Madrid - conference

Attended and presented at a conference on AI applications. Appropriately held at this building dedicated to Alan Turing at the Escuela Politécnica Superior. Felt very empty, but semester might notLes mer
Madrid - last bit

After the conference I went to the Prado museum, during the free two hours before it closes. There was a bit of a line...
Luckily they let us in quickly, as fast as they could x-ray our bags andLes mer
Barcelona - arrival

Arrived in Barcelona, and it already seems nice. Little fountains/parks are on many streets and there was a small pond right by the train station (#1). I particularly like that instead of just streetsLes mer
Barcelona - beach

Made it to the beach by around 8 pm on my first day here. It wasn't too busy - felt like most people had left for the day (although it was still light and the water was warm).
The beach felt sortaLes mer
Barcelona - history & food

Did the usual history walking tour, this time featuring the Barcelona cathedral (#1, note the little angels above the door, each is unique), a quiet square with a chapel damaged by bombing in theLes mer
Barcelona - Sagrada Familia

Wow. I've been to a few cathedrals already but this one was spectacular. Definitely the highlight of Barcelona for me. It is what happens when you let a slightly crazy genius modern artist (Gaudi)Les mer
Barcelona - bye!

Heading to Oslo!
Just a last look at those nice big subway cars with AC and working mobile network, and wide avenues with separated lanes - London, get on Spain's level!
Oslo - city wandering

Oslo (and surrounding country) is beautiful!
Stefan is very kindly letting me stay at his apartment, and spending time to show me around parts of the city. Thanks so much!
Today I walked around theLes mer
Oslo - waterfront wandering

Oslo has a waterfront pier area called Aker Brygge (#1,2) that's very similar to Auckland's viaduct, except fancier! There are even little water features creating streams that run down into theLes mer
Oslo - misc

Stefan's apartment is near the intersection of Tors gate (Thor's street) and Odins gate - pretty awesome street names here!
It's also clearly pretty affluent - saw my first Tesla Model S cars (atLes mer
Oslo - Frognerparken

In line with my appreciation of statues elsewhere, the Vigeland statue installation (actually part of Frognerparken) was a highlight of Oslo for me. It's a park with a lot of (mostly human - naked,Les mer
Oslo - Holmenkollen

Quite visible on Oslo's skyline is a huge metal structure on the hill - the ski jump column at Holmenkollen, apparently well known in ski-jumping circles worldwide (I am not in such circles).
Still,Les mer
Oslo - Ekebergparken

On the opposite side of Oslo from Holmenkollen and Frognerparken, there's another statue park, nice!
This one a collection of art from various artists (some famous, some current), set around a hillyLes mer
Oslo - "Cruise"

Need a cheapo mode harbour cruise? Take the ferry to nowhere!
Seeing as I had already bought a week-long public transit ticket, I met up with Stefan (who took part of Friday off work, apparently thisLes mer
Oslo - (no) northern lights

No pics, as this was a (maybe) failed attempt to see the northern lights in Oslo.
The Aurora was very strong and had been visible from Oslo in the past few days, but we didn't know where to go to getLes mer
Oslo/Bergen - Train

There's a 7 hour train ride between Oslo and Bergen, and I heard it was one of the most beautiful train trips in the world (thanks, Adrian!). Wow, they weren't exaggerating!
Farms, then forested hillsLes mer
Bergen - Night Lights

After our failed attempt to see the Northern Lights in Oslo, I made another attempt in Bergen. Still knowing nothing about Aurora-seeing techniques, but seeing the forecast was for strong activity andLes mer
Bergen - city exploring

Bergen is apparently not important enough for a free walking tour, so I just wandered around town. Lots of small cobbled streets, a few parks, and glimpses between buildings of the small mountainsLes mer
Bergen - Stoltzekleiven

Having only half a day to spare, and wanting to at least visit the top of a hill in Bergen in daytime, I decided to head up Stoltzekleiven (wearing chinos, oops). It's a steep track mostly made ofLes mer
Bergen - Fjords!

My one extra expense in Bergen was to go on a Fjord cruise. I found one that was relatively cheap (100 NZD) and only took a few hours (some of them are multi-day hike/train/boat endeavours) calledLes mer
Bergen/Oslo - Night train & stopover

Making the most of my 7 hour train ride back the way I had come (and because I had never done it before), I decided to take a sleeper car in a night train.
It was very nice and cosy, with a 2-bunkLes mer
Stockholm - arrival

[I'm not dead! Long delay due to no internet in Berlin, plus laziness]
After a rather long night/day of about 11 hours train rides, I arrived in Stockholm!
First impression is a standard modern cityLes mer
Stockholm - exploring

Did a walking tour in the morning, including downtown areas, some nice gardens, and the rather underwhelming Stockholms Konserthaus, where they give out the Nobel Prizes (statue out front was moreLes mer
Stockholm - Royal Palace

Happened to arrive at the royal palace just as the changing of the guard was happening. I'd missed (err, not bothered) seeing this in London so I got the Swedish version instead! The palace itself wasLes mer
Stockholm - food

The Swedes make some delicious sweet food. They also invented cinnamon buns (kanelbulle), though they mar them with cardamon, and they're everywhere, even mini-packs from the supermarket :D
I think ILes mer
Ham and ham - what can go wrong lol :) - Michelle
ReisendeHaha, it was actually kinda weird. Needed something non-pig based