Sunday morning and I discover that the many many many churches (have seen Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and others) serve a purpose other than being building pleasant on the eyes. The Capanologists (look it up) take it turn to ring the bells for five minutes every half hour so any possiblity of more sleep in vanishes.
Publish my first blog, shower and down to an amazingly good breakfast of hot foods, cold foods, salads, meats cheeses and more.
Ten minute walk to the ferry and across the river to the old town. I am guessing crime is rare here as all of the cafes closed on Sunday morning or all day Sunday leave their tables and chairs on the street without any security.
On the ferry, and in an effort to know when the last ferry crossing takes place (midnight) I start chatting to a guy who is crossing with his son. He is Danish and married to a South African and they moved here six months ago. Immigration by Scandinavians within Scandinavia is transparent without any paperwork.
He tells me that grocery shopping in Sweden is exactly 50% of the prices in Norway and the drive to Sweden is just 30 minutes so most people in Fredrikstad go to Sweden once a month for a large shopping.
The old town was established by the Danish King in the 1500's and added to in the 1700's. Apparently the Danish were colonisers but did not have the population to inhabit their colonies. But more interesting was that the Danes were massive slave traders, a total of 100,000 in the 18th century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_slave_trade.
Arrived at the bridge and if you aren't a bridge player skip this paragraph. The pairs are played as a three board across the field barometer. Interestingly they place a whole lot of sets of 3 boards on a midpoint table and players simply go and swap boards as they finish each one - works well. I haven't seen a system card here. Projectors show the boards from the previous round with frequencies and match-points. During the round a score slip for the previous three boards is placed on the table with seating for the following round. Apart from the average playing conditions it all works very well. The mixed pairs was won by Geir Helgemo (with Siv Thoresen) who, together with Boye Brogeland I regard as two of the best five players in the world. Imagine averaging 61.5% over 90 boards and finishing a full 5% ahead of second.
I say goodbye to the Brogelands who are leaving at lunchtime for their cabin 4.5 hours away and 1.5 hours from their home in Flekfjord. Lunch with the Erichsens and back to the hotel for an old man nap as the 36 hour trek to London and next morning flight to Norway catching up on me.
Dinner at a stylish Pizzeria where I have an amazingly good piece of eye fillet and dessert of course. During the dinner there is an intense thunder an lightning storm and I start to worry about how I'm going to walk the 800 metres back to my hotel but by the end of the meal just gentle sprinkle.
I left Sydney with a cough, cold and conjunctivitis but thankfully it has just about all gone and a more normal me is emerging from the spluttering.
I was thinking of renting a car for a day to maybe go to Oslo or Sweden, well that was before I saw that the cost would be $300 for the car including 100kms PLUS $1.04 per additional kilometre - is there a shortage of cars in this place! Not a problem as I am quite content to watch some bridge, walk the shops and just CHILLAX!
Bridge has been a great friend to me in my life. It has taken me to places I would perhaps not ventured to go to. I have made some amazing friend (and some not so good ones too) spent +/- two weeks in places like all round Australia, Monaco, Menton, San Remo, Estoril, Lille, Santiago, Yokohama, Jakarta, Istanbul, Tenerife, Biarritz, Shanghai, Beijing, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego and many more. Soon I may be able to add Chennai to this list and maybe even Tromso in Norway. I am blessed to have involved myself in this great game.
Next morning wake at 04:00 and mess around until breakfast at 08:00 as further sleep was too big an ask. Weather battling between sun and rain with rain just winning on points. I head towards the shop expecting to buy nothing but a kids wear shop grabs my attention and some lovely things for my grandkids now fill my suitcase. Went for quality not quantity here despite the H&M store. Shopping basically comprises a lot of small shops devoted to home and home wares very unlike shopping back home. Everything soooo pricey as evidenced by RM Williams boots which cost $420 in Aus costing $800 here - damn they could buy their own seats on the plane for that price difference!!
Over to the bridge where I watch a match and then have lunch with Helen/Espen who are also sitting out the first match after lunch (2 hours!!) as they are on a team of six so we chat and catch up. I asked Helen (English) whether it was my imagination or does nobody in Norway say excuse me please or sorry? Apparently not my imagination it is not part of their culture. What prompted the question is that I held doors open for people, people bumped into me and others walked across me and not a single one said a word. Hmmm!
Watching bridge isn't that easy the "hangar" is hot, has stale air with no mechanical circulation of ANY kind and let's just say the folding chairs and my arse aren't well suited. The bridge day is long 10:00 till 20:00 with nothing whatsoever nearby so my going to the bridge is a dedicated journey with one purpose.
Back to the hotel for an old man nap and woken at 20:15 by a message to say the Erichsens having in-room takeaway. I walk down along the riverfront and find a whole new area loaded with restaurants with outdoor areas. It's kind of interesting that almost no restaurants have menus in anything other than Norwegian. Anyway I settle on a bar/brasserie which surprisingly does have their limited menu in English. Two starters mussels in a beautiful bisque followed by scallops in a goat's cheese bisque and panacotta - all amazingly good but then at just less than $A80 I guess I should have high expectations - but seriously very fresh and tasty.
Home to bed noting that the weather has cooled right down and my short sleeve shirt is only just coping.
Tuesday and sort of slept in 06:00. Have to pack and get ready to go back to London on the 18:45 flight. Luggage packed and put into storage.
Around 10:30 I wandered well walked and ferried across to the bridge. The weather has turned to a pleasantly mild and not so humid 22 degrees. Watched some (terrible) bridge till around 14:00 when I went back to the hotel, collected my luggage and went to the restaurant from the night before and stayed there for the two hours till my 16:30 bus.
No RyanAir stories to tell although I like the fact that you can use electronic devices throughout the complete flight. Touchdown 20 minutes early which was made up by the fact that only one officer was processing Non-Eu visitors and it took close to 30 minutes to get through control.
Now there are some dumb things I do as a traveller and in retrospect it seems kind of funny. To save money I cancelled the 68 pounds (sounds like not too much but its $125) and to further save money I don't get the Stansted Express Train ($43) I opt for the bus ($16) on which I manage to bump my head (bleeding) putting the luggage underneath. It all seemed OK - until - the bus takes 90 minutes to Victoria Station instead of the much shorter train, there are no steps down and the up to the District line at Victoria and of course the steps down at Stamford Brook. Oh and of course I had to buy two bags of groceries to add to my woes. I did not feel like walking the 1.3kms from the station to home. Would I do it again - yeah I think I would its kind of part of the experience. Anyway I am having a fine dining lunch with a friend with the money ($A100 from cab or $27 from train) that I saved.
I must say I really enjoyed Norway. The scenery and architecture are VERY beautiful, The greenery and seemingly unspoilt look of the town on the river and the quite tranquil slightly rustic feel was great. Previously having been to the Scandinavian capitals on a cruise I felt been there done that but this has renewed my interest in the region. Might even consider playing in the Bridge Festival some time down the track.
Well it's Wednesday morning and the world looks good. Usual London weather very cloudy. Today will be some wandering around but not for long, lunch at La Trompette (http://www.latrompette.co.uk) in Chiswick and then visiting family in Romford Essex from 16:00 onwards. A long day ahead.
I'll add some pix soon as currently I have limited internet.
Hope all in Sydney are well
XD
Publish my first blog, shower and down to an amazingly good breakfast of hot foods, cold foods, salads, meats cheeses and more.
Ten minute walk to the ferry and across the river to the old town. I am guessing crime is rare here as all of the cafes closed on Sunday morning or all day Sunday leave their tables and chairs on the street without any security.
On the ferry, and in an effort to know when the last ferry crossing takes place (midnight) I start chatting to a guy who is crossing with his son. He is Danish and married to a South African and they moved here six months ago. Immigration by Scandinavians within Scandinavia is transparent without any paperwork.
He tells me that grocery shopping in Sweden is exactly 50% of the prices in Norway and the drive to Sweden is just 30 minutes so most people in Fredrikstad go to Sweden once a month for a large shopping.
The old town was established by the Danish King in the 1500's and added to in the 1700's. Apparently the Danish were colonisers but did not have the population to inhabit their colonies. But more interesting was that the Danes were massive slave traders, a total of 100,000 in the 18th century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_slave_trade.
Arrived at the bridge and if you aren't a bridge player skip this paragraph. The pairs are played as a three board across the field barometer. Interestingly they place a whole lot of sets of 3 boards on a midpoint table and players simply go and swap boards as they finish each one - works well. I haven't seen a system card here. Projectors show the boards from the previous round with frequencies and match-points. During the round a score slip for the previous three boards is placed on the table with seating for the following round. Apart from the average playing conditions it all works very well. The mixed pairs was won by Geir Helgemo (with Siv Thoresen) who, together with Boye Brogeland I regard as two of the best five players in the world. Imagine averaging 61.5% over 90 boards and finishing a full 5% ahead of second.
I say goodbye to the Brogelands who are leaving at lunchtime for their cabin 4.5 hours away and 1.5 hours from their home in Flekfjord. Lunch with the Erichsens and back to the hotel for an old man nap as the 36 hour trek to London and next morning flight to Norway catching up on me.
Dinner at a stylish Pizzeria where I have an amazingly good piece of eye fillet and dessert of course. During the dinner there is an intense thunder an lightning storm and I start to worry about how I'm going to walk the 800 metres back to my hotel but by the end of the meal just gentle sprinkle.
I left Sydney with a cough, cold and conjunctivitis but thankfully it has just about all gone and a more normal me is emerging from the spluttering.
I was thinking of renting a car for a day to maybe go to Oslo or Sweden, well that was before I saw that the cost would be $300 for the car including 100kms PLUS $1.04 per additional kilometre - is there a shortage of cars in this place! Not a problem as I am quite content to watch some bridge, walk the shops and just CHILLAX!
Bridge has been a great friend to me in my life. It has taken me to places I would perhaps not ventured to go to. I have made some amazing friend (and some not so good ones too) spent +/- two weeks in places like all round Australia, Monaco, Menton, San Remo, Estoril, Lille, Santiago, Yokohama, Jakarta, Istanbul, Tenerife, Biarritz, Shanghai, Beijing, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Diego and many more. Soon I may be able to add Chennai to this list and maybe even Tromso in Norway. I am blessed to have involved myself in this great game.
Next morning wake at 04:00 and mess around until breakfast at 08:00 as further sleep was too big an ask. Weather battling between sun and rain with rain just winning on points. I head towards the shop expecting to buy nothing but a kids wear shop grabs my attention and some lovely things for my grandkids now fill my suitcase. Went for quality not quantity here despite the H&M store. Shopping basically comprises a lot of small shops devoted to home and home wares very unlike shopping back home. Everything soooo pricey as evidenced by RM Williams boots which cost $420 in Aus costing $800 here - damn they could buy their own seats on the plane for that price difference!!
Over to the bridge where I watch a match and then have lunch with Helen/Espen who are also sitting out the first match after lunch (2 hours!!) as they are on a team of six so we chat and catch up. I asked Helen (English) whether it was my imagination or does nobody in Norway say excuse me please or sorry? Apparently not my imagination it is not part of their culture. What prompted the question is that I held doors open for people, people bumped into me and others walked across me and not a single one said a word. Hmmm!
Watching bridge isn't that easy the "hangar" is hot, has stale air with no mechanical circulation of ANY kind and let's just say the folding chairs and my arse aren't well suited. The bridge day is long 10:00 till 20:00 with nothing whatsoever nearby so my going to the bridge is a dedicated journey with one purpose.
Back to the hotel for an old man nap and woken at 20:15 by a message to say the Erichsens having in-room takeaway. I walk down along the riverfront and find a whole new area loaded with restaurants with outdoor areas. It's kind of interesting that almost no restaurants have menus in anything other than Norwegian. Anyway I settle on a bar/brasserie which surprisingly does have their limited menu in English. Two starters mussels in a beautiful bisque followed by scallops in a goat's cheese bisque and panacotta - all amazingly good but then at just less than $A80 I guess I should have high expectations - but seriously very fresh and tasty.
Home to bed noting that the weather has cooled right down and my short sleeve shirt is only just coping.
Tuesday and sort of slept in 06:00. Have to pack and get ready to go back to London on the 18:45 flight. Luggage packed and put into storage.
Around 10:30 I wandered well walked and ferried across to the bridge. The weather has turned to a pleasantly mild and not so humid 22 degrees. Watched some (terrible) bridge till around 14:00 when I went back to the hotel, collected my luggage and went to the restaurant from the night before and stayed there for the two hours till my 16:30 bus.
No RyanAir stories to tell although I like the fact that you can use electronic devices throughout the complete flight. Touchdown 20 minutes early which was made up by the fact that only one officer was processing Non-Eu visitors and it took close to 30 minutes to get through control.
Now there are some dumb things I do as a traveller and in retrospect it seems kind of funny. To save money I cancelled the 68 pounds (sounds like not too much but its $125) and to further save money I don't get the Stansted Express Train ($43) I opt for the bus ($16) on which I manage to bump my head (bleeding) putting the luggage underneath. It all seemed OK - until - the bus takes 90 minutes to Victoria Station instead of the much shorter train, there are no steps down and the up to the District line at Victoria and of course the steps down at Stamford Brook. Oh and of course I had to buy two bags of groceries to add to my woes. I did not feel like walking the 1.3kms from the station to home. Would I do it again - yeah I think I would its kind of part of the experience. Anyway I am having a fine dining lunch with a friend with the money ($A100 from cab or $27 from train) that I saved.
I must say I really enjoyed Norway. The scenery and architecture are VERY beautiful, The greenery and seemingly unspoilt look of the town on the river and the quite tranquil slightly rustic feel was great. Previously having been to the Scandinavian capitals on a cruise I felt been there done that but this has renewed my interest in the region. Might even consider playing in the Bridge Festival some time down the track.
Well it's Wednesday morning and the world looks good. Usual London weather very cloudy. Today will be some wandering around but not for long, lunch at La Trompette (http://www.latrompette.co.uk) in Chiswick and then visiting family in Romford Essex from 16:00 onwards. A long day ahead.
I'll add some pix soon as currently I have limited internet.
Hope all in Sydney are well
XD
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