packing and headed for the dining room to have breakfast.

We looked outside and noticed that it had and was still raining. What a great day to travel. We both put our jackets on and opened the umbrella and headed for the train station nary a 10 min walk. We got there in plenty of time so checked the departures only to find out that our first train today was going to be 40 min. late. Oh well better to late than cancelled.

On board we were able to use up the last of the Czech Crowns. So between Dresden and  Berlin we had lunch.

A small reflection on Prague. It is a very beautiful city with so many ornate buildings that one could sightsee for much longer .than we did. The only problem is pollution. Many of these cities are over 1000 yrs old.

They have withstood the time due to no pollution as we know it.  Suppose that due to the industrial age and the last 75 yrs or so of vehicular pollution many of the irreplaceable buildings are now at a stage of disrepair. Statues are so black that it is useless to take pictures; some of them are loosing parts of the bodies. All the tops are so black that it becomes impossible to see the beauty. Many are now being renovated to preserve them. Just an observation.

Slowly but surely we get closer to Hamburg, which is where we change trains.

We Leave Hamburg on time at 5.30 pm for Copenhagen, after waiting here for an hr..

At 7.30 we reach Puttgarden. This town to our surprise is where we have to take a ferry to get to Denmark. Before we know it, the entire damn train drove onto it. Just another little extra that we were not aware of.

The scenery has been great, lots of green forests, farm and ranching as well as many, many power generating wind turbines.

Now it is on to Copenhagen where we will arrive at 10 pm.

Can you imagine, we just finished traveling by train through 3 countries. The same time would have brought us from Vancouver to Calgary by car.

At 11.00 pm we were in our “Wake up Copenhagen” hotel and getting settled for the night

Monday, July 19, 2010

This hotel has over 500 rooms.  While I was in the lobby working with the computer,  people signing in never stopped and this is after 11 pm.

This morning the dining room was packed. But it took no time to get served. After the brekky we walked to the train station to reserve our place on the train for Oslo. We were very lucky as there were only two spots left.

This Eurorail have a real scam going. You see it works like this. You buy and pay for your ticket while still in Canada. If you have first class ticket, which 95 % of the people have, you still can’t get on your train, unless you have a reservation, which costs you extra, or you go second class and take a chance.

That completed, we carried on seeing the town hall and the famous Strøget Street. This is where all the tourists hang out and where it gets extremely busy at night. Even during the day you have trouble moving through the streets with all the vendors and busy buskers, but it was fun.

Then we went on to see some remarkable churches, especially Frederiks Church, also known as the Marble Church, and on to the Rosenborg Castle. This was the summer home of the Royal Family. For a price you are allowed into the Treasury where you can see all the loot the kings and queens have gathered over the centuries and in the castle over three floors you can peek at all the beautiful gold, silver and ivory furniture they owned. Their paintings and huge tapestries adorn the walls; yes they did live in opulence.

We carried on to the Amalienborg Roundabout. This is a secondary castle close to the river. It consists of 4 huge bldgs 4 stories high, build around a statue of Frederico Quinto Clementi, which (the statue) is in the centre of the roundabout.

Now it was on the most famous statue in all of Denmark. This is the Mermaid. It took us another ½ hr to get to her only to find out she’s on vacation. Can you imagine, a 100 yrs old world famous statue has gone on vacation? She was shanghied. Yes she went to Shanghai, China to be part of the world’s fair. Here some 70,000,000 people will get to see her.

On our way home we stopped and climbed the Round Tower, Europe’s oldest functioning observatory, build in 1642, after which we picked up some snacks as well.

By the time it was 6 pm we were back in our room having been gone for 7 hrs.

Today we were somewhat tired so we stayed in for the evening. This gave me a chance to catch up on my computer work (pictures and blog)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It doesn’t seem to matter what time we want to sleep in to, we’re always before 7 am, today being no different.

After breakfast we got our things together and headed out. Lenora had figured out a few places to visit and the day would be easy (so I thought).

First we walked toward a small island (Copenhagen is made up of many islands) to see the local palace, only the outside this time. Then on to the Stock market just to see the place. It is a very interesting bldg. We walked along many canals, watched the house boats as well as all the tourist canal tours. Again there are droves of people around, so there is either a very healthy middle class or many tourists. Denmark so far has been the most expensive country. A bit fancy chicken sandwich with one large and one small beer was $ 38.00 Can.

Now on to the second island. Here we visited the Vor Frelsers, or Our Saviours Church. It was build back in 1684. The tower is square but in the 1800ts they decided to add a spire to it. This spire has a stairway to the very top of it, only the stairs wind around the exterior of the spire and the steps get narrower as you climb. The last step is less than a foot wide. Quite a feeling as you walk up but what a beautiful view of Copenhagen.

Inside the church proper there is a huge pipe organ, the biggest we have seen to date. It is evidently the most photographed organ in Denmark. The wood carvings that surrounded it were absolutely exquisite.

Then on to a place called Christiania, which was a bit of a hippie area where we saw a number of derelicts’ and drunks. We stayed long enough to buy a burger and for me to have an argument with one of the people there about smoking at my table  Smoking in Europe is still quite rampant and no one likes to be asked or told not to smoke at some ones table. But I did myself proud. I swore at him in Swedish and did very well.

Time to head out and see some more. Then it was back to the hotel and rest up.

At 8 pm we left to go and spend some time at the Tivoli Gardens. This is the most famous play land in Copenhagen and Denmark.

It was time for dinner so off we went to the City Hall Square to get a bite to eat. Afterwards we called it a day and headed back to the hotel as we have another early day tomorrow as we head for Norway.