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So my time in Europe has ended, I'm writing this entry from home in Winnipeg, but I have yet to post about my last week in Europe which was probably one of the best weeks I had out there! After Christine and I left Bol, on the island of Brac, we took a bus, a ferry, another bus, a plane, and a train to get back to Munich, Germany. We originally were going to head stright up to Slovenia to visit a friend of mine from college who lives and works there, but I 
discovered that one of my favourite bands of the moment, MuteMath, was playing a concert in Munich on the 27th of June and figured it was not something I could miss!! So we made the trek back to Munich to see 
them live. It turned out to be absolutely worth it! They played in a small venue called the Ampere Club and there was probably only about 100 people there to see them but it was an amazing show nonetheless. Their music is so unique, energetic, uplifting and the band members are so high energy, they put on an incredible show. They played almost non-stop and the drummer was so hardcore he had to duct tape his headphones to his head! They play an interesting array of instruments as well, some I've never seen before. They even used the metal mic stand as a drum piece! If any of you get the chance to see these guys live 
I would highly reccommend it, this was the best concert I have ever seen and I'm really glad we made the effort to see the show!
While we were in Munich we also had a little more time to do a little sightseeing. We visited the famous Hofbrauhaus, a classic german beer hall, and walked through the Marienplatz and watched the Glockenspiel clock in action.
We left Munich the next day for our final tour destination, Slovenia! A few years ago I had no idea this country even existed, until I went to college in Ontario and met a fellow classmate who is from this former Yugoslavian country. 
His name is Matic and owns and operates an adventure tour company called Adrenaline-Check in the beautiful Triglav National Park region of Slovenia. Back in college he showed me and my classmates pictures of the activities his company offers and since then I knew I had to visit Slovenia and try them out myself! We first arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia and stayed there for a night before Matic came in his big orange van to pick us and three irish guys up and drive us the two and a half hours to the 
Eco-Canyon Camp he's set up in the Park. The drive up there was gorgeous. As we drove through the Julian Alps, Matic explained to us that at the moment they are filming a portion of the next Chronicles of Narnia movie in the Soca river area. It's no wonder, the mountains and landcape there definately have an otherworldly quality to them. Such a beautiful region! When we arrived Matic gave us a quick tour around his property and showed us where we would be staying for the next three nights. Christine and I were accomodated in a tent (matresses and sheets provided) with a wooden shelter built around it. It was really nice because 
it was close to the Soca river which meant we could fall asleep to the sound of the rushing waters at night! The next three days were spent participating is some "Super Adventures" offered by Adrenaline-Check. On our first day we went Canyoning. This was the one activity I was looking forward to doing the most because it's very unique to the Soca river area. It invloved getting suited up head to toe in Neoprene and sliding down naturally smooth rock slides formed by thousands of years of water movement by the Soca river through limestone rock. We had a 3o minute uphill walk to the beginning and then we hopped into the cold Soca river water and started our trek through the narrow rock canyons. We spent about two hours jumping and sliding in every possible postion into small pools of sparkling blue water! It was the coolest thing ever! It hard to describe, so when I receive the pics Matic took of us all that day I will post them here so you can get a better idea of what canyoning is! My favourite slide was the very last one we did where we were not allowed to look over the edge of the pool to the next slide. Instead we lay back in the water, closed our eyes, and let one of the guides push us over the edge to drop into the next pool of water below us. When I opened my eyes at the bottom I looked up and saw a narrow rock opening through which I plopped into the rock enclosed pool at the bottom. I think I would have been nervous about doing that jump if I had seen it first! 
The next day Matic set us up for some tandem paragliding for Me, Christine, and the three irish guys (Seamus, Brian and Steve) that were also staying at the Eco-Canyon Camp. I originally was not aware that this activity was an option for us so it was really cool to take part in a spontaneous adventure like this! Our pilot's name was 
Peter and he drove us up to the top of a mountain where we joined a crowd of other paraglidiers waiting around for the perfect wind conditions to fly. I was the first one to go and we had a flawless take-off! We literally just ran down the side of the mountain until our parachute caught the wind and lifted us into the air! It was such a cool feeling! We floated above the treetops with an amazing view of the valley below us. We fly around for about 15 minutes and then descended back down to earth and landed perfectly in a 
farmers field below. Because I was the first to go, I had a bit of quieter ride. The winds and updrafts had not yet picked up, so I did not get the wilder ride that Christine and the irish guys had but it was still a great experience! I went back to the top of the mountain to watch the others go and just sitting up on that mountain watching the scenery and the 25 plus other paragliders flying around was the perfect way to spend the day! We had an amazing BBQ that night back at the earthlodge Matic constructed as a campfire/meeting place area on his property. He made us all some traditional Slovenian 
food called Cevapcici, ground pork and beef patties with some nice flavourful herbs in them. They also brought out some homemade pear schnapps and Slovenian red wine which was quite tasty if not a little on the strong side! Matic has also formed a partnership with a neighboring farmhouse to provide meals for his guests, so twice we had dinner in a herder's hut on the farmhouse property. It was really cool to sit around an indoor, raised firepit and eat a meal with the whole group together in there.
On our last day, we went rafting on the Soca River. 
The two previous days we'd had some amazingly perfect warm weather, but our rafting day was cloudy and rainy which actually added to the mystique of the place. As we rafted down the the river there was thick mist rising from the clear blue water. The water levels were low so we didn't have a super crazy river ride but we did have to manouevre through large boulders and rocks which made for some interesting paths down the river. We were also given the opportunity to do some swimming and cliff jumping along the way which was a lot of fun as well! After our rafting trip we headed back to camp, packed up and hopped onto a bus back to Ljubljana. 
I had an amazing time in Slovenia and it was really nice to visit with Matic again and get a chance to see what he's been up to since college. I'm actually very impressed with everything he's accomplished there.
It was kind of sad to be leaving the gorgeous nature and our last official stop on our Europe tour behind, but at the same time I think Christine and I were both ready to make the long trek home. Four and a half months is a long time to be constantly on the go so I think we were both looking forward to unwinding at home and to make plans for what to do next in life. We enjoyed our last day in Ljubljana on the 3rd of July which is when we flew up to London, England where we would catch a connecting flight to Amsterdam the next day. We spent the night in London and on the 4th our airport adventures began. Because we're cheap and we booked our return flight home with Aeroplan points we were not able to get a direct flight home and instead had to fly home via London, Amsterdam, Paris, Montreal and finally Winnipeg. We headed to the airport in London bright and early on the 4th hoping for a hassle and stress free day but unfortunately it was not be. Because of terrorist threats, the UK has really amped up their security and we had to go through thourough security checks, in other word we had to wait in huge crowded lineups to get anywhere. After we had waited in line for about 10 minutes to get through security we discovered that new rules required us to check more baggage than we had anticipated which was frustrating because I had intended to take breakable souvenirs on board with me but was now not allowed to. So we had to go back to the check in desk, check our bags and wait in line all over again. We made it to Amsterdam ok, as did my breakables so I figured that would be the extent of the hassles for the day but this trend would continue into Paris. We arrived there late and were in danger of missing our connection to Montreal because we had to wait in another huge passport control line up. When we finally made it through, our departure time had come and gone but we figured we should try and get to the gate anyway in case there was a chance the flight had been held up. But of course when we reached the terminal subway to take us to our gate the trains were not functioning and we had to wait another half an hour until they fixed the problem. When we finally boarded the train to our terminal we arrived to discover yet another huge line for yet another security check. AHHHHHHHH!!!! Christine and I were pretty stressed out by now but we figured it was out of our control and what happens now happens. There's nothing we could do about it. While waiting in line we 
checked the departure board and found out that our flight had indeed been delayed due to the train holdups and was waiting for additional passengers so when we finally made it through security we booked it to the gate and still made the flight!! We were lucky! As I've said before in this blog everything somehow always seems to work out! Our flight from PAris to Montral did however leave two and a half hours late and we missed our connection to Winnipeg but at least we were back on home soil and could more easliy figure out another way to get home. We ended up staying the night in Montreal and catching an afternoon flight to Winnipeg yesterday.
It's kind of weird to be at home home again. The entire trip almost feels like it was just a dream, but I know it wasn't because I have so many amazing memories! I had an amazing time in Europe and don't regret any part of the trip. I'm going to miss a lot of the sights, smells, and people I encountered in Europe but it's also nice to be home again! I've also had a lot of fun writing about my experiences in this blog and sharing my adventures with all of you. I hope it was an enjoyable read for you all! Over and Out!Laura Derksen
Croatia just keeps getting better and better! Christine and I are in Bol, a small resort town on the island of Brac and it's such a charming little place, perfect for a vacation if any of you are wondering where to go next on holiday! The weather is hot, sunny, and dry every day, the water is a gorgeous colour of clear blue, and they've got the Zlatni Rat, 
a unique beach that constantly changes shape according to the whim of the wind and waves! Christine and I have just been relaxing on the beach, working on our tans, watching the windsurfers and kiteboarders do their thing and trying to wakeboard on the ocean. It's quite different from home, what with the ocean swells and all, it a little harder to keep
control, but it's super calm out today so I might just have to give it another try! I don't think I'll ever get used to the salt water though, I'd rather choke on freshwater than saltwater when I take a spill on the wakeboard! Anyway, it's such a relaxed atmosphere here I would recommend this place to anyone who can handle 35 degree plus temperatures! We're definately sweating out here! We're here until tuesday, which is when we head back up to Munich for a MuteMath concert and then on to Slovenia, our last stop of the trip.
Well, here I am with only two weeks left of my four and half month trip through Europe and yet it feels like coming home is still forever away! There's still so much to do! But I'm getting ahead of myself...After my relaxing stay in Hagedorn with Heike I said goodbye and headed to some more relatives in central Germany that I had not yet had time to see. I stayed with my mom's cousin Otto and his wife Svetlana and also had a chance to spend some time with their daughters (my second cousins) and their cute kids! They also took me out to see my Opa's sisters which was very cool because their family story is a really interesting and heartbreaking one and it was 
really nice to be able to talk with my great aunt Hilda and great aunt Agnes. During WWII my Opa and his family were seperated and he and two of his siblings eventually made it to Canada but his mother and younger sisters ended up in Siberia and only about 15 years ago were they able to finally come back to Germany. It was really intersting to chat with them both (Hilda moreso because Agnes is a little a quieter but she looks just like my Opa!). Otto and Svetlana took me sightseeing on my last day with them. We went to Bad Kissingen, a resort town centred around some water springs in the area and has basically turned into a retirement centre and tourist spot. They had some really cool therapeutic activities in the park we went through, my favourite was the 'Klang Garten', a section of the park that had Solitudes type music playing from speakers set up on the trees and is meant for relaxation. I nice place to take an afternoon mederschlop. I had a nice time with the family, but after three nights it was time to meet up with some different family, my sister! On June 16th her Bible School program in Austria finished so we planned to meet in Munich that day and prepare for part three of our trip through Europe. We met in our favourite waiting room at the 
Munich train station (we've been through that train station more than any other so it's become our favourite waiting room!) and proceeded to the nearest Starbucks to get a long overdue Mocha Frappacino! We then headed to our hostel, dumped our stuff and headed out to actually see Munich. Munich has been a central place that we've always travelled through but we've never had time to see the city itself so we thought it would be a good time to change that. We walked down to Karlsplatz and Marienplatz but didn't spend too much time out there that evening because we will be back there at the end of June and we also had to get up at 4am the next morning to catch our flight to Dubrovnik so we figured we'd have an early night. So much for that idea, I guess I was nervous about oversleeping because I didn't get any sleep that night at all and just stayed awake until 4am and then woke Christine up and headed to the airport. What a different feeling it is to see a city so early in the morning. We watched the sunrise on our 40 min S-Bahn ride to the airport and for the few moments that we were awake it was beautiful, as they usually are! 
The beauty didn't stop there though! We made our 7am flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia and were treated to an incredible aerial view of the city from our plane. It circled right overtop the old town and the amazing blue colored Adriatic sea surrounding it, what a sight! When we arrived I definately noticed the change in scenery, vegetation, culture and temperature!! We were in a different world! I think of all the places I've been to on this trip, Croatia is the only one that has made such a unique impression on me. Of all the places we visited, it's the one I knew the least about so it's been a different experience to travel into this country with a fresh perspective unclouded by any previous experiences or traveller's stories. The landscape also has that 'wow' factor and when we arrived at our guesthouse and I looked out our window at the view I really couldn't believe I was actually there.
About 15 years ago this place would not have been a place for tourists, what with the Balkan War going on, so I feel really lucky that I am now able to see this gorgeous country. 
We stayed at a guesthouse overlooking the Gruz harbour and caught an amazing sunset from there our first night. So far so good! We spent our two and half days in Dubrovnik exploring the old town, taking a scenic boat ride around Dubrovnik (and a neighboring island with it's nude beach), swimming from the bathing rocks just outside the old town walls, seeing the town from above on a walk atop the town walls and just taking in the atmosphere of Dubrovnik. We also spent an afternoon at another beach in Lapad, suburb of Croatia, but I much preferred the bathing rocks at the old town. So cool to go swimming with this huge old fortress looming in the background! Anway, our time in Dubrovnik was really nice, and I'm glad it worked out that we were able to spend some time there! 
We took a five hour bus ride north along the coast of Croatia and drove through the small portion of coastline that belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. We are now in Split where we will be staying for the night and tomorrow we head out to the island of Brac. I am really looking forward our time in the resort town of Bol where we will be for the next 5 nights and can't wait to work on my tan and have a few more adventures during this final stretch of our trip! 
Ahhhhhhhh....Life is Good. I've had a lot of fun exlporing Europe the last 4 months but sometimes it's nice to just stay in one place for awhile, especially with a great friend like Heike. 
I feel so at home here it doesn't really feel like I'm in a foreign country. I've had a really great week and a half staying with Heike in her big farmhouse in Hagedorn and am so grateful for the time off from thinking about all the details involved with constantly moving from place to place. the first weekend I was here Heike was away at a paddling course all weekend so I actually had her place all to myself. Before she left she let me take her new used car to Steinheim for a few groceries and thankfully this time it did not break down on me! That weekend I went for a hike in the Teutoburger Wald with some of the other people living here that I met last time around and found a very peculiar looking stone in the path that had a bit of gold colouring in it. Nobody really knew what it was, coal slag, gold or maybe even a meteorite. It would be so great if it was some kind of precious stone that was worth something, I could pay off my debt for this trip with it! We found out later what it was but you'll have to read further to find out what! Since then I've done a few long bike rides around the Hagedorn area. 
On Monday night I took the bike out on my own and ended up getting a little lost and took the wrong road back to Hagedorn and ended up biking up the steep hill to a town called Schwalenberg. It really wasn't such a bad thing because I had been wanting to go up there and see the old preserved painted German homes from the Middle Ages they have there anyway, I just didn't realize I would end up there so soon! I had been there in 1998 when I visited Heike last and just wanted to see them again. They're really quite nice, the old buildings have scenes, people, and places painted all over them in an artful way. really pretty. I also caught a great sunset view from the top of the hill in Schwalenberg. Heike and I also took the bikes out on Thursday and went strawberry picking and then proceeded to bike another 20 km's to the Schieder See and back. Needless to say the strawberries weren't in the greatest shape after getting bumped around on my handlebars but they still tasted soooo good! Anyway, for the last 14 years or so Heike has been running her own 'Indianishes Essen' (South American food) 
stand at music festivals and other events and she was booked to be at a small Yoga\Precious Stone event on the weekend so I went along to help her with her food stand. It was a really cool experience. It's a lot of work to prepare for these events and the payback isn't always great but what a way to make a living! I think I got a very good impression of her life as a food stand entrepreneur because the event was so small and therefore wasn't as hugely stressful as some of the other huge music festivals Heike has told me she's been to. We pretty well just set up shop in a little wooden shack on the edge of the property where the event was taking place and just had a blast serving up some really 'lecker' (yummy!) food. Her friend Klaus came along to help as well and the three of just enjoyed our time there together. We were serving juice called Lila Chicha which is made out of type of black corn that grows in Peru and it was really funny to see all these kids running around later in the day with Lila Chicha juice mustaches! The best part for me was this clear cool river that was flowing just beside the festival property. It has been so hot here the last couple of days so it was even more hot in the stand what with all the cookers and a deep frying oven on, so it was nice to go wading around in there a few times a day just to cool off. 
I also brought the weird stone I found to the festival as there was a mineralogist there who could examine it. From the photo you can't really see the gold coloured streak in the stone very well but the expert guy scraped a bit off the stone, put it under his microscope and deduced that it was merely pyrite, aka fool's gold. No golden nugget to pay this trip off for me! Oh well, I guess I have to work for my money like everyone else! At the end of the day yesterday we packed up the stand and drove back to Hagedorn in the rain that had been threatening to fall all weekend! So great. So now I'm here in Hagedorn until Wednesday which is when I'm heading to Örlenbach to visit a few realtives that I have not yet visited and then I'll be meeting Christine in München on Saturday which is when we take off for Croatia! Can't Wait! 
After leaving the beautiful country of Norway it was time to head for some familiar territory in the Czech Republic, namely Prague. Christine and I visited Prague at the beginning of April and now a month and a half later, the experience there was as unique as the first. The reason I went back to Prague was to meet a friend of mine from back home in Winnipeg, Angela. She was in Europe to attend a conference in Berlin with her PhD research and we decided before I left that we would do a bit of travelling together before she went back home. 
We chose Prague because I knew that the two days Christine and I would spend there would probably not be enough, and I also didn't want to be the reason Angela didn't get to see that gorgeous city, so we decided to meet there. I arrived a few days before Angela got there so I had a lot of time to reaquaint myself with the city and just enjoy the atmosphere of the place. What a feeling it was to just walk the medieval streets of Prague every day on my way to relax in the park and see all these amazing sights along the way, what a great place it would be live! I spent a lot of time exploring the corners of Prague I hadn't discovered with Christine and also just relaxing in the 
'Kampo' along the Vlatava river, reading or just writing about my trip in my journal. It was a lot of fun to just pretend I was local for a few days. Someone actually started talking to me in Czech at the grocery store one day which was kind of cool, maybe I actually did look like a local?! Anyway the weather was unbelievably warm the entire time I was there which was a quite a change from the first time I had been through there. Apparently it was quite unusual for Prague to be so warm this time of year, but I guess the warm temps they had all through winter are just carrying on into the summertime as well. What a difference from the cool spring temperatures of Norway though! Having been gone about 3 1\2 months now I also decided that it 
was time for a little TLC and treated my tired feet to a pedicure. I figured since I'd be wearing my sandals everyday now with the summer like weather it was the perfect time for one. I just randomly found a place in my travels one day, walked in there and got the best pedicure I've ever had! I actually learned a lot about the Czech people from the girl giving me the pedicure. She had lived in London for 3 years so she spoke english really well and was able to answer all my curiousities about her country. It was a good time for me and my feet!So after three days of experiencing Prague on my own, I was able to experience it again from someone else's perspective when Angela arrived on Friday night. I picked her up from the train station, brought her to the hostel, and herded her straight back out into the city to do something Christine and I had missed when we had first been there: a ghost tour of Prague. 
They do all kinds of walking tours through the city, but the one I wanted to do most was this haunted tour that takes you to all the places in Prague where unusual or frightening things have occurred. It wasn't actually that scary, but the stories our tour guide Jan told us were quite interesting and really added to the mystery that is Prague. The most famous one is about this creature called 'Golum' (no not the one from Lord of the Rings!). He was made of earth by a Jewish Rabbi living in the Jewish quarter of town who also brought him to life and used him to protect the Jewish people in Prague. Everyday the Rabbi brought him to life and gave him specific duties to perform and at the end of the day also removed the lifeforce from him to give him rest. One day, the rabbi forgot to remove the lifeforce from him at the end of the day and because at this time Golum had no specific duties, he did not have an outlet for the energy within him and so just went crazy and went on a rampage and began to destroy everthing in his path. I'm not sure what supposedly happened to this creature, but he's a legend in Prague! The tour also gave us a chance to see Prague at night, a time of day that I hadn't spent too much time out in the city yet, but now after having seen it at night, think it looks even more beautiful. The next couple of days I brought Angela to all the major sights in 
the city and had a chance to see what she thought of the place. Of course she loved it, it's hard not to like a place with so much history and preserved medieval character. Her first thoughts as we walked the streets of Prague were that they looked like they were straight out of a movie. It's no wonder she thought that, they do film a lot of them there because the streetscapes are just so ideal. We climbed the 287 spiral steps at the St. Vitus' Cathedral tower for an amazing view over the city, we walked Charles Bridge at night to watch a beautiful lightening storm in the distance behind Prague Castle, we had dinner in a cafe in the Old Town Square and even went to hear the orchestral opera 'Carmina Burana' at the Art Nouveau Municipal House on Sunday evening. I think our experience there was as ideal as the place itself. I'm so happy I got another chance to be in Prague because at this point I don't think I could ever get bored of it.
After some good times in Prague, we flew to Milan, Italy for a little shopping. I actually didn't do too much shopping given the limited space in my backpack, but Angela had a heyday there! I think it helped for her that she was actually being paid to be in Europe, given that she was presenting research at a conference, so she had a great time spending that money while I was pretty much just there to offer an opinion! We also used Milan as a jumping off point to visit her cousin Charlene that is working at a private American school in 
Lugano, Switzerland with her husband Keith. We arrived there early in the morning and Charlene and Keith showed us around their school and also the area of Lugano. What a gorgeous place, how lucky they both are to be able to live and work there! The view of the Lugano lake surrounded by mountains from their apartment window was superb! The school they work for is also a pretty high end place given that a lot of wealthy people from around the world send their kids there to be educated. We were there on prom night and I think a lot of the dresses we saw walking around there that evening cost more than any salary 
I've ever made or ever will!! Keith and Charlene also took us to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Lugano for some coffee and a panoramic view at a cafe up there and also took us out for some authentic italian food for dinner that night. It was so great! What was also really cool was that I in effect was also visitng a cousin because Keith and I played the Mennonite `Who Are You Related to Game' and discovered that we are third cousins! Pretty cool. Anyway, I had a fantastic time in Switzerland. After our whirlwind visit in Lugano, Angela and I took the train up to Zürich yesterday and flew to Düsseldorf where we parted ways. Angela to visit relatives in Münster and me back to Heike's place in Hagedorn. After five weeks of travelling on my own I am now quite content to just relax in Hagedorn until it's time to meet with Christine in Munich on the 16th of June and head out to Croatia for the last leg of our trip. Can't wait!
Of all the European cities I've been to on my trip, Oslo is the one I've stayed in the longest. I
n a way this has been a great thing because there is a lot to see here but then again it can also be a not so great thing because Norway is an expensive place to be and the longer I'm here the more expensive it gets! Originally I had planned to stay here for 9 nights only because I needed to kill time until I meet with Angela in Prague next week but as usual it really played out well for me to be here that long anyway. I arrived on the 13th of May from Flåm and got settled into the Haraldsheim Vandrerhjem (Youth Hostel) which is located on a nice steep hill about 20 minutes from the centre. I would have liked to have stayed out in the west coast area of Norway a little longer but the Global Ecotourism Conference that I wanted to attend in Oslo was being held from May 13-15 so I headed over to the eastside to be there in time for that event. Given that the focus of my studies was ecotourism I thought it was only too perfect that this conference coincided with my visit and thought it is not something I should miss. It did cost me a 
bit to attend but it was well worth it. I attended three seminars relating to various ecotourism subjects and was able to catch a glimpse of what other ecotourism companies and organizations are doing in the field. I met some really interesting people as well and I'm not sure if anything will come of the connections I made but it was nice to be surrounded by likeminded people who are fully engaged in the type of work I would eventually like to be involved in. The conference was held in a really nice hotel fashioned after old Norwegian architecture like the stave Church in my last post, it was really impressive! At this point I was 
(and I still am) battling a very stubborn cough so I decided to take it easy the next day by only going out to see one sight and not three or four in a day! I went to see the Vigeland Parken, a park decorated by hundreds of sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland, a native of Oslo in the late 19th and early 20th century. 
Very unique place! I spent some time here before heading back to the hostel to rest up a bit a kick this cough. The next day was one of the most exciting days I've had here. It was May 17, the Norwegian National Day and it's the one day everyone gets dressed up in their traditional outfits and hit the streets to celebrate their national identity. Norway is still a realatively young 
country, they split from their union with Sweden only about 102 years ago so they really like to assert their distinctiveness. It was a very noisy, crowded, colourful day and I really enjoyed being a part of it! I really loved all the traditional clothing people were wearing, especially on the little kids, it was so cute! Each persons outfit corresponds to the area of Norway from which they originated so there were many different styles and types. The day always starts with a childrens parade made up of all the schools in city and their respective marching bands and students. Each elementary school had it's own marching band and I was quite impressed with the talent some of these young kids had with their instruments! Then later in the afternoon there's a processional for all the students graduting from secondary schools. 
During my stay in Norway I had noticed many young people wearing these red coloured pants with patches and writing all over them and was really intrigued as to what the purpose of this was. I thought it was just a really hot fashion trend here in Norway, but I soon found out that from May 
1st onwards all the graduating students wear these pants as sign of their soon to be graduate status and party like crazy until the 17th where they participate in their right of passage processional on the National Day. I found out later too that the colour of the pants indicates what type of study you will be pursuing after graduation. Red is for those entering University, blue is for those studying at a minor college, and black is for those entering trade school. Like I said it was a pretty colourful day! They were lucky they had such gorgeous weather for the national day as well because the next day was pretty cold and rainy. Of course I had bought an Olso Pass so for the 48 hours I was going to get my money's worth out of that thing!! I took the ferry to Bygdøy and visited the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Viking Ship Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum and the Fram Ship Museum, all really interesting stops. The Viking Ship Museum was especially interesting because they had three enormous viking ships on display that had been unearthed about 100 years ago after being discovered in some swampy areas in the vicinity of Oslo. These ships had all been used as burial vessels, and had been buried with their owner 
and his\her various belongings. The largest one belonged to a viking queen and they found some amazing artifacts buried along with her. Things like jewellery, sleds, wagons, and even a couple of horses! (Which were not on display). I also was really impressed with the Kon-Tiki Museum. I really did not know anything about what was being displayed in the museum but it was included on the Oslo Pass so I checked it out. It was actually very cool as well. It documents the travels of Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer from the early 20th century who wanted to prove his theories on potential settlements and interactions ancient civilizations may have had by way of sea travel. His original idea was that people from South America could have settled in Polynesia by way of Balsa rafts so he set abouot building a raft only using materials that would have been available back in pre historic times. He embarked on his voyage with his 'Kon-Tiki' raft and crew of 5 other men in 1947 and sailed across the Pacific until they reached land. They made a movie about the trip and it actually won an oscar in 1951!He made another journey later on and this time he wanted to discover if the similarities he noted between ancient egyptian and mayan architectural styles were due to contact that was made between the two groups of peoples in ancient times. He built a boat made completely out of reeds, the way it would have been done in ancient Egypt, and attempted to sail his reed boat, which he christened 'Ra', across the pacific to central america. His first attempt failed but on 'Ra II' he succeeded. This museum turned out to be quite interesting! Anyway, the next day I visited the Nobel Peace Prize Museum and the National Art Gallery. Both were ok, but not exceptional. 
I had more fun just wandering the streets of Oslo watching the street performers! The next day, yesterday, I finally just stayed at the hostel to give myself a chance against this neverending cough of mine. I think it really helped because I feel a lot better today, but it definately sucks being sick when you're away from home because you don't have your space to just relax and get better. I also always worry that I'm keeping my hostel roomates up at night with my coughing, but they've all been very understanding thus far. One of my german roomates was kind enough to buy me some more cough syrup yesterday too! For that reason too I'm, glad I was in Oslo for so long because it meant that I could stay in one place to recoup and not have to worry about finding a new hostel in a new place etc. However I am leaving tomorrow for Prague where a private room and warmer weather await me! Should help kick this illness once and for all! I'll also be meeting up with a friend of mine from Winnipeg so I'm excited to have a travel buddy again!
So my time in Europe has ended, I'm writing this entry from home in Winnipeg, but I have yet to post about my last week in Europe which was probably one of the best weeks I had out there! After Christine and I left Bol, on the island of Brac, we took a bus, a ferry, another bus, a plane, and a train to get back to Munich, Germany. We originally were going to head stright up to Slovenia to visit a friend of mine from college who lives and works there, but I 
discovered that one of my favourite bands of the moment, MuteMath, was playing a concert in Munich on the 27th of June and figured it was not something I could miss!! So we made the trek back to Munich to see 
them live. It turned out to be absolutely worth it! They played in a small venue called the Ampere Club and there was probably only about 100 people there to see them but it was an amazing show nonetheless. Their music is so unique, energetic, uplifting and the band members are so high energy, they put on an incredible show. They played almost non-stop and the drummer was so hardcore he had to duct tape his headphones to his head! They play an interesting array of instruments as well, some I've never seen before. They even used the metal mic stand as a drum piece! If any of you get the chance to see these guys live 
I would highly reccommend it, this was the best concert I have ever seen and I'm really glad we made the effort to see the show!
His name is Matic and owns and operates an adventure tour company called Adrenaline-Check in the beautiful Triglav National Park region of Slovenia. Back in college he showed me and my classmates pictures of the activities his company offers and since then I knew I had to visit Slovenia and try them out myself! We first arrived in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia and stayed there for a night before Matic came in his big orange van to pick us and three irish guys up and drive us the two and a half hours to the 
Eco-Canyon Camp he's set up in the Park. The drive up there was gorgeous. As we drove through the Julian Alps, Matic explained to us that at the moment they are filming a portion of the next Chronicles of Narnia movie in the Soca river area. It's no wonder, the mountains and landcape there definately have an otherworldly quality to them. Such a beautiful region! When we arrived Matic gave us a quick tour around his property and showed us where we would be staying for the next three nights. Christine and I were accomodated in a tent (matresses and sheets provided) with a wooden shelter built around it. It was really nice because 
it was close to the Soca river which meant we could fall asleep to the sound of the rushing waters at night! The next three days were spent participating is some "Super Adventures" offered by Adrenaline-Check. On our first day we went Canyoning. This was the one activity I was looking forward to doing the most because it's very unique to the Soca river area. It invloved getting suited up head to toe in Neoprene and sliding down naturally smooth rock slides formed by thousands of years of water movement by the Soca river through limestone rock. We had a 3o minute uphill walk to the beginning and then we hopped into the cold Soca river water and started our trek through the narrow rock canyons. We spent about two hours jumping and sliding in every possible postion into small pools of sparkling blue water! It was the coolest thing ever! It hard to describe, so when I receive the pics Matic took of us all that day I will post them here so you can get a better idea of what canyoning is! My favourite slide was the very last one we did where we were not allowed to look over the edge of the pool to the next slide. Instead we lay back in the water, closed our eyes, and let one of the guides push us over the edge to drop into the next pool of water below us. When I opened my eyes at the bottom I looked up and saw a narrow rock opening through which I plopped into the rock enclosed pool at the bottom. I think I would have been nervous about doing that jump if I had seen it first! 
Peter and he drove us up to the top of a mountain where we joined a crowd of other paraglidiers waiting around for the perfect wind conditions to fly. I was the first one to go and we had a flawless take-off! We literally just ran down the side of the mountain until our parachute caught the wind and lifted us into the air! It was such a cool feeling! We floated above the treetops with an amazing view of the valley below us. We fly around for about 15 minutes and then descended back down to earth and landed perfectly in a 
farmers field below. Because I was the first to go, I had a bit of quieter ride. The winds and updrafts had not yet picked up, so I did not get the wilder ride that Christine and the irish guys had but it was still a great experience! I went back to the top of the mountain to watch the others go and just sitting up on that mountain watching the scenery and the 25 plus other paragliders flying around was the perfect way to spend the day! We had an amazing BBQ that night back at the earthlodge Matic constructed as a campfire/meeting place area on his property. He made us all some traditional Slovenian 
food called Cevapcici, ground pork and beef patties with some nice flavourful herbs in them. They also brought out some homemade pear schnapps and Slovenian red wine which was quite tasty if not a little on the strong side! Matic has also formed a partnership with a neighboring farmhouse to provide meals for his guests, so twice we had dinner in a herder's hut on the farmhouse property. It was really cool to sit around an indoor, raised firepit and eat a meal with the whole group together in there.
The two previous days we'd had some amazingly perfect warm weather, but our rafting day was cloudy and rainy which actually added to the mystique of the place. As we rafted down the the river there was thick mist rising from the clear blue water. The water levels were low so we didn't have a super crazy river ride but we did have to manouevre through large boulders and rocks which made for some interesting paths down the river. We were also given the opportunity to do some swimming and cliff jumping along the way which was a lot of fun as well! After our rafting trip we headed back to camp, packed up and hopped onto a bus back to Ljubljana. 
checked the departure board and found out that our flight had indeed been delayed due to the train holdups and was waiting for additional passengers so when we finally made it through security we booked it to the gate and still made the flight!! We were lucky! As I've said before in this blog everything somehow always seems to work out! Our flight from PAris to Montral did however leave two and a half hours late and we missed our connection to Winnipeg but at least we were back on home soil and could more easliy figure out another way to get home. We ended up staying the night in Montreal and catching an afternoon flight to Winnipeg yesterday.
