My weekend finally came to an end.  This is therefore the last post in this blog. I will let the older posts be active for a while, as a reference for other travellers who may come across my blog in searches.
Thanks for reading.

Fnasse

Stavanger

Mattias in Stavanger, Norway.

I was doing a traffic survey here. Fortunately everything went well, with new camera equipment and everything.

Rock'n'Roll.

Stavanger is Norway's oil centre. But there was no time to go to the oil museum.

At Nittedal

Mattias at the Telenor Earth Station. Fortunately I have stopped doing the dancing.

Warszawa

Trip to Warszawa in October 2010.

Here are some pictures.

Charming old town.

Old Town II

This image is famous. Statue of Chopin.

Church in the centre.

Building for Poland/Ukraine 2012

The wall around Old Town

Famous Plac Wilsona station

Oslo

There are plenty to do when working in a new country. Apart from settling in at work with new tasks and new collegues, one have to sort stuff out regaring tax card, bank accounts, housing, various paperwork and last (but not least), learn how to navigate and locate important services (buses, trams, tube, gyms, shops and recreation areas). At the same time as searching for a place to rent, one can be busy 24/7.

Central Oslo

First days in Oslo

I found a decent temporary place to stay as it proved difficult to find stuff at distance. A flat used by Swedish installation staff in the electricity business had an empty room. The only problem is that it wasnt quite a room but a hallway with access to three other rooms. In the corner there was a bed and I also had a small TV. Who needs more? :)

No, but seriously, it was great for the price as the other guys living there only stayed around from Sunday-Thursday and as they left earlier than I woke up, I never really saw them, except from maybe a little while in the evening four days a week. And the best of all, it was only five minutes walk from my office.

Job offer

My job hunt ended fairly quickly as I received a job offer after the very first interview!   I will accept the offer and will be moving to Oslo in August. Have to start looking for a place to rent...

Oh, and where I will work?  At a company called Ramböll (earlier Scandiaconsult), Scandinavia's largest consulting engineering group. We have 9000 employees in 23 countries so you may have heard of it before.

The Hat-party

Pictures from our hat-party barbeque. It was a blast!

Interview!

I was called to an interview for a new job in Oslo, Norway.   Exciting stuff.  Will post more details later.

Summer and back in Sweden

After Alhambra I hurried back to Madrid, jumped on my flight and arrived - after being away over four months - to Älvdalen in Sweden. During the last part of my trip I had searched for some jobs over the Internet, and had been in contact with two prospective companies. I was going to follow this up as soon as I got home.


Also, I spent a considerable amount of time clearing out some old stuff in storages, helping my dad with the new porge and building a couple of new constructions in the garden; a wooden fence and a cycle shed.


The pictures below show some of my summer activities:

Driving stuff to the dump

Cleaning basement

Building new porch

Splitting firewood

Before cycle shed was built

After cycle shed - just waiting for the new lawn to grow

Alhambra

While touring Andalucia and the south of Spain, one could obviously not miss the maybe greatest sight of them all: The "Alhambra" in Granada. Alhambra was an old Moorish fortress (meaning "The red fortress"), built for the muslim emirs in Spain around the 14th and 15th centuries. This place is magnificent, which you can see in the pictures below.

The monkeys

The Gibraltar Rock is a famous military fortress that has played imporant parts in the warfare history, also during the second world war. It is also famous for the airport runway that is crossed by the road going to the Spanish border and for being one of the pillars of Hercules in Greek mythology. But maybe most of all, it is famous for its monkey colony, the only one in Europe.
I spent a day hiking along the many paths on the top of the Rock and met many monkeys along the road. One even managed to steal a doughnut from my backpack.

The lighthouse at Europa Point, from where I started my hike

Monkeys

Steep cliffs

Monkey

The Gibraltar Rock

Strait of Gibraltar

A bus ride along the Spanish south-coast down to the Strait of Gibraltar is scenic. Below is the end of the Mediterranean sea, with Morocco on the other side.

Approaching the Gibraltar cliff.

Cadiz

Next stop was Cadiz on Spain's south-west coast. The one who has plenty of time can continue on several interesting day-trips around Cadiz (for example Jerez) but I skipped that.  Cadiz is however has a nice vibe without hustle and bustle.  

Sevilla

Sevilla is a charming Spanish laid-back city and one of the most visited. With its open atmosphere and many sights and activities, tourists can be kept busy for weeks experiencing frequent bull-fights, flamenco-dancing or a river cruise. In the fauna of local specialtes, there are two things that stands out a little bit more than others; the city's stunning cathedral, one of the largest in the world, and the Alcazar.


I decided to see only the Alcazar this time. I may be around more times.


The Alcazar is an old fortress that was converted to a palace, fit for the rich Spanish monarchs. Some pictures of a fantastic place follows below.

Champions-League final

I finally arrived to Madrid after having landed in Paris and missed my connection. It wasn't my fault however as the inbound flight landed a little late so they just put me on the next flight two hours later. I heard surprisingly many german voices on the plane for being an Air France, which puzzled me a little bit. Arriving to Madrid Barajas however, everything became clear as the airport was full of signs in german for "U-Bahn" and "Bayern München Fan Zone". Damn! I am arriving in the middle of the Champions League-final weekend!
This could be tricky finding a cheap place to lodge. Asking around at my favourite cheapies, I realised I was right; everything was full.


In order to not have to pay a small fortune for a room, I used my "plan B". I took a night bus at 01:00 to Seville and surely there would be no Champions League-final there and I would have plenty of time to find a place in the morning.

Bayern München lost the 2010 final.

Last days in South America

The inevitable was quickly getting closer. Last days in Peru and last days in Latin America. I was flying from Lima and spent the last days in the city.

I found a hotel only half prize of what I am normally paying with better service and location so will try to remember that place next time. Also had many practicalities to sort out before arriving to Europe such as changing money and preparing my claim against the bankrupted Spanish airline AirComet.

I did however have time to visit a few new places. An hour or so outside the center, there is an archeological site with ruins and stuff. Being Peru, I expected something exceptional (as always!) but this time I was mistaken and only found a couple of small pyramids, barely recognisable. Most other buildings in the city was no more than a ruined stone wall at best. But the view from the top was marvellous!