The Geeky Blogger
I traveled to America for the first time in 2012. My goal was to visit Nerd Mecca, San Diego Comic-Con International.
I had somehow been able to snag some tickets, and I was really exited to finally see Comic-Con with my own eyes.
For this year’s Easter holiday, I and my girlfriend Renate visited Flåm, Norway.
Flåm is a small town located in a fjord in Hordaland county, just a few hours from our home city Bergen.
I have been posting a lot of my pictures here since I started blogging a year ago, and since I don’t have one here, Instagram is going to function as my gallery.
There is also going to be some pictures that I post exclusively to Instagram, so don’t miss out on those!
Check out my profile by pressing this link.
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Later the same evening that I had left Brig, I arrived in Milan, Italy.
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I did not get to see much of that city, as I was soon on a train to Florence, where I took in on a hotel near the station, and left on the first train in the morning, so I did not get to see much of that city either.
I was headed toward Rome, but decided to take a detour through Pisa while I was in the neghbourhood.
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As soon as I arrived, I headed straight for the Leaning Tower.
I knew the general direction, and I figured it would stick out enough for me to spot it easily.
I ended up wandering for quite some time before I saw the Leaning Tower jutting out at the end of a street.
I arrived just before they were closing, so I just barely managed to buy a ticket.
I had not dared going up the Eiffel Tower on this trip, but I was determined that I would not let my fear of heights stop me again, particularly because this tower was much smaller, and did not look that crooked to me.
As soon as I started ascending the stairs, the tower started to seem much more crooked.
I just about managed to get to the top before I had hurry down to ground level again.
As I strolled back to the train station along the Arno River, I was happy that I had made myself go up there.
I took a room when I arrived in Rome, and readied myself for another day of new experiences.
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After visiting Paris, I started heading south, toward Italy.
I was going to take the train through Switzerland to get there, so I had to change trains in the French town of Nancy.
I had some time to kill before my train departed, so I decided to have a look around.
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A thing I saw that really caught my attention is a sculpture I think I have identified as a World War I Moselle memorial, but I could not find anything concrete online to be sure, and I failed to get the plaque in the picture.
I like the symbolism of a golden heart atop a mass of blackened hearts, even if I fail to draw the connection to World War I.
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I did not have enough time to see very much of the town, but what I saw seemed peaceful and beautiful, and I am glad I got to see a different side to France than just Paris before I left the country.
But just as soon as I had arrived, I was on my way to Switzerland!
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In 1991, just before I turned one year old, my favorite activity was to repeatedly empty the pots and pans cabinet out on the floor.
I would have to crawl into the back of it to be able to reach all the pans, then drag them out on the floor.
I am currently working as a chef, and this is where it all began.
After having seen Stonehenge, I took the train to Cardiff, the capital of Wales.
I had been wanting to travel to Cardiff for a few years, ever since I got into ‘Doctor Who’.
Cardiff had been the home and main filming location for the British science fiction program
After arriving in England the first place I intended to visit was Salisbury in Wiltshire, to see the prehistoric monument located just outside the town.
Before taking the trip out to Stonehenge itself, I decided to take a look around Salisbury, and found their lovely cathedral.
Stonehenge was far enough away from Salisbury that there were shuttle buses going back and forth from there.
It was sort of a shock to me to see just how close Stonehenge is located to a fairly well-trafficked road, but it was far enough away for me to practically ignore it.
When I and my fellow passengers stepped of the bus, we were greeted by a gaggle of wiccans, druids and pagans handing out pamphlets and picketing the tourism industry around Stonehenge.
The security and ticket takers seemed very annoyed by this.
Once I got behind the fence, everything calmed down a bit.
But I did sort of see the point that the protesters were making, in that it seems wrong to me that Stonehenge is located behind a bunch of fences, and not free to be explored.
But if that were the case, I bet that the structure would have long since been divided up in thousands of souvenir pieces, scattered all over the world.
Stonehenge, and other structures like it, has always fascinated me.
There is something about a lone man-made structure located in the middle of a beautiful natural environment that really speaks to me on a personal level.
So much so that I keep having the urge to create when I am out in nature.
After I was done looking at the monument, I headed back to Salisbury with the shuttle bus.
And from there I hopped on a train to Cardiff, Wales!
After Amsterdam, I traveled up to Hoek van Holland, or The Hook of Holland as it is known in English.
From there I took a ferry which is a part of the Dutchflyer rail-ferry service between Hook van Holland Haven station and Harwich International station in England.
Then from Harwich I took the train to Liverpool Street station in central London.
I did not spend much time in London during this trip, since I had already been there, and I wanted to experience as many new places as possible during my month on the rails.
So I quickly traveled on to Salisbury, to see Stonehenge.