Fame!

My story has been published as part of the Meningitis Now campaign to raise awareness of the huge range of symptoms someone with the illness might have. They've put a slightly melodramatic spin on it, but nothing (except rounding up my length of stay to 2 months) is untrue. 

You can read it here, if you want to: https://www.meningitisnow.org/support-us/news-centre/meningitis-stories/emily-stringers-story/ 

Love Emily x

Rygge, Oslo and Bergen; Norway

Yesterday I hopped on a flight to Rygge, and then got a train to Oslo. I stayed the night in Oslo, and this morning caught a train to Bergen. The Oslo-Bergan rail route is meant to be one of the best train rides in the world, and having done the trip I think that's a fairly solid claim to make!

I was extremely lucky with the weather - below is the state of Rygge station when I turned up!

The train route travells over, through and around mountains, as well as running alongside fjords. This scenery must be beautiful at any time, but it was stunning with the thickest layer of snow I've ever seen. I'm a bit disappointed with the quality of these photos, but it's very difficult to take good snow landscapes through a window of a brightly lit moving train...

Some of the fjords we travelled past - easily the width of the Thames - were frozen. You can see this little one starting to thaw out.

I tried to include some houses, if only to prove these aren't black and white photos!

Spot the house and pylons for perspective!

When I told people about this trip the first question most asked was "who are you doing that with?", and the usual response was a 1:2 ratio of admiration and exasperation when I replied "no-one, just me". It's been one of the most hassle-free journeys I've ever taken, and the UK can learn a lot from the Norwegian public transport system! Also, the ultimate deal-sweetener, I got 1ltr of vodka for NOK 99 (£7.63). 

Now to get planning my next jolly: Denmark in March. Maybe doing some work to pay for it, too.

Love Emily x