Saly - not quite Scarborough Beach

The local 'Picaso' taking my purchase (bargained from 60,000
down to 20,000 CFA) off the frame.

Saly is one of the resort towns of Senegal (the other one being Cap Skirring). It is a around 80km South of Dakar (which means anywhere from 50 minutes to 2.5 hours driving) and serves weekend holiday makers as well as Europeans on package holidays. It has sun, beaches, and clubs. My reason for going: the beaches. I wanted to get away from Dakar for a weekend, relax on the beach which would hopefully be nicer than the ones in Dakar, and just enjoy a quite weekend. Well, on Senegalese standards, it lived up to these expectations. Therefore, if you're in Senegal, it makes for a nice getaway - though I certainly couldn't recommend making an effort to specifically come here from another country - that, is something I don't get...

Oh, and don't watch the video below if you're planning on having fish for dinner...

On The Top of The World

Trondheim - our last major stop

The Coastal Steamer has been running along the Norwegian coast for over 100 years. For the past few years, it has also been known as the Hurtigruten - the name of the most recent company to run the route. Every day, a ship calls in at each of the 34 ports. Each ship takes 11.5 days to sail the return trip from Bergen to Kirkenes. Whilst not designed as a tourist experience, tourists have become an integral part of the journey, I think, primarily, to keep the business afloat. The traditional role of delivering mail and goods, and ferrying locals is apparently not that lucrative. Anyway, we hopped on board the MS Richard With in Kirkenes for a 5 night journey down to Bergen. We didn't really know what to expect - apart from a lot of peace and quiet and some beautiful sights. What we got was so much more...

Making A Jewish Mother Proud - Bulgarian Style

This typical train station is indicative of my overall impression of
Communist buildings in Bulgaria...

Well, it seems like Jewish mothers have some competition - Bulgarians! Never would my mother be so proud of the way someone extended hospitality towards me and worried about me so much more than one would think possible, than with my friend and guide in Bulgaria.

Mineral water springs in the centre of the city - the locals are constantly
filling up water bottles to take home so they can enjoy the good minerals.

The warnings I got prior to and during my trip made me think I was entering the third world: Don't cross the street when the green man appears without first checking for cars (only to have my guide cross at a red light instead). Don't go north of this street, it's very dangerous. I wasn't allowed to walk around by myself at night. Warned about getting ripped off left, right and centre. Concerned that there were lots of ugly buildings around. Worried that I would be too busy and get tired. Concerned that there was more to see and do. Very tiring. But wow, what an absolute pleasure! My experience in Bulgaria could not have been better, and despite all the bad things I had heard from my friend, the country was a pleasant surprise for me.

Yet another great photo, thanks to my guide & photographer. This is the old mineral bath house

There are no Kangaroos in Austria

Or so says the famous t-shirt at the tourist shop in Salzburg. Yet again, the shitty weather seems to follow me on my holidays, but is unable to dampen my spirits nor lessen my enjoyment of new places. I flew into Salzburg on a beautiful sunny morning and disembarked the plane (on one of my new, favourite airlines, Air Berlin - due to the fact that you get a chocolate every time you get off a flight) to the glorious sight of alpine peaks surrounding Mozart International Airport. Wow! What a sight! I had seen photos of the airport before, but it really did feel like a scene from the movies seeing the beautiful peaks against the blue sky with a spattering of white clouds about. I couldn't have asked for nicer weather either.

Possibly the coolest toilets in the world - thanks to Red Bull

I was picked up by friend from the Aero Club in Canberra who I had come to visit. And in true Aero Club style, our first stop was Hangar 7, a futuristic building on the far side of the airport built by the founder of Red Bull, who I discovered is probably only second to Mozart in terms of being the favourite child of the town. This guy has money! Inside were a collection of flying machines from all different ages, though mostly modern, fancy planes. All of them in pristine condition. We had an enjoyable stroll around the place, all the while theorising how we could fly such aircraft...

Inside Hangar 7 - notice the conference room hanging from the ceiling

Jinxed In Jutland

I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue the alliteration theme with all future posts, but I'll give it a shot...

Ribe from the top of the cathedral

A rather prettily decorated Ribe Cathedral

In keeping with the theme of missing public transport, the Famous Four from Bornholm embarked on another holiday (using our free DSB ticket we received as a result of our problems getting to Bornholm) to Sydjylland - the section of Denmark near the German border on the European mainland. Despite being super organsied and having the itinerary written down in multiple places, somehow, when noting our time of departure for return to Copenhagen, I noted down the time of the train from a town called Bramming (after which my street in Copenhagen is named by the way) instead of the time the train-bus (this is the lovely name given to buses in Denmark which are running 'instead of' trains when the trains can't run for whatever reason) from Ribe. So naturally, we arrived back in town ready for our train-bus, only to discover we had missed it by 10 minutes. DKK 360 later and a little bit of frustration, we got to Bramming in time for our onwards train...

Munchin' in München

A very cool "map of Munich" for the blind - allowing them to
experience the city in 3D

Following the very 'business-like' city of Frankfurt, I moved on to the hustle and bustle of Munich. Once again I found myself in a hotel smack bang in the middle of the red light district - but the location really was convenient (for touring, not prostitution!)

Munich's maypole

Definitely a more exciting and lively city, Munich has a lot of character, is a great city to walk around, and has plenty of things to keep one entertained. My first day was really a 'walking and exploring' day, though prior to this, I got my first pleasant surprise....

Despite the concept of the EU, commodities and services can vary so significantly in price within the zone. My gold chain required a new clip - a tiny pice of 14 carat gold. In Denmark, this was going to cost DKK 650 (~EUR 85). The chain itself probably cost slightly less than that around 10 years ago. The argument presented to me by the jeweller was the increase in the price of gold over that period. The same component in Munich, EUR 25. Holy cow! So, there I was, off to a good start already with EUR 60 in my pocket...

Nordsjælland

Gilleleje harbour-front

When a friend invited me for the weekend to her family's summer house on the North coast of Zealand (as opposed to the North island of New Zealand), I jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't quite summer weather - if anything, the weather was typical of Perth in the winter - however, that wasn't to deter me.

Danes (and I think Scandinavians in general) have a 'thing' about summer houses. Most family's have one somewhere or other, and there are many towns scattered all over the place (mainly beachside) which are specific summer house towns. In other words, they are zoned for houses which aren't permanent residences. In winter they are all but dead, and on beautiful summer weekends they come alive. The town we went to was Smidstrup, not far West of the more popular town of Hornbæk, As it wasn't really summer yet, the town was still quiet and we got to enjoy the area without the crowds.