OSLO, Norway

On day 3 of the cruise, we finally arrived at our first port of call. It was oslo, the capital of Norway. There are many tour organised by the cruise directors, but there were many people who went along doing their own touring and thats what my family and i did. We arrived at oslo at precisely 8 am. the ship was docked near town, so we could easily walk into town. The sun was shining, and it was the most beautiful sight i have ever seen. We took our map and shopping guide and headed on to explore oslo.

It is most definately the most beautiful place among all the other countries we visited. Oslo is a small town, and because we arrived on a sunday, it was very quiet. All the shops were closed, you could hardly see people around unlike malaysia where everyone heads to the city and the malls. Well this was certainly the opposite. The main highlight of oslo was Vigeland Sculputre Park.

Vigeland Sculpture Park

One of the artistic highlights of Norway is the Sculpture Park in Oslo. The park contains 192 sculptures with more than 600 figures, all modeled in full size by Gustav Vigeland without the assistance of pupils or other artists. Vigeland also designed the architectural setting and the layout of the grounds.This is my favourite place and its just fascinating (hence the detailed information).

Vigeland sculpture park is truly one of a kind and a work of art. There are 4 very important parts to it. The bridge, the fountain, the monolith and the wheel of life.

THE BRIDGE

58 bronze sculptures on granite parapets (1926-1933) stand on either side of the Bridge portraying people of widely differing ages, although there is less emphasis on old age than others in the park. Many characteristic representations of children are noticeable.

Sandya, in the background are the sculptures of people in different ages.

The circle being a well-known symbol of eternity, the sculpture indicates the constant attraction and love between the sexes or a figurative version of the Eastern symbol of "Yin and Yang."

THE FOUNTAIN

The Fountain is the earliest sculpture unit in the park. In the center of the basin, six giants hold the large saucer-shaped vessel aloft and from it a curtain of water spills down around them. The men, representing different ages, may be interpreted as toiling with the burden of life and the effort expended in lifting the heavy vessel varies.

The fountain and if you look closely you can see a rainbow..its not illusion, it was there for real. At the back is the monolith.

My dad and me

THE MONOLITH

The column, 14.12 meters (46 feet) high carved out of a single block of stone, consists of 121 figures. Modeled by Vigeland in the years 1924-25, it took three stone carvers from 1929 to 1943 to complete the Monolith, just shortly before Vigeland died.The column is completely covered by human figures in relief, singly or in groups.

I look like a pink speck amongst all the greyness. *hmm*

Cant believe that sandya posing!!! , Surrounding the Monolith are 36 groups in granite depicting the cycle of life. Every sculpture includes at least two figures depicting Man in a variety of typical human situations and relationships.

THE WHEEL OF LIFE

Wheel of life. it basically represents the eternal circle.

Among the other places in oslo that we saw was :

My dad standing infront of the residence of the royal family

Sandya and dad at city hall.

Giant naked lady and premi at city hall.

Welcome to OSLO!!!, i like this picture.

I love the flowers, theyre so beautiful

Isnt it beautiful, im talking about the flowers *hehe*

Overall, oslo is a beautiful country, its full of radiance and it has a good public transportation system. I had a good time and it was a good start for a 12 day cruise.

The Good times

I can sum up my whole vacation by saying it was truly a BREATH of fresh air. Something i needed to get away from everything and just relax. Spending time with my aunt and her family was a warmth i miss a lot and the whole cruise was a new experience which i learnt a lot from. I met different people from different parts of the world. On board the cruise there were 64 different nationalities. Everyone is so friendly it makes you feel very much at home.


Some people might think that being out in the open sea can be boring. Let me remind you that there are loads of activity constantly happening on the ship, you can never ever get bored. Most people however just like to relax and get tanned. It was pretty hard for people to get tanned on this trip cause the weather was so cold and windy. Still figuring out why prakash said ive tanned *thinks*....

One thing i really enjoyed was the entertainment on board the ship. Every night, there will be different performers with various talents performing. It was really nice and entertaining. The entertainment programme went something like this :

Day 1 : The Zany comedy of Neil Austin

Day 2 : The Royal Caribbean Singers and dancers in West End to Broadway

Day 3 : was too tired to go for the show.





Day 4 : The Comedy of Duggie Brown

Day 5 : "The Voice" Brenda Cochrane

Day 6 : Gary Levini

Day 7 : Mario and Daniel's Tango Buenos Aires Starring Leandro & Sol feat Royal Caribbean Singers and dancers & tango buenos aires orchestra.

These people are really really good. Their performance was a standing ovation and i never knew tango was that hot & sexy dance..it can really turn you on! * take note guys & girls* (tango is the way to go) hehe

Day 8 : St. Petersburg Folkloric Show

Sorry guys, i dont have any pictures of the russian folkloric show. however i do have some pictures of the helsinki folkloric show.

Day 9 : William Hick's- Soul Satisfaction, American Four Tops Motown Show

Day 10 : The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers performing the city of dreams

Sorry, no pictures were available

Day 11 : Jonathan Kane

Does this guy look familiar too you???.. (look closely)

The lighting wasnt that good so i couldnt really get a good picture of him. His name is Jonathan Kane and he looks a lot like.................... SIr Elton John. That night was a tribute to elton john and believe me, he even sounds like elton john

Day 12 : Royal Caribbean International presents farewell Showtime

Jewel of the Seas- Scandinavian/ Russia Cruise

I have conquered land, air and finally the sea!!cruising was a whole different experience for me. It is incomparable to any other vacation i have ever been on. Its very relaxing and a slow holiday. You dont have to worry about your luggage. After loading the luggage on to the bus, the next time you will see it is in your cabin. You dont have to worry about plans and food. Its basically a slow and easy going, hassle free way of travelling. Cruising offers something for everyone. There are cruises meant for elderly people, cruises for families and cruises for younger people. The jewel of the Seas caters for people from different groups of age.The important thing about cruising is it is all about exploring the world.


Jewel of the Seas is one of the new cruise ships belonging to Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean international has over 22 cruise ships and jewel of the seas belongs to the Radiance Family group.Here are a few ship facts about the jewel of the seas :

Ship Facts
Maiden Voyage: May 8, 2004

Passenger Capacity: 2,501

Godmother: Kathy Mellor Gross

Tonnage: 90,090

Length: 962'

Beam: 105.6'

Draft: 26.7'

Cruising Speed: 25 knots

The port of call was at harwich. Its a 2 1/2 hour journey from london

My family on board the jewel of the seas.

this picture was taken from a castle in norway, we were docked very near town (walking distance)

A view of the ship taken from port of talinn. It was the nicest port among all the countries.

A different view of the ship.

There are many activities on the ship so you can never ever get bored. Let me show you a picture tour of the exterior and interior of the jewel of the seas.

The swimming pool and the sky bar (right)

The mini golf course

The basketball and mini futsall court.

the rock climbing wall. Well i did try to climb it but sadly didnt make it to the top. *laugh all u want *..sadly i dont have the upper body strength *boo hoo*

The place where all you hear is Ka-ching! Ka- Ching!

The centrum where the glass elevators are. there are 13 floors in the cruise.

Thats the size of the cabin in the cruise, small yet very comfortable and cosy.

London- acton

I stayed at my aunt's house (mum's sister) in london. She lives there with her husband and three children. Im not sure whether its me or what but something really attracts me to london. i really like the place and the fact that i have an aunt there makes it all the better. I know there are many people who might think otherwise, but london is definitely my favourite place.

The last time i went to london was in 2003, i was there for a month. Thus i did most of the sightseeing and touring during that time. So this time i didnt go to London town, i spent most of my time at my aunts place in acton. Acton is about 15 mins from heathrow airport, for all those people who love planes this is a good place to live because you can see planes very often.

FACT : did you know that every 30 second a plane lands in heathrow (its true). Heathrow is one of the most busiest airport.

Basicly i just went around to Ealing town and did some shopping there. You can seriously go crazy shopping in London. The summer clothes are fabulous and the colours are so beautiful, the only sad part is that its very expensive and its really hard to get my size. Besides shopping, i went to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 with my uncle, visiting and just helping out. I spent quality time with my family.

my shamini chitti and uncle dava *aww so sweet*

mum, aunty and me having pub lunch after shopping *whee*

the work of bonnie (aunt) and clyde (uncle), me covered with about 800 pounds (its no monopoloy money people its real.

presenting sandya (front), deyvana (middle) and diviya (back), the future generation learning how to pose *ahahah*..so early

can u spot the 3 cheeky little monkey's, love them loads

my cousin bro luxshan (left) and diviya

Flying Malaysia Airlines

Caution: for all those avid MAS fanatics, please read at your own risk. If you do insist on reading, please have an open mind.

Malaysian airlines (MAS) is a well known name not only in our country but around the world.It has won several prestigous awards such as best cabin crew, second best airline (if im not mistaken) etc etc.Like everyother people, my family is a frequent flyer with mas so obviously my trip to uk would be with none other than malaysian airlines. However, i guess it is my luck that i have never had a good journey with mas without any complains whatsoever.

KLIA to LH :

It was a 13 hour journey and believe me when i say it was the longest and most boring journey ever. As i snuggle into my economy class seat (not everyone can travel business class *hints*) and try to get comfortable, an announcement comes on saying that there is some technical problem with the entertainment system..well how bad could it be i thought.*hmm*..and the result was throughout the entire journey i watched 4 out of 6 movies and well few episodes of house..thank god for house!! *lol*. I am not a person who can fall asleep on flights, thus i really depend on the entertainment system.this was a big blow for me. The only good thing about the flight was the food suprisingly. (Note: this is coming from a person who never liked mas food). The cabin crew was not all that good idea. you only could see them in the begining of the flight, when food was served and when we landed at heathrow. By the time we reached heathrow, i was glad that i didnt have to take a flight for another 3 weeks.

LH to KLIA :

Suprisingly the journey back was only 11 hours. Im not sure how this whole time thing works. *sighs* what can i say..it was another disaster flight. Yet again the entertainment system had problems. I have to admit that MAS has a good selection of movies and songs and a good entertaiment plan..but what's the point of having all this when it just keeps giving problem. this is not the worse part. The worst is that for the first 4 hours of the journey, my TV- thing was not functioning (just my luck). Well it was not only my seat but many people faced this similar situation as well. After asking the cabin crew twice, finally it started working. In the mean time, my CLEO magazine kept me company *hehe*. Another thing i really despise, is the fact that the cabin crew gives more attention to "whites" than the malaysians or asian passengers.

Come on!, mas is after all an malaysian airlines, i think they should give equal treatment. im not saying that they're mean to the malaysian passengers its just that its pretty obvious!!!. Nevertheless, i still recommend people to fly with malaysian airlines because its a good quality airline, the seats are comfortable, the food has improved and its a safe airlines to fly with.. It still needs a few changes though.

Guess whose back!!!!

hey people!!.im back from a very long yet amazing holiday. i know i have not updated my blog in a long time. At the moment im busy uploading pictures and unpacking stuff, so please bare with me okay!!. Im trying to get back to my normal routine maybe with a few changes...still having jet lag and stuff.. but nevertheless i'll make your wait worthwhile with more pictures and interesting stories okay *smiles*..