A perfect day in Lerwick

Hello lovelies! I'm actually super excited to write this post as I'll be writing about one of my favourite destinations of all time. Try to guess...we're talking about the northernmost point of Scotland. Yes, I have gorgeous Shetland islands in my mind. To be honest I was even more looking forward to Scotland than Norway. I have this weird love for anything UK related and I even wrote a research paper about British cuisine this year. Maybe I should try out some of the recipes and share with you my poor cooking skills? Good laugh guaranteed.  :)
I don't know about you but whenever I visit new countries I have certain images in my head of how I expect the landscape and architecture to look like. Well Lerwick (the main port of Shetland islands) was exactly as I've imagined a typical Scottish city to be like. Lots of very green grassy hills with long-haired sheep and sandstone houses. We rented a car as we had to get to the south of the island for bird watching and it was also a great opportunity to have a good look around the island. It took us only 40 minutes to get to the other part of it  and on our way there we had to cross their small airport. I have never seen such a tiny airport in my entire life and keep in mind that I come from a very small country. My mum even managed to get a picture of a plane taking off right in front of us. Amazing! After a few more minutes we reached the southernmost part of the island and parked the rental car. We were supposed to look for Atlantic puffins (cute little birds with big and bright beaks, also known as ''clowns of the sea'') but in the end we sadly only saw two of them and lots of these black & white birds. Please don't ask me about their name, because I have no idea. *awkward* Nevertheless it was great with breath-taking views of the ocean foaming around the rocks and beautiful pink flowers defying the strong wind. There was a lighthouse which played an important role in Second World II and we also learnt a lot about the life of lighthouse keepers. Time passed by really quickly and soon it was  time to leave. I was really sad because we didn't have enough time to go see famous Shetland ponies but luckily we noticed them on a meadow right beside the road and my dad quickly pulled over. There was a door in the fence and it wasn't locked so we entered their paddock, me feeling a bit guilty for disturbing their leisure grazing. There were so many of them each of a different colour from dirty white to almost black. It was a picturesque sight with daises all around them, so I might just went a bit crazy with taking photos heh. I was really surprised by their height as they're very small and chubby, but really friendly. Some of them were a bit scared of us and some even let me pat them.  A perfect day or what?  hope you enjoyed reading this post and let me know if you want to read more about Scotland.
                                                                  xoxo

Breath-taking Norwegian fjord

Hello loves! Do you want to hear about our last port in Norway? Stavanger is a charming little city with a lovely port and houses, much smaller than Oslo and Kristiansand and much more "Norwegian" if you know what I mean. I was really excited as we were going on cruise taking us to a fjord, a real fjord in my words haha. The thing is that Oslo and Kristiansand are also located in a fjord, but they aren't like one of those that you see in Geography books with very steep walls, rising high in the air, so I was a little disappointed. Well, this one was just as I had imagined it! At first I was a bit down, because it was really cold & almost foggy, with really low-level clouds, so the peaks were all surrounded with them. Luckily the boat had an inside part as well, so we didn't have to stand outside in cold while sailing towards the fjord. I must admit though, that I did went outside and took some pictures, a weird enthusiast as I am. It was so beautiful, little green islands with a few weekend houses and calm blue water all around us. And the fjord! It left me breathless! So high and flat on the top with lots of stunning waterfalls. Our boat sailed really near to one of the them and the guide got a pot of waterfall water. It was so clear & everyone got a glass of it. Much better than Volvic as you can imagine.
The sun came out later on and everything seemed even prettier. We even saw goats! I think I took millions of pictures and filmed so many videos.  But believe me, it's even more gorgeous when you see it with your own eyes. If you ever get a chance too see a fjord, feel very lucky! The two hours went by so quickly and the next thing I knew we were back in the port.

After a delicious lunch on the ship we decided to look around the city. Just beside our ship was a little village of lovely white houses in cobbled streets. They were so cute and decorated with lots of flowers. I'm not sure, but I consider them typical Norwegian. One even had a Norwegian flag! There were some curious cats peering at as with very thick fur which gave them a fluffy appearance (too bad they wouldn't let me  pat them). I was a bit jealous of their protection for cold climate and was later seriously tempted to buy one of the Norwegian knitted caps in a souvenir shop. Sadly they were all too big...I guess my head really is of a children's size. :'') I did get a key chain with a stuffed reindeer instead, because I just couldn't resist their cuteness. Well I'll always remember this magical country when I use my keys won't I? Now I don't feel bad about it anymore. :)

I was sad to leave Norway, but I will do my best to return some time in the future. Besides, there was Scotland waiting for us.
I hope that you enjoyed reading this post. Have any of you been to Norway before?  I would love to hear about your experience!
                                                                          xoxo

Strolling in Oslo

Hello loves! If you want to read more about my vacation to North Europe keep on reading! So, where were we? Oh right, we had just boarded the beautiful Eurodam, thank you! Just like every cruise in Europe we had quite a busy schedule starting on the first day with Oslo, capital of Norway. When we got off the ship it was cloudy and quiet cold. We decided to follow a walking tour marked on the map that we had got in the port. We've seen the National Theatre surrounded with beautiful statues and garden and Aulaen Hall which really looks stunning with its Greek inspired front.

 To our pleasure sun came out soon and it warmed a bit, so it was really nice strolling around and observing shops' displays. We went up a little hill to the Royal Palace, but we haven't entered it, as we decided to see as much as possible of Oslo in the limited time we had. We figured out it would take quiet a while to see the whole palace properly. There was a huge statue of Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte on a horse in front of the palace as he was the one who had started building it. I was a bit more excited about it than I am usually for statues, because I had read Désirée. This book is amazing, it tells a lot about Napoleon's era and it also has an interesting story like a novel, so it doesn't get boring at all. If you want to know more, feel encouraged to read it. Here is a .link

There is also a big park surrounding it, really nice to sit and have a snack (which I did haha). After that we walked down the main street with shops on both sides, checking out our favourite stores. There were many bakeries and of course we had to try one of typical Norwegian pastries: Skolleboller, vanilla-custard filled, coconut-dusted buns. I tried just a little bit (because of diabetes) and it was good, just really really sweet. At the end of the street we came across Opera house and Central Station.  Opera house really stands out with its modern appearance. Because it was already around 1pm, we decided to return to the ship and have a lunch there.

I really enjoyed my time in Oslo as it wasn't very tiring and we've basically seen it all. If I ever return (I hope I do!) I will for sure visit the palace again. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and that you'll see all sights with your own eyes one day.

                                                                          xoxo

Send help!

Hey guys! I just found out that the following thing on my blog doesn't work. Thank you again Morning for letting me know. :) . At first I thought it didn't work, because I had used the code for blog design, but right now I have blogger's theme and it still doesn't work. If you want to follow me (*me happy dancing*), you can still add me to your reading list. If you have any idea at all, why is this happening, please let me know in the comments. I'm really worried, so thank you very much for reading this post, well actually more a notice and I hope I'll be able to fix it soon!
                                                                                xoxo

Music crisis

I believe everyone can relate to this problem: trying to find new music that you actually like. If you're anything like me, than you have gazillion songs on your iPod, but whenever you listen to it, you always skip old songs and listen to the new ones. That means you're constantly on a search. I don't know why, but loads of songs that are popular and huge hits just don't impress me at all. I may be picky, but sometimes I hear a song and I'm like "Wow, what a great intro!" and then they start singing and it's all wrong.  A lot of times I listen to a song and I think how much better it would be, if they sang certain parts a bit different, as they don't make any sense to me. I'm not a musician and I don't know much about music, but I find this very annoying. And covers! So many covers are better than original versions, which is really unfair to those talented but unknown artists.

Lately I've been really trying to find some not so famous artists that I would like, for many reasons: 

1. if they're not so popular it's easier to meet them

2. go on their concerts 

3. and those concerts are much more intimate than on big stadiums. Unless you come from a very small and unknown country to which nobody ever comes to like I do. I believe everyone that's not from USA or UK can relate: all new artists always have their first concerts and meet & greets there. They'll never come to I don't know Luxembourg or a small country like that, because they don't have enough fans there. To be honest even when they're famous enough, they don't come, but at least they visit bigger countries near us. They usually visit us when they're old and they play their old hits haha...Not interesting for me anymore. And admit or not, it is always better to be an old fan, supporting the artist from the beginning, than a new fan, discovering the artist when they already have millions of fans. I'm always the second one, sadly.
Today I stumbled upon a great artist on you tube: Shawn Mendes. I believe that you all know him, not just because he is really cute (maybe I shouldn't have written this...what if he ever reads this? Haha, just kidding, won't happen), but because he has an amazing vocal as well. His new album Handwritten is soo good! I was almost in a shock that I loved every single one of the songs. If you know any, my favourites are Strings and Imagination. For those who don't know his music, he is kind of like Ed Sheeran, only using his voice and a guitar in songs, so no massive production, but  also in a way different than Ed. I love this about them, it just seems unspoiled and raw. He just has a beautiful voice and I know he doesn't use auto-tune, as he sings just as good live performing. I really really recommend checking him out and if you do, please let me know what you think. I hope that you were able to relate to some things in this post or just simply enjoyed reading it. Thank you for reading it at all haha!:)

                                                                   xoxo

North Europe experience: Copenhagen

I am just back from one of the best vacations I've ever been on. Guess where we went? Nope, not Hawaii or Australia. We went to North Europe! You might be surprised, but I've wanted to go there for sooo long! I've always wanted to travel to north, but my parents prefer the south, so before this time we usually travelled somewhere warm. You know: you always want what you don't have .Anyways, they finally decided to go on a cruise and visit some cities in Norway, Denmark and UK (And I wasn't even trying to persuade them haha..). Our ship left from Copenhagen and we actually drove there instead of flying. As usual it didn't go all smooth. We were supposed to leave on Monday, but as you have already guessed we didn't. My brother had hurt his wrist one week before and the doctor had told him it was just a pulled muscle. Well he was wrong...on the day D the pain didn't get any better, so instead of driving to Germany, we drove to the doctor again. This time they diagnosed him with a broken bone and he got a cast. I was really disappointed, because now we only had one day and a half for discovering Copenhagen. I had been to library and had got so many travel guides, so I had everything planned. If you don't know yet, I am planner, I plan everything, even my lazy days #weirdo.
Luckily my mum managed to take care of the hotels and booked one in Hamburg, so we only had about 500 km till Copenhagen for the next day. We ate near the highway and I had the best roasted chicken in my life, no kidding. After another two stressful and funny hours with our Gps (you know when you almost land in a lake heh) we finally arrived to our accommodation. We were staying in an apartment just outside Copenhagen, that a family lets. My brother wasn't feeling any better, so after dinner only me and my dad took a train to Copenhagen. It's much easier to use public transport, because it's very hard to find a parking spot and even if you do, it is quiet expensive. After a 25 minutes drive through Copenhagen suburb we got off at a Central Station which is just opposite the Tivoli. The station is just beautiful, huge and it has this kind of old appearance that I love so much. It is always packed with people rushing somewhere and tourists like us, taking pictures and trying to figure out which train to go on haha... After taking some pictures that you can see bellow, we walked to the entrance of Tivoli, one of the oldest and most charming amusement parks in Europe. Since we only had one hour (we had tickets for the train till 8pm) we just admired it from the outside and than took a stroll around. It was chilly & windy and all the stores were already closed (most of them close at 7pm), but it was still nice to just get a bit more familiar with the city.
Next day my brother seemed a little bit better, so we bundled up and all together left for Copenhagen. It was really really cold and big dark clouds were threatening to let all the water down. We walked to the sea and boarded one of those boats for canal cruising. Luckily it had roof, because my brother was freezing and the rain had just started to pour when we set off. Of course I was determined to get some good shots of Copenhagen, so I went to the outside part of the boat and stood there with my phone & camera like a crazy tourist that I was taking pictures of everything. I've never been the photo taker on our vacations before, but I guess since I wanted to go there for so long, I just needed to make some memories. We had seen everything: Black diamond, Opera house, Christiansborg Palace, The Little Mermaid ...you can see the pictures down bellow. I really recommend  going on one of those  cruises, especially if it's sunny! I'm definitely planning on visiting Copenhagen again, just to see it in a sun light haha... :)
After we got off the boat, we were all so cold, my brother was even shivering and we immediately bought him a jumper. It was around lunch time, so we decided to find a nearest traditional restaurant to warm up beside some yummy food. We ended up in one of the oldest restaurants in Copenhagen! The food was so delicious. Danes have light lunches and they serve them on raised trays. I wanted to eat something typical Danish, so I ordered plaice fried in butter and served on a rye bread with shrimps. They have everything with rye bread, but I hadn't tried it (I have diabetes) and they eat a lot of fish. The plaice however was just soo good, I ate everything and I also tried what my mum, dad and brother had ordered: smoked salmon on rye bread, Hash with fried eggs and roasted pork. It was all really yummy! Sadly, I don't have any pictures, as we were so hungry and I wasn't really thinking about it (well I was thinking about food haha). I did take a picture of our dessert instead: apple crumble with cream, which looked heavenly as well, but I haven't tried it either. We were drinking fruit and black tea beside it, which was really good. After lunch, my mum & brother returned to our apartment as he wasn't feeling well and me and my dad headed to Tivoli. I was really excited, because Tivoli was usually mentioned as the most important Copenhagen attraction. But let me tell you something: Tivoli is a wonderful park even in rain and cold, but do try to visit it in a warm, clear night for a more pleasant & romantic experience. There are lots of old fashioned rides, small shops selling all kinds of cute little things, arcade games and lots and lots of restaurants! Well actually food in general. Everything smelled heavenly, but  we were still really full from the lunch, so we hadn't bought anything. As you have to pay for the rides in addition we hadn't gone on one, well also because we were really cold and I must admit even I was looking forward to go back to our warm apartment. I really want to go back there one day and enjoy the park fully. When we were just leaving, we remembered that we  have to buy ingredients for my special cookies. My mum and me bake this special cookies which don't affect my blood sugar that much and since there are so many different desserts on cruise ships, my mum wanted to make them, so I wouldn't feel shortened. Of course they now also have sugar free desserts, but if I don't eat just really a little bit of them, they affect my blood sugar as well. So it's much easier for me  to bring my own dessert, even though we sometimes have problems, because the ship members don't want to store them in their freezer. Homemade cookies sadly get mouldy very soon and we have to store them in freezer, not a fridge that you have in your cabin. So we wanted to bake them just before boarding the ship. As usual we forgot at home the main ingredients: stevia sweetener and coconut flour. My dad and I tried our luck in a fancy looking supermarket Irma and they told us how to get to the nearest shop that sells healthy food. To our surprise they had coconut flour and stevia sweeteners with different flavours that we thought were only sold in the USA. We usually buy a lot of them when we go there, so this was really a pleasant surprise. We also found chocolates with stevia sweetener that we buy at home and we got two as well. I was really happy about it! After we bought it, we returned straight to our apartment (with train of course) and finally defrosted there. Later that day me and my mum made caramel cookies with almonds (I had bought toffee flavoured stevia sweetener) and let them dry, as they last longer that way. My brother wasn't any better and he got a fever, but luckily we were insured, so my mum arranged a doctor to visit us next morning just before boarding the ship. I was really excited about the cruise and a bit worried about my brother. Of course I spent the rest of the evening on my iPad, because if you don't know wifi on ships is very very expensive and I must admit I feel sort of behind if I don't check my twitter and facebook for so long ( I hope I am not the only one haha).
Next day doctor assured us that the fever was probably just a consequence of stress and relieved we boarded Holland America Eurodam.
I hope that you enjoyed reading about our vacation and that you felt at least a bit of charm that Copenhagen radiates. I will write about our cruise destination in my next posts and if you'd like definitely check them out. Thank you for reading! Now the better part: pictures! ;)
                                                                             xoxo


The Danish Parliament



The Little Mermaid

The Opera House



The Black Diamond (library)



Restaurant where we had lunch



Delicious fruit tea



Apple crumble (heavenly looking dessert)



Tivoli



Tivoli peacock



Tivoli



Tivoli



Tivoli