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I Am A Polar Bear

Travel, adventure & wellness with plenty of snow

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Tag: Netherlands

A day trip to Haarlem | iamapolarbear.com

A day out in Haarlem

January 17, 2019

When I first said that I planned a day trip by train out of Amsterdam, my sister was astonished. We were only going to be there five days, we wouldn’t have the time or the inclination to leave the city. I was adamant – I almost always take a day to see at least a … More A day out in Haarlem

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The Many Diaries of Anne Frank | iamapolarbear.com

The Many Diaries of Anne Frank

January 14, 2019

In November I went to Amsterdam. I went with my sister and because – and only because – of her, we went to Anne Frank’s house. I wasn’t at all sure about that. For one thing, I’m not a museum sort of person. I’m just not. For another, I wasn’t at all convinced about the … More The Many Diaries of Anne Frank

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The problem with Amsterdam | iamapolarbear.com

The problem with Amsterdam…

January 7, 2019

I went to Amsterdam in November. From the fact that it’s taken until January to start writing about it, you might not be surprised that Amsterdam and I didn’t get on all that well. If you’re into getting drunk and stoned and sampling the delights of the Red Light District, then this city is for … More The problem with Amsterdam…

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Who am I?
I'm Julie, a travel, adventure and wellness blogger. I love Iceland, I love jumping into hot water and I do love a bit of snow.

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I went to Corfe Castle for their Halloween/half term Gruesome Tales for the Morbidly Curious (which was really good!) and while I was there, I did another thing from the Hamburg photo walk which meant trying to look at the castle a bit differently and meant I ended up with a batch of pictures that kind of show Corfe Castle in an unexpected way. "Show fragments of the church but not the whole church". Today’s blog is from 2012, a trip around the Golden Circle in Iceland’s autumn, which was more wet and grey than red and gold. I don’t have a picture of me from the Golden Circle but it’s selfie day, so this is an old favourite, making Skógafoss look freakishly enormous the day before. On the blog today, a quest for the Midnight Sun in Tromsø, which turned out to be a half-decent Ten To Midnight Sun and a couple of Midnight Glows in the Sky. I’m looking back at my 2011 trip to Norway this week and come across these pictures from Tromsø. It was my first trip to the Arctic and although it’s warm enough for sandals, the landscape wants us all to know how far north we are. The two pictures outside the Arctic Cathedral were taken 24 hours apart, from sunshine to heavy rain. There are also a couple of pictures from around Tromsø on the sunny day. On the blog today, a trip that probably hasn't seen the light of day on Instagram before because it's from 2011: the Trondheim part of my first ever visit to Norway. Today’s new blog post is the 8 things I don’t travel without - I don’t think there’s anything very revolutionary but after making shampoo bars in Reading on Saturday, it seemed like a good opportunity to show you my travel solid hair wash kit, the Julie Book of Everything and the Sacred Charging Kit. Since I’m doing snowy wintery pictures, this is actual Tromsø from two trips I did in 2016 and 2017. Looking at the pictures, I definitely had better weather in 2017 but I did have a glorious and beautiful day sailing up from Harstad on the Hurtigruten in 2016. On today’s blogs, the polar bear is being a polar bear because as winter approaches, I’m thinking about the Northern Lights. I have a Northern Lights success rate of three in eleven - three times I’ve seen something worth seeing for eleven long nights of standing in the cold (plus one accidental at a campsite in Akranes one September when I was expecting no such thing and wearing sandals). But I do have a 100% success rate at Tromsø - well, two out of two.

About Julie

I'm a blogger, adventurer, lover of hot water, amateur paddler and polar bear who wilts in hot weather. Time (by day, I'm a researcher) and funds keep me within Europe and I make regular trips up to the north, especially to Iceland. I like the occasional adventure across Europe by train and I'm starting to make use of my weekends for 48-hour adventures. This isn't my only creative outlet - I've written two travelogues (one on a winter adventure across the Arctic Circle and one on exploring volcanoes during a warm summer road trip around Iceland) plus a little book of Icelandic pools and I have a fourth book in progress right now.

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