Catching Up...the Isle of Man

This is not live blogging.


I mean, I am alive, and I am blogging but I'm not blogging at the scene of the action.  That's the difference between blogging live and catching up...just so you know.  


The first week of May I did a little two day side trip from London to the Isle of Man which is a little island between the UK and Ireland.  I've always wanted to go there because my great-great grandma Maggie was from the Isle of Man and I always have heard my grandma mention her grandma who was from the Isle of Man and I always thought it was cool that I have an ancestor from some random little island that most people have never heard of because all my other ancestors (as far as I know) were from boring old England and Scotland.


Maggie met her husband, who later became my great-great grandpa, on the ship when she left the Isle of Man for America a long time ago.  Meeting in transit...so romantic...or at least I've always thought so.  


Since I have always wanted to go to the Isle of Man I just figured I'd hop over while I was in London...by the way they have really cheap flights from London to the Isle of Man.  I think cheaper than doing the train/ferry combo...just so you know in case any of you read this post and decide that the Isle of Man is the next place you want to visit.  


Here are some fun facts about the Isle of Man, brought to you by Wikipedia and my brain:
*It is also called just Mann and people from there are called Manx.  
*They have really good BLTs there...maybe the best one I've ever had in my life...no offense MOM.  
*The Isle of Man has been inhabited since BEFORE 6500 BC, and that is a LONG time.  
*Mann is not part of the UK or the European Union...I'm still not sure it if is a country or a territory or what it is but they have their own government.  In fact, they have had a Parliament since AD 979 and the Parliament has met in the same place since then...pretty civilized, wouldn't you say?
*They have their own currency in the Isle of Man...they are Pounds but aren't the same Sterling British Pounds they use in England.  
*They have their own language there, which is Manx, but nobody really speaks it anymore except for really old people or people who are just dead set on maintaining their language...which is kind of dumb because why know a language that practically nobody else speaks?  Who are you going to talk to in Manx?...yourself?  Just wondering.  
*Currently about 80,000 people live on the Isle of Man.

This is the symbol for the Isle of Man.  You see it everywhere...on their flag, on packaging, on trains, etc.  And it is a symbol of perseverance or something like that because it is said of The Three Legs of Man, "Whichever way you throw it, it will stand."  


Oh, and check out the flowers in the picture...they had flowers all over the place on the Isle of Man.  So, maybe that is where I got my crazy love of flower gardening...I am part Manx you know.  

Down on the south part of the Island by Port Erin

Somewhere on the Isle of Man...they like sheep there and I like that they like sheep because I like sheep too.

Somewhere on the Isle of Man...I think I took this picture from the train which is why it isn't the greatest picture.  They have an old steam engine train that goes up and down the island...really fun but not so great for good pictures since the steam gets in the way.  

Isn't it beautiful there?  I kind of wish great-great grandma Maggie had just stayed right where she was but then I guess she never would have met my great-great grandpa and I wouldn't exist...or if I did, I guess I wouldn't be American and would probably have bad teeth...and I like my teeth.

Anybody recognize this house?

YOU'RE RIGHT...it is Ned Devine's house.  Finding out that the movie Waking Ned Devine was filmed in the Isle of Man made me love the Isle of Man and Waking Ned Devine even more than I already do.  

The view down by Ned's house.

Another view near Ned's.

This is the church and old cemetery in Onchan, the town where my great-great grandma Maggie was from.  She isn't buried there, obviously, since she immigrated to America, but maybe some other relatives are...I didn't look through the whole cemetery to find out...there were a lot of headstones there and the old ones were kind of hard to read.  

However, do you see that big orb in the bottom right part of the picture?...Well, according to Ghost Hunters International, that is one of my ancestors trying to tell me something...or maybe they just wanted to be in my picture.  That orb showed up in all the pictures I took in the cemetery but didn't show up in any of my other pictures...freaky/cool, huh?

One of the ONLY bad things about the Isle of Man is that it seems like everyone is old there...at least when you are outside of the capital city, Douglas...and it isn't bad that people are old there because I like old people and the fact that there are lots of old people probably means that it is a good place to live and that you live long there, BUT, when you are a single traveler trying to find someone to take a picture of you and there are only older people around who might have a tough time operating a digital SLR, you don't get a lot of good shots of yourself.  

Hence...self shots.  But I don't have long enough arms (hence the shot of me and the ground) and then in the pictures when I'm really stretching to try to make my arms longer then I end up making a weird face. 

And then when you do get a picture of yourself taken successfully sometimes your jacket covers half of your face and you don't fix it because you are concentrating so much on just taking the picture.  Finding someone to take a picture of you is definitely a problem when traveling solo on the Isle of Man.

They also have some pretty cool old castles on the Isle of Man.

Overall, I'd give the island five stars...it is beautiful, the people are nice, they make really good BLTs, they have lots of flowers, castles, the ocean, great offshore banking, and much, much more.

Oh, and if you go, stop by the Manx museum in Douglas...it was FREE (and usually NOTHING IS FREE IN EUROPE including bathrooms and water) and it was a really great museum.  

Oh, and you need a lot more time than 2 days (I really had more like one and a half taking out travel time) to spend in Mann...just because it is a small island doesn't mean there's not a lot to do.  I will definitely have to go back.  It looks like the type of place you would want to go to relax, to hike, to ride bikes, etc. 

Oh...and, it is SO pretty there...I don't really feel that my pictures captured the full beauty of the place and I didn't take the greatest pictures or very many of them...but just know...it is like as pretty as my pictures times ten and I hope you all go there someday and experience it for yourselves...even if you aren't lucky enough to be part Manx, like me.

So two thumbs up for the Isle of Man!

Live from a hang gliding landing field in Switzerland...it's Becca's Blog!

I'm alive and well after my first hang gliding experience.  I wasn't even really planning on hang gliding when I came to Switzerland but I guess that the area I'm in is famous for hang gliding and paragliding so I figured I'd better do it while I'm here, am somewhat young, and don't have any dependents. 

And, I figured that if I wanted to try out hang gliding there probably isn't a more beautiful place in the world to do it besides Interlaken, Switzerland.  And I've heard that hang gliding is way more cool than paragliding and since I've already been skydiving and parasailing I figured that I've already had that kind of experience. 

So, here's the view from near where we took off from.  Basically hang gliding is just strapping wings to your back and jumping off a mountain.  It's super cool and isn't scary at all...I promise. 

I don't know why he took of a picture of me flexing my muscles because:

1)I don't have any muscles

2)hang gliding tandem doesn't really take any skill or strength (although it is the only way you can go without A LOT of training)

3) pictures where you flex your non-existent or existent muscles are pretty dumb.

Right after take off.  You just run down the hill and the next thing you know you're flying in the sky.  Pretty amazing. 

I wasn't really scared...at all. 

In fact, because he could tell I wasn't the scared type my hang glide master, Bernie, even did some tricks in the air for me like drops and loopty loops.  It was pretty cool.  I love the falling feeling and the only way you really get it is if you do stalls and loops so I had him do as many as possible.  Totally safe MOM, totally safe...I promise. 

In the middle of one of the loopty loops...

more flying...

Flying like a bird in the sky.  I'm now pretty dang jealous of all the birds I see.  They are so lucky...except when people shoot them.  That's not so lucky. 

Flying over the lake.  I don't know what it's called.  They have lots of lakes in Switzerland.  Gorgeous!

Back safe and sound...with even time to take the typical thumbs up picture.  Okay, I'm not telling the truth...this picture was actually taken BEFORE I went hang gliding.  Do you think my hair would look that great AFTER having a helmet on? Yeah right. 

Hang gliding was super cool and it didn't feel unsafe.  I highly recommend it and Bernie my Australian hang gliding guy was great...so when you come to Interlaken make sure to leave time for hang gliding.  You won't regret it!

Oh, and why are extreme sport people often from Australia or New Zealand?...my skydiving guy was from there too.  What's up with that? 

This is what is looks like when...

Scandinavians and Latinos hang out.

Live from a cruise ship somewhere between Finland and Sweden...it's Becca's Blog!

Well, I'm on the first cruise of my life...alone.  It's actually not bad.  I just didn't think my first cruise would be a solo cruise...the whole nature of cruising just seems to be something you do with family and friends.  


BUT, I got a steal of a deal...a two night cruise from Stockhom to Helsinki and back and I only paid 31 Euros...TOTAL.  So who cares if I'm alone...31 Euros for a cruise is just a deal I couldn't pass up.  Especially with a Euro only costing $1.25 nowadays.  It's a good time to be an American traveling in Europe.  I never thought I'd see the day.  A big thank you to Greece and all other corrupt people/countries for bringing down the Euro.  Or whatever did it...I've been without FOX News to inform me of current events for a few weeks now so I could be way off.  


Anyway, as I'm on my first ever cruise I thought I'd share a couple of important tips I've learned while cruising.  

First of all, and probably the most important is: When on a cruise NEVER flush a banana, bouncy ball, wine bottle or old-fashioned liquid prescription bottle down the toilet.  That is a recipe for disaster.  

Important lesson number two:  Do not shave with an electric shaver while showering.  Yes, there are many fun things to do on a cruise which may make you want to double time it in the shower, but don't.  Take your time getting ready and be safe.  Cruise activities like: watching the drag queen show (there is one currently going on...I'm unfortunately missing it in order to blog), going to the sauna, stuffing yourself on a smörgåsbord dinner, and playing the slot machines can wait.  

So, why is this cruise so cheap you're probably asking.  Well, first of all it probably isn't the nicest/biggest/luxurious cruise ship ever...I wouldn't really know though since the only other time I've ever spent a night on a boat was in the Amazon, and that was kind of sketchy. 

This is the real reason the cruise is cheap...

Two words: DUTY FREE.


So basically, if I understand it right, taxes are so high in Finland and Sweden (and I'm sure other places in Europe too) that people come on this cruise with the main purpose of buying duty free items...and I guess enjoying themselves a bit at the same time.  Seriously, according to my guide book, 95 percent of the people on board with me are either Finns or Swedes just going over to their neighboring country for a day or two to stock up on duty and tax free stuff.  Actually, the ship has to make a midnight stop in the Aland Islands (which are somehow a part of Finland that's not part of the European Union) so that the whole duty free thing will be legit or whatever.


Anyway, I'm not sure I get all the technical stuff, but basically items, especially alcohol, tobacco, and cosmetic products (which are the highest taxed) are items that people cruise for.  And boy do they stock up.  If you look in the picture above you'll see a guy pulling two little carts full of duty free items.  Most people I saw were packing a whole lot more out then they came in with.  So thank you to all the Finns and Swedes for coming on board and loading up on alcohol so a free-loader like me can get a cheap ride...much appreciated.  


And just think...as our taxes go up and up as we get more and more socialist we may someday too see super cheap cruises to Mexico so we can buy our Clinique eye cream.  So, something to look forward to.  


Anyway, along the way you sail past some beautiful little chains of islands...some with people, some without.  Here are some pics.  

Anyway, I got to Helsinki, Finland in the morning, dropped my stuff off at my hostel and grabbed the first ferry I could catch to Tallinn, Estonia.  The one and a half hour ferry to Tallinn actually cost me more than my two night cruise to Helsinki!  And then I spent a wonderful day in Tallinn before taking an evening ferry back to Helsinki. 


Tallinn is a super cool city because it is a medieval walled city with a lot of Russian influence due to Estonia being part of the Soviet Union.  It is just a cool mix of different influences and different ages.  The people were all really nice and most spoke English which was good since my Estonian is pretty rusty.  

One of the entrances into the city...

They have a lot of pretty pastel buildings.  And really it's a beautiful city that communism hasn't left too big of a mark on.  I didn't see any big cement block apartment houses although I'm sure there are some.  

I had a most delicious meal at a place called Vanaema Juures, which I guess means "Grandma's Place."  Everybody knows that grandmas are good cooks so I figured I'd step in for lunch...and I wasn't disappointed.  The meal was only about $6.50 and even came with a glass of milk...grandmas are always trying to get you to drink more milk.  The waitress asked me if I wanted sour milk or regular milk.  At first I didn't know if I'd heard her right but then I was like, "umm regular milk please."  And it was delicious milk and I'm not even a huge milk fan.  So, the next time you're in Tallinn eat at Grandma's Place.  You won't be disappointed.  

And...Tallinn also offers archery lessons to willing tourists.  

I was actually kind of scared since the "archery lessons" consisted of two girls, who I'm pretty sure don't know anything about archery, in medieval garb "teaching" the tourist wearing the yellow cape how to be a master archer while several other tourists (including me) watched and took pictures.  I made sure to stay way behind the inexperienced archer-tourist man.  

Just a cool big medieval tower where real archers in the past shot enemies from.

Big old cool Russian Orthodox church... 

Me, in front of big old cool Russian Orthodox church. 

The Estonian Parliament building that is hooked right to part of the old city wall/cool tall tower.   

A cute little Babushka beggar just feeding the birds.  I gave her the Estonian equivalent of about a dollar and she gave me a big toothless grin back.  I'm such a sucker for little Babushka beggars...I just can't pass up a grandma in need.  

Just a little tiny Estonian street.  Rick Steves says that all driver's ed instructors should bring their students here...if they make it through the street with no scratches on the car, they pass the test.  Not a bad idea.  I'd also suggest Gibraltar as a great place to really see what a person's driving skills are.  I gained a great respect for my friend Kate and her driving skills on Gibraltar.  

Oh, I just realized that I haven't introduced you all to Rick Steves.  Basically he is the travel guru for all Americans traveling in Europe.  I love his books because he adds in funny little weird facts and also doesn't fill the books with adds for hotels and restaurants like some other travel books seem to do.  Everyone who has ever traveled Europe with me knows Rick Steves...I wouldn't go to Europe without Rick.  And we call Rick's books and all his info just "Rick".  "Rick said that we should eat at this restaurant." 

"Rick suggested that hotel." 

"Let me read you what Rick has to say about this site." 

"Where's Rick?" 

"Rick is  in my backpack."

"Dang, Rick was right about this ice cream."

...these are all things you'll hear my friends and me say in Europe.  

Anyway, here is Tallinn...it's a cool city.

This is a slightly crooked picture of Tallinn.  I thought I straightened out the picture but I guess I forgot to save my changes.  The city is not crooked...just my picture.

Me+Tallinn

Me with fellow tourist friends Hannah (from Finland) and JoAnn (an American living in Austria) who had Hannah as an exchange student several years ago and was visiting her and traveling with her.  They asked me directions from the ferry terminal to the town (Rick supplied me with that info) and I guess they thought I was nice and sort of normal because when I ran into them a little later they invited me to have coffee with them (don't worry mom, I had hot chocolate) and to finish touring Tallinn with them.  

Another entrance to the old part of Tallinn

I'm not a huge MickyD's fan in the US but while traveling seeing a McDonald's is like seeing an American flag waving wildly in a foreign land.  I mostly use McDonald's for the usually free bathrooms.  

I loved Tallinn...great weather, great food, great people, cool stuff to see.  I highly recommend it. 

Well, that's all for now.  Stay tuned...

Live from a Train in Sweden it's BECCA'S BLOG!

Hello bloglings. 
Becca here. 

Yes, after a few absent weeks I am back to blogging...if for no other reason than to get my anonymous British speaking blog-complainer off my back!  Well, and that I need to blog so I don't get even more behind.  But since I'm already over two weeks into my Europe 2010 Extravaganza Trip of a Lifetime and haven't blogged anything, not to mention the fact that I still haven't blogged my Brazil/Argentina trip part B yet (because I was waiting to gather pictures from my fellow travelers), I have decided just to blog live from wherever I am about my most recent travels and then when I have extra time I'll work on getting caught up.  Then, in the end, I'll give you an overall summary so I can remember the order I did things in and so you won't all be confused.  How about that?

So, here we go...

Post Title(s): Norway in a Nutshell,
Home, Home on the Sheep Farm,
and the Scandinavian Diet.

As the sun set over cloudy London skies my friend Katie and I flew to Bergen, Norway.  Katie is living and working in London for 6 months so I decided to join her for a few weekends of travel.  Luckily for me, the weather in London has been just gorgeous during the week and then has just been raining on weekends when I've been off traveling with Katie.  I must be doing something right to get nice London weather in the spring. 

We got into Bergen late Friday night and then got up the next morning and took the train to Voss.  From there we took a scenic bus ride to Gudvangen and from there a beautiful ferry ride through part of the Sogne Fjord of Norway to Aurland. 

Here we are on the ferry.  Apparently we got pretty lucky with the weather as all last week it was cold and windy there, but we got sunshine (although still a bit chilly).

Me: showing a little Norwegian pride.

The following are pictures of the fjord.  Enjoy the pictures, but I must regrettably tell you that it is much more beautiful in person and that you might just need to head on over to Norway yourselves to check out the fjords in person.  

With a little prodding from our fellow 10 travelers on board (it was just pretty much us and a slightly wild group of Asians) I fed the seagulls, or more correctly put, the seagulls attacked me, a picture was taken while they were taking a break from attacking me, but I didn't know they were taking a break from attacking me, so I look like an idiot. 

Here I am using the old "zip up your jacket really far to hide your double chins trick."

Works, doesn't it?

Well, soon enough we landed in Aurland and the party with our Asian homies was over and we had to say goodbye and part ways.  But we had another friend at the ferry dock to meet us...Nils (pretty much the cutest, nicest, most energetic, older Norwegian man you could ever imagine) who picked us up in his shiny beemer to take us to his guesthouse at his sheep farm nearby where we would be spending the night. 

I love sheep.

The sheep in Aurland live a wonderful life...grazing below waterfalls.  Don't tell my dad's sheep.  They will get jealous. 

The whole town of Aurland, including Nils, attended confirmation day that evening at their church.  Apparently to be Norwegian is to be Lutheran too.  So, we pretty much wandered around the little ghost town of Aurland while all the other inhabitants were partying it up Lutheran style at the church.  

The next morning we took a bus from Aurland to Flam and then took a scenic train from Flam to Myrdal.

Here is our train.  I risked my life taking this picture.  You are welcome. 

Here is one of the cute little places we passed on the way to Myrdal.

From Myrdal we took another train to Oslo where Katie flew back to London and I headed onward, solo. 

So, now I'm sure all of you are wondering what "The Scandinavian Diet" is and how you can get in on that action as swimsuit season approaches.  It's a fantastic and relatively flawless diet other than the fact that you actually have to be in Scandinavia for it to work.  Basically the diet works because food is so freaking expensive in Scandinavia that you just don't eat much.  And, then you lose weight.  Simple.  Unfortunately I don't think I'll be here long enough to see any long term effects, but in the short term, not eating makes me feel great...but a little light headed.  Just kidding...I have granola bars from home to eat. 

No kidding though.  I'd always heard how expensive Scandinavia is, but I guess I had to experience it to believe it.  Food seems especially expensive.  And so far Norway seems to be the most expensive...I did not buy even one thing there that was less than about $3.50.  I don't even know why they make small coins.  I didn't need to use any.

One nice thing I guess about being in Scandinavia is that I don't really have to worry about anyone wanting to rob me.  Because I'm a poor person here.  And a Scandinavian person robbing me would be like me robbing an Ethiopian or something...just not worth the bother and totally against nature.

Well, that's all for now.  Feed me with your comments please...that's all the nourishment I may have for the coming week.