Äventyrsbanan

This event has happened before the starting of this blog. As always, pardon me if I couldn't remember every little insignificant little detail. After all, they're insignificant, so why should I even put them there?

NOTE: Every time the word "Aventyrsbana" or "Aventyrsbanan" is mentioned in this post, the first "A" has two dots on top {see title}.

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We had a class trip to this "adventure park" called Aventyrsbana which is somewhere in Sweden. We took the metro from Skanstull (our school's location) to Slussen, before a short bus ride to the location.

Once we arrived on the location, one thing was very clear: This kind of environment is heavily centered on nature. Once you enter, you will see one of their ropes courses a small picnic ground, their administration building and a conference room.

Ropes Course | Photo from aventyrsbana

On our first hours, we did team building activities first. One of my favorite activities were scrunching up into a tiny wooden box and keeping the whole team up (there was like 16 of us). There was also an activity where we needed to form a circle and pass balls to another person, adding more balls per rotation.

After a seemingly long lunch, we then did the high-ropes course. They let us chose between a 7-meter high or a 18-meter high ropes course. Both rope courses had a balance beam, a net bridge, a tightrope walk (which was optional), and a "spider web" sort of thing.

This was a very good experience, as I encountered heights (which I am terribly afraid of) in a minor level. I chose the 7 meter high course, lol. I recommend the team building activities, because they really let your mind work, and you facilitate common sense and logic.

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Travel To The Philippines! Part 3 - MANILA ITINERARY

I highly recommend seeing the first two parts of this series / segment. Click the links below!

• Part 1 - Tourist Spots   

•  Part 2 - Famous Food

Here is the long-awaited part three!

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I can honestly tell you that there are A LOT of awesome sights in Manila, but you might not want to stay in Manila for that long. You don't want to get drowned by the sea of people, don't you?

But seriously, if you are planning to travel in Manila, I recommend only travelling for one, to a maximum of two-three days. With this, I prepared some kind of "itinerary" that comprises some of the awesome spots you can see in Manila!

• Rizal Park {Luneta} (free admission)

I don't remember if I already talked about this in a previous post, but Rizal Park is one of the most iconic and recognizable places in the Philippines. It is a monument dedicated to our national hero, Jose Rizal. The base of the monument stands is where he was shot by the Spaniards. {Photo on right, courtesy of wikipedia.org} 

• Manila Ocean Park (General Admission: PHP 550) 

The Manila Ocean Park is an oceanarium. It is located near the Children's Museum (Museo Pambata) and houses a large number of diverse marine species. It's oceanarium contains different sections, such as "Agos" (the flow), "Laot" (fishing grounds) and "Bahura" (the reef). 

• Fort Santiago (General Admission: PHP 75, Children PHP 50) 

Fort Santiago was built in the 16th century, during the colonial period of the Spaniards. The Fort itself is used to symbolize the bravery and heroism of the Filipinos throughout the centuries. Step inside its gates to see a very unique historical and cultural feel of the Philippines. 

The Spoliarium. | Photo from wikipedia.org

• National Art Gallery (Admission fees unknown) 

The National Art Gallery contains lots of art, sculpture and cultural-themed exhibits that can give you an insight of the Philippines during the eras of the Japanese, Chinese and other influences that brought the Philippines today. You can see Juan Luna's famous painting, The Spoliarium here.

• Binondo: Manila's Chinatown 

The Philippines is also heavily influenced by the Chinese culture. Binondo is the oldest Chinatown in the world, and features colorfully decorated streets and uber-cheap food from street vendors / hawkers.


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Stockholms Stadsmuseet

We went to Slussen yesterday (18 October) for a class trip to the Stockholms Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum).

Facade

Opening Sign <Close-Up>

The first thing we did was to look at an overview of Stockholm by century, from 1400 to 2000. We then proceeded to another corridor with this replica on it:

This is a replica of the Stora Barnhuset pa Norrmalm, or the Norrmalm Orphanage. Our tour guide told us that children here were treated quite badly, giving them meals of bread and butter, chickpeas, or sometimes, no breakfast or lunch at all. If children tried to escape, their heads and hands will be chained to a wooden contraption, or their legs will be shackled to a chain connected to a heavy wooden log.

16 children have escaped the orphanage, though. They then raced to the Royal Palace (picture above, not exactly how it looks like now), where they met the current queen. Interestingly, the palace is heavily guarded, there were only a few entrances and exits and the walls were very thick and high, but they still managed to go in. Even our tour guide didn't know what happened. Maybe they were just really fast runners? They should have raced against Usain Bolt back then.

Fast-forward for about forty-fifty minutes and our guide led us to some stairs, before ending in one of the corridors leading to two houses. One of the houses belonged to a family of three, who really can't even afford the cheap price of the house. Because of this, two men from the harbor just nearby also settled into the house to help pay the bill. Quite disturbing.  <No pictures because my phone's battery died!>

Then our guide showed us the next house, belonging to only two people. This house was quite better, because it had a sewing area, some kind of writing/reading nook, wallpapers, and etc. It really is like those stereotypical "grandma's houses" that you see in the T.V shows.

The houses were really small though, everything was kinda squished together. I wouldn't be surprised if the house replicas would fit into a rather large bathroom or a small bedroom.

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Fees: SEK 100 (19 years +), otherwise free.
Overall Impression: Very good. The museum is great for kids because it is somewhat interactive, but it is still loaded with historical information. 7.5 out of 10.
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You should read more. 

• TRAVEL ADVICE for Sweden
• Stockholm's Changing of the Guards & Gamla Stan
• EATS: Jensen's Beefhouse - Vasagatan (Stockholm)

Travel stories? Advice? Tips? Bizarre experiences? Click here to share them.

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