Valencia - 24th to 28th of June 2010

First stop on our Spanish adventure was Valencia, chosen for no other reason than it was as good a place as any. Oh yeah, and the F1 was on. Coincidental huh? We still had time for some sightseeing and beaching on the Thursday evening and Friday before hitting the track on Saturday and Sunday.

After an exhausting (!) weekend overheating at the track, we thought it was only right to hit the beach again on Monday before our flight to Ibiza...

Dorset and London - 18th to 24th of June 2010

Thanks to some well organised friends, we were greeted at Heathrow on Friday night after our Scandinavian adventure and driven southwest to Ben(our token English friend)'s parents house in Dorset. After a drive of about 3.5 hours and a few beers we were up surprisingly early for a spot of shopping at the weekly farmers market. We finally dragged Ange away, but only as far as the annual food and beer festival and then out to the coast for a nice walk up the cliffs.

Getting up our thirst we headed back for a BBQ and some cards before heading back to the beach on Sunday for some kite flying and of course more NZ football/soccer action.

With an afternoon to kill in London town on Monday we did a bit of touristing we never got round to while living here, so we went off to St Johns Wood for a tour of the Lord's cricket ground and a quick skim and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Having applied for Wimbledon tickets months earlier we were over the moon to have finally got some in the post a few weeks ago. So along we went to SW19 for a great day in the sun at Court 2. There were 4 games of tennis on, the highlight for Warren watching Maria Sharapova grunt her way through to the second round and laughing at the ball boys, and for Ange the final game of the day, a 5-setter with some great action between Juan Carlos Ferrero and Xavier Marisse.

Wednesday was a jobs day, but we did pop out to Harrods before dinner with friends before we jumped on a plane on Thursday for our next adventure, Spain...

Uppsala (Sweden) - 17th to 18th of June 2010

A short 40 minute train ride north to Uppsala, a university town worthy of a quick stopover. Close to the nearby "Stockholm" airport, the perfect place to finish our little tour of Scandinavia. We had a very cruisy afternoon walking up to its pink castle before a sleep in the sun in the castle grounds followed by drinks and nibbles beside the river.

Sweden seems to be doing its bit for the cycle trade, with bikes absolutely everywhere. There is much more danger to pedestrians from bikes that fly along the cycle lanes than cars.

And with that, our 2 week tour of Scandinavia was over. The Norwegian Fjords and Stockholm probably the highlights of two of the most beautiful countries on earth.

Stockholm (Sweden) - 15th to 17th June 2010

Having planned our arrival to Stockholm to coincide with the start of the NZ football match, we went straight to the pub and put the touristing on hold for a few hours. After a 3 hour bus ride, we were of course thirsty! Great result by the boys which made it all worth it.

Once we finally got going we realised that it was an exciting time to be in Stockholm. The Crown Princess Victoria is getting married this Saturday so the town is going crazy. There is a special 'Love' festival for a couple of weeks leading up to the big day with stages and marquees everywhere but it also meant for some reason we were able to buy a hotdog for 50p, considering they are normally around £3, a pretty good deal!

We wandered around the Royal Palace and Gamla Stan (the old town), but it was a pretty grey and cold day so we had an early night ready for a full day touristing on Wednesday...

The sun was shining so we were up bright and early for a look over the city from the nearby cliffs and back into the old town for some more aimless wandering and a looksee in the Royal Armoury underneath the Royal Palace. Back outside we fought the crowds for the midday changing of the guards. It was a spectacular day in Stockholm, a city which is situated on 14 lovely islands, so we walked over to the parklike island of Djurgarden to the "Sweden in miniature" attraction, Skansen. With buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries relocated to sunny Stockholm plus a zoo of scandinavian animals, we spent the afternoon soaking up a bit of Swedish history.
The last act before the clouds came over was a trip out to a small island half an hour away by boat for a few rounds overlooking the water. A super day sightseeing, pushing Stockholm right up there in our list of favourite cities.

Orebro (Sweden) - 14th to 15th of June 2010

Roughly halfway between Gothenburg on Sweden's west coast, to Stockholm on the east coast (7 hours in total), lies Orebro. Lonely planet rated it the most postcard friendly town in Sweden, and having had a wander through its parks, riverside and most of all its castle, its hard to disagree.

Gothenburg (Sweden) - 12th to 14th of June 2010

Nearly 4 hours on a bus south to Gothenburg. A miserable trip in pouring rain, which hadn't eased by the time we got there. We were tempted to stay inside, but had a quick walk around in the rain and wind, until it finally eased a little. We had a walk through the parks that line Gothenburg's canals and up to the old fort.
After a good night at the pub watching F1 qualifying and the world cup, and not a lot to do in Gothenburg itself, we headed north for an hour to Marstrand, a little fishing island just off the coast. It was a beautiful morning and we caught some sun walking around the little village (no cars allowed) and up to the fort before enjoying some fish and chips on the quayside. Back into Gothenburg in the afternoon for a canal tour and another pint at the pub for the F1.

Oslo (Norway) - 10th to 12th of June 2010

The trip from Gudvangen to Oslo was always going to be a highlight. First up, a two hour ferry through the Fjords to Flam.Flam meets the railway line that climbs up to Myrdal, 866m above sea level. It took 20 years to build and includes 20 tunnels, and was an awesome ride.
Its the only train ride we've been on that actually stops for you to take photos. Not surprising with this fall...
Myrdal is on the mainline train route to Oslo. Not that that stopped the camera getting a workout. The route is deemed to be one of the best in the world, and we don't disagree.
We finally made it to Oslo at about 10.30pm, for a walk to our hostel with still plenty of daylight around. Its been getting dark around midnight, and from what we can tell the sun gets up again about 3am - weird!

Friday was a full day in Oslo, a little bit miserable with rain but we braved it, and ticked off the Fortress, the Armed Forces Museum, a ferry across to the Viking Museum, a walk through the sculpture park, the City Museum and past the Royal Palace. All in a days work.