Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
This was my first visit to Sweden, and instead of flying, we took a four-hour train ride from Oslo Central Station to Gothenburg Station. As many know, Swedish meatballs are one of Sweden’s iconic dishes, and let’s not forget that Sweden is also home to IKEA!
We took a train from Oslo Central Station to Gothenburg Station in under four hours. Travelling as a group of nine proved challenging, especially with 12 pieces of luggage. The overhead compartments were overcrowded with passengers’ belongings, making it a frustrating experience. I have resolved never to attempt such a journey with both elderly and young travellers again.
From our hotel, Radisson Blu Scandinavia, we took a 30-minute Uber ride to Liseberg Park to visit their Christmas market. Little did we know that entrance tickets were required to access the market, and they were quite expensive – rides were not included in the ticket price. It’s highly recommended to buy tickets online beforehand to avoid queues at the entrance.
When visiting a new country, it’s a must to try the local cuisine! Oslo, Norway’s capital, offers a delightful blend of traditional Norwegian dishes and modern international flavours.
My sisters have visited Norway and Iceland multiple times but have never witnessed the Northern Lights. Determined to change that, they booked a four-day cabin stay in Reine last December.
Little did they know that many shops and activities would be closed during the Christmas period. For instance, all supermarkets were closed from 24th to 27th December, and several traditional restaurants had already shut down from December 15th. Many activities and museums were also unavailable in December.
Nasjonalgalleriet is a national museum in Oslo and houses the first version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream from 1893. It was a 21-minute walk from our hotel, or you can take a tram towards Aker Brygge, with a stop conveniently located in front of the museum. The Nobel Peace Prize Museum is also nearby.
This was my first time visiting Norway, and naturally, I couldn’t miss their famous Christmas market! Located just a 15-minute walk from our hotel, the market offered plenty to see and do along the way. We explored clothes stores, Freia’s chocolate shop, the WayNor souvenir store, the Coop supermarket (not to be confused with the Co-Op in the UK), and many others before reaching our destination.
Last month, we met up with my family from Singapore in Norway to spend Christmas together. We departed Heathrow Airport on a Friday night, taking Scandinavian Airlines SAS.
The self-guided city trail company, Go Quest Adventures, has recently added a new location – Birmingham, to their ever-growing list! In total, they have 26 popular secret city trails across the UK for you to choose from, and to name a few, they have Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford etc.
Last month, on 23rd August, we went to our local Hill Hook Nature Reserve to attend the Bat and Moth evening. The friends of the Hill Hook Nature Reserve host two sessions each year to educate the local people about different species of Bats and Moths and the roles they play in our ecosystem.?
When you visit Rome, you also should visit the smallest country in the world – Vatican City. It is a country and a city at the same time. It is surrounded by Rome and it is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. There is no passport control around the border as you can enter or exit freely. Although there was not much greenery around, it was very clean and tidy.
On day two, we walked from our hotel to the ticket booths at the Roman Forum just after 10.30am. It was straightforward to locate and there were hardly any queues at all. We showed them our daughter’s disability card at the ticket booth and they offered us a disabled ticket and carer tickets for free. EU children under 18 can get free entry. Hence we only paid 18 euros for one adult.
Last week, we took an early flight via Birmingham Airport and departed for Rome. The airport staff are always great with people with disabilities or travelling with young families. We were grateful that we were fast-tracked through most of the queues and went straight to security. At the gate, I do hate it when we have to take the shuttle bus to board the plane. It always takes so long to get everyone onboard and getting a visually impaired child up those metal stairs in bright light with loud engines running is not easy.
This trip was quite an impulsive decision we made after I saw our close friends go there for a burger. It was always one of the places we wanted to visit if we were heading down south, but we never had a chance to drive nearby.
It was a Friday morning during the school holiday and we decided to make a special trip to visit this place with the intention of stopping on the way back to visit a nearby national trust for an hour before heading home. It took us approximate 1 hour 40 minutes (11.15am) to reach the place and we were directed to the overflow car park by the worker. There were already rows and rows of cars parked up.
Last week, we went to our first Guide Dogs family event at the Black Country Living Museum. Not many people know that besides training guide dogs (or buddy dogs like Mabel), Guide Dogs also help children with mobility access, technology support and many more.
Singapore takes on a magical quality as the holiday season approaches, exuding a delightful blend of tropical allure and joyous celebration. The Christmas Camp (https://maker.sg/christmas-camp), a well-known location for its joyous festivals, is located in the middle of this lively metropolis. Not any old destination, but a thrilling excursion that captures the essence of Christmas with a Singaporean twist just right.
