Today was my one day to explore Bergen. I began by getting early up to beat the breakfast rush. After a very respectable breakfast buffet I headed out to explore. 

Quite by chance I had heard about Floibanen, the funicular railway that goes up the side of one of the mountains surrounding Bergen. I decided to give it a go.  

It only took about 8 min to get to the top but the views were spectacular! Why wasn't this on my to-do list? 

These photos show only a fraction of the view. It made me realise that Bergen is much bigger than I had realised. After that I did more exploring. I found a fortress, lots of gorgeous alleys and an interesting museum about early Bergen. 

In the museum there was a great exhibition on runes. One piece of information made me immediately think of Em and Ash. Aparently board games were played and the inscription on a runic stick said "there's no knowing what may come of hectic diceplay". Wise words. 

Before leaving Australia I booked a short fjord cruise. In fact, that was the other reason for coming to Bergen. My cruise commenced at 2:30pm and lasted 3.5h. Well worth it. What I loved most were the houses perched precariously on the sides of mountains or the small towns nestled in between the rocks.  So many towns were incredibly isolated.

Another early night tonight for me. I have an early flight in the morning back to the UK. 

The weather has improved but my cold has deteriorated. After another restless night it was a relief to get up around 6:00am. It had already been light for a couple of hours. Today sunrise was at 4:47am and sunset will be 8:30pm. I was sticking to my plan of heading out early so I could get pictures with better light and fewer people. I figured I should make the most of the morning when I was likely to feel my best. 

I managed to get out the door by 7:45am. Because I'll be using the metro a lot over the next few days I bought a travel card which allows me to travel as much is I like over the next 3 days. I had a problem with both the money cards I had on me though. The terminal wouldn't accept either. It got me a little worried that something was wrong, but I was able to use my travel card successfully later in the day, so all good. 

When I got to Gamla Stan it was deserted. Such a contrast from yesterday. My plan had worked and I could photograph anywhere I liked. Of course, the pictures took on an eerie feel devoid of people. I'll post my favourites in separate blog post. 

After finishing with Gemla Stan I wandered towards where the tour boats depart. On the Internet a company advertised an "Under the Bridges" tour starting at 10:00am so I made that my mission. Turns out that there is a strike on which would affect the tour and the first would depart at 11:00am. I bought a ticked and wandered a bit more. 

I have found that all old cities have some really interesting doorways. Stockholm is nothing special in that regard, but I made it my mission to try and take some shots of the more interesting ones I found today. I'm going to put them in another separate post.

While waiting for the tour I came across one of the gardens nearby with a mass of blossoming trees. 

And this curious sculpture. 

Along the waterfront are some imposing facades as well as a huge variety of moored boats. 

Closer to 11:00am I got in line to board the boat. I was hoping to sit outside for maximum photo taking flexibility. Unfortunately the outside area of the boat was so small that I didn't manage to get out there and had to put up with photographing though the glass. In hindsight, it was probably better for my health. After all, I think sitting outside on the cruise in Copenhagen contributed to this cold.

The shores of the Baltic Sea and lakes around Stockholm have a huge variety of different buildings and terrain. 

I even saw some wildlife on one wharf.

By the end of the tour I was feeling pretty awful so I decided to make my way back to the apartment. It was only 1:30pm and the weather was beautiful. I felt guilty for wasting it but I had still done a lot. 

I took the metro from Kungstragarden station. I was aware that many of the metro stations have elaborate artwork/installations but this was the first I had seen. 

I had to change trains at Fridhemsplan where I discovered more. 

After having some soothing soup I went to bed for a couple of hours. I spent the evening writing my blog while listening to English on the Sky News. 

I didn't sleep all that well last night. The bed was really comfortable but the room temperature was too warm for my liking. I ended up putting the aircon on for a bit to try and cool it down! It rained throughout the night and when I got out of bed at 5:30am (my body, or mind, must still be in work wake up mode)  it was very grey and wintery outside. 

Undetered, I wrote my blog from yesterday while having my breakfast and eventually got ready to brave outside. My weather report said 4 degrees but I had 4 layers on and felt OK.  

Yesterday I took a photo of a dragon light pole. There are also dragons in a different style around where the hotel is. I did research last night and the originals were designed by Vilhelm Dahlerup and installed in 1892. The new ones are cubist reinterpretations of that original design. Other than that there appears to be no particular significance. 

I headed off along the harbour front near the hotel. Along the wharves are various buildings but this one attracted my attention because of the colour and the unusual window layout. 

From there I headed towards the city centre which took me past The Little Mermaid. Not something I'd make a trip to see, but since I was passing... 

I noticed a variety of building styles but the fresco pained at the top of this building was quite unique.  It had a slightly Egyptian feel to it.

And this was another striking building. 

The entire facade was covered in an extremely detailed mesh. 

Some bees were keeping guard on this building.

And someone must have thought that this box needed some extra colour or warmth. 

Amalienborg Slot is the official royal residence. It's a set of 4 buildings around a circular courtyard. I was surprised that the public could walk right into the courtyard. As I discovered later, this building is the queen's residence but she wasn't home at the time. 

Near these palaces is a park with some great sculpture. As soon as I saw them their style seemed familiar. Later I did some research and they were created by Arnaldo Pomodoro. And he also created a work I had seen in the sculpture park in Washington DC. The sculptures are four columns. This picture only shows you part of one, but it should give an idea of the style and detail.

So far the weather had behaved but soon it began to rain. And then I noticed tiny pellets of sleet. Well, not quite the snow I had hoped for, but close. But it ended quickly. 

Before long I made it to Nyhavn, a very picturesque and famous part of Copenhagen. When I first arrived it was very grey but I still managed to get some good pictures. Later the sun came out briefly and I took some more. 

As it looked like the weather had broken for a little while I decided it was good timing to go on a canal cruise. These leave regularly from Nyhavn. The tour went for just over an hour and took us out into the harbour (brrr), through many of the canals and under quite a few bridges.

We went past the opera house. 

In the distance we could see a tower. Our guide explained that it was part of a church and you can walk to the top. Weather permitting, I will try to do that tomorrow. 

These boxes were on one of the poles along the canal. I assume they are for birds. 

This structure on the side of one of the bridges reminded me of a submarine conning tower. But it also reminded me a little of one of the towers I saw at the Berlin Wall.

The tour took us past Christiansborg Palace. I believe this is now the parliament building. I couldn't see much of the building but this tower/spire was impressive. 

The most modern bridge we went under opens by each half retracting. You could see the massive wheel on one half as we went under. 

By the time the tour had finished I was frozen. It's easy for me to keep warm while walking but sitting outside (to take photos) on the boat was bitterly cold and my hands in particular had lost their feeling. I had forgotten to take my gloves with me this morning. It was also starting to rain again. I decided I needed some food and to warm up. After many indecisive moments perusing the menus along Nyhavn I settled on one small place that looked cosy and friendly. And it was. Once again, super friendly staff quite happy to speak in perfect English. I ordered a smorrebrod (Danish open sandwich) with roast beef and horseradish and a beer. The beer came in this enormous glass!

Once the rain had subsided, I emerged full, warmed and re-energised. I made my way to another castle I wanted to see. On the way I passed this shop window selling only lamps.

Rosenberg Castle was originally built as a summerhouse for King Christian IV. I was hoping to go inside but it closes at 2:00pm and it was already 1:30pm. I decided to leave it until tomorrow. 

My last planned destination was to check out some lakes further north in the city. I walked through the botanic gardens and came across this little guy. Much more ginger than those I've seen in England or America. 

The lakes were a little underwhelming so I wandered back in the general direction of the hotel discovering a few interesting things on the way and picking up some supplies for dinner. 

By the time I got to my apartment I was feeling exhausted. I sat on the couch and dozed off. When I awoke it was still light and the weather was holding. My mind was telling me that I should head out again to take advantage of the conditions. But my body wouldn't let me do it.  

There's one last thing I want to share though. This building is near the hotel. I think it typifies the architecture around here and it's completely clad in slate shingles. 

PS, I can't remember if I've written this already but I can feel I have put on weight already on this trip! 

I woke up this morning feeling exhausted. And that was after getting to bed at a very reasonable hour. You see, this is a funky hotel; cool rooms, restaurant, rooftop bar, cocktail bar/disco up top too. The downside of that is that it's popular and I've discovered the cocktail bar/disco upstairs 3-4 floors above me is a place to be Thu-Sun. Which is great ... if you're there. Not so great if you want to sleep through the dull duff-duff sounds cascading down. This isn't a complaint though; I knew what this hotel was like and you take it all as a package. But last night it just wasn't that easy getting to sleep. Earplugs didn't help. I had to put some calming music on the iPod player just loud enought to muffle the duff-duff but not so loud as to also keep me awake. So I didn't really sleep until the disco shut down. Luckily on Sunday that was around midnight.

Anyway, each morning I wake up I expect my good run of great weather to have come to an end so I can switch to indoor activities. But no. It was another superbly clear blue sky morning. Hmm. Dilemma. What to do? 

The Statue of Liberty was on my to do list so I investigated tickets. If I wanted to get to the pedestal viewing area I couldn't get a ticket until Thursday. Oh well, I thought. I really only want to see it and the ferry ride over would be just as good. So I bought a ticket just to visit the Island. Then it dawned on me. If I was happy with that, why not investigate cruises around Manhattan as some friends had suggested? So I did and there was one that would take you all the way around the Island. I know I could have done both but the weather today was so perfect I didn't want to squander it. So I ditched my Statue of Liberty ticket in favour of the cruise. Only a small $ loss but a big sightseeing gain.

I made my way to Pier 83 through a combination of subway and power walking, stopping for a bite to eat and a coffee on the way. I was worried that I might be out walked by the New Yorkers. But no. I think many of them would struggle to keep up with me. 

The ship was packed; over 600 people. And it was gently rocking even while docked. I did wonder for a moment wether it was going to get rough and how I might react. In the end, it was only the cold that was a problem. I sat down inside until they opened up the front, then spent the rest of the trip on the bow snapping frames from each side as we passed views. 

It was a great idea and a perfect way to really see the bigger picture of Manhattan and its incredible diversity. And the tour guide/announcer Chris was fantastic.

At the start of the journey they did warn us that it was a very high tide. That meant we might not make it under some of the smaller bridges (and there are many). Luckily we did; but with only a little room to spare.  

Afterwards, I made my way back to the hotel along the High Line. By now it was about 3:00. I wanted to regroup for a while. Tonight I plan to go back to the Empire State Building to try and take some evening photos. 

Well I figured out that I could "jettison" nearly 5kg of luggage that I either don't need or can easily replace back home. That gave me the justification I needed to get the Mars book. So first off today I made my way back to the Science Museum. I went via Regent Street so I could take some pictures.

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Also, after many failed attempts over the last few days I finally got a decent picture of the Christmas decorations in Oxford street.

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I got to the museum at opening time when there was no-one else in the shop and made my purchase (plus some unplanned extras). The book is heavy so I went back to the hotel to drop it off. On the way back I walked down The Strand and saw the topiary on this building. It looked real, but I don't know if it was.

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Next on my hit list was a visit to the Museum of London. I took the tube to St Paul's. It was another fascinating and beautifully presented museum. It started pre-history. As an Australian the history of London seems so long that I forgot that there would be artifacts and relics from even before London was founded.

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Em and Ash, I saw the following in a display for the Radio Times.

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The museum is at a part of London called London Wall. I had no idea there had been a wall. It was original built by the Romans.

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By this time was ready for lunch. There was a Pret-a-Manger nearby (as there nearly always is) so I went there. Never disappointed.

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After a grey and drizzly start to the day the skies were clearing. What a nice way to end the holiday. I decided it was a perfect opportunity to catch one of the sight seeing boats. I made my way to the Tower of London. On the way I saw this reflection in the glass and stopped to take a pic.

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I bought a ticket for one of the sight seeing boats to take me to Westminster. One must have only just left which meant I could wait near the start of the queue for the next one which was less than 30 min away. I sat up top and had a perfect view. Though, it was pretty fresh up there. One of the crew gave us a running commentary in a very broad English accent, but it was really quite fun.

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From there I walked back to the hotel for dinner and a rest. The walk only took about 30 minutes. On the way I passed Green Park. I had to take the obligatory cute squirrel pic.

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I also took this pic of more Christmas street decorations. Christmas feels so much more authentic here.

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As its still fine, tonight I'm going to head back to the Thames one last time and see if I can get some shots of the city lights.

Oh, and as for the title of this post ... I haven't eaten much in the way of cakes and sweets while away but today I did and it just seemed like carrot cake would hit the spot nicely ... twice!