Category: Travel

Day 3 – Trondheim

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Woke up this morning to the white stuff, and lots of it! Luckily we packed our salopettes so were well prepared for today’s adventure. Hopefully lost at least a stone today, it’s hard work wading through snow that is at some points up to your knees!

Trondheim was extremely quiet, considering its meant to be a student town. I think they all looked at the window and thought sod that. That for us however meant we had the place to ourselves. We visited Gamble Bybro (old town bridge) which had plenty of pretty Norwegian buildings creating reflections in the water below. The Nidaros Cathedral, the largest medieval building in Scandinavia, was also specular against the falling snow. I decided to pretend to mess around with my camera so I could earwig on a nearby tour… Cheeky!

On our way back to Richard the sun decided to come out so we were able to capture the same photos, however this time with much better lighting.

On deck today was the tasting of local blue mussels. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate fish, but decided to give it a go. I’ve had worse things my mouth (skips  😂) but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I wouldn’t rush to have another anytime soon though.

Dinner tonight was Rudolph, sorry Santa 🎅

Day 2 – Ålesund

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I survived my first night at sea! The beauty of being tight and having an inside cabin is there is no light whatsoever so I had a perfect sleep.

This morning we sailed to Ålesund which is (apparently) well known for its Art Nouveau architecture. We took the 418 steps to the Fjellstua viewpoint and although it was an absolute bitch of a climb, we were rewarded with some beautiful views across the city and the mountains.

Back down to ground level and we continued our walk and came across one of probably hundreds of churches we will see of this trip. We decided to check out another viewpoint, however when we got there it was being refurbished… Standard!

Back on board our floating home we were treated to more snow capped mountains as we left port for Molde.

Dinner tonight was of course fish 🐠 however we were able to change at least, so I was treated to a lovely bit of pork 🐷

Currently on our way to Trondheim which is one of the places I’m most looking forward to!

Goodnight… From my fold out bed!

The Norwegian adventure begins… Via the National Trust ⛴

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What do you do when you’re 4 hours early for a flight? Find the local trust and have a mooch. Luckily for us there is one just round the corner from Manchester Airport! Quarry bank site is huge so one we will definitely return to, but probably in the summer as it was a little bit dead and crispy today.

So I’m currently sat in out little cabin, or ‘cell’ as I like to call it on my fold out bed and we’ve not long set sail. Luckily dinner tonight was a buffet so I managed to avoid the array of fishy fish. Tomorrow however is when the set menu starts, therefore operation loose a stone also begins.

Berlin – Day 3 🇩🇪

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This morning we had a posh breakfast in the Käfer restaurant next to the Reischtag dome. A gorgeous 3 egg cheesy omelette to start the day, what could be better! The dome itself is a spectacular glass construction giving you fantastic views across the city.

Whilst in the area we also visited the slightly puzzling Holocaust Memorial, the suspiciously similar Homosexual memorial and the rather dead and crispy Tiergarten. We tried to hire one of the ‘Nextbikes’ however the app was slightly confusing, so to avoid another huge fine we locked it back and eventually worked out how to let the app know we had done this.

Ater warming up with a coffee (and sharing the back room with a huge tour group) we headed out to try and ride on the ‘Hi Flyer’. Unfortunately it was too windy but is definitely something we will try to so if we return.

As I wasn’t able to visit Spreepark (I have a weird love for abandoned things) we decided to visit the abandoned airport; Tempelhof Feld. For someone who spends rather a lot of time at airports, it was so exciting to be out on a runway, and something I definitely recommend doing whilst you are here as it’s so easy to get to.

This evening we had a look around the Topography of Terror. This museum is free and you could easily spend a whole day here reading everything, so make sure you put aside enough time. It is also opposite parts of the Berlin Wall.

As we have eaten food from every other cuisine we finally had some proper German food, and it was so so so good. An early night tonight (with a bottle of white) as we leave this wonderful city tomorrow.

Berlin – Day 2 🇩🇪

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This morning we travelled to Potsdam. Big thanks to a very nice man who informed us the train decided to terminate and which new one to get on! The joys of having absolutely no understanding of the language. At least we looked touristy. Had our VALID tickets checked twice today; more than happy to show them this time 😉

The sun was out and the sky was blue which is always a winner when taking photos. Potsdam was very quiet which meant we pretty much had Sanssouci Park to ourselves. Unfortunately due to the time of year (this seems to be becoming a theme) the statues and fountains were boarded up and switched off, but the palaces still looked beautiful, especially against the blue sky.

Back in Berlin we headed for the East Side Gallery. We were rather ravenous by this point so decided to grab a burger at Burgermeister which used to be the local toilet. My first burger was unfortunately hairy, but it was soon replaced and it was absolutely delicious.

Bellies full we walked the length of the East Side Gallery, an absolute must if you are here. Some of the art was questionable, but really interesting to see it all.

We then headed over to Beliner Dom and used our discount card to head to the top. After another set of heart attack steps we made it to the top in time for sunset. The views were beautiful, especially over Alexanderplatz Christmas market. It’s just a shame the city is covered in cranes.

As we were right by the Alexanderplatz market, it was rude to not stop by and grab another Glühwein and festive snack; I really loved the atmosphere at this market. I also realised how awful I am at ice skating, but I eventually managed to let go of the sides!