Madrid - conference
September 2, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
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 notRead more
Madrid - last bit
September 5, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
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 andRead more
Barcelona - arrival
September 5, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
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 streetsRead more
Barcelona - beach
September 5, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
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 sortaRead more
Barcelona - history & food
September 6, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
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 theRead more
Barcelona - Sagrada Familia
September 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
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)Read more
Barcelona - bye!
September 8, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
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
September 9, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
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 theRead more
Oslo - waterfront wandering
September 9, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
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 theRead more
Oslo - misc
September 10, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
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 (atRead more
Oslo - Frognerparken
September 10, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
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,Read more
Oslo - Holmenkollen
September 10, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
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,Read more
Oslo - Ekebergparken
September 11, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
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 hillyRead more
Oslo - "Cruise"
September 11, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
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 thisRead more
Oslo - (no) northern lights
September 11, 2015 in Norway ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
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 getRead more
Oslo/Bergen - Train
September 12, 2015 in Norway ⋅ 🌬 6 °C
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 hillsRead more
Bergen - Night Lights
September 12, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
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 andRead more
Bergen - city exploring
September 13, 2015 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
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 mountainsRead more
Bergen - Stoltzekleiven
September 14, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
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 ofRead more
Bergen - Fjords!
September 14, 2015 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
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) calledRead more
Bergen/Oslo - Night train & stopover
September 15, 2015 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
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-bunkRead more
Stockholm - arrival
September 15, 2015 in Sweden ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
[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 cityRead more
Stockholm - exploring
September 16, 2015 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
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 moreRead more
Stockholm - Royal Palace
September 16, 2015 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
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 wasRead more
Stockholm - food
September 16, 2015 in Sweden ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
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 IRead more









































































































































Ham and ham - what can go wrong lol :) - Michelle
TravelerHaha, it was actually kinda weird. Needed something non-pig based