 by guest writer Kathrine Garshol. A day out in Scarborough When I was in university, I spent a year abroad. More specifically I spent it in York, England. There are a lot of wonderful things to say and write about the historic town of York, but today is going to be all about Scarborough. Scarborough is a small town, known for being one of the best seaside resorts in the north of England. There are many historic sights to see and things to do, depending on how much time you have available. Getting there Since York is a railway hub, it made sense to take the train to Scarborough. The train takes about an hour and leaves often, which makes this a perfect destination for a day trip. My friend and I had bought our tickets, not quite knowing what to expect from the trip. We had just decided to make the most out of our exchange experience, and to see as much of the country as we could. Making plans The day we went to Scarborough was a cold and grey day. Luckily, we had checked the weather forecast and came prepared. As we say in Norway “there’s no bad weather, only bad clothes”. As the weather in England is similar to that in Norway, and can change quickly, I do recommend checking the forecast before leaving on a trip like this. It’s no fun being caught out in the wrong clothing, whether it’s too hot, or too cold. Before going, I had done a little research on the place. I knew there was a castle, or the ruins of one, which was kind of my primary reason for picking Scarborough. Because I had visited several castles on family holidays in my childhood, going to see Scarborough castle was a bit nostalgic to me. In addition, it satisfied my interest in historic sights. Going by instinct Even though I had done a little bit of research and knew I wanted to visit the castle, we didn’t have any specific plans when we arrived at the train station. That’s why we decided to just follow the signs and head for the seafront. However, while heading down the bustling main street we soon decided to “wing it”. We turned down a quiet street, and soon found ourselves amazed by some of the shop windows we strolled past. This side street was full of charming little shops. There were vintage clothes and quirky second hand stuff. We also passed a book shop that housed a café and a shop that sold homemade soaps. We spent some time looking in the different shops. These weren’t your typical chain stores, and the displays were mesmerizing to look at. Charming shop If I were to give only ONE tip to those of you traveling in England: explore the side streets, they’re often full of wonderful and charming local shops. Grandeur of the past Continuing down the street, we walked through a narrow gateway. Soon we saw the south bay and seafront coming into view before us. We now had the Grand Hotel right in front of us. I must say it was an impressive sight, looming over us. It felt like a breath from the past, and I can only imagine what it must have been like in its glory days. At the time of its opening in 1867, the Grand Hotel was the largest hotel in Europe. The building was designed around the theme of time: the four towers represent the seasons, the 12 floors represent the months, the 52 chimneys represent the weeks, and originally, there were 365 rooms to represent the days of the year.  Grand Hotel Walking a bit further towards the bridge, the fresh sea air hit us in the face. Now we could also see what we understood to be the Spa. It too looked grand. The Spa was originally built around the source of Scarborough’s spa waters, but today it is a venue for conferences, exhibitions and other events. A feeling of home As impressed as I was by the view of these two buildings, that is not what stands out most in my memory. The most surprising thing about this moment was not the sense of grandeur, but the fact that for a strange little second it felt like home. Not because of the view or anything like that, but because of this one tiny detail: seagulls crying as we took in the view of the bay and the cliffs. The cacophony of sharp cries surrounded us. The sound really put a smile on my face. Having grown up close to the sea, those cries awoke this warm feeling of home in me. Not just beach and a spa The walk down the steps to the seaside promenade revealed the view of a Ferris wheel and the harbour, and we could see the castle resting on the hill above the town. We had already decided we had to go to the castle, but we decided to walk the seafront first, and see what else there was to do on this early spring day. As more of the seafront came into view, the town surprised me once more; I was not sure if we had wandered into an England of the fifties or modern-day Las Vegas. Here, there were quaint, old fashioned shop fronts mixed in with the neon signs of the arcades. I had to laugh. It was so unexpected. It was a strange mix of old and new.  New and exciting experiences There were the many fish ‘n’ ship shops and their familiar smell, along with the salty smell of the ocean and fish nets lying in the harbour. Then there were the bright neon signs, arcades, bowling and casinos. None of this reminded of home, yet that did not matter. After all, the point was to experience something new. As more and more of Scarborough revealed itself to us, the more exciting it was to explore this place which was totally new to us. The castle, and being open minded When we finally got to the castle, it was not quite like I had imagined. The castles I had visited in my childhood bustled with life. This was a more serene scene, with the ruins standing in the middle of a small field. Even though it wasn’t what I had imagined beforehand, I had a great time trying to picture what things would have looked like in earlier days based on the information signs. It was also great to see how this castle was part of people’s everyday life, as there were many people walking their dogs up on the castle hill.  The Castle Going to the arcades Now, fast forward and we still had a few hours to kill before we had to get back to the train station, and we decided to waste some money. In other words: we went to the arcades. A stark contrast to the Harbour Café where we had eaten our lunch. The American 50’s vibe in there was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The waitresses wore yellow uniforms; the only thing that was missing was the roller skates. But, back to the arcades: buzzing machines, blinking lights and children laughing. We had a great time, and even managed to win a few prices. However, we quickly understood we could be trapped in there forever, trying to win a certain price, listening to that mesmerizing sound of coins jingling out of the machines.  The Arcades
The arcades can be a few hours of good fun, but don’t spend too much time there, as Scarborough has more to offer. Killing time at the end of the day Having left the arcades with only an hour to spare before the train left, we now had to decide what to do. This is the pro and con of a day trip; your stay is short enough to not get bored if it is a smaller town or city, but at the same time you only have a limited amount of time. At least for us, this was a dilemma. We had an hour to spend, but we did not want to commit to doing something that was too far from the train station or would take too much time. We ended up wandering the streets, and among other things, we found a shop that sells American sweets. As we both have a sweet tooth and a natural curiosity towards new foods, we took great delight in this. We spent the rest of our time in this shop, trying to decide on what to get. Having satisfied our sweet tooth and seen some historic sights, we were quite happy with our trip. Even so, I realise there are many other things to do and see in Scarborough in addition to the quaint side streets, historic buildings and the arcades. I would be more than happy to go back. Next time, I’ll make sure to make some more plans, and to sea the North Bay and Peasholm Park.
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 Sous les ciels de Paris ... I fell in love with Paris even before I had ever visited the city. In fact, I fell in love with everything French as far back as in my early childhood, when I first heard the language (probably on TV) and watched French movies and travel documentaries about France. It was an instant crush. For the record: I have always had a passion for languages, - even different accents of my own language have always fascinated me, - and foreign languages are like music to my ears. The French language more than any other. I first visited Paris in 1984, and it was everything I had dreamed of, and more. Le Tour Eiffel… L'Arc de Triomphe… Les Champs-Elysées… Pont Alexandre… Le Louvre… Montmartre… all the famous places, of course. But most of all it was the sounds, the smell of fresh baguettes from the bakery, the restaurants, the elegance of the French women, in all its simplicity… the green areas…Jardin de Tuileries… La Seine… les bateaux mouche… Notre Dame… Sacre Caeur… le Quartier Latin… I was lucky enough to be visiting my French friend, who lived with her newly wed husband in a Paris apartment close to La Place d'Etoile. Thus I was able to experience first-hand what it was like to live in one of those wonderful old buildings. The solid wooden door… the concierge downstairs… the spiral staircase… the high ceilings of the apartment and the large windows, opened up to let the summer breeze play with the light curtains… And the kitchen, facing the backyard, with a large window where the sounds from the neighbors came in and tickled my ears, with their laughing, the sounds of their pots and pans as they were making their dinner in the neighboring flat.. the smell of food… a dog barking… All familiar sounds, but yet so different there… Because the backdrop was different from what I was used to. And I loved the Paris shops, all the specialized shops: boulangerie, pattisserie, charcutterie … Even going to the local supermarket and buy food was an adventure! What a selection! The Bon Maman jams … the cheese… the sausages… the wine … oh-la-la! But even going to the big malls, like Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, was a more pleasant experience than visiting many other malls I’ve been to. And the Paris life … starting the day with a bowl of café au lait and some croissants with confiture du framboise… Perhaps not the healthiest alternative in the long run, but my God, what a joy! Lunching out at a restaurant, watching the people walking by and having a nice conversation with friends … flaner sur les quais… listening to someone playing the accordion in the French way … the sound of Edith Piaf on the radio, or some more modern music on Radio Énergie … In 1984 they played “Red, red wine” with UB40 and “Neun-und-neunzig Luftballons..” - and my friend recorded the radio-program for me and I played it again and again when I came back home, and longed back to Paris. I will always long back to Paris. I’ve been there twice since that first time, but hardly often enough. As much as I love the rest of the world and want to see it all: Paris will always have a special place in my heart. Paris, je t'aime. (This was first published on my blog "Leylas Journal" over at leylasjournal.tumblr.com)   In the summer of 2018 I decided to try housesitting for the very first time. I have been a member of House Carers since 2016, so I decided it was about time to try it out. I checked out some of the housesit notifications on the members' page, and ended up with a deal to housesit for a nice woman in Venice who needed someone to look after her Airbnb outlet for a week while she was on holiday in Britain. She had already had an American woman there for one month, but this other woman had to leave earlier than planned, so she needed someone tho housesit for the last week of her holiday. I was really excited and thought it was a great opportunity, so after having checked flights and found that they matched perfectly, I booked my tickets and flew off to Venice in the middle of August. I had never been there before, but the house owner sent me a lot of useful information about how to get to her apartment from the airport, and with the help of Google Maps on my cellphone and an exact route description, I had no problem finding it. It took me only 15-20 mintues to walk there from the bus station, and when I reached the front door of the house where the aparment was and rang the bell, I felt a rush of excitement when I heard a cheerful voice on the intercom by the door. It was Sally, the American woman. She would be leaving the next day, but was waiting for me to arrive so she could show me everything I needed to know in order to take care of the Airbnb outlet in the best possible way. Sally was nice, the apartment was nice, and I just knew that my week in Venice would be great. Sally showed me the local grocery shop and market, and also left me a very useful street map and guide and gave me some useful tips about some galleries and other interesting venues, along with some practical information about the vaporetto fares etc. In the evening we went to a very cosy restaurant in the neighbourhood, where we had a nice conversation over a delicious lasagna and some dessert, before we decided to call it a day and head back to the apartment. Sally had still a few things to pack and would be leaving early in the morning, and I had been up at the crack of dawn and was a bit tired after my journey, so we said goodnight early and went to bed. I slept on the couch in the living-room that first night, since Sally was still occupying the main bedroom, but when she had left the next morning, I could install myself in there with the few belongings I had brought with me. It was a nice room with an ajoining bathroom, so I didn't have to share bathroom with the Airbnb guests, which was nice.  In the summer of 2017 I went on a road trip from Nice to Tuscany together with my son. We flew from Norway to Nice, and rented a car to take us from there to Tuscany. Our trip started on a warn and sunny day at the end of July. We wanted to see as much of the landscape as possible, so we decided to follow the Via Aurelia, which took us through a breathtaking landscape, first up the Alpine Route, and the view from above Eze was quite spectacular, as you can see from the picture above. We could see all the way back to Nice Ville and the airport where we had landed, and the sight of the many luxury yachts in the bay below was proof that this is the playground for the rich and famous. You can read the whole article about the trip in the May 2018 issue of the Magazine The Passionate Globetrotter. You find the link to that issue here ...
I also made a small book about the trip, which you can get here ...  Kurdistan in Iraq has become like a "second homeland" to me, after having visited the region twice together with my Kurdish friends who live here in Norway / Europe, - first in the summer of 2012, when I spent nearly 4 weeks there, and then in March 2014 when I went there to celebrate Newroz, the Kurdish New Year)
Kurdistan has changed my life in so many ways, so when I established EKN Travel and EKN Travel Club, it was only natural that my first feature article in the member's magazine, The Passionate Globetrotter, was about Kurdistan in Iraq, where I have so many friends now. The article in the May 2018 issue of the Magazine was almost 30 pages long, so instead of writing it all here on the blog, you can follow this link and read it here... |
AuthorI'm a Norwegian woman who is passionate about travel, photography and learning about other people and cultures. Archives
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