Trdlo: old Czech bread. And meat.

When visiting a new city, country, region or what have you I feel it is important if not crucial to spending some quality time with the menu.

In London this means curries and fish and chips and of course artery-clogging pork pie (don't tempt me with them, it is a weakness!) In Prague there was no shortage of food. One of our favourites would have to be the Trdlo or Trdelnik. It truly was a well-deserved treat after a long day wandering the historical city. Essentially a trdlo is a piece of sweet bread wrapped around a pipe (hopefully not lead) and baked over a flame and is in the shape of a ring. It tastes amazing with sugar and almond bits on the outside. The kicker is when you ask for Nutella to be added. Heaven. Sheer heaven.

Yes the sweet trdlo was welcomed with open arms. That being said it was of course the meat that stole the show. I haven't seen many menus that were as jam-packed with meat-focused meals than when I was last Memphis Blues BBQ Restaurant and overdosed on brisket. Warnings from friends about the amount of meat served up where accepted with a bit of a laugh. Little did we know that the epic Bohemia Platter would put our laughs to rest:

Silly Canadian girls were are, we thought it wise to order chicken wings on top of behemoth platter of meat. Ridiculous I know. Needless to say we didn't finish the Bohemia Platter. Nor did we finish the chicken wings. Instead we rolled up the hill 2 blocks to our hotel.

And I may have had one of these as a bed time snack.

Milka biscuits!?!?!?!?! I must be dreaming. Milka and I go way back to 1998 when I went to Austria for the first time.

Did I mention I had goulash for lunch. And loved it? It must have been the dumplings. Ohhh the dumplings, how they go to your hips.

Alight here for Little Venice

If you're free one afternoon head out to Maida Vale or Little Venice. You won't believe what you see.

Tucked under street with traffic whizzing by. Next to an adorable plot of land with spring flowers blooming (where no tape machines can be played - but perhaps an mp3 player can be?).

Right in the mix with geese, swans and ducks galore is a little place called Brownings Pool.

Several times a day the small establishment of London Waterbus Company collects locals and tourists a like and takes them on a bit of a 'behind the scenes' ride to Camden Town.

When I think of London the first few things to come to mind are the crowded streets, pub life, accents, strange says and tea. Life on the canals is not in the top 100 things I would come up with about London life. I overhead the operator tell a fellow customer that because of the extremely long wait times for a water moorage licence people can wait years and years to get one. The entire canal was packed with narrow boats converted for business and for living. I'm curious if there are illegal moorings and how that is managed as a system. Also - how do you get your boat out when you're done with dirty London canals?

It's the million dollar question.

The tour itself allows you to see some amazing houses, real working (and lived on) boats as well as takes you past the London Zoo and Regents Park.

There are some spectacular houses along the way.

The trip this past weekend was suggest by another international person working in London. One of the things that I enjoy most about this city is that there is so much to do and you can combine things by taking different modes of transport. My favourite is walking because you get to experience the good and that bad of the crowds, the smells, the sounds and the sites. This city is absolutely massive and it can feel like it's swallowing you up on some days. That's why stepping out and trying a slower method of travel can be nice.

You never know what you will come across. As a local in whatever city you're in make sure you enjoy what you have. Be a tourist in your own city, town or village.

And of course don't forget a cup of tea or chocolate at the end.

Gustav Vigeland: more than just a few statues

Sculptures in Oslo go hand-in-hand. I spotted them all over the city. Having public pieces of art, open for interaction and interpretation is fantastic. I wish cities, residents and visitors appreciated art pieces more often.

In Oslo, they were everywhere. There were some at the new harbour front, I even found a new friend:

The most impressive collection of sculptures was in Frogner Park, in particular the Vigeland Sculpture Park. I thoroughly enjoyed the Oslo Winter Walks tour through the Vigeland Museum. The tour guide was able to give us a bit of a background on the artists and his family and love life. He'd had a son with his first wife and then left them with only money and no relationship. The rest of his life was filled with long-term relationships with his assistants and helpers. That being said he never developed a proper relationship with his son. This is interesting seeing as the theme of circle of life with parent-child relationships and husband-wife relationships are prevalent throughout the park.

The Vigeland Monolith is found at the centre of the park - Vigeland and his stone cutters began work on the Monolith in 1929 and was completed in 1943. It is an incredible sculpture that is intricate, delicate and immense all in one go. The 121 human figures that make up the Monolith represent the cycle of life: some people battle to reach the top while others accept their place in life.

There are 212 bronze and granite statues in the park. Vigeland donated all of his work to the city of Oslo.

His sculptures are playful:

Intimate:

Cheeky:

And a little bit famous:

Then there are sculptures that just beg you to have fun. When it's completely unexpected that's when you have the most fun:

Oslo - what a fjord of a city

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take a cheap flight to Oslo, Norway. Oslo puts German efficiency to shame. Buses run frequently, on time and are clean. The city is clean and easily laid out for locals and tourists. Quite nice indeed.

Aside from the first 30 minutes where my travel partner and I couldn't for the life of us figure out where to catch the local #30 or #31 bus (we had arrived at the local bus station but only regional buses went there, hence the confusion.)

First thing about Norway: it is just as expensive as everyone says it is. Particularly food. A bottle of coke is approximately $6. A chocolate bar is between $3-4. The hot chocolate at 40 krone (approximately $6) was totally worth it.

Second thing: It gets a little chilly at night. Wear layers.

Third thing: Everyone speaks English.

Our hotel was fantastic. Situated just outside the downtown centre of the city but still within walking distance we stayed at Rica Hotel Bygdǿy Allé, we even had a balcony (we're on the fourth floor.)

Our first day was probably the best as the weather worked out quite well for us. We had clear blue skies and the sun was shining down for us.

With our OsloPasses in hand we headed down to the waterfront for a harbour boat tour.

The harbour was a little icy and we were there early so we decided to hike up to the Akershus Festning (the fortress). Quite a spectacular place and lots of history. The chapel is still in use by the Norwegian Royal Family. The picture below is the mausoleum where many of the royal family members are buried.

The highlight of the trip was probably when we got to go out on the water. It was absolutely stunning. The first stop was the Oslo Opera House - absolutely amazing. Would never have even known it was there unless the the boat tour went by it. The Opera House is designed that you can walk all over the roof.

We also went past the tiny island of Bleikøya with colourful wooden houses.

I have to admit that I probably fell asleep for a few minutes on the boat.

The sun, the few hours of travel the day before. It was the perfect setting for a mini-boat nap.

It was quite a lovely way to kick off Oslo.

How to move a pallet in 36 easy steps

Step 1 - Ship it to another country to move it. It will be faster.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending 3 days of forklift training. This training involved half a day of 'theory' and 2.5 days or so of 'hands-on' training and an exam.

As is typical with British training, safety was highlighted, a lot. I'm the first person to be aware of health and safety even more so since I've worked at a company where people did, sadly, die on the job. But there's a limit to red tape. Something I hope that dear old David Cameron is looking to trip down.

Back to the forklifting though. Before you ask, yes, I did pass and I have my certification. I even completed it in a fairly decent time. Will I use the forklift in the next six months? I sure hope so!

The forklift exam was quite ridiculous and far from realistic. And a chicane? I don't think I've actually heard that term before. The chicane, however, was part of the exam. That was probably my best part. The stacking and de-stacking of pallets was decent. It was more the worry of not being 100% perfect that was the most troubling part.

Having initially learned to drive a forklift in Canada I was quite accustomed to making sure my foot was on the brake when using the hydraulics. In the great motherland, however, you must put the forklift into neutral and use the handbrake every time you wanted to tilt your forks. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Can you hear the frustration in my writing? Yes, imagine doing the test the first time as a trial and nearly failing due to using common sense and not putting the handbrake on every time. EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Things I do know about using a forklift and useful tips for anyone making the great test of patience:

-remember your pivot points

-look around every time you move forward or backwards

-BRAKE NEUTRAL

-rubbing will happen and you won't notice it 99% of the time

-tilt your fork tips back and low when driving

-relax and think logically-anyone can do it

-wear your seatbelt when driving

-do not bring down parkade gates

-do not hit fire sprinklers in parkades

Now, end rant and healing exercise. Let's get this forking done!

(And yes, my seatbelt is not on but I was not driving, just posing in this photo.)