Day 15: A summary of our traveling-trip!

Hello everybody! This will be our last post on this blog. It's sad to say, because we have been updated this blog in 15 days now, and have enjoyed telling other people about our experiences in the several countries we have visited. After all, we really hope you have appreciated our blogging, and found some interest in it.

As a goodbye, we thought we could make a summary of what we have experienced in each country, what the peaks were and what we learned at all.

• Great Britain: In Great Britain we visited two different cities: Scotland and London. Even though the cities belong to the same country, it was such a huge difference between them. The culture in Scotland contained of a very special music with an unusual instrument called bagpipe, and a traditional costume (kilt). Is was a huge contrast between the environments in these cities, but we enjoyed London more than Scotland. London is more our type of country, with shopping and so on. A picture of London city:
  
• Ireland: The experience we remember most from Ireland, is the visit to the Dublin Castle. Actually it was the only thing we did in Ireland. Anyways, the castle was so huge and beautiful, and we have never seen this kind of castle before. Dublin Castle:
  
• India: Oh, it's so difficult to point out a special happening from our visit to India, because we did so many different things. We really liked the HOHO-sightseeing, because we learned so much in such a little time, but we defidently liked Bollywood too. The indian culture is so inspiring! Raypath, an indian picture:
  
• New Zealand: Both of us thinks that New Zealand was the most exciting country of the ones we visited. In New Zealand we got to swim with the dophins and enjoy the beachlife, which we don't got in Norway. The landscape was also amazing, just take a look at this picture:
  
• Canada: We only spent two days in Canada, but we could at least have been there one more day! We enjoyed the "light and sound-show" the most; it was something we never had experienced before. Here you can see a picture of this show in Ottawa:
  

We really enjoyed this 15-days-traveling, and would love to turn back to some of these countries some time. Now we actually don't got anyting else to say, so i guess we'll just end this last post.
Goodbye guys, and thanks for following our blog! (a special thanks to Vilde Iversen, thank you for your comments <3)

Sandra Bertelli and Oda-Mari Corneliussen

Day 14: Today's hectic schedule!!!

Oh My God, today has been a total mess! We went from one event, to another. We were running around all day long; with hand bags over the shoulder, our mobile phones in the one hand, and starbucks coffee in the other hand.

This lady looks a bit like us, haha!
http://www.ak-pv.com/Portfolio/Street-Photography/12749778_CoEak/1/899835890_adWJU#899835890_adWJU

I'm actually writing this blogpost in the hotel lobby. You see; our computer got hacked, so we are not able to blog from it (don't worry; the PC will be ok). Anyways, we haven't been sitting today, not even for lunch. We ordered chinese food. Take away, with chopsticks. You should have seen us, quite a sight!

One word; YUM!
http://www.road2china.me/2010/05/dangers-of-chinese-takeaway.html

I haven't been sleeping for 17 hours. I guess you understand how I'm feeling right now. It's definitely going to be nice to crawl into my quilt. I am only making this post first, telling you about our hectic day.

As Sandra mentioned in yesterdays blogpost; we're now in Ottawa - the capital of Canada! Ottawa is a city that is located in the province, Ontario.

One of the reasons why we wanted to visit this region, was because of Niagara Falls - a wonderful waterfall! It is a group of three huge waterfalls and it has a vertical drop of more than 50 meters!

A beautiful experience!

We went on a organized "tourist tour" where we sat in a boat while a guide talked about Niagara Falls.
Something else you have to do when you are in Canada, is to watch a hockey match, live! Ice-hockey is a very popular sport over here.
Ottawa Senators played against Toronto Maple Leafs. The match was an important NHL derby! Ottawa won and the public went crazy! The atmosphere was amazing, it was nothing like a soccer match in Norway.

This is a picture from the match. Take a look at the stadium; it was 25000 people there!
http://www.ottawatourism.ca/en/visitors/getaways-and-special-offers/hockey-night-in-the-capital

Later in the evening, after intense shopping, we went to Parliament Hill. This is a group of buildings that house the government of Canada. We were not aware of that a sound and light show was planned just this evening. The sun went down, and the show began. I found a video on youtube illustrating the show:

Mosaika, the show, is telling the story of Canada. A powerful descriptive set, against the spectacular backdrop of Parliament Hill. Mosaika took us, the audience, on an unforgettable journey of sound and light. We got to explore Canada’s physical, historical and cultural landscapes. Definitively worth the visit! 


Our bags are packed and we are ready to leave tomorrow. It is a sad thought, but it's going to be nice to sleep in our own beds after two weeks of traveling!
We will blog the last post when we get home. Until then, have a nice day!

Oda-Mari Corneliussen

Day 13: Our last visit!

Good afternoon!
We haven't really been doing so much today, because we have spent almost 7 hours in a plane! I'm starting to get tired of this traveling, but luckily this is the last English-speaking country we are visiting. Unfortunately we won't get so much time to experience this country, because we are supposed to turn back home in less than two days! Well well, however this have been some lovely and exciting weeks!
Oh sorry, I almost forgot to tell you the name of the country - Canada, or to be more precise; Ottawa, the capital of Canada. None of us have been there before, so like in the other places, we didn't know what to do. Instead of being those stupid tourists who don't know where to go, we decided to go out and eat a nice dinner. Then we had time to really plan the day tomorrow.

At the airport: A pair of tired girls after a long flight.

I love fying!!

After some research on the internet, we found a nice restaurant called ''Zak's Diner''. They served everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner and night-food. Actually you can have a meal at this restaurant independent of what time on the day, because it's open 24/7!

The range was huge! You could order lots of delicious meat, fish-meals or your favorite-salad. Both of us ordered caesar-salad and nachos. Even though we had tasted it before, it was a wonderful meal for two hungry girls.

Yummy!!

We look forward to another day in Canada tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Sandra Bertelli

Day 12: Dolphin love on New Zealand.....

We all know that there are lots of geysers on Iceland and also that there are volcanoes on Sicily (among other places). But did you know that on New Zealand they actually have both; in addition to rainforests, mountains, fjords and  long, white beaches where dolphins play? We didn't. What fascinating combinations indeed! I was thrilled to find that out.

New Zealand consists of two rather big islands joined together,  I believe that they are just called the "northern" island and the "southern" island.

The two islands that together makes New Zealand.

We decided not to do the most obvious thing and go see the capitol Wellington, as we weren't very keen on discos, restaurants and all the things you can do anywhere in bigger cities. Instead we wanted to experience something different and to go see the more adventurous part of this fantastic and versatile country.
So we decided to travel to Bay of Islands, on the northern island, to check out one of those famous, white beaches. Can't possibly leave New Zealand without having done that! Also, we really wanted to see if we were lucky enough to find some gorgeous dolphins that wanted to have a swim with the two of us. That would be such a dream-come-true.....And guess what; we were luckier than we ever thought possible; three of these beautiful creatures came sliding through the water to play with us, just as we went into the water!
I had bought one of those beach balls that they sell at the shop next to the beach bar, and that turned out to be quite a success. The dolphins loved it, and we played ball with them for a long time........dolphins are really  the most fantastic animals, so loving and intelligent, and they looked like they cared about us and really wanted to be our friends. They were so gentle and careful with us, and it just like they respected us like we respect them. Oh......I will miss them desperately!
Hotels are kind of expensive at this time of year on Bay of Islands, so we talked to the owner of the beach bar and she adviced us to go rent one of those small, cute bungalows further up the beach. We were happy about her advice, as it turned out to be the best choice for us! The bungalows are very popular among young travelers, and we got to know a couple of Danish girls our age who were staying in the bungalow next to ours. We had fun! :-)

Is this a gorgeous beach or what?

This is a picture of the bungalow we stayed in....ours was the one to the left. 

We could hear the sound of the waves from the sea as we fell asleep that night....ah, I could get used to this!

The dolphins photographed from a distance.

Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get any really good photos of the dolphins, because we were too busy to play with them. But we have fantastic memories in our hearts that will never grow old!
The next time I travel to New Zealand I will most definitely stay for a long time on Bay of Islands, and I will make sure to have time to go see the geysirs.


Sandra Bertelli

Day 11: Whangamomona!

Hello friends!
We spend the night at a very nice and cosy hotel called Whangamomona – Home of the
republic! This hotel lies in a small township called Whangamomona, in Stratford District.
I think this is the only hotel in the district, haha! It lies in a beautiful countryside
that has spectacular scenery and rich history as well. The township declared itself a
republic in 1989 in protest, after the local government had redrawn the boundaries.
Whangamomona were located in another region.
We wanted to visit this place, because the landscape was really gorgeous. This isn’t
something we get to see everyday. Just take a look:

See you guys!

Oda-Mari Corneliussen

Day 10: Chilling in New Zealand!

I'm probably falling asleep if I'm closing my eyes, that is how tired I am right now. We decided to take it easy today, since we were so exhausted after the flight. We really needed a day like this!

Here are some pictures from our day so far:

We were just chilling at pool in the beginning of the day!

Then we explored the ocean!

We had to take a bath!

Sandra got tanned in the sun today!

A random surfer in the ocean!

Look how beautiful it is here!

Oda-Mari Corneliussen

Day 9: We ♥ India!

As you probably read all about yesterday, we had a great second day in India, and believe it or not - today we spent out third day in this exciting and overwhelming country! Compared to us, I believe that most of you guys have heard about Bollywood. Since we're not so often in India, believe it or not, we decided to take the opportunity and explore Bollywood, which is known all over the world for it's enormous production of movies. I believe you have seen a picture of this sign:

http://subollywood2010.wordpress.com/2010/07/10/my-own-private-paradise-bollywood/

Maybe I can tell you a little about Bollywood, so you can understand more of what I'm going to talk about in this post.

Bollywood is basically Mumbai-based movies from India, where the characters in the movies are from India (or have an indian-look and an indian-accent). The genre in the Bollywood movies, 'tells' us about the indian film industry, where the drama, dancing and music are Hindi-inspired. What makes the Bollywood-movies so special, is their huge number of elements of dancing and music. Actually the whole setting is Hindi-inspired. 

http://fashionewallpaper.blogspot.com/2009/06/bollywood-romantic-couples.html

The film industry in India is the one who produces the hugest number of movies in the whole world. Almost one thousand movies every single year! One of the reasons why they make so many movies, is that they often make the movie in two different indian-languages; Hindi and Urdu. Although the Bollywood-movies are different from the Hollywood movies (the film industry in USA), UK and USA also show a lot of Bollywood movies in their cinemas. 

This is the trailer to the Bollywood-movie ''Ready'', which was made in 2011 and became very famous. As you can see, there are different themes in the movies, like romance, dancing and action. There is also a lot of indian music and something very typical Indian, a lot of colors! Both their clothes and the surroundings have lots of color. The main characters are Salman Khan who have played in approximately one hundred Bollywood-movies, and Asin Thottumkal. Underneath you can see a picture of Salman and Asin.

Actually I don't have that much more to tell you about our trip to Bollywood, because the only thing we did was to walk around in several locations. But I would definitely say it was worth the visit. 

Through out the whole visit to the beautiful country India, we have experienced a lot and learned many new things about the rich Indian culture. We would love to travel back to India some time, and maybe have a look in other cities. 

Before I end this post, you can look at some glamourous Indian pictures I found on Google. Colorful indeed, is it not?

Beautiful Asin!

That was all we managed to do through our stay in India. Tomorrow we are traveling further to another continent. See you guys!

Sandra Bertelli

Day 8: HOHO sightseeing

Good afternoon everybody!

We were really spontaneous today, and went straight to the city. There we saw a sightseeing bus named HOHO. We wanted to try this out, and just went for it! Later, we discovered that HOHO is short for hop on/hop off, which means that everybody on the bus can decide when they want to "jump on" or "jump off" the bus.

Sightseeing tours are popular in cities all over the world, because it's an easy and cheap way to experience as much as possible in a short time. Our little bus ride today lasted for two hours, and included four stops.

The HOHO bus we joined today!
http://travel.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268467 

In the back of this picture, there is a beautiful building. This building is called Rajpath (meaning "king's way," or "The royal street"), and was our first stop. It's a boulevard that is considered the most important road in India. The annual Republic Day takes place there every january 26.

Rajpath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajpath

Our second stop was Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum. This wasn't quite our "thing." I think we are way too young to care about this stuff. But we definitely know more about Indira Gandhi and her work now!

Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum
http://eu.art.com/products/p13775856-sa-i2734917/posters.htm?ui=D27DBD6F99E84BB7B7C931A5627D4A08

We deserved a break after 30 minutes in a museum we didn't really have much interests in. So the two of us and the rest of the tourists went to a marked called Dilli Haat. We ate lunch there, and bought some colorful clothes and other typical Indian souvenirs.

Indian souvenirs at Dilli Haat
http://cupidspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dilli-haat.jpg

This is a man that is selling typical Indian souvenirs at the marked
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dilli_Haat.jpg

The last place we visited today was Qutab Minar; World tallest minaret. A minaret is a tower or a building that is attached to a Islamic mosque. Qutab Minar measures 72,5 meters in height. We walked all the way to the top! The stairs included 399 steps, and we walked all of them. We were really proud of ourselves!

Qutab Minar
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:Qminar.jpg

Today we have gotten to know the Indian history through the HOHO guide tour. We have also seen more of the culture in this city. Tomorrow we'll visit Mumbai, and take a closer look at the Bollywood culture!

Oda-Mari Corneliussen

Day 7: Good bye Europe - Hello Asia!

This day has been really different compared to the ones we spent in Ireland and United Kingdom. Right now we are in a country which is situated on another continent, and they sell a lot of tea and use many different spices in their food. The country is also known for a movie which was recorded here; Slumdog Millionaire. As you maybe have understood, I'm talking about India, which lies in Asia.
We had to do some research before we traveled to this country, and since we didn't know anything about this country before we came here, we decided to visit the capital of India; New Delhi.

After checking in at a random hotel we found in the centrum, we went out for a walk. While walking, we noticed their special religion, which we don't have in Norway. Almost everyone were Hindus; and their clothes was colorful. We really got inspired, so we decided to find a bus which could take us to one of their temples; ''Laximinarayan Temple''. We didn't regret the trip, because it was really interesting to have a look inside of an Hindu-temple. The whole experience was so different; the smell, the people and the sounds. Here you can see a picture of the temple:

http://hindutemplesindia.blogspot.com/2010/12/lakshmi-narayan-temple-birla-mandir.html

When we had spent about one hour in the temple, we went back to the centrum, and found a place to get some food. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but the food they served was about five dishes with different sauces, meat, rice and spices. The taste was special, but i think i liked it. The food looked a little like this:

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j69751-Delhi-Culinary_Capital_Savouring_Indian_Food_in_Delhi.html

While we tried to find the way home to the hotel, we looked in some stores. They were so nice and all the surroundings were so different! The people in the stores were also more approachable here, than in Norway. Anyway, that was all we managed to experience in New Delhi today, and we hope to get a new and exciting day tomorrow. See you!

- Sandra Bertelli

Day 6: Dublin Castle

Ireland is Great Britains "neighbour," but the sides of these countries that we have seen, are totally different. Here in Dublin, the grass is green and the air is fresh. On the other hand; In London the weather was grey and the air was NOT good! But it's probably greener and brighter other places in England, that we didn't visit.

http://www.metrolic.com/travel-guides-london-part-2-144482/    http://ilmondofelice.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

Anyways, today we felt like doing something scary. A new experience for us, because we are some frightening girls. But this tour is about learning new stuff and exploring things we haven't done before. 

Dublin Castle! Even the word sounds terrifying. We made it though, and learned a lot! This castle were built in the 18th century, with Johan of England in the front - the first lord of Ireland. It has for example been the headquarter of the administration of the island, and used as parliament and courtrooms. The castle were also used by the military for a period. It has never lived prisoners in it, or who knows? You should never say never.

Dublin Castle in the old days!

http://geodublin.com/2011/09/dublin-castle/

A picture of the castle taken today!

http://www.losersrage.com/Dublin06.htm
Dublin Castle is only used for tourists these days! I am grateful for that, because now I got a memory from Ireland, that i never will forget!

We are probably sleeping on the plane to a new continent, when you are reading this post! Iiiiiik, I'm so excited, can't wait!!!

Oda-Mari Corneliussen  

Day 5: Good morning sunshines!

We had to wake up early this morning, because we had a plane to catch!

Today we're traveling to IRELAND, or to be more specific; Dublin, the capital of Ireland. During our stay in this city, we are for example visiting Dublin Castle. 

I don't really got so much to tell you yet, since the day have already started, and we are still lying in our beds wearing our nightgowns. 

This is us at the moment; sleepy girls: 

Later we will tell you about our experiences in Dublin. Stay updated!

Sandra Bertelli